Merle Spears

I don’t think it would be accurate to describe Louisiana artist Merle Spears as a great unknown – he’s too obscure for that. But all his recorded output shows an excellent singer, with a fine sense of timing and a real feel for a ballad. His first release “I Want To Know” is now a heavily in demand item on the R & B dance scene, with it’s flip being a carefully worked version of Louis Jordan’s “Gonna Move”. And if that was good, it can’t hold a candle to his second 45. “Ain’t No Need” is a rocking blues, featuring some super piano fills, but “Its Just A Matter Of Time” is a masterpiece. This wonderful blues ballad is one of the very best Bobby Bland impersonations on record, down to the pseudo-Joe Scott arrangements. At this time Bland was still the USA's biggest blues star and if imitation is the sincerest form of flattery then Merle Spears was Bland's biggest fan - and Spears' vocal nuances are so close to the master's that blindfold you'd be very hard pressed to tell the difference. No wonder both singles were picked up by Atlantic – but they never sold much outside the South.

Spears was featured on the terminally obscure Whit LP “The Southern University Stage Band In A Soul Session” singing a couple of covers in his own super fashion, helped by Mary Holmes, but there were no more 45s on the label. He cut with Johnnie Jackson on J-Mer, the excellent deep “Wisdom Of A Fool” which is one of the most effectively introspective blues ballads ever put on vinyl. Moody magnificence! He was one half of the Herculoids (the other being Chuck Mitchell) on their own label with a powerhouse cut of “When Something Is Wrong With My Baby”. And that seems to have been his recording career. Perhaps the best parallel here is the late, sadly missed Joe Medwick who could also sound uncannily like Bland, and whose 45s on a variety of labels are only known to the discerning few.

Spears is reportedly no longer with us but his vocal abilities remain treasured by discerning fans. A personal favourite singer.

 

 

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