This Review Along With 100s Of Others Is Available in my
SOUNDS GOOD E-Book on all Amazon sites
SOUL, FUNK and JAZZ FUSION - Exception CD Remasters
Just Click Below To Purchase for £3.95
Thousands of E-Pages - All Details and In-Depth Reviews From Discs
(No Cut and Paste Crap)
"…If It Was Good Enough For
Daddy…"
I first stumbled on Clarence
Reid through a writing credit - "Clean Up Woman" by Betty Wright - a
fabulous slice of funky Seventies Soul that Reid co-wrote with Willie Clarke
(the song was an American Number 2 and Number 6 on the R&B and Pop charts).
Producers and Writers Steve Alamo and Willie Clarke first recorded that smash
at their Miami based Alston Records label with Willie 'Little Beaver' Hale in
attendance. And that's where this CD reissue comes in (it was recorded by the
same trio in Miami). Here are the details...
Released October 2012 in
Japan - "Running Water" by CLARENCE REID on Alston/Atlantic 1000 R&B Best Collection/Warner Brothers Japan
WPCR-27542 (Barcode 081227970321) is a straightforward CD transfer of the
American album originally released
on Alston Records SD-7027 in 1973 (36:18 minutes):
1. Living Together Is
Keeping Us Apart [Side 1]
2. New York City
3. If It Was Good Enough For
My Daddy
4. Real Woman
5. Please Accept My Call
6. The Truth [Side 2]
7. Ruby
8. Love Who You Can
9. Please Stay Home
10. Like Running Water
The Japanese CD Series
"Atlantic 1000 R&B Best Collection" first appeared in October and
November 2012 and has been ongoing ever since (there's now a whopping 250+
titles across every WEA label, genre and time frame). The '1000' in the title
refers to their price code - each features a budget price tag of 952 Yen which
(depending on exchange rates) is roughly $9 to $11 for US customers, £5.50 to
£7.50 for UK buyers and 8 to 9.20 Euros for Europeans (with P&P added on of
course). As of early 2015 - roughly speaking they weigh in between £5 to £10
sterling per title including post - which is the cheapest I've seen quality
Japanese CDs ever go for.
And what's really enticing
is that all issues feature 2012, 2013 and 2014 Digital Remastering (DSD) with
many titles reissued that are either entirely new to CD or have been long out
of print and due sonic upgrades. Each release comes in a standard jewel case
(not mini repro sleeves nor SHMs) with an inner booklet (10-pages on this one)
containing the English lyrics. There's the usual outer Obi strip and an essay
in Japanese (no liner notes nor other details). The CD label design will
usually mimic the original release too (the Alston logo here). Some (like this
one) even appear to have a EU release - this title is catalogue number
8122-79703-2 as opposed to the more usual WPCR code...
After "Clean Up Woman"
- I then heard what is probably his most popular track "If It's Good
Enough For Daddy" on the "Right On Volume 4" CD compilation in
2002 and again on the fabulous Rhino 4CD Box Set "What It Is! Funky Soul
And Rare Grooves From The Vaults..." from 2006. You can so hear why they
chose it - cool, funky and even funny in places - a hip cut if ever there was
one. The album is not all like that slick and slinky tale of sibling loverman -
tracks like "Please Accept My Call" and "New York City" are
straight up Soul - very Johnny Taylor or Don Covay.
Reid gives it a bit of
deep-voiced Gil-Scott Heron righteousness in "The Truth" (again
co-written with Willie Clarke) where he preaches, "it seems everyone is
afraid of the truth..." Upbeat and dancer-friendly "Ruby" was
put out in 1973 as a 45 on Alston 4613 - but for me the hidden album nugget is
the impossibly catchy "Love Who You
Can". It features a great guitar-flick backbeat by Little Beaver
accompanied by brass punctuations and lyrics about "girls always chasin'
guys with millions...when the guy next door...will give you the whole wide
world..." The suicide song "Please Stay Home" is a Clarence
Carter talker and hasn't dated at all well. Better is the finisher "Like
Running Water" which returns he faith.
It's not all genius by any
means - but the good stuff is kind of magical. Reid would later become Blowfly
the outspoken American comedian with a line in rude-crude (you can so hear some
of that racy humour in "Daddy"). A very cool CD-reissue and for a
Japanese import - it's cheaper than a palimony suit too. Yeah baby...
PS: I've posted a full list
of all 255 titles in the Series to January 2015 - just Google "Atlantic
1000 R&B Best Collection"...
No comments:
Post a Comment