But back to the Atlantic box. The majority of today’s listening is mostly
by artists with whom we traditionally associated (at least in Australia) with
the one major hit. The various albums in
the box are, in all probability, albums that were quickly put together after the
artist had that hit in order to maximise the financial return. After all, all of these albums were released
at a time that most record companies assumed that an act’s chart life was
likely to be short. This is reflected by
the running times for these albums that are all around the so minute mark,
short even for the capacity of the vinyl LP.
Just about the only album today for which these comments don’t
apply is from one of the greatest male soul singers of all time:
(220) Solomon Burke –
If You Need Me
One of the individuals credited with inventing the term “soul
music”, in my opinion Burke ranks just behind Otis Redding and Sam Cooke and
might even rank higher if I was to think exclusively in terms of soul ballads. This is not to infer that he was a one trick
pony; his voice was capable of singing just about anything but it was the control
that was able to bring to bear on tender ballads that was astonishing. This
album provides plenty of evidence in favour of this assessment beginning with the
legendary title track and others almost as good such You Can Make It If You Try, Send Me
Some Lovin’ and I Said I was Wrong.
(221) Ben. E King! – Don’t
Play That Song
OK make it that most of my comments don’t apply to the first
two albums listened to today. Stand By Me isn’t on this album. It is instead based around a song that became
an even bigger hit for the mighty Aretha Franklin. Don’t Play That Song (You Lied) is one of
those songs only the truly great singers should ever attempt owing to the enormous
amount of anger and bitterness it contains.
(I can remember a Australian Idol contestant singing this with a smile
on her face leading to just about the only time judge Marcia Hines was moved,
quite rightly, to anger – “Why are you smiling girl? He lied to you. HE LIED!” – that the poor contestant was
voted off that same week.) That King
could pull this off was a triumph for which he’s been largely forgotten in the
wake of his other hit and Aretha’s version.
Unfortunately, the rest of the album, whilst perfectly acceptable,
simply pales in comparison.
(222) Bar-Keys – Soul
Finger
The Bar-Keys was another soul instrumental group in the
mould of Booker T and the M.G’s and one which, if Booker T’s liner notes are to
be believed, were actually groomed for success by them. The title track is justifiably
known as a classic and Bar-Keys Boogaloo follows in a similarly lively
vein. Theme From Hell’s Angels interestingly
employs a martial beat to great effect and You Can’t Sit Down sounds like some
of that “groovy” music Hollywood liked to put in the background of scenes in
60s movies when they wanted to lampoon hippies.
Wisely almost all of the tracks in which they really do sound like the
M.G’s, such as Pearl High, Hole In The Wall and Don’t Do That, are placed at
the end of the album.
(223) Eddie Floyd –
Knock On Wood
This was his debut album featuring a rather dodgy cover of
him about to hit a tree with an axe. (Wouldn’t
that make the lyric, chop on wood?) I’d only
really associated Eddie Floyd with that track but in addition to that, this
album also contains the standard Raise Your Hand and a slightly slower take on
the Wilson Pickett hit 634-5789 to make for pretty entertaining listening.
(224) Percy Sledge –
When A Man Loves A Woman
The title track is one of my least favourite soul numbers,
mainly due to the number of screeching cover versions performed by other acts
wanting to prove their vocal ability.
Invariably, they miss the almost hymn like qualities of Sledge’s
version underpinned by organ and the utter conviction of his vocals. He is similarly convincing for most of the remainder
of this album especially on When She Touches Me (Nothing Else Matters) and Love
Me Like You Mean It. The one exception
is You’re Pouring Water On A Drowning Man on which he employs a mystifying
lighter tone.
(225) Arthur Conley –
Sweet Soul Music
My knowledge of Conley’s music is minimal other than the
title track which is close to my all-time favourite soul number. It has a
combination of great music and a wonderful vocal from a then unknown singer
joyfully testifying to all of his illustrious predecessors. There’s a lot of
great material here such as Take Me (Just As I Am), Who’s Foolin’ Who and I’m Gonna
Forget About You which makes me wonder who he failed to become a greater star.
By my count that makes 13 albums done and another seven to
go.
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