Dee Dee Warwick – 1970 -Turning Around

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One of the greatest moments ever from Dee Dee Warwick – and a set that definitely shows her to be one of the more soulful members of her famous family! The set's got a much deeper soul sound than some of Dee Dee's other material – as Atlantic has Warwick working down at Criteria Studios, with production by Dave Crawford – in a mode that's steeped in previous southern soul styles from Memphis and Muscle Shoals! In a way, Atlantic was probably hoping to do to Dee Dee what they did to Aretha Franklin – take an already competent, sophisticated soul singer, and give her a deep soul sound that really pushes the boundaries. And in this case, the session actually works, and works great – thanks in part to The Sweet Inspirations, who back up Dee Dee in the same way they backed up Aretha – supporting her strong lead with some wonderful harmonies.

Tracks
A1 If This Was The Last Song 3:27     
A2  More Today Than Yesterday 4:10     
A3 Who Will The Next Fool Be 3:40     
A4 I'm Glad I'm A Woman 2:57     
A5 She Didn't Know 3:45     
B1 A Girl Who'll Satisfy Her Man 3:25     
B2 I Ain't Got To Love Nobody Else 3:06     
B3 I'm Only Human 3:10     
B4 Make Love To Me 2:45     
B5 Down So Low 4:16

Dee Dee Warwick spent most of her career in the shadow of her significantly more famous sister, Dionne Warwick, and that's a shame, since Dee Dee was a very gifted soul singer with a style quite different than that of her sibling. Dee Dee Warwick had a stronger and more forceful instrument than Dionne, revealing a clear gospel influence, and she could belt out deep Southern soul with passion and authority. Dee Dee's first album for Atco, 1970's Turning Around, is a small triumph; produced by Dave Crawford with Jim Dickson and the Dixie Flyers backing her up, this is top-notch Southern soul with a bit of rock & roll flash in Charlie Freeman's guitar and no shortage of groove in Sammy Creason's drumming. Crawford rounded up a great set of songs for Warwick on these sessions; "She Didn't Know (She Kept on Talking)" is a slow and slinky cheating song that was a well deserved R&B hit, "I'm Glad I'm a Woman" speaks of a happier romance with no shortage of heart and happiness, Warwick gives Jimmy Webb's "If This Was the Last Song" a reading that fuses intelligence and emotional power, and her take on Charlie Rich's "Who Will the Next Fool Be" is a bluesy triumph of a woman done wrong. One thing Dee Dee had in common with Dionne was a welcome sense of restraint, and while the performances on Turning Around don't hold back on the emotional intensity, she doesn't overplay, and even when she's getting happy on these tunes, she sounds honest rather than histrionic. Turning Around should have established Dee Dee Warwick as a powerhouse talent and a star in her own right; that didn't quite happen, but four decades after it was released it still sounds like a classic from the tail end of soul's golden age that deserves rediscovery. Mark Deming, All Music Guide

…..In spite of some great recordings for the label (which released a total of two albums, a self-titled 1966 debut and 1969's "Foolish Fool"), Dee Dee's recording career needed a boost. In a 1995 interview, she noted, "Mercury wanted to re-sign me but Atlantic made a better offer…I got a brand new car and some nice money! Jerry Wexler, who I had known for many years from all the background work I had done behind Atlantic artists, signed me and he and I picked most of the material I recorded for Atco."

Dee Dee's first session for Atco in February 1970 represented a reunion with producer Ed Townsend. Four tunes were cut although nothing was ever released from that session until the 1996 release of "The Atco Sessions" on Ichiban's Soul Classics label. Included in that collection were two tunes, "Only The One You Love," a song that had previously been recorded by Aretha Franklin on Columbia and released in 1967 on the album, "Take It Like You Give It"; and a tune penned by Dee Dee and Townsend, "The Way We Used To Do", another version of which was attempted at a Detroit session in 1971.

Since executive Wexler had just begun experiencing success by sending artists such as Aretha Franklin to Criteria Studios in Miami, Florida, he dispatched Dee Dee to the facility at the beginning of April to work with up-and-coming producer Dave Crawford (who was to deliver a hit for Atlantic with cousin Jackie Moore's "Precious, Precious" later in 1970).

In all, Dee Dee cut ten songs which formed the basis for "Turning Around," her one and only Atco album. "Jerry picked many of them," Dee Dee states. "I wanted to do the song "More Today Than Yesterday" which had been recorded by Carmen McRae also on Atlantic and I remember the tune "Down So Low" had originally been done by this rock group Mother Earth (in 1969). Jerry came up with Charlie Rich's "Who Will Your Next Fool Be" and (the late) Van McCoy gave me "Make Love To Me," which Maxine Brown later recorded, and which is still my favorite on the album because I love being made loved to!"

Other notable tunes on the LP included a version of "If This Was The Last Song," a Jim Webb song that had also been recorded by Thelma Houston; "I Ain't Got To Love Nobody Else," a Top 10 R&B hit for The Masqueraders in 1968; and "I'm Only Human," a song penned by Muscle Shoals-based songsmiths George Soule and Terry Woodford.

However, it was a song written by Jerry Williams, Jr. (aka Swamp Dogg), Gary "U.S." Bonds, and Charles Whitehead recorded as the first tune at that mammoth session in April, 1970 that gave Dee Dee her biggest hit for the label. "She Didn't Know (She Kept On Talking)" was a classic tale of infidelty in which 'the other woman' had inadvertently revealed herself to her lover's wife and was much in the vein of "To The Other Woman (I'm The Other Woman)," a tune that had been recorded by Jerry Williams on singer Doris Duke a few months earlier.

Legend has it that "She Didn't Know" had been recorded originally by Duke as a follow-up to her hit; according to a 1970 interview with Dee Dee, "Doris had recorded it before me although I didn't know it. I was just presented with the song. I liked it and recorded it, and it was as simple as that…" As it turned out, another Williams protege, Sandra Phillips also recorded the song but it's Dee Dee's version that remains an all-time soul classic…..The Atco Sessions Liner Notes

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The Pointer Sisters – 1975 – Steppin’

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Keeping their forward momentum at warp speed, the Pointer Sisters brought the effusive Steppin' to bear in summer 1975. Having already danced into the spotlight across their first three albums, it was no surprise when the David Rubins on-produced LP, which boasted one of the era's best cut-out sleeves (slingback high-heeled tap sneakers!), cruised to number three R&B. Keeping their feet planted firmly in the older soul tradition which had served them so well, the Pointer Sisters continued to look ahead, carving their own niche in a genre soon to be glutted with contenders. This set is a thriller, from the opening funk groove of the number one hit "How Long (Betcha' Got a Chick on the Side)", which remains a delicious collision of mid-period soul, funk, and nascent disco, to their energetic cover of Stevie Wonder's "Sleeping Alone" and "Chainey Do", which sports jazz fusionist Herbie Hancock on clavinet. Sparklers like these only serve to whet the Pointer Sisters' own appetite, though, as they work their way through a hefty course of vibes. Their love of early standards blossoms across the smoky, sultry, six-minute "I Ain't Got Nothing but the Blues" — a wonderful tribute to Duke Ellington sung in medley form, allowing the quartet's vocal harmonies to shine across a big band backdrop. Elsewhere, they take a spin through Allen Toussaint's "Going Down Slowly", which scored them another R&B hit at the end of 1975. And although the Pointer Sisters are best-remembered for the mid-'80s disco soul they plied so well, it's albums like Steppin' which best capture the sisters' true spirit.

Tracks
A1 How Long (Betcha Got a Chick on the Side) 7:26
A2 Sleeping Alone 4:31
A3 Easy Days 3:36
A4 Chainey Do 6:03
B1 I Ain't Got Nothin'but the Blues:Medley in Tribute to Duke Ellington 6:14
B2 Save the Bones for Henry Jones 3:10
B3 Wanting Things 3:11
B4 Going Down Slowly 7:54

STEPPIN' is a high point in the Pointer Sisters 70's output, and their final album for Blue Thumb; with plenty of space for their 40s style Big band chorus singing, as well as some of their heaviest funk of all time. Once it occurs to you that this album plays like the bulk of a musical the P-Sis might have written about a woman who's man recently left her high and dry, and is now STEPPIN' out to find her own way; it's hard not to see how these songs follow this theme. "How Long" starts as a slow funk burner and establishes the cheating man theme, while the elastic tempoed "Sleeping Alone" states the obvious in an oddly assembled composition that works nonetheless (probably one of the least catgorizable songs of their career; written by Stevie Wonder). "Easy Days" takes it down to an Issac Hayes ballad tempo (one of the writers) and falls into a Broadway style 70s show music tune about dreamin and hopin for a day alone without a worry. "Chaney Do" is one of the hard funk numbers here, about searching the town for some lovin' but finding that Mr. Chaney is the only one who satisfies. It begins with a wonderful African chant and progresses into a funky rhythm section, wah wahed out guitar and stanky clavinet by Stevie Wonder, in a lengthy solo section before breaking back down to a chanted ending.

"Nothing But The Blues" is a remarkable tribute to Duke Ellington which flows back and forth between six different songs by Duke. The slow build, strings and superbly arranged vocals take us near both the 40s and Broadway again (or more accurately 40s Harlem's 125th Street), while the P-Sis build to an ending where lines from several songs are delivered alongside one another for a rather smart climax. "Henry Jones" is a throwback to the earlier P-Sis 40's style hot Jazz, about a dinner party guest who doesn't eat meat. This is one of the most humorous P-Sis songs in their catalog and the accompaniment is perfectly styled. "Wanting Things" juxtaposes a practically 'Love Story'-style ballad arrangement with a lyric that deals with some serious spiritual questions about desire. "Going Down Slowly" (next to Sleeping Alone, Chaney Do, Nothin But The Blues and Henry Jones) is one of the classics from this album. This Toussaint composition is the absolute heaviest P-Sis 70s funk you'll ever hear (unless you get into their back-up work for the early 70s Betty Davis albums), and was included (edited to more than half it's length) in the Best Of Blue Thumb double album that came out the next year. The lyric is a classic cautionary tale about people born into freedom loosing their freedom and soul while they wait for the others. "Going Down" is a slowly burner that drops a funk bomb with the P-Sis belting it out so heavy you'll get chills up your spine! Not sure how the finale here fits into the earlier theme, but someone needs to consider putting together a 'Mama Mia'-style musical out of Pointer Sisters songs; it'd kill! An amazing way to end an already solid album that could easily have been the P-Sis break through album, rather than 1983's BREAK OUT. Instead they're probably remembered for their 70s work more from the CAR WASH Soundtrack than this amazing album

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Maze fet Frankie Beverly – 1980 – Joy and Pain

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Frankie Beverly and Maze's fourth album, JOY & PAIN, was their most fully realized recording to date, with Beverly really coming into his own as a producer. While the more extensive production of third album INSPIRATION served mainly to enhance the ballads, here there's a richer, more fleshed-out feel to every element of the Maze sound. The opening cut, "Changing Times", is full of visceral jazz-meets-funk textures that would have made famed arranger David Axelrod envious. The instrumental "Roots" is full of churning riffs, interlocking guitars, bubbling keyboards, and flailing percussion. Throughout the album, the use of synthesizer as a lead instrument, instead of merely orchestral padding, is a notable advance. The much-sampled title cut is a tour de force that utilizes a combination of percussion and drum machine to hypnotic effect, while jazzy, dreamy guitars and keyboards float across the top. The balladic feel of INSPIRATION isn't absent on JOY & PAIN, but like everything else, its more fully integrated than ever before.

Tracks
A1 Changing Times  6:37
A2 The Look in Your Eyes 5:19
A3 Family 5:11
A4 Roots 5:08
B1 Joy and Pain 7:14
B2 Southern Girl 6:54
B3 Happiness 6:46

Beverly, who was born in Philadelphia in 1946, started out musically in his hometown with a band named the Butlers.  The Butlers became Raw Soul and it was this band that, in the early seventies, switched its base to San Francisco and reformed as Maze.

Maze, who have been described as perhaps the ultimate urban contemporary group, were definitely fan favourites who received little critical acclaim, notice or adulation except from soul and R & B writers.  From 1977 to 1989 they recorded for that unsung goldmine of soul music, Capitol, before moving on to the new pastures of Warner Brothers.

It was in 1980, during their Capitol hey day, that Maze recorded "Joy and Pain', including it on the album of the same name.  From day one it became a modern day classic with an enduring cult interest from serious soul fans, an interest that has been confirmed over and over by the number of quality covers it has attracted.

Hands down this is a brilliant album! In the immediate post disco era Frankie Beverly & Maze had been swinging the musical tide in the opposite direction for five years before this album was released in 1980. The opening cut "Changing Times" swirls around with a light guitar solo, then goes into blasts of bass before going full throttle into soulful funkiness, matched only to a plaintive guitar and Beverly's gurgling, soulful voice.

Then there is the title cut and I only have one word to say about that-ALL TIME SOUL AND POP CLASSIC! It's up there with the finest of Stevie,Marvin,Isaac,The O'jays and EWF but sadly is little known outside the R&B community!" Southern Girl" is a fine funk romp but throughout 'Joy And Pain' tempo's are always changing, the music always evolving and the organ/vocal/ guitar interplay has a rather folksy approach to soul that few of the period's urban contemporary artists could replicate. Not that Maze with their hard driving sound were ever an urban band at all. And that's what gives this album it's charm-it's unlike anything else in R&B at that point and hasn't aged one day! The entire neo soul movement of today stems directly from albums like this one so fans of 'Innervisions', 'What's Going On', 'Hot Buttered Soul' or even 'A Quiet Storm' should go right out and purchase 'Joy And Pain'-

It's a definitive soul classic and will transport you to another musical world!

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Act – 1974 – Act 1

Rip and research by Mr.Moo

Posting & additional info's by Nikos

An obscure soul group, but a great one – equally at home with a fragile harmony tune as they were with more uptempo groovers for the dancefloor! This one and only album from Act One is a perfect illustration of the best two sides of the east coast indie soul scene of the early 70s – because some tunes are spare, simple, and heartbreaking – really building off the best qualities of 60s harmony soul, but with a lot more sophistication – while others are bolder, more upbeat, and positive – really using the new studio modes of the time to send a few tunes really over the top! The mix is quite similar to Black Ivory at their best – although the album's more under-discovered treasure – and although it's the only record ever by the group, it's got a solidity that should have made them as big as any of the 70s stars on Atlantic or Philly International!

Tracks
A1 Party Hardy People 3.44    
A2 I Don't Want To Know What You Do To Me 2.58        
A3 Still Water 5.06        
A4 Goodbye Love (We're Through) 2.13        
A5 Friends Or Lover's 3.18        
B1 It's The Same Old Story 3.07        
B2 You Didn't Love Me Anyhow 4.34        
B3 Love's Got Your Mind 2.34        
B4 Dump 'N From The Middle 3.29    
B5 Tom The Peeper 2.18        
B6 Do You Feel It 2.53

West Coast producer/writer Rafael Gerald, already renowned for producing and writing much of Millie Jackson's first three albums, hoped to strike gold again when he launched Act One in 1972 in Los Angeles. The core group included Reginald Ross, George Barker, and Roger Terry, session men Gerald had worked with in the past. Assembling as Act One, this slick, jamming band signed to Spring Records and recorded their eponymous debut for release in 1973.
Although the album itself never took off, it did unreel several minor hit singles. February 1973 brought the Top 30 R&B smash "Friends of Lovers". Backed with "I Never Had a Love Like Yours," the song hovered just out of the pop Top 100. July then saw the band score with another, markedly less-successful (number 90) summertime single, "Takes Two of Us"/"Whole Lotta Lovemaking", before they dropped out of sight in the United States.
Although Act One may have disappeared in their homeland, 1974 brought them a brief revitalization in England when another single, "Tom the Peeper",  was plucked off the album to become a monstrous Northern soul club hit and a minor national chart entry — the single debuted at number 40 on the U.K. pop charts for the week of May 18, 1974. The song did nothing stateside, however, and Act One disbanded not long after, leaving Gerald to move on to other production projects. He would come full circle in 1999, reuniting with Jackson on her Between the Sheets LP.

One of the greatest of all the so-called "lost" funk albums of the early to mid-'70s, Act One's eponymous debut album stands as a testament to all the gritty majesty that Raeford Gerald would bring to his work with Millie Jackson — sharp production, slick instrumentation, and a driving, dirty punchiness that absolutely defines such titles as the vaguely punning "A Whole Lotta Lovemaking," "Takes Two of Us," and "Tom the Peeper." It is that latter, of course, which brought Act One the most attention; a favorite on the British Northern soul circuit, from whence its renown spread to the U.S., it has since turned up on various genre compilations, drawing further fans and collectors into the search for this (admittedly hard-to-find) album. However, "Tom the Peeper"'s ruthless horns and thunderous gyrations are only the tip of the iceberg, both musically and commercially — two further tracks from the album, "Friends and Lovers" and the aforementioned "Takes Two of Us," hit the domestic R&B chart during 1973, while "Never Had a Love Like Yours" too, offers an unforgettable highlight. All of which means, record-buyers of the age can scarcely be forgiven for not drawing the album, too, into the commercial spotlight ( Amy Hanson, All Music Guide).

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Phyllis Hyman -1977 – Phyllis Hyman

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The world first became aware of Phyllis Hyman in 1975, through four tracks that were released before her debut album. The first of these, "Leaving The Good Life Behind," sailed along the disco wave of the period. Her passion through the lyrics she sings is evident; however, the single was not met with the same passion. It came and went without fanfare. Her second single "Baby, I'm Gonna Love You" fare better and garnered more attention on the R&B charts, rewarding her with a minor hit. Both tracks were produced by George Kerr, who is credited with discovering Phyllis Hyman.

Tracks
A1 Loving You, Losing You 7:41
A2 No One Can Love You More 4:20
A3 One Thing on My Mind   5:30
A4 I Don't Want to Lose You 5:31
B1 Deliver the Love 4:02
B2 Was Yesterday Such a Long Time Ago 4:55
B3 The Night Bird Gets the Love 5:20
B4 Beautiful Man of Mine 6:56
B5 Children of the World 2:55

Her subsequent artistic collaboration with Norman Connors resulted in two released singles from his acclaimed album "You Are My Starship". The mid-tempo duet, "We Both Need Each Other", further capitalized on her unique style and her voice was complimented with featured male vocalist Michael Henderson. She would record with him again in the future on one of her biggest R&B hits. It wasn't until the painfully lush ballad, "Betcha By Golly Wow", that provoked an effective second look at this aspiring singer. The result: it raised the audience's interest level of this woman who projected a musical and artistic maturity far beyond her years. During the course of her musical career, she would continue to lovingly tease her fans by occasionally providing vocals to tracks for other artists such as Norman Connors, The Four Tops, Barry Manilow, Joe Sample, Pharaoh Sanders, Lonnie Liston Smith, McCoy Tyner, the late Grover Washington, Jr. and The Whispers.

This 1977 set is the debut from one of music's most emotional and loved singers. Her career got a jump-start from her work on Norman Connors's 1976 album You Are My Starship, where Hyman gave a melancholy and skilled reading of the Stylistics' hit "Betcha By Golly Wow." That album set the standard for Hyman's career and features classy, mellow R&B sound made by players with esteemed jazz/R&B players. But among her late '70s and early '80s output, Phyllis Hyman is curiously one of her most forgotten efforts, though it includd many songs she would be later be identified with. Skip Scarborough's "No One Can Love You More" is indicative of her plentiful sensual charm and her rich vocal timbre. Although Hyman's vocal prowess is well known, this set also shows that she was gifted with an uncommon maturity. Hyman was only in her mid 20's when this was recorded. That self-possession made her glide through the majority of the material here. Thom Bell and Linda Creed's "I Don't Want to Lose You" (originally recorded by the Spinners) has Hyman's version even more of a tearjerker. From singing the chorus in the intro, to doing a Sarah Vaughan-like scat in the middle, the song was hers. The debut also displays her skill, the blessing and curse of making half-baked material interesting. On "Beautiful Man of Mine" and Hubert Eaves' "Children of the World", her vocals are undoubtedly the best thing about the tracks. Phyllis Hyman veers from instant melodic classics to unformed ideas, a mix that prevents it from being essential.

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The Whispers – 1974 – Bingo

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The Whispers engaged in a vintage Philly Soul style on this record. They were catering to Soul fans who favored the smooth, urban Soul also released by the likes of The O'Jays, The Spinners and Blue Magic. The Whispers' forte is ultra-smooth harmony vocals. You find plenty of that on Bingo. While the group has always revealed their greatest strengths in the ballads, they spiced this dish, pardon, disc, with peppy up-tempo tracks which already display much of the danceability and the arrangements of Disco music, Philly-style, which was already going strong in '74. They are pleasant and breezy (Broken Home; Where There Is Love), if a bit harmless. Here and there, the tunes are reminiscent of Burt Bacharach's style of writing. The ballads (e.g. God Gave Me Everything) have that slightly jazzy gloss that is so typical for Whispers' best stuff. The album still doesn't sound formalized or cloned and is proof of the fact that sophisticated urban Soul had entered a vintage phase. This phase was soon to be swept away by Rap and dinosaur synthesizer productions.

Tracks
A1 Mother for My Children 3:15
A2 Someone's Waiting 3:38
A3 Will You Be Mine 3:37
A4 Little Red Riding Hood 3:40
A5 Bingo 5:19
B1 Once More With Feeling 3:22
B2 God Gave Me Everything 3:56
B3 Where There Is Love 3:53
B4 What More Can a Girl Ask For 3:40
B5 Don't Take Your Love 3:00
B6 Broken Home 3:28

Arguably one of the Whispers' best LPs, this went virtually unsung due to poor promotion. It was the L.A. natives' first foray outside of California to record. Norman Harris, along with Allan Felder, Bunny Sigler, and Ron Baker presented them with a treasure chest of tunes. The title track cut a groove from the first note, as the uptempo number was a perfect vehicle for the Whispers; "A Mother for My Children" did all right, rising up the charts, then like a pricked balloon fell even faster. The romantic "Someone's Waiting" has the deft harmonies favored by the fellows.

"Little Red Riding Hood" languished on the LP, but deserved a better fate; Sigler and Felder took the fairy tale and concocted a melodic love song. Writers Hawes, Jefferson, and Simmons' bouncy "Where There Is Love" is similar to what the Spinners were doing, though their arrangement differs from a Thom Bell chart. Written by bassist Ron Baker, the rump-shaking "Once More with Feeling" scored on the disco chart; the guys sing it with gusto. A good mixture of slow jams and booty-movers (by Andrew Hamilton, AMG)

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Donny Hathaway – 1973 – Live

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Massively beautiful work from the great Donny Hathaway! After two studio albums that had firmly put him on the map as one of the 70s best soul talents, Atco had the genius to have Donny record this live album before very enthusiastic crowds in Hollywood and New York. The result is one of the best soul albums ever – one that shows a totally different side of Donny, and which has him jamming with a smaller, hipper, jazz-oriented group in long versions of some of his best tracks. Features a massive 12 minute version of "The Ghetto", which has loads of excellent instrumental breakdowns, a 13 minute version of "Voices Inside (Everything Is Everything)", a superior version of the track "Little Ghetto Boy", which was only ever on a soundtrack, and covers of "What's Going On" and "Jealous Guy" that really transform them from the original versions.

Tracks
A1 What's Going On 5:17
A2 The Ghetto 12:18
A3 Hey Girl 4:02
A4 You've Got a Friend 4:33
B1 Little Ghetto Boy 4:32
B2 We're Still Friends 5:15
B3 Jealous Guy 3:09
B4 Voices Inside (Everything Is Everything) 13:40

Easily one of the greatest live experiences ever captured on wax, Donny Hathaway's Live from 1973 is half taken from a show at New York's Bitter End club and half from the Troubadour in Hollywood. The group backing Hathaway is absolutely phenomenal – Willie Weeks, one of the most in-demand session musicians of the time kills it on bass, Earl DeRouen keeps things extra funky with his congas, and Fred White and Mike Howard (on drums and guitar, respectively) are no slouches either when it comes to these grooves. Donny himself plays mostly the Wurlitzer electric piano, though I think I heard organ on at least one track. There's a lot of what I would call 'soul jamming', just endless riffing on some soulful Wurlizer chords, but the way these musicians interact with each other is so goddamn incredible, these songs could go on forever and I'd never get sick of them. And as if that wasn't enough, Donny was blessed with one of the all time great voices for soul music. He sounds a bit like Stevie Wonder with a more gospel edge, but there's a certain level of pain and sadness in his vocal chords that is unmatched by anyone else. That's one of the reasons I prefer all three covers on here to the originals, particularly Marvin Gaye's "What's Goin' On", his tortured soul is perfectly suited for the subject matter.

Live is also one of those rare exceptions in an artist catalog where the live record is even more essential than the studio albums; the only two songs that appeared before were "The Ghetto" and "Voices Inside (Everything is Everything)", on Everything Is Everything and both songs are now extended over 10 minutes, with extreme conga playing in the former and a masterful Willie Weeks bass solo in the latter. "Little Ghetto Boy" also has a studio counterpoint on Come Back, Charleston Blue, but the live version eclipses it easily.

Like all my personal favorites, I could go on and on, but I'll conclude by sharing my all-time favorite moment on this LP: After the swirly jazz intro to "The Ghetto" ends, some girl in the audience, sensing the excitement of what's about to come, exclaims "Alright, this is it!" That about sums the whole thing up perfectly.

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Jerry Butler – 1968 – The Ice Man Cometh

Review by Soulmakossa

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Amazing soul from one of the greats of the 60s! This album was one of the first that Jerry cut for Mercury – where he'd begun working with the young team of Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff to completely rework the earlier sound he'd forged at Vee Jay Records. The album's still got Jerry singing in his wonderfully rich deep voice – hence the "iceman" in the title – but the songs have a bit more of a groove to them, with a soaring soul style that really lifts Jerry up, and pushes him onto a whole new generation of soul fans. The best proof of this are the hits "Hey Western Union Man" and "Never Give You Up" – but the whole album's great, and like most of Jerry's LPs, it's got many wonderful tunes hiding underneath the hits.

Tracks
A1 Hey Western Union Man 2:37
A2 Can't Forget About You, Baby  2:36
A3 Only the Strong Survive 2:35
A4 How Can I Get in Touch With You 2:26
A5 Just Because I Really Love You 2:37
A6 Lost 2:35
B1 Never Give You Up 2:56
B2 Are You Happy 2:40
B3 (Strange) I Still Love You 2:50
B4 Go Away – Find Yourself 2:52
B5 I Stop by Heaven 3:20

Although mostly recorded in Philadelphia, this album by soul troubadour Jerry Butler is in the Chicago Soul vein all the way; it's too hard and gritty to be called 'Philly' – which wouldn't surface as a genre until the early '70s – despite the beautiful arrangements and sometimes huge orchestration.

Teaming up with future hitmakers Gamble and Huff, Butler cut his finest LP in 1968 with 'The Iceman Cometh'. Veering between uptempo soul nuggets and truly magnificent, haunting ballads, many a contemporary R&B artist found inspiration in it and plenty of its tunes were covered well into the '70s.

One of Butler's best loved cuts, the bouncy, mid-tempo romper "Hey Western Union Man" became nothing short of a standard and the same can be said for the gently cruising gospelfide rockin' soul beater "Only the Strong Survive", one of the centrepieces on Elvis Presley's comeback album 'From Elvis In Memphis'.

Speaking of Memphis, the horn heavy "Can't Forget About You, Baby" smacks of that big brassy Stax sound. A ferocious floorshaker, drenched in the sweet, purring vibe of the Hammond organ and embellished with the right amount of strings. Butler's pleading, warm voice is at its best here, especially on the chorus. Decidedly more Windy City is the breezy, mellow "How Can I Get in Touch With You", with its warm jazzy guitar, vibes and swirling violins.
 

And then there's that deliciously groovy, laidback ballad "Just Because I Really Love You", where the horns stretch out in suspense and the piano sounds dark and ominous. That same spooky atmosphere hangs around the brassy intro to "Lost", a shufflin', brooding piece sporting a crashing back beat, which works its way up to an anthemic, jubilant chorus.

Another soon-to-become evergreen appears in the guise of the slow burning "Never Give You Up", a brilliant pop-soul confection covered by everyone from The Jacksons to Isaac Hayes. Equally snappy is the soft, despondent lament "Are You Happy", with more subtle orchestration and another heart wrenching vocal.

Up next are two superb, dark, intensely sad ballads: the ghostly "(Strange) I Still Love You", with its ethereal backing vocals, churchy organ and weeping strings, and the truly goosebump inducing "Go Away – Find Yourself", an unbelievably touching, sweet rendering, majestically orchestrated.

Butler ends this magnificent longplayer on a more upbeat note, as he swoons, croons and wails his way through the country soul gem "I Stop By Heaven".

A masterpiece.

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Inez Foxx – 1973 – At Memphis

Review by Soulmakossa

Rip, posting & additional info's by Nikos

Anyone with a passing interest in soul and R&B surely knows the name Inez Foxx (as in “and Charlie”) via ‘Mockingbird’, a classic in the truest sense of the word that will remembered long after the hit cover by James Taylor (despoiler of old R&B) and Carly Simon is but a greasy stain on the 70’s. They recorded a bunch of great stuff during the early-to-mid 60’s for the Sue and Dynamo labels.

Following her musical partnership with brother Charlie, Inez signed with Volt records in 1971 and headed to Memphis to make herself a record.

Titled – oddly enough – ‘Inez Foxx at Memphis’ , the disc is chock full of high quality early-70’s soul.  In turns funky “You Don’t Want My Love (All You Want Is My Loving)” and deep (her cover of Mitty Collier’s ‘I Had a Talk With My Man’), ‘…At Memphis’ is definitely worth tracking down.

Grab the LP if you can. I wouldn’t say that original copies are plentiful, but I don’t believe it’s currently available in reissue, so tracking down the vinyl might be your best bet at the moment.

Tracks
A1 There's A Hand That's Reaching Out 4:05
A2 Let Me Down Easy 3:36
A3 Crossing Over the Bridge 2:54
A4 I Had A Talk With My Man 4:35
B1 You're Saving Me For A Rainy Day 3:41
B2 You Don't Want My Love (All You Want Is My Loving) 2:39
B3 The Lady, the Doctor And the Prescription 3:00
B4 The Time 3:58
B5 Mousa Muse 3:50

Best known for her mid-60s, soulful smashes with brother Charlie Foxx ("Mockingbird", "Hurt By Love", "Ask Me") and the duo's outrageous live performances, Inez Foxx went solo in the late '60s and eventually recorded a killer LP for the legendary Stax label.

'Inez Foxx at Memphis' is as powerful and in-your-face as the cover shot… While the well-piped Foxx wraps some subtle vocals around the almost loungin' soul ballad "I Had a Talk With My Man" and the late-night, dreamy slowie "The Time", she's really at her finest when rippin' it up on the rawer cuts.

"The Lady, The Doctor and the Prescription" features the hardest rhythm; a ferocious back beat propels the entire song, with Inez going for some all-out wailing on the outro. The arrangement bestowed on Betty Lavette's seminal "Let Me Down Easy" is beautiful, Hayes-ian in its tasteful lavishness, and topped off with maybe Inez's finest vocal tour de force. "Crossing Over The Bridge" starts similarly epic, and then goes into a funky double-time rag. "Saving Me For a Rainy Day" is equally dynamic, construed as it is out of a mellow set-up and a rollickin', foot tappin' chorus.

Crackelin' country soul – by way of Memphis – comes in the guise of the comforting, soothing, mid-tempo head bobber "There's a Hand That's Reaching Out", featuring minimalist string arrangements and gorgeous backing vocals. And there's plenty of fatback funk in the bouncy "You Don't Want My Love", which stars some snappy guitar lines.

The strangest tune here arguably is "Mousa Muse"; with a funky, jazzy instrumental playing in the back, we can hear Memphis DJ Perry 'The Nightowl' Allen conducting a short interview with Inez. Her church roots, her brother Charlie and the Stax songwriting team (the then recently deceased Raymond Jackson gets a special mention) are the subject, with Inez further giving advice to young hopefuls.

A slamming, eclectic album filled with powerhouse Southern Soul.

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Joe Tex – 1966 – I’ve Got To Do A Little Bit Better

Rip and research by Mr.Moo

Review by Soulmakossa

Posting & additional info's by Nikos

Another rock-solid album from Joe Tex, I've Got to Do a Little Better was his third full-length release of 1966, but Tex showed no signs of slowing down or losing his breath on these 12 songs.Tex's rich and passionate tenor rings out clear and true on each and every tune. One of the very best albums of Tex's Southern soul period, I've Got to Do a Little Bit Better suggests the kind of care and careful thought that rarely went into LPs of the period, and it's well worth seeking out for fans. This album's a perfect example of Joe at his best – nearly all original tunes recorded in close collaboration with producer Buddy Killen, whose unique talents really brought out the best in Joe's honest apporach to soul music.

Tracks
A1. Papa Was, Too 2:47
A2. What Me and My Baby Ain't Got 2:27
A3. A Woman Sees a Hard Time (When her Man Is Gone) 3:01
A4. Watch the One (That Brings Bad News)  3:14
A5. Taking Care of a Woman (Is a Full Time Job) 2:58
A6. Lying's Just a Habit John 2:48
B1. I've Got To Do a Little But Better 2:58
B2. The Truest Woman In the World  2:55
B3. I Believe I'm Gonna Make It 3:00
B4. Got You On My Mind 2:15
B5. Half a Mind  2:12
B6. S.Y.S.L.J.F.M. (The Letter Song)2:48

Joe Tex' second longplayer for 1966 kept up the momentum of its predecessor: raspily delivered sermons on love and relationships, set to big, fat soulful rhythms that also have a spark of dusty road country twang.

It starts off seriously funky with "Papa Was Too"; a fatback super stomper inspired by Lowell Fulsom's "Tramp" and the equally popular cover duet by Stax stars Otis Redding and Carla Thomas. This is heavy duty funk, with low-end piano riffs, crashing tambourines, burping horn riffs and that incessant drum and bass interplay. Catchy whistling patterns typify the fingersnappin' "What Me and My Baby Ain't Got", another good natured ode to the joys of a working relationship. Has a crazy brassy outro, as well.

Next up is the passionately sung country soul ballad "A Woman Sees a Hard Time (When Her Man Is Gone)". This is Joe at his philosophical best, spitting his lyrics over a gently bouncing groove that features a delightfully intricate horn riff. Joe Tex' inimitable 'downhome-ness' is even better displayed on the humorous blues romp "Watch the One (That Brings the Bad News)", with piercing B.B. King-styled guitar licks throughout. Dig Tex going for some ebonic slanging here!

The tempo is sped up through the beater "Taking Care of a Woman (Is a Full Time Job)", which despite its soulful horns and Joe's gruffy vocal almost sounds like an early Beatles track, whereas there's some unabashed uptown soul shakin' on the fast-paced "Lying's Just a Habit, John", a hilariously zany tune smothered in busy brass charts.

"I've Got to Do a Little Bit Better" ranks as one of Tex' most classic work-outs: contemplative and wistful like his earlier smashes "Hold What You've Got" and "The Love You Save", this is a deep, deep soul ballad that is further distinguished by drooping cello licks. And while Tex was quiet and introspective on the title track, he's soaring on the intense "The Truest Woman in the World", another ace ballad featuring gorgeous guitar lines.

"I Believe I'm Gonna Make It" may well be Joe's most legendary cut; a deep soul outing that has Tex singing to his baby from a foxhole in Vietnam: a letter from his lover even gives him the strength to take down two enemies on sight.

The rollicking "Got You on My Mind" is a pretty underrated original, and Joe sounds uncannily similar to Elvis Presley here. Less spectacular is Tex' take on Roger Miller's "Half a Mind" – a singer he must have admired quite a bit, as he often dipped into the Miller songbook. The album ends on a high note, however, with the all-out soul jam "S-Y-S-L-J-F-M (The Letter Song)", a floorshaker set to Wilson's Pickett's "634-5789" groove, with the letters standing for 'Save Your Sweet Loving Just for Me'.

Classic Joe Tex, an almost perfect platter of real soul.

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