Four Strong

Soul, funk, R ´n’ B, doo-wop musician Aaron Neville has been crankin’ out hits, both solo and with his three siblings under the name The Neville Brothers, for half a century. Songs like “Tell it Like it Is,” “Mardi Gras Mambo,” and a whole slew of lesser-known ´50s and ´60s gems like “Cha Dooky-Do” radiate from the Neville satin-bound songbook; tunes that laid the blueprints out for modern R ´n’ B and rock ´n’ soul song structure (we’ll ignore that disco stint). See, those crazy Nevilles have the magic New Orleans soul, from Aaron’s falsetto to Art’s songwriting. What would be a simple 12-bar blues chord progression in anyone else’s hands evolves into hip-slapping, shoulder-dropping, good-foot-hopping, dance number. Aaron Neville knows this. Once he even summed up the experience of a live show in an interview, “Everything in the music is telling the people out there to move their body to each cowbell and drum beat. Man, they must be hurting the next day, saying the Neville Brothers music may be hazardous to your health.” That achy, broken person could be you: The Neville Brothers play at Hard Rock Live (1 Seminole Way, Hollywood) on Thursday. Tickets cost $30 to $60. Visit www.ticketmaster.com.
Thu., Oct. 11, 2007