"That's It! The Complete Kent Recordings 1964-1968" by Z.Z. HILL – Including The 1967 US Stereo LP "A Whole Lot Of Soul", Over 30 US 45-Single Sides and Subsequently Released Period Outtakes Issued Between 1970 and 2000 (February 2018 UK Ace Records/Kent Soul 2CD Compilation of Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"...Make Me Yours..."

It's become something of a cliché in collector's circles to praise Ace Records and their extraordinary back catalogue of reissues now stretching back 47 years to 1975. Those saintly sanctified Soul Men and their undoubtedly nubile minions over at Steele Road in London's NW10 have whomped us with more than a few digital-doosies in the 80ts to 20ts too. 

But this Z.Z. Hill Southern Soul 2-CD Anthology from 2018 on their imprint Kent Soul is just the absolute dog's dangly bits and dingbat's wing nuts. It may also (in my book anyway) be up there in the Top 10 'Best Soul and R&B Reissues' ever made. 

Sometimes, bluntly, reissue companies of real distinction like say Ace, Bear Family, Esoteric, Light In The Attic, Rhino etc (to name but a few) just get it so damn right. And this is one of those. There's a whole lot of soul and vocal classiness to wade through here (never mind miles of pain), so let's have at one of the finest voices Texas had to offer, Mr. Arzell Hill...

UK released 23 February 2018 (March 2018 in the USA) - "That's It! The Complete Kent Recordings 1964-1968" by Z.Z. HILL on Ace Records/Kent Soul CDTOP2 476 (Barcode 029667087629) is a 49-Track 2CD Anthology of Remasters that plays out as follows: 

CD1 "The Kent Singles 1964-1968" (75:39 minutes, all MONO):

1. You Don't Love Me

2. If I Could Do It All Over (Tracks 1&2 are the A&B-sides of Kent 404, 1964)

3. Someone To Love Me

4. Have Mercy Someone (Tracks 3&4 are the A&B-sides of Kent 406, 1965 - "Have Mercy Someone" also used as the B-side to "You Got What I Need" on Kent 494 in September 1968 - see Track 25 on Disc 1)

5. Hey Little Girl 

6. Oh Darlin' (Tracks 5&6 are the A&B-sides of Kent 427, 1965 - "Oh Darlin'" also used as the B-side to "Greatest Love" on Kent 460 in February 1967 - see Track 16 on Disc 1)

7. What More

8. That's It (Tracks 7&8 are the A&B-sides of Kent 432, 1965)

9. Happiness Is All I Need 

10. Everybody Has To Cry (Tracks 9&10 are the A&B-sides of Kent 439, 1965 - "Everybody Has To Cry" was also used as the B-side to "Nothing Can Change This Love (I Have For You)" on Kent K 4577 in 1974 - that 70ts version of "Nothing... is not on this 2CD set)

11. No More Doggin' 

12. The Kind Of Love I Want (Tracks 11&12 are the A&B-sides of Kent 444, 1966)

13. I Found Love (Track 13 is the A-side of Kent 449, 1966 - it's B-side was "Set Your Sights Higher" - see Track 27 on Disc 1)

14. You Can't Hide A Heartache

15. Gimme Gimme (Tracks 14&15 are the A&B-sides of Kent 453, 1966)

16. Greatest Love (Track 16 is the A-side of Kent 460 - it's B-side was "Oh Darlin'" - see Track 6 on Disc 1)

17. Where She Att

18. Baby I'm Sorry (Tracks 17&18 are the A&B-sides of Kent 464, 1967 - A-side is spelt "Att", probably in error)

19. Everybody Needs Somebody 

20. You Just Cheat And Lie (Tracks 19&20 are the A&B-sides of Kent 469, 1967)

21. What Am I Living For 

22. You're Gonna Need My Lovin' (Tracks 21&22 are the A&B-sides of Kent 478, 1967)

23. Nothing Can Change The Love I Have For You 

24. Steal Away (Tracks 23&24 are the A&B-sides of Kent 481, 1968)

25. You Got What I Need (Track 25 is the A-side of Kent 494, 1968 – B-side was "Have Mercy Someone" – see Track 4 n Disc 1)

26. Don't Make Promises (You Can't Keep) 

27. Set Your Sights Higher (Tracks 26&27 are the A&B-sides of Kent 502 - "Set Your Sights Higher" was also the B-side of "I Found Love" on Kent 449 – see Track 13 on Disc 1)

NOTE: From Disc 1 you will also be able to sequence his 1965 debut album "The Soul Stirring Z.Z. Hill" on Kent KLP 5018 in MONO using the following tracks: 

Side 1: Tracks 9, 5, 3, 1, 2 and 10

Side 2: Tracks 8, 7, 6, 4, 13 and 27 

CD2 "A Whole Lot of Soul" 1967 US Kent LP Plus Bonuses 

(62:42 minutes, all STEREO except 13-17 and 21 Mono):

1. When Something Is Wrong With My Baby [Side1]

2. What Am I Living For 

3. Nothing Takes The Place Of You 

4. Knock On Wood 

5. Steal Away 

6. You Gonna Make Me Cry 

7. You Send Me [Side 2]

8. Midnight Hour 

9. When A Man Loves A Woman 

10. Make Me Yours 

11. Nothing Can Change The Love I Have For You 

12. Greatest Love 

Tracks 1 to 12 are the album "A Whole Lot Of Soul" - released June 1967 in the USA on Kent Records KLP 5028 in Mono and KST 528 in Stereo - the STEREO Mix is used here. 

PLUS: 

13. You Won't Hurt No More (first issued 1992 on the UK CD compilation "The Down Home Soul Of Z.Z. Hill" on Ace/Kent Soul CDKEN 099)

14. You Got Me Chained To Your Love (first issued 2000 on the UK CD compilation "Southern Soul Brothers" shared with Clay Hammond on Ace/Kent Soul CDKEND 188)

15. I'm Gonna Love You 

16. Please Take Me Back (Tracks 15 and 16 first issued 1984 on the US compilation LP "Final Appearance" on Kent KLP 2026)

17. My Girl Has Gone Away (first issued 2000 on the UK CD compilation "Southern Soul Brothers" shared with Clay Hammond on Ace/Kent Soul CDKEND 188)

18. I Need Someone (To Love Me) (with strings) - A-side of a May 1971 US 45-single on Kent KS 4547

19. You Don't Love Me (with strings) - A-side of a July 1971 US 45-single on Kent KS 4550

20. If I Could Do It All Over (with strings) 

21. You Won't Hurt No More (with strings) - Tracks 20&21 are the A&B-sides of a 1972 US 45-single on Kent KS 4560

22. Nothing Can Change This Love (I Have For You) (with strings) - A-side of a 1973 US 45-single on Kent K 4577

The 16-page booklet features typically info-packed details from long-standing Soul expert TONY ROUNCE – his text peppered with illustrations of US trade adverts, two pages with nine Kent 45 labels on each, a Portuguese picture sleeve for the Tim Hardin cover of "Don't Make Promises" and the uber-rare/seriously desirable British pic sleeve for the "Gimme Gimme" Sue Records EP (IEP-711) – a 1966 zero-sales 4-Track artefact that regularly lists for £300 or more (if you can find one). There is 1964 to 1968 'Session Details' listing studio locations that are given letters from 'A' to 'O'. This will allow aficionados to find out that "Everybody Has To Cry" from 1965 for instance was recorded at 'E' - Western Recorders in May 1965 - arranged and conducted by Maxwell Davis. The US album artwork for the Stereo versions of "The Soul Stirring Z.Z. Hill" (Kent KST 518, 1965) and "A Whole Lot Of Soul" (Kent KST 528, 1967) are here as is other period pieces like adverts from Cash Box, a British 45 on Action (and so on) – many of the cool images supplied by another compilation stalwart to Ace Records – ADY CROASDEL. 

Long-standing Audio Engineer NICK ROBBINS has handled the master tapes – Mono on CD1 and (mostly) Stereo on CD2 - including the unfinished overdubbed stuff Kent issued in the 70ts (credited on Disc 2 as 'with strings') and it all sounds just stunning. There is a sense of pride to this release – a good company doing the great man's legacy right. To the music...

A 27-track Disc 1 will allow fans to sequence the A&B-sides of 19 American 45s (with some flip-sides duplicated of course) and a very tasty haul through Sixties Soul and R&B it is too. Even now it's astonishing to think that quality swayers like the Gospel-organ lurch of "Nothing Can Change The Love I Have For You" (a Sam Cooke cover), the misery march of "Someone To Love Me" (one of his own) or "You Can't Hide A Heartache" (a Fred Hughes tune) didn't dent the US R&B charts (none of his Kent sides did). And he was no slouch when it came to boppers - as far back as the legendary second album in the Kent Soul LP series "For Dancers Also" from 1983 - Ace featured "You Just Cheat And Lie". 

The strings and guitar shuffle of "You Don't Love Me" is the kind of 'hold me' 'love me' 'I just want to talk about it' bawler that Northern Soul fans love, while the blasting brass and backing-singing girls joy in "Where She At" has tears in poor Z.Z.'s bloodshot eyes. Southern Soul Man hero Allen Toussaint (long associated with The Meters) supplied "Gimme Gimme" and its fun Soul Bop should have made dents too on the R&B charts. She-done-me-wrong misery is never far away here – Z.Z. loving to get his teeth into a moaner. The if not for you "What Am I Living For" crawl or the Jimmy Holiday smoocher "Everybody Needs Somebody" are two such highlights - hands across your chest as you distribute the talcum powder on the dancefloor into scuff-patterns of pain. Even the upbeat Arthur Adams feel-so-bad dancer "You Got What I Need" (with great audio) failed to breach the charts. 

Disc 2 is primarily STEREO and what a fantastic thing to hear the legendary "A Whole Lot Of Soul" LP swirling around your speakers like this. Although very top heavy with covers - "When Something Is Wrong With My Baby" from Sam & Dave, "You Send Me” from Sam Cook, "In The Midnight Hour" from the wicked Pickett and Eddie Floyd with his "Knock On Wood” – they suit Hill and his gravel-one-minute silk-the-next voice. "Make Me Yours" by Bettye Swann and the echoed-guitar of "Steal Away" by Jimmy Hughes is manna to me. And I even like the "with strings" slurry of titles from 1971, 1972 and 1973. 

He would eventually find US chart success with Mankind Records, United Artists and Columbia in the Seventies and a renewed recognition from the lovely Malaco album "Down Home Blues" in 1981 – letting his hair down on the title track while her bad ways in "Cheating In The Next Room" became a compilation fave. But this is where Z.Z. Hill cut those teeth. 

Such a great reissue and since his loss in February 1984 to a car-crash – a worthy reminder of what Z.Z. Hill gave us and what we lost. Tops for CDTOP2 476...