''Soul Speak'' is the eighth solo by American singer-songwriter
Michael McDonald. The album was released on March 4, 2008, by
Universal Music International and
Motown
Motown is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. Founded by Berry Gordy, Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on January 12, 1959, it was incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau ...
.
Track listing
Personnel
*
Michael McDonald – lead vocals, acoustic piano (1, 8), backing vocals (3, 4), keyboards (4–7, 9–12), guitar (7)
* Toby Baker – keyboards (1–3, 5–8, 10–14), synthesizers (3), synthesizer programming (4)
*
Tim Carmon –
organ
Organ and organs may refer to:
Biology
* Organ (biology), a group of tissues organized to serve a common function
* Organ system, a collection of organs that function together to carry out specific functions within the body.
Musical instruments
...
, acoustic piano (10)
* Tim Lauer –
accordion
Accordions (from 19th-century German language, German ', from '—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a Reed (mou ...
(7)
*
Doyle Bramhall II – guitars (1, 7–10, 12)
*
Michael Thompson – guitars (1–7, 10–14),
sitar
The sitar ( or ; ) is a plucked stringed instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent, used in Hindustani classical music. The instrument was invented in the 18th century, and arrived at its present form in 19th-century India. Khusrau K ...
(5)
*
Nathan East
Nathan Harrell East (born December 8, 1955) is an American jazz, R&B, and rock bass guitarist and vocalist. With more than 2,000 recordings, East is one of the most recorded bass players in the history of music. East holds a Bachelor of Arts ...
– bass
*
Nicky Shaw – drum and percussion programming (1–3, 5-7, 9–14), arrangements (4, 11)
*
Abe Laboriel Jr. – drums (1–3, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12–14)
*
Vinnie Colaiuta
Vincent Peter Colaiuta (born February 5, 1956) is an American drummer known for his technical mastery who has worked as a session musician in many genres. He was inducted into the ''Modern Drummer'' Hall of Fame in 1996 and the ''Classic Drumme ...
– drums (7, 9)
*
Stevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris (; Judkins; born May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American and Ghanaian singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer. He is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th c ...
–
harmonica
The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica incl ...
(6)
*
Simon Climie
Simon Climie (born 7 April 1957) is an English songwriter, musician and record producer. He is best known as the former lead singer of the UK duo Climie Fisher.
Biography
Climie was born in London. Beginning his career primarily as a songwr ...
– arrangements
*
Nick Ingman – string arrangements and conductor (3, 6)
* Isobel Griffiths – orchestra contractor (3, 6)
*
Gavyn Wright
Gavyn Wright is a British violinist and orchestra leader with the London Session Orchestra and Penguin Cafe Orchestra.
He is best known for his orchestral arrangements on pop productions (including Elton John, Simply Red, Bush, Mecano, ...
– orchestra leader (3, 6)
* The Kick Horns – brass section (6, 7, 10)
* Michelle John Douglas – backing vocals (1, 2, 5, 6, 10, 12, 13)
* Rachel Oteh – backing vocals (1, 2, 10, 13)
* Drea Rheneé – backing vocals (1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 10, 13)
* Sharon White – backing vocals (1, 2, 5, 6, 10, 12, 13)
* Out For Souls Choir – choir (1, 2, 5, 10)
* Denise Allen – backing vocals (3, 6)
* Calvin Nowell – backing vocals (3, 6)
* Debi Selby – backing vocals (3)
* Aubrey Martells – backing vocals (4, 5, 11)
* Rian Peters – backing vocals (6)
Production
* Producer – Simon Climie
* Executive producer – Tony Swain
* Production coordination – Debbie Johnson
* Project coordination – Dee Harrington
* Engineers – Simon Climie, Alan Douglas,
Shannon Forrest and Don Murray.
* Assistant engineers – Brandon Dekora, Mo Hauzler, George Nixon, Phil Rose, Ken Takagashi and Grady Walker.
*
ProTools engineer – Joel Evenden
* Mixed by
Mick Guzauski, assisted by Tom Bender.
* Mastered by
Bob Ludwig
Robert Carl Ludwig (born December 11, 1944), is a retired American mastering engineer. He mastered recordings on all the major recording formats for all the major record labels, and on projects by more than 1,300 artists, including Led Zeppeli ...
at Gateway Mastering (
Portland, Maine
Portland is the List of municipalities in Maine, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine and the county seat, seat of Cumberland County, Maine, Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 at the 2020 census. The Portland metropolit ...
).
* Creative director – Sandra Brummels
* Art direction and design – Christopher Kornmann
* Photography – Danny Clinch
Charts
References
2008 albums
Michael McDonald (musician) albums
Motown albums
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