ARTIST: Aaron Neville
TITLE: Bring It On Home... The Soul Classics
LABEL: Burgundy/Sony BMG
GENRE: R&B
BITRATE: 193kbps avg
PLAYTIME: 0h 51min total
RELEASE DATE: 2006-09-19
RIP DATE: 2006-09-16

Track List

01. Rainy Night In Georgia (Feat.   4:40
Chris Botti)
02. Ain't No Sunshine               3:40
03. (Sittin' On) The Dock Of The    4:28
Bay
04. Stand By Me                     3:52
05. You Send Me                     4:14
06. Respect Yourself (Feat. Mavis   4:06
Staples)
07. When A Man Loves A Woman        3:24
08. Let's Stay Together (Feat.      4:03
Chaka Khan)
09. It's All Right                  3:34
10. People Get ready (Feat. David   4:07
Sanborn And Art Neville)
11. My Girl                         3:58
12. Ain't That Peculiar             3:43
13. A Change Is Gonna Come          4:10

Release Notes:

After five decades of consistent hit-making, Neville has, in the
words of one Rolling Stone writer, "reached a highpoint in a career
marked by artistic superlatives. Bring It On Home - The Soul
Classics is an album for the ages and Neville's most remarkable
work to date."

"These classic songs," says Aaron, "have been pumping blood to my
heart from the first second they heard them. They've been a part of
my life. Singing them, especially in the aftermath of Katrina, was
a deeply spiritual experience. They helped me get through. They
gave me hope. And for me, music has always been about hope."

The third youngest of the famous four Neville brothers-Art and
Charles are older, Cyril's younger-Aaron was born into one of New
Orleans' most celebrated families.

His first influence was Art. "I never heard a better singer or
funkier keyboardist than my big brother," says Aaron.

"Brother Charles," he continues, "was the family jazzman. He blew
sax and schooled me in the ways of improvisation. Brother Cyril was
our James Brown. He was-and still is-a great singer. He burns with
soul."

Aaron was the first Neville to burn his way up the national charts.
In 1966, his "Tell It Like It Is" hit number-one. Unfortunately,
the label, Par-Lo, went broke before Aaron got paid. On the
strength of the smash, though, Neville toured nationally and
established his status and a singular style marked by a rare and
haunting beauty.

"That style," he says, "is rooted in the doo wop of the fifties--
the Moonlgows, the Flamingos, the Clovers and a close friend,
Pookie Hudson and the Spaniels. But I was also deep into the gospel
groups, the Pilgrim Travelers, the Brooklyn All-Stars and The Blind
Boys of Alabama. And then there were those yodeling cowboys. I
loved them."

The seventies were rough, but Aaron successfully fought off a slew
of demons and, together with his brothers and their beloved Uncle
Jolly, created The Wild Tchoupitoulas, a dazzling suite of Mardi
Gras Indian songs that holds a high place in American music.

The brothers pursued other projects on their own, most notably Art
and Cyril's work with the Meters. Later the Neville Brothers, with
Aaron as one of the lead vocalists, were signed to Capitol, and
then to A&M where, in the eighties, they recorded a series of
memorable albums, including Yellow Moon. (Aaron wrote the title
track, a major hit.) Aaron's solo career was re-launched in the
nineties when Linda Rondstadt and George Massenburg produced his
Warm My Heart, a major bestseller. The nineties was also the decade
when the industry began awarding Aaron with its most prestigious
prize: He won two Grammies in duets with Linda Ronstadt, "Don't
Know Much" and "All My Life," both ten-top hits.

In the coming years, Aaron would be nominated for 16 Grammies in
categories as diverse as country and western, pop, r&b and gospel.
In 1994, he and Trisha Yearwood won Best Country and Western vocal
collaboration for "I Fall to Pieces." In this same period, he won
Best Male Singer two years running in the Rolling Stone critics'
poll.

"When I was in the booth singing these songs, songs so connected
to my life before Katrina, I couldn't help but think how this
storm changed everything. I was thinking about all those people in
the water. Thinking of friends I might never see again. Thinking
of how I had lost my home, how three of my sons, my brother Cyril
and sister Athelgra all had lost their homes. So much loss was on
my mind."

"The idea behind the record was simplicity itself," says producer
Stewart Levine, whose work, among many others, with Simply Red,
the Crusaders and B.B. King has earned him an international
reputation for creative excellence.

"We took these iconic songs and stripped them to their essence.
We didn't want Aaron to cover them; we wanted him to redefine
them. He did just that. He turned them into personal testimonies.
The truth is that, as a vocalist, he's on a par with the artists
who made these tunes legendary-Marvin Gaye, Sam Cooke, Al Green,
Otis Redding, Curtis Mayfield. It's foolish to compare
masters-they each possess unique genius-but Aaron's genius,
evident in this record, is still expanding, still deepening."

"Aaron also related to the musicians on this record," says
Levine, "the rhythm section of drummer James Gadson, guitarists
Ray Parker, Jr. and Heitor Pereira, bassist Freddie Washington,
keyboardists Neil Larsen and the great Joe Sample. It's an
amazing group whose experience and rapport with this music
matches Aaron's."

"This is a strange moment in my career," muses Aaron. "Since
Katrina I've devoted months and months to benefit concerts-and
that's been a blessing. My profile and the profiles of my
brothers have been raised by the storm. People all over the
world see us as the face of New Orleans. They want to hear us
play. They want to feel that we've survived the storm. They want
to be assured that life goes on."