Category Archives: Soul
MITTY COLLIER-SHADES OF A GENIUS.
MITTY COLLIER-SHADES OF A GENIUS. When I was writing my review of The Fame Records Story-1961-1973, one of the tracks I mentioned was Mitty Collier’s Take Me Just As I Am which she recorded at the legendary Fame Studios in 1968. Until the box set was released last year in 2011, this excellent track had …
THE FAME RECORDS STORY-1961-1973.
THE FAME RECORDS STORY-1961-1973. Over the years I’ve accumulated many boxed sets, some of which are stunning, some merely good and a few that were to put it politely a rip-off. Three box sets that fall into the stunning category are the trio of Stax box sets which document every single the label ever released. …
SHUGGIE OTIS-FREEDOM FLIGHT.
SHUGGIE OTIS-FREEDOM FLIGHT. What’s the best way to describe Shuggie Otis? Prodigious, musical virtuoso and vastly underrated is a good start. Certainly Shuggie was something of a child prodigy, first playing the guitar aged two, and playing with his father Johnny’s band from the age of twelve. As if that wasn’t impressive enough, Shuggie released …
LOVE AND JEALOUSY AND BACK TO MY PLACE BABY.
LOVE AND JEALOUSY AND BACK TO MY PLACE BABY. If I was to say the words Southern, Deep, Crossover, Modern and Northern what would you say? Many people would immediately say soul. They would be correct, but they’re also the themes for some of the Backbeats compilations that have been released since 2009. In total, …
BOBBY WOMACK-COMMUNICATION.
BOBBY WOMACK-COMMUNICATION. Recently, I was reading an article about Bobby Womack collaborating with Damon Albarn for Bobby’s forthcoming album The Bravest Man In the Universe. Bobby had chosen Damon to produce his new album, which will be his first secular album since 1994s Soul Seduction Supreme, a stunning live set. Since then, Bobby hasn’t produced …
LOU RAWLS-UNMISTAKABLY LOU.
LOU RAWLS-UNMISTAKABLY LOU. Unmistakably Lou was Lou Rawls second album for Philadelphia International Records. Released in May 1977, it was the follow-up to All Things In Time, released in June 1976. All Things In Time would be a hard act to follow for Lou, as it had reached number seven in the US Billboard 200 …
ETTA JAMES-CALL MY NAME.
ETTA JAMES-CALL MY NAME. During the sixties, Etta James released a number of critically acclaimed albums for the Cadet label, which was a subsidiary of Chess Records, one of which was Call My Name, released in 1967. It was Etta’s sixth album for Cadet, and was recorded at Chess’ Ter Mar Studios in Chicago. This …
THE DRAMATICS-A DRAMATIC EXPERIENCE.
THE DRAMATICS-A DRAMATIC EXPERIENCE. Some time ago, I reviewed The Dramatics debut album Whatcha See Is Whatcha Get, which had recently been rereleased and remastered. What many people didn’t realize was that included on the album was their second album A Dramatic Experience. Their first album Whatcha See Is Whatcha Get had been a huge …
TEDDY PENDERGRASS-TEDDY.
TEDDY PENDERGRASS-TEDDY. Having left Harold Melvin and The Blue Notes to become a solo singer, things had been going well for Teddy by June 1979, when his third solo album was due for release. His two previous albums Teddy Pendergrass, released in June 1977, had reached number seventeen in the US Billboard 200 and number …
JAMES BROWN-BLACK CAESAR.
JAMES BROWN-BLACK CAESAR. Recently, I was listening to Isaac Hayes who recorded one of my favorite Blaxploitation albums Shaft, made me revisit some of my favorite Blaxploitation albums, including Black Caesar, written and performed by James Brown. This was a 1973 Blaxploitation film written and directed by Larry Cohen, which starred Fred Williamson and Gloria …
ISAAC HAYES-HOT BUTTERED SOUL.
ISAAC HAYES-HOT BUTTERED SOUL. As someone who is a huge fan of the Stax record label, I’ve always loved the music of Isaac Hayes. He was one of the creative forces behind Stax, writing many of the songs for many artists on the label, many with David Porter, one of his songwriting partners. Not only …
PHILLY BUSTERS AND SMOOTH GROOVES.
PHILLY BUSTERS AND SMOOTH GROOVES. Usually around the Christmas and New Year period, you don’t expect to find a series of ten, yes ten great soul compilations to be released. Usually at this time of year it’s a myriad of predictable greatest hits or best of albums from the usual suspects. Add to that the …
TERRY CALLIER-TURN YOU TO LOVE.
TERRY CALLIER-TURN YOU TO LOVE. Have you ever heard of the soul singer who gave up music for fifteen years to become a computer programmer? This isn’t a joke, this is what happened to Terry Callier back in 1983. Before this, the two albums Terry recorded for Elektra in 1977 and 1978 hadn’t been a …
SYL JOHNSON-BACK FOR A TASTE OF YOUR LOVE.
SYL JOHNSON-BACK FOR A TASTE OF YOUR LOVE. During the early to mid-seventies, Hi Records were producing some of the best Southern Soul of that time. With Willie Mitchell producing, The Memphis Rhythm Section, Memphis Horns and legendary backing vocalists Rhodes, Chalmers and Rhodes, one great record after another was recorded at the famous Royal …
O.V. WRIGHT-WE”RE STILL TOGETHER.
O.V. WRIGHT-WE”RE STILL TOGETHER. I’ve always thought that O.V. Wright was one of the most underrated Southern Soul singers of his generation. In some ways, his music was overshadowed by the success of Al Green, who was on the same label as O.V. Hi Records. Whereas, Al Green had numerous critically acclaimed albums, O.V. only …
THE TEMPTATIONS-ALL DIRECTIONS.
THE TEMPTATIONS-ALL DIRECTIONS. When The Temptations were recording what became All Directions, the group were determined not two songs that eventually appeared on the album. One of these songs was Papa Was A Rolling Stone, and The Temptations were absolutely determined not to record the song. They felt that the song wouldn’t provide them with …
DR JOHN-IN A SENTIMENTAL MOOD.
DR JOHN-IN A SENTIMENTAL MOOD. Anyone who collects records or CDs will tell you that one of the biggest buzzes for a collector is either finding an obscure or rare album in the most unlikeliest of places. For me this has included, many years ago finding mint editions of rare soul albums in a dark …
THE CHI-LITES-TOBY.
THE CHI-LITES-TOBY. Often an album fails to do as well as it should’ve commercially, because of a lack of promotion and advertising. This is almost becoming a recurring theme for readers of this blog. When Stax was heading towards insolvency, albums like Shirley Brown’s Woman To Woman suffered this fate, while DJ Rogers believed his …
THE DETROIT SPINNERS-MIGHTY LOVE.
THE DETROIT SPINNERS-MIGHTY LOVE. When The Detroit Spinners signed for Atlantic Records and hooked up with producer Thom Bell there was a huge turnaround in their fortunes. Their first two albums, 1967s The Original Spinners and 2nd Time Around in 1970, hadn’t been commercial a success. Only 2nd Time Around had charted, reaching number 199 …
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