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"...Funky Way..."
England's Edsel Records are
no strangers to Soul-reissues. Across the decades they've touched on major
retrospectives for Philadelphia International (O'Jays, Billy Paul, Harold
Melvin & The Blue Notes), Holland-Dozier-Holland's HDH Label and Invictus
Records (Chairmen Of The Board, Freda Payne and The Glass House) as well as
anthologies for Ann Peebles, The Chi-Lites and Al Green covering their Hi
Records label output.
For 2016 - our Demon Group
heroes are tackling the whole of Wilson Pickett's ten-album stay between 1964
and 1972 at the legendary Atlantic Records. This fourth of five '2on1' sets
issued 26 November 2016 in the UK (see full list below) deals with his seventh
and eight studio LPs from 1969 and 1970 and comes bolstered up with three Bonus
Tracks and a near 79-minute playing time.
Across these five
digipak-releases (three come with extras – the 1st, 4th and 5th) - you also get
exclusive single mixes and many unreleased tracks formerly only available on
2009's "Funky Midnight Mover..." – a 6CD mail-order set from Rhino
Handmade – an item that is now long deleted and extremely pricey into the
bargain. The booklets also feature new liner notes from noted Soul writer and
uber-fan Tony Rounce.
Here are the details for
Alabama's finest Midnight Mover...
UK released 26 November 2016
(2 December 2016 in the USA) – "Hey Jude/Right On" by WILSON PICKETT
on Edsel EDSA 3062 (Barcode 740155506230) offers 2LPs Remastered onto 1CD plus
Three Bonus Tracks and plays out as follows (78:52 minutes):
1. Save Me
2. Hey Jude
3. Back In Your Arms
4. Toe Hold
5. Night Owl
6. My Own Style Of Loving
7. A Man And A Half [Side 2]
8. Sit Down And Talk This
Over
9. Search Your Heart
10. Born To Be Wild
11. People Make The World
(What It Is)
Tracks 1 to 11 are his 7th
studio album "Hey Jude" - released February 1969 in the USA on
Atlantic SD 8215 (Stereo Only) and February 1969 in the UK on 588 170 (Stereo
Only).
12. Groovy Little Woman
13. Funky Way
14. Sugar Sugar
15. Sweet Inspiration
16. This Old Town
17. You Keep Me Hangin' On
18. Lord Pity Us All [Side
2]
19. It's Still Good
20. Woman Likes To Hear That
21. She Said Yes
22. Hey Joe
23. Steal Away
Tracks 12 to 23 are his 8th
studio album "Right On" - released March 1970 in the USA on Atlantic
SD 8250 (Stereo Only) and April 1970 in the UK on Atlantic 2465 002 (Stereo
Only).
BONUS TRACKS:
24. Mini Skirt Minnie (March
1969 US 7" single on Atlantic 45-2611 - non-album A-side – "Back In
Your Arms" from the "Hey Jude" LP was the B)
25. Now You See You, Now You
Don't (November 1969 US 7" single on Atlantic 45-2682, Non-album B-side to
"You Keep Me Hangin' On")
26. Cole, Cooke And Redding
(March 1970 US 7" single on Atlantic 45-2722 - non-album A-side -
"Sugar Sugar" from the "Right On" LP was the B)
Each of these five card
digipaks is a gatefold with Volume 3 sporting a comprehensive 16-page booklet
in the left flap with new liner notes from legendary Soul writer TONY ROUNCE –
a man whose name has graced literally hundreds of quality CD reissues. He goes
into all the chart statistics for 1969 and 1970 - the Cold Grits backing band
in Miami - and Gregg Allman is pictured smiling at a laughing Pickett on Page
14. They even reproduce the original Enoch Gregory original liner notes for
1969's "Hey Jude" LP – but I'd have to say though that the inner flap
and the space beneath the see-through CD tray being 'blank' and the nondescript
colouring of the CD itself let the visual side down somewhat (could have been
filled out with pictures and black/red label memorabilia). At least the three
non-album single sides are both cool and relevant bonuses. Mastered by PHIL
KINRADE – the tracks are licensed from Warners and are therefore the 1995 Rhino
versions of old – full and punchy Bill Inglot and Dan Hersch CD Remasters from
original tapes.
With US R&B chart
positions of No. 15 for the "Hey Jude" LP in February 1969 and No. 36
in March 1970 for "Right On" (it barely scraped 197 on the Rock
charts) when all his other albums easily made Top Ten before - Pickett's chart
light was fading at this stage of his career. Not for the want of good material
though or lack of smart cover version choices. Atlantic tried George Jackson's
wonderful "A Man A Half" as a 7" single in November 1968
(Atlantic 45-2575) with the future Bobby Womack-penned LP cut
""People Make The World (What It Is)" as its flipside and were
rewarded with a modest No. 20 chart position. Realising the world-dominating
power of The Beatles Apple Records stuff - Soul acts began falling over
themselves to trump-up Soulful takes of there melodies. Some people love
Pickett's take on the Apple single "Hey Jude" which Atlantic pushed
out late December 1968 with another George Jackson LP song on its B-side
"Search Your Heart" - I'm ambivalent towards it. I tried to love a
2016 Ace Records CD called "Let It Be: Black America Sings Lennon,
McCartney & Harrison" but I found it only confirmed my long-held
suspicion that Soul artists should avoid The Beatles like a plague. The
American public however liked it - giving the long and funkified "Hey
Jude" a No. 13 placing on the R&B charts.
Better is the forgotten
ballad "Back In Your Arms" penned by a trio of Soul songwriting
heroes - George Jackson, Raymond Moore and Melvin Leakes - a belter with
guitars (Duane Allman), brass and a powerhouse 'wish I was back' vocal
performance from the Wicked P. Isaac Hayes and David Porter put up the fabulous
Funk of "Toe Hold" - the in-house band digging in (Barry Beckett on
piano as Duane gets funky on his axe). Don Covay's "Night Owl" is a
return to the 'looky here' blasters of 1966 and 1967 - a huge dancer with
Wilson giving it lots of 'uh' grunts as the band grooves like a congregation
possessed of the holy Funky spirit. Duane Allman's playing is very forward in
the mix of "My Own Style Of Loving" where Wilson tells us that he
can't be beat when he comes top lovin' (men come from miles around hoping to
get a lesson). And like so many of the previous WP albums I've reviewed - the
mighty presence of Bobby Womack enrich proceedings - here it's on the chugger
"Sit Down And Talk This Over" and the final LP ballad "People
Make The World (What It Is)".
By the time "Right
On" was released in March 1970 - Soul had moved away from Pickett's
high-octane dancers to a troubled social consciousness with a nasty backbeat -
Motown's Norman Whitfield and James Brown singing about inner cities destroyed
with Heroin, rat-infested buildings being burned down for insurances scams,
young men faced with Vietnam or unemployment. So in some ways "Groovy Little
Woman" and "Funky Way" would have suited 1966 and 1967 - but in
early 1970 already sound ever so slightly dated and out of place. Jeff Barry
and Andy Kim's "Sugar Sugar" doesn't help matters much either -
bubblegum Soul. Far better is Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham's "Sweet
Inspiration" and a song that's more closely associated with The Staple
Singers - "This Old Town". A Wilson Pickett, Don Covay and William
Stevenson co-write - "This Old Town" is the first time the album deals
with the 'no faces' that separate the races and warns you don't have to rob and
steal just to survive. Side 2 of "Right On" picks up with George
Jackson’s good-advice parable "Woman Likes To Hear That" while the
duo of covers are very, very good – Tim Rose's "Hey Joe" (Duane
giving it a bit of Psych guitar) and the gospel 'God will make things alright'
song "Steal Away" where his vocals are backed up by a foursome of
righteous ladies that include Cissy Houston and Judy Clay.
The original Rhino CDs have
been deleted for years – so this pairing of Pickett’s lesser-heard career is a
very welcome reissue indeed.
"...I like it..."
- Pickett sings on the chugging guitar Funk of "It's Still Good" -
twinkling off-mike as his cooler-than-cool musical ensemble churns out yet
another wicked Soul groove he can wrap his extraordinary voice around. I like
it indeed. Dig in and enjoy...
PS: Titles in this 26 Nov
2016 Edsel CD Reissue Series for WILSON PICKETT are:
1. In The Midnight Hour/The
Exciting Midnight Mover
(1966 and 1967 Stereo 1st
and 2nd LPs plus Three Bonus Tracks
Edsel EDSA 3059 - Barcode
740155505936)
2. The Wicked Pickett/The
Sound Of Wilson Pickett
(1966 and 1967 Stereo/Mono
3rd and 4th LPs – no bonus tracks
Edsel EDSA 3060 - Barcode
740155506032)
3. I’m In Love/The Midnight
Mover
(1968 for both his 5th and
6th LPs – no bonus tracks
Edsel EDSA 3061 - Barcode
740155506131)
4. Hey Jude/Right On
(1969 and 1970 Stereo 7th
& 8th LPs with Three Bonus Tracks
Edsel EDSA 3062 - Barcode
740155506230)
5. In Philadelphia/Don’t
Knock My Love
(1970 and 1972 9th &
10th Stereo LPs with Seventeen Bonus Tracks
Edsel EDSK 7112 - Barcode
740155711238)
Edsel have also touched on
PERCY SLEDGE in this series and his stay at Atlantic Records (three digipak CD
reissues):
1. When A Man Loves A
Woman/Warm & Tender Soul
(1966 and 1967 Stereo 1st
& 2nd LPs plus Four Bonus Tracks
Edsel EDSA 3063 - Barcode
740155506339)
2. The Percy Sledge Way/Take
Time To Know Her
(1967 and 1968 Stereo 3rd
& 4th LPs with Eight Bonus Tracks
Edsel EDSK 7116 - Barcode
740155711634)
3. My Special Prayer/Singles
And Rarities
(1970 fifth and final
Atlantic LP - along with a compilation of 27 Bonus Tracks
Edsel EDSK 7113 - Barcode
740155711337)
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