Various Artists “Lost Deep Soul Treasures Vol 6” (SOS 1006)
By Pete Nickols
Chuck Carter ~ A Teardrop Fell ~ Bedford 101; Eddy Jacobs ~ Turn Me Loose ~ Chess 2014; Nate Williams ~ She’s A Woman ~ Honey B 1001 & Rapda 102 & Interstate 105; Johnny & Lily ~ This Is My Story ~ Veep 1304; Count Willie with LRL and The Dukes ~ I’ve Got To Tell You ~ Brown Dog 9010; Eddie Ray and Company ~ Don’t Take Your Love From Me ~ Hot Sox 1002; Betty Wilson ~ Anything To Please A Man ~ Dayco 2109; Matt ‘Ti’ Mattison ~ Please Don’t ~ Ebony 1000 & Enjoy 1012; The Valentinos ~ The Death Of Love ~ Jubilee 5636; Rick Thompson ~ We All Make Mistakes Sometimes ~ Columbia 44880; B.B. Brown ~ My Love For You ~ Dit Dot 100; Priscilla Price ~ Do I Stand A Chance With You ~ GMC 10007; The Triumphs ~ Bring It On Home To Me ~ Cha Cha 747; Otis Williams ~ Make A Woman Feel Like A Woman ~ Stop 346; Frankie Pighee ~ If You Don’t Think (That I Love You) ~ Soul Kitchen 0011; Celester Thornton ~ Lonely Girl ~ Follow 101; The Experts ~ Wake Me When It’s Over ~ Whirl World 1001 & Metromedia 116; Gerald Trotter ~ The Love In My Heart ~ Modo 22627; Coye ~ Sweet I Know ~ Top-Notch 3; Pep Brown ~ Is It All Over ~ Polydor 14176; Jay Lewis ~ That’s Enough ~ Venture 618; Shirley Butler ~ I Don’t Want To Beg ~ La Juan 101; P.W. Cannon ~ Hanging Out My Tears To Dry ~ Hickory 1412; Genie Brooks ~ Juanita ~ Minaret 130; Willie Mason ~ No Place Like Home ~ Lantic Gold 103; Bobby McClure ~ Lost Without Your Love ~ Klondike 2237.
Eleven of the 26 tracks on offer this time around are available to sample via the artist pages on this web-site.
Right off I’m going to say I think the overall standard of deep-soul on offer here is outstanding and I rate this the finest of the first 6 volumes in this impressive series.
The opener, Chuck Carter’s superior cover of Little Ronnie Mudd’s original of “A Teardrop Fell”, stands out as one of the all-time great deep performances, along, I would argue, with the very next track, Eddy Jacobs’ Chess gem “Turn Me Loose”. Also to the same exceptional standard is Bobby McClure’s absolutely magnificent Klondike side “Lost Without Your Love”, which appears right at the other end of the CD. Virtually in the same exalted league are Count Willie’s terrific 1975 Brown Dog outing for Finley Duncan; the Valentinos’ 1968 Jubilee gospelly-soul vehicle, “The Death Of Love”; Otis Williams’ (ex of The Charms) beautiful slow-burning 1969 solo outing for Stop; and Pep Brown‘s terrific 1973 Memphis side “Is It All Over”, dedicated on its label to ‘The Big O’ and produced by Bowlegs Miller.
Only a notch behind the above and still mightily impressive are all of the following: Nate Williams’ “She’s A Woman” (which also appears on his “Ride With Me” CD); Johnny & Lily’s doo-wop-influenced deep duet “This Is My Story”; Eddie Ray’s well-performed side for the Columbus Ohio ‘Hot Sox’ label; B.B. Brown‘s “My Love For You” with his gruff vocal in front of an ominous, brooding musical backdrop; Priscilla Price’s GMC side with its fine organ-led accompaniment and the singer’s strong ‘attacking’ style; Frankie Pighee’s emotionally expressed Soul Kitchen winner; The Expert’s slowly churning, mournful piece “Wake Me When It’s Over”; Gerald Trotter’s well-expressed soul-ballad “The Love In My Heart” (despite its rather overly jazzy guitar fills); Coye’s fine emotive vocal in front of a basic, repetitive riff on “Sweet I Know”; Jay Lewis’ beautifully-interpreted 1968 Venture side “That’s Enough” (which is not the faster-paced better-known Roscoe Robinson vehicle of the same name); Shirley Butler’s lovely slow-paced winner (despite her voice being just a touch ‘wanting’ in the higher registers); Genie Brooks’ slow storyline piece with its ‘country’ guitar fills and strong femme back-up group; and Willie Mason’s powerful vocal and dramatic finale on his “No Place Like Home” for the Washington D.C. label, Lantic Gold.
You can see that this only leaves 6 other tracks, all of which are also well worth a listen as there are absolutely no ‘turkeys’ on offer here.
For deep-soul fans, if ever there was a case of “don’t waste too much time reading this review, just buy the CD”, this surely has to be it!
April 2012