“(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love And Understanding”
: : Curtis Stigers (1992) : The Bodyguard: Original Soundtrack Album ; Arista Records : :
[ … ] the bodyguard. … if anybody knows me, you know that the bodyguard is one of the most defining cultural works of my childhood.
but, back to the top-line … this soundtrack is the inaugural album selection because, this slate in particular featuring the canon kids, every selection is a signature, a genesis point for me … a release that defined a certain format in the music framework.
then, the cultural biography aspect of it, as just defining what it means to be an album, more broadly, from a cultural or generational vantage … from the top: this album, as a soundtrack – best-selling soundtrack of all-time – as canon, the first album ever to sell a million copies in its first week, fifteenth best-selling album (stateside, at least) of all-time … whitney was on a whole different level …
and then the other side of the album is: kenny g, lisa stansfield, aaron neville, the s.o.u.l. s.y.s.t.e.m., curtis stigers, joe cocker (the man played woodstock — woodstock !), sass jordan, and a symphony orchestra by way of alan silvestri … so, again, much of this is about the mood and the work speaking for itself … not getting too academic, or objective, or technical about it … but just, for me as: “this is what it meant to be an album” …
and it speaks distinctly to pop – to the reach and range – but, to me it also spoke to the capacity for one person to be that anchor actively amplifying other people … the person who knows: you gotta bring ‘em all up, and unironically, if only for the sake of just getting work in the world, work that is inviting and is approachable across as much of the populous as possible … and then, just knowing that the shared experience of everyone who has this album, the million plus community in that first week alone, sharing in the experience of this work … back in the day before streaming, that those million plus people listened to this, were all hearing the same expression, and interpreting it through their own incumbent experiences … that’s what it’s all about.
so, whitney just leads with this ironclad side a … and however you feel about side b, is how you feel — for me, it was tough to get through side b on the first few spins, but did i listen to it? yes. if nothing else, it’s just like: appreciate it, respect it, listen to it for what it is … everybody put their effort into it: reciprocate that energy.
on that note, without further ado: the bodyguard original soundtrack album from 1992 … ushered in by whitney herself, and featuring — if we’re doing the vinyl style — side a: whitney with, of course the dolly cover, and the chaka cover (again, straight-up legendary), and inspo from the Holy Ghost, … and then side b sort of eases you off with some kenny g, lisa stansfield, aaron neville, the s.o.u.l. s.y.s.t.e.m., curtis stigers (which, his song really speaks to the overarching encompassing: “(what’s so funny ‘bout) peace love and understanding?” — so, that’s really another subplot here), joe cocker, alan silvestri, gary grant, etc. … and so, without further ado (once more, from the top, with some feeling) —
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The Karioke · Commons 
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