''Sunday Morning Music'' is the debut album by the American singer
Thornetta Davis
Thornetta Davis (born August 11, 1963) is an American Detroit blues and rhythm and blues singer. She has opened for Bonnie Raitt, Gladys Knight, and Etta James, and sang backing vocals on Bob Seger's 1991 album, '' The Fire Inside''. She also wor ...
, released in 1996. Davis was the first Black artist signed to
Sub Pop
Sub Pop is an independent record label founded in 1986 by Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman. Sub Pop achieved fame in the early 1990s for signing Seattle bands such as Nirvana (band), Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Mudhoney, central players in the gru ...
, a label initially known for its
grunge
Grunge (sometimes referred to as the Seattle sound) is an alternative rock Music genre, genre and subculture that emerged during the in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington, particularly in Seattle and Music of Olympia, Washington, O ...
releases.
Production
The album was produced by Al Sutton, Mike Danner, Phil Durr, and Matt O'Brien.
[ Davis was backed by members of ]Big Chief
"Big Chief" is a song recorded by Professor Longhair.Berry/Foose/Jones, ''Up from the Cradle of Jazz''. University of Louisiana at Lafayette Press, 2009, p. 148. It was released as a single by Watch Records of New Orleans in February, 1965. , for whom she previously sang. Eddie Harsch played keyboards on ''Sunday Morning Music''.
Inspired by life in her downtown Detroit neighborhood, Davis wrote or cowrote all of the lyrics, aside from "You Haven't Done Nothin'
"You Haven't Done Nothin" is a 1974 funk single by Stevie Wonder, taken from his album ''Fulfillingness' First Finale'' and featuring background vocals by the Jackson 5. The politically aware song became Wonder's fourth Number-1 pop hit and his t ...
", a cover of the 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 ...
song; Big Chief provided the music.
Critical reception
The ''Calgary Herald
The ''Calgary Herald'' is a daily newspaper published in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Publication began in 1883 as ''The Calgary Herald, Mining and Ranche Advocate, and General Advertiser''. It is owned by the Postmedia Network.
History
''The C ...
'' stated: "Going for a bare bones backup of bass, drums and guitar (with occasional keyboards, congas or horns), Davis delivers a raw, riveting blend of funk, R & B, rock, blues and sweet soul music."[ '']Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...
'' deemed the album "a knockout compendium of the sounds of her Detroit hometown."The Philadelphia Inquirer
''The Philadelphia Inquirer'', often referred to simply as ''The Inquirer'', is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded on June 1, 1829, ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' is the third-longest continuously operating da ...
'' determined that it "sounds like '70s Rolling Stones and Rod Stewart—if they let the backup singers take over."
'' The Gazette'' wrote: "Crucially, the trad, tried and true musical vocabulary never slips into a lazy replay of '60s/'70s antecedents. Her choice of a Stevie Wonder cover, 'You Haven't Done Nothin', seals it, placing the music in context without cementing it in cliché." The ''Toronto Star
The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part of Torstar's Daily News Brands (Torstar), Daily News Brands division.
...
'' concluded that "the combination of the band's slightly skewed vision of funk and Davis' straight-up blues delivery makes for an unusual, wide-ranging but completely satisfying album."AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...
wrote that "Davis' singing is just wonderful—she's got a rich, warm voice that she doesn't show off with, avoiding pointless vocal high jumps and wails for confident, often soaring delivery."Chicago Reader
The ''Chicago Reader'', or ''Reader'' (stylized as ЯEADER), is an American alternative newspaper in Chicago, Illinois, noted for its literary style of journalism and coverage of the arts, particularly film and theater. The ''Reader'' has been ...
'' called ''Sunday Morning Music'' "a harrowing album full of desire and outrage."
Track listing
References
{{Authority control
Thornetta Davis albums
1996 debut albums
Sub Pop albums