NEWSLETTER #137
Rhythm & Blues,
Soul & Doo-Wop
Brook Benton ->
Albert Washingon
NOTE: Unless otherwise noted all
DVDs offered are in NTSC format which means that they will not play on a
European DVD players unless you have a multiple format player. |
THE FUNKY METERS |
Shout Factory DVD 36787 |
Live At The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage
Festival |
● DVD $19.98 |
DVD, 92 minutes, recommended
If there were an International
Scale of Funkiness, Bobby Sherman would be on one end and The Meters would
be on the other, playing Saturday Night Fish Fry and making the
ground shake. In 1994 The Meters added the modifier "Funky" preceding their
name, perhaps as legal protection for the unsuspecting faint of heart. The
foundation of the band is Art Neville, a.k.a. Poppa Funk, on keys and his
long-time bass player George Porter, Jr. Still, the muscular drumming of
David Russell Batiste, Jr. is a thing of glory all by itself. The hot hands
of Brian Stoltz on the guitar round out the group, here performing at the
New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival in 2000. Neville and co. work up a
thirst on Chug A Lug, Cissy Strut, Look-A Py Py,
Africa, and other classics. Special features include 5.1 audio and
enlightening interviews with Neville and Porter. (JC)
|
VARIOUS ARTISTS |
Bear Family 20126 |
The !!! Beat, Vol. 01 : Shows 1-5 |
● DVD $28.98 |
50 performances, 2 1/2 hours, color, essential
First in a
fantastic series of DVDs presenting all 26 episodes of this groundbreaking
TV show that was broadcast over various Southern TV stations in 1966. The
brainchild of Nashville disk jockey and entrepreneur William "Hoss" Allen,
who also hosted the show, it featured some of the top R&B and soul artists
of the time along with some more obscure artists. The house band was led
by Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown (who does two or three instrumentals on each
show) with Skippy Brooks on piano and David "Fathead" Newman leading the
horn section on the earlier shows. The performances themselves are a mix
of live in the studio, lip-synching to house band backing or miming to the
artists' current recording. Even with the lip-synching it's a treat to see
these artists at their peak. This first volume features performances by
Little Milton, Esther Phillips, Joe Tex, Etta James, Lattimore Brown,
Roscoe Shelton, Lee Shot Williams & Gerri taylor, Art Grayson, Cleo
Randle, Carla Thomas, Mighty Joe Young and Jimmy Church - wow! The show
also includes a couple of go-go dancers and the house group Frank Howard &
The Commanders who dance and do a song on some of the shows. Production is
loose with Allen frequently looking and acting tipsy and sometimes dancing
at the finale. And talking about finales - check out the finale of show 3
where Etta James, Lattimore Moore, Esther Phillips, Roscoe Shelton and
Gatemouth each do a couple of verses of What'd I Say. Video and
sound quality is superb and DVD includes 20 page illustrated booklet with
informative notes by Fred James. (FS)
|
VARIOUS ARTISTS |
Bear Family 20127 |
The !!! Beat, Vol. 02 : Shows 6-9 |
● DVD $28.98 |
42 performances, 2 hours, essential
The next four shows
with guitarist Johnny Jones (who does one instrumental) added to the house
band. Includes performances by Jimmy Church, Freddie King, Gerri Taylor,
Barbara Lynn, The Kelly Brothers, Mighty Joe Young, Art Grayson, Joe Tex,
The Carnations, Little Gary Ferguson and Charles "Charlie" Hodges plus
instrumentals from Gatemouth and the band. (FS)
|
VARIOUS ARTISTS |
Bear Family 20128 |
The !!! Beat, Vol. 03 : Shows 10-13 |
● DVD $28.98 |
43 performances, 2 hours, essential
This one features the
next four shows which feature Jimmy Church (who does Satisfaction),
Wanda Rouzan, Louis Jordan, Charles "Charlie" Hodges, The Mighty Hannibal,
Little Gary Ferguson, Johnny Taylor, The Dolls, Bobby Powell, Rodge
Martin, Maurice & The Radints and The Poppies. The final three volumes
featuring the remaining 13 shows will be issued later in the year and
includes an all Stax artists show! Your patience will be rewarded. (FS)
|
LARRY BIRDSONG |
Black Magic 9203 |
Every Night In The Week |
● CD $15.98 |
26 tracks recorded in the 50s, 60s and 70s by this fine and
distinctive blues, R&B and soul singer from Nashville. The tracks were
originally issued on small local lables like Calvert, Cherokee, Sur-Speed
and others produced for Nashville entrepreneur Ted Jarrett. Includes Tell
Me The Truth/ Now That We're Together/ Every Night In The Week/ Somebody
Somewhere/ Try Me One More Time/ Young And Fancy Free/ Tell Me The Truth/
I'd Like To Try It One More Time/ The Sea Sand, etc. INcludes 12 page
illustarted booklet with notes by Chris James and full discographical info.
|
THE CHAMBERS BROTHERS |
Acrobat 4046 |
Live |
● CD $13.98 |
12 tracks, 59 minutes, excellent
With workman-like
instrumental skills and vocal harmonies as good as any, this live set (circa
1975) from The Chambers Brothers (Lester, Willie, and George) stands quite
tall among the other releases in their catalog. Primarily made up of blues
and rock 'n' roll standards, the brothers weave their way through Mellow
Down Easy/ Mean Ol' Frisco/ High Heel Sneakers/ Your Old Lady/ Mustang
Sally/ People Get Ready, and Please Please Please, closing out
with their late-1960s major chart hit Time Has Come Today, a
nine-minute tour-de-force. Solid and powerful. (CR)
|
ARTHUR CONLEY |
Collectables 7632 |
Sweet Soul Music/ Shake, Rattle & Roll |
● CD $13.98 |
20 tracks, 54 mins, essential
The fates not only blessed
soul singer Arthur Conley with a powerful voice (a heavy Sam Cooke influence
without being derivative), but they sent him Otis Redding as a mentor. This
disc reissues Conley's first two LPs (Atco 33-125 & Atco 33-220), complete
with a reprinting of the liner notes. Redding wrote or co-wrote 8 of the
songs here, including the worthy Wholesale Love and Let Nothing
Separate Us. That aside, Conley is the powerhouse here, releasing two
albums at age 21 that would secure his place in soul music history. Songs
include the hit Sweet Soul Music, HA! HA! HA!, also by
Redding, Conley's own I'm Gonna Forget About You, Take Me (Just As
I Am) and others.(JC)
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SWAMP DOGG |
S.D.E.G. 1940 |
The Excellent Sides Of Swamp Dogg, Vol. 1 |
● CD $14.98 |
22 tracks, 71 minutes, essential
Reissues two complete
classic Swamp Dogg LPs: "Total Destruction To Your Mind" and "Rat On".
Charly put out the same package with different art and notes in 1991, but
through grammatical or typographical misadventure, the phrase "of your mind"
replaced "to your mind." A big difference, really. Destruction opens
the show with the lines, "Sitting on a corn flake,/Riding on a roller
skate," and thus the world is warned that this man is not going to follow
anybody's rules. The songs take on racism, marital infidelity, the Vietnam
war, the end of the world as we know it, and other light topics. And yet,
the amusingly titled Mama's Baby, Daddy's Maybe proved to be the only
song to gain substantial attention, rising to #33 on the R&B charts in 1970.
(Although Rat On's God Bless America, For What? got some attention
when it reportedly engendered a legal attack from the Irving Berlin people.)
The cover of follow up LP, "Rat On", features our man, with fists clenched
and raised over head, riding a giant white rat. Symbolism anyone? The
original LPs were tough to find, seemingly from the moment they were
released, so this CD is most welcome. Soul music this good deserves to stay
in print. Now if someone will reissue his "Gag A Maggot" LP. (JC)
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DR. JOHN |
DBK Works 510 |
Desitively Bonnaroo |
● CD $15.98 |
12 tracks, highly recommended
Reissue of 1974 Atco LP. As
the incense smoke cleared, Mac Rebennack glided into the mid-70's, shedding
the Night Tripper appellation and making a 360 back to his Crescent City
roots. He enlisted long-time pals Allen Toussaint, The Meters and more to do
his tunes Quitters Never Win/ Stealin'/ What Comes Around/
Me-You=Loneliness/ Mos' Scocious/ Rite Away/ RU 4 Real/ Sing Along Song/
Can't Git Enuff and title track, plus producer Toussaint's Go Tell
The People and Earl King's Let's Make A Better World. (MB)
|
DORIS DUKE |
Kent CDKEND 242 |
I'm A Loser - The Swamp Dogg Sessions |
● CD $16.98 |
Superb southern soul featuring Doris's two LPs produced by
Swamp Dogg in the early 70s plus three bonus cuts from her first session (as
Doris Willingham) in 1966.
|
VERNON GARRETT |
Kent CDKEND 224 |
I Made My Own World |
● CD $16.98 |
24 tracks, 78 mins, recommended
Add Vernon Garrett to the
list of gifted soul men whose talents have always outstripped their success.
The first 12 solo cuts are the primary reason to include this in your soul
library. Some of the cuts are from the Kent Records vaults, a few come from
Garrett's first (now hard-to-find) LP (on the obscure Grenade label), and
two are from the Watts USA label. I'm Guilty is a previously
unreleased Kent side. Note, this collections offers "take 2" of Garrett's
well-known If I Could Turn Back The Hands Of Time (which features the
same backing track but a different vocal that the Northern soul gem) which
was previously only available on the Japanese-only P-Vine CD (PCD 4766). The
11 duets with wife Jewel (Whittaker) are mostly culled from the same P-Vine
CD, 4 are live shots from a 1964 Oakland club date. Kent does their usual
admirable reissuing job here, including informative booklet notes. (JC)
|
EDDIE HINTON |
Zane 1020 |
The Songwriting Sessions, Vol. 2 |
● CD $19.98 |
20 tracks, 63 mins, highly recommended
Normally, volume 2 of
the recording dregs of a minor (obscure?) performer would be nothing to get
worked up over, but normally the performer isn't the greatest blue-eyed soul
singer/songwriter/guitarist ever. Hinton was. He played lead guitar for the
Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section from 1967-71 and did session work on hits by
Wilson Pickett, Aretha Franklin, Joe Tex, Arthur Conley, Solomon Burke,
Percy Sledge, and too many other soul greats to name here. Hinton, heavily
influenced by Otis Redding, also proved to be a gifted songwriter. This disc
collects session material from as early as 1964 (a cover of The Beatles'
You Can't Do That! and as late as 1991 (two live tracks from the
Porretta International Soul Music Festival in Italy). Songs include Big
City Woman, Down In Texas, A Man Ain't A Man, Still Water
Runs Deep, Have A Little Mercy On Me, and more. A welcome addition to
the small but powerful Hinton catalog. (JC)
|
BRENDA HOLLOWAY |
Spectrum 554 471-2 |
Grestest Hits & Rare Classics |
● CD $11.98 |
18 tracks, 51 mins, recommended
Although a Motown artist,
Holloway recorded in Los Angeles instead of Detroit, a fact that arguably
gave her a different sound than the usual Berry Gordy-machine product. As
easy on the eyes as her music was on the ears, Brenda Holloway exuded
sophistication, and somehow managed to miss out on the fame she deserved.
Her voice proved as comfortable on such ballads as Every Little Bit Hurts
(where she apparently also plays cello!) and When I'm Gone as on such
jump sides as Just Look What You've Done. She even co-wrote the hit
song You've Made Me So Very Happy. This disc collects 9 A-sides, 6
B-sides, and 3 LP cuts, and is superior to the domestic issue if only
because it's still in print. For now. (JC)
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NAT KENDRICK & THE
SWANS |
Henry Stone Music 25005 |
Nat Kendrick & The Swans |
● CD $11.98 |
13 tracks, recommended
Back in 1960 Henry Stone had a hit on
the Dade label with a driving two part R&B instrumental with shouted
interjections by Nat Kendrick & The Swans called Mashed Potatoes. It
turns out that the group was actually James Brown's backing group the JBs -
Kendrick was the group's drummer at the time. Originally the interjections
were done by Brown himself but fearing the wrath of Syd Nathan, Stone
decided to overdub the voice of local DJ Carlton " King" Coleman. This CD
opens with the unreleased original version with Brown shouting and includes
several other sides by the group mostly two parters in a similar vein and
ends with two fine soul flavored sides by vocalist with the JBs Yvonne Fair.
(FS)
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THE LAMPLIGHTERS |
Ace CDCHD 1040 |
Loving Rocking Thrilling - The Complete
Federal Recordi |
● CD $16.98 |
Terrific collection of 25 soulful up-tempo doo-wops and
ballads recorded in 1953 and '54 by this excellent West Coast group, mostly
featuring the excellent lead vocals of Thurston Harris with Willie Ray
Rockwell stepping up as front man for one number - the group's biggest hit
Be-Bop Wino. There are lots of other fine numbers here including a
couple of previoulsy unissued sides. Includes 12 page booklet with extensive
notes by Jim Dawson plus rare photos and label shots.
|
BENNY LATIMORE |
Henry Stone Music 25001 |
The Early Years |
● CD $11.98 |
16 tracks recorded in mid/late 60s by this fine deep soul
singer for Henry Stone's Blade and Dade labels including the local hits I
Can't Go On Anymore and Rain From The Sky plus There She Is/
The Power & The Glory/ Love Don't Love Me/ It's Just A Matter Of Time/ I
Pity The Fool/ I'ma Believer, etc.
BENNY LATIMORE: Ain't Gonna Cry No More/ Girl I Got News
For You/ Have A Little Faith/ I Can't Go On/ I Pity The Fool/ I'm A
Believer/ I'm Just An Ordinary Man/ It Was So Nice While It Lasted/ It's
Just A Matter Of Time/ IŽll Be Good To You/ Life's Little Ups And Downs/
Love Don't Love Me/ Moove And Groove Together/ Rain From The Sky/ The Power
And The Glory/ There She Is
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BETTYE LAVETTE |
Munich MUSA 507 |
Let Me Down Easy - In Concert |
● CD $22.98 |
8 tracks, 44 mins, highly recommended
Lavette, a criminally
under-recorded Detroit-area soul singer, spent the better part of the '60s
and '70s sporadically issuing soul songs of the first water, typically on
obscure labels that did little to promote her. It wasn't until 1982 that she
cut her first LP (Tell Me A Lie for Motown), which is well worth seeking
out. As with all her work, this is all but required listening for serious
soul fans. She's captured on stage on Sept. 23, 1999, in Holland, where a
small, sympathetic band moves through mostly familiar blue-soul territory,
including He Made A Woman Out Of Me, You'll Never Change,
Damn Your Eyes, Almost, My Man, Right In The Middle,
Your Turn To Cry (Your Time To Cry), and Let Me Down Easy.
Smoldering. (JC)
|
LITTLE RICHARD |
Rhino Handmade 7888 |
King Of Rock & Roll |
● CD $45.98 |
Three CDs, 54 tracks, recommended
Though best remembered for
his classic 50s recordings Little Richard continued to make fine original
music when he wasn't remaking his Specialty hits as this collection of early
70s recordings for Reprise clearly shows. This set features Richard's three
issued album, an album that was completed but never issued, songs from the
soundtrack of the movie "$ (Dollar)", non LP singles, unissued songs,
alternate takes and a couple of radio spots featuring Richard plugging his
Reprise albums. A high proportion of the songs here are Little Richard
originals and the material ranges from hard driving rock 'n' roll to soul to
country (including several nice covers of Hank Williams songs). Sessions
were produced by H.B. Barnum, "Bumps" Blackwell and Richard himself. Some of
the material is pretty forgettable and some of arrangements are not always
appropriate but there's a lot of good stuff here. The 20 page booklet
includes reproductions of original album covers and notes plus new notes by
Tom Vickers which helps put these recordings into perspective. (FS)
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THE MANHATTANS |
Collectables 6376 |
I'm The One That Love Forgot |
● CD $11.98 |
17 tracks, highly recommended The Manhattans, not to be
confused with the group who recorded for Dootone in 1959, got their start on
Capitol Records in 1962. In 1964 they switched to Carnival where ther
remained for the next three years. This CD features the two LPs issued on
Carnival in 1965 and 1967 and includes some of their best work. The group's
Carnival style is best described as a mix of The Spinners with the
latter-day Impressions. One of the earliest exponents of Soul-Funk This set
includes 4 chart-toppers -- I Wanna Be (Your Everything)/ I Betcha
(Couldn't Love Me), When We're Made As One, and I Call It Love.
Personal faves include Alone on New Year's Eve and the beautiful
Can I. (OLN/ FS)
|
J.P. ROBINSON |
Henry Stone Music 25008 |
Classic R&B From The 60s |
● CD $11.98 |
First CD release of this fine soul singer who recorded for
Henry Stone's Alston label between 1968 including his two minor hits You
Got Your Thing On A String and Love Is Not A Stranger plus the
gorgeous deep soul ballads Love Is Not A Stranger and I've Got A
Long Way To Go and others.
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SAM & DAVE |
Henry Stone Music 25013 |
Sam & Dave |
● CD $11.98 |
16 tracks, recommended
12 of the 16 tracks on this
collection features the duos earliest recordings produced by Henry Stone and
issued on Roulette in 1963. It finds the duo searching for a consistent
style--or for something that would sell. That classic S&D soul sound seeps
through frequently on these early cuts, through it would not be fully
realized until Isaac Hayes & David Porter joined pens. Several tracks here
work at turning R&B and gospel into soul, and on songs like I Need Love,
Sam Cooke's influence is undeniable. Yet for all their experimenting, the
team is invariably fine. The last two cuts features Dave Prater's fine 1972
Alston single and the remaining two of undetermined origin and includes an
exciting version of Gene Vincent's Lotta Lovin. (FS/ JC)
|
HOWARD TATE |
Koch 9512 |
Reaction |
● CD $11.98 |
12 tracks, 32 mins, essential
Two years after cutting one
of the finest soul albums of all time, Howard Tate recorded Reaction for
Lloyd Price's Turntable label (using some of the same studio musicians),
only to have it slip into obscurity. Many soul music mavins have never even
seen a copy. Produced by Price (who also contributes 7 songs) and Johnny
Nash (who contributes not only his hit Hold Me Tight, but the
arrangement and backing vocal!), this album is as good as it is rare, not
the typical case. Up-tempo soul gems include Question, That's What
Happens, and Have You Ever Had The Blues, but Tate is equally
skilled when the speeds slow on his reading of Sam Cooke's Chain Gang
and the Jimmy Norman tune These Are The Things That Make Me Know You're
Gone. Why did the reissue take so long? (JC)
|
IRMA THOMAS |
Stateside 579 965-2 |
Straight From the Soul |
● CD $11.98 |
24 tracks, 62 min, highly recommended
The "EMI Legends of
Rock & Roll" best of from 1992 (now deleted) still ranks as the gold
standard for Irma Thomas collections, but this set comes close. And ten
tracks here do not appear on the EMI disc, including the northern soul
workout Teasing But You're Pleasing, the Thomas-penned Straight
From The Heart, Randy Newman's Baby Don't Look Down, I Need
Your Love So Bad, and the superb You Don't Miss Your Good Thing
(Until It's Gone). Seventeen of the songs appeared on Thomas' two fine
Imperial LPs, Wish Someone Would Care (1964) and Take A Look (1966). In fact
except for a two tracks, the latter release is all here. Ignoring some
remarkable singles in favor of the LP material is forgivable, as is leaving
off Ruler Of My Heart, though it is hard to accept. But how could the
anyone omit It's Raining, one of the sweetest soul songs ever to fall
from the sky? Still, this is worth picking up. (JC)
IRMA THOMAS: Anyone Who Knows What Love Is (will
Understand)/ Baby Don‘t Look Down/ Break-a-way/ Girl Needs Boy/ I Haven't
Got Time To Cry/ I Need Your Love So Bad/ I'm Gonna Cry Til My Tears Run
Dry/ It's Starting To Get To Me Now/ Live Again/ Long After Tonight Is All
Over/ Some Things You Never Get Used To/ Somebody Told You/ Straight From
The Heart/ Sufferin' With The Blues/ Take A Look/ Teasing, But You‘re
Pleasing/ The Hurt's All Gone/ Time Is On My Side/ Two Winters Long/ Wait
Wait Wait/ What Are You Trying To Do/ While The City Sleeps/ Wish Someone
Would Care/ You Don't Miss Your Good Thing (until It's Gone)
|
BILLY WARD & HIS
DOMINOES |
Classics 5120 |
The Chronological Billy Ward & His Dominoes,
1950-53 |
● CD $14.98 |
This features the first 24 sides recorded by this great
vocal group - the first 22 with Clyde McPhatter in the lead role and the
last two from 1953 with Jackie Wilson. Unlike the Varese album (see below)
this does not have the alternate takes or the duet with Little Esther.
|
BILLY WARD & HIS
DOMINOES |
Varese 66553 |
Featuring Jackie Wilson |
● CD $13.98 |
19 tracks, 51 mins, highly recommended
This volume picks up
where the previous one left off after Clyde McPhatter had left the group in
1953 and went to Atlantic and helped form The Drifters. His place was taken
by the equally fine Jackie Wilson who was lead singer for the group for the
next three years. He was fired from the group in 1956 and went back to
Detroit where he started on his highly successful solo career. The group only
had a couple of hits during this period - the jumping You Can't Keep A
Good Man Down and a soulful rendition of the pop ballad Rags To
Riches but continued turning out fine performances including a superb
reworking of the traditional blues I'm Gonna Move To The Outskirts Of
Town, a rocking rendition of St. Louis, the gospel flavored
Above Jacob's Ladder and others. As a bonus the set includes Jackie
first two solo sides recorded as Sonny Wilson in 1952 for the Dee Gee label
- the blues Rainy Day Blues and a version of the much recorded
Danny Boy (FS)
|
ALBERT WASHINGTON |
Westbound CDSEWM 142 |
Sad And Lonely |
● CD $12.98 |
11 tracks, 44 min., highly recommended
Reissues the 1973
soul/blues lost classic Eastbound LP (originally EB 9007), and adding the
previously unissued cover of Jimmy Hughes' Steal Away as a bonus. As
comfortable on the self-penned, blues inflected No Matter What The Cost
May Be as he is on the James Brown influenced funky soul work-out
You're Messing Up My Mind, Washington blurred the soul-blues line beyond
recognition. His own My Mother's Prayer brings his gospel background
into the soul foreground, with powerful results. Washington punches out a
pair of Detroit Emeralds covers, Feel The Need and If I Lose Your
Love, while the Memphis Horns turn up the fire now and again, giving
these recordings a fuller sound that some earlier Washington sides. This
release brings the many talents of the Cincinnati-based Washington into
sharp focus and makes his lack of commercial success a mystery. Perhaps
disco is to blame. (JC)
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