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"SOUL GALORE!"
60ts Soul, R&B, Northern Soul
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Your Guide To The Best CD Reissues and Remasters
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"…Here Is A Heart…"
Some
Soul singers have a palatable sweetness to their delivery – at ease with either
rapture or heartache and always capable of delivering a song performance that
regularly renders even the most diehard fan weak at the knees. They make you
smile. They move you pure and simple. Oakland’s Barbara Jean Acklin is one of
those.
Her
heyday at Brunswick Records between 1968 and 1973 has been reissued extensively
in both Europe and Japan - albeit on now deleted and expensive CDs – but if you
want a comprehensive one-stop that isn’t going to break the bank but still
deliver on quality Remastered Audio – then 2002's "The Brunswick
Anthology" has all the right curves. Here are the womanly details...
UK
released September 2002 – "The Brunswick Anthology" by BARBARA ACKLIN
on Brunswick BICD1002 (Barcode 5060029810221) is a 36-track 2CD set of Remasters and breaks
down as follows:
Disc
1 (49:01 minutes):
1.
Fool, Fool, Fool (Look In The Mirror) (1967 USA 7" single on Brunswick
55319, A)
2.
I've Got You Baby (1967 USA 7" single on Brunswick 55355, A)
3.
What The World Needs Now (Is Love Sweet Love) (from her 1968 US LP "Love
Makes A Woman" on Brunswick BL 754137)
4.
Come And See Me Baby (1968 USA 7" single on Brunswick 55379, B-side to
"Love Makes A Woman")
5.
Love Makes A Woman (1968 USA 7" single on Brunswick 55379, A)
6.
Your Sweet Loving (1967 USA 7" single on Brunswick 55319, B-side of
"Fool, Fool, Fool (Look In The Mirror)")
7.
Yes I See Love (I Missed) (from her 1968 US LP "Love Makes A Woman"
on Brunswick BL 754137)
8.
Be By My Side (1969 USA 7" single on Brunswick 55399, B-side to "Am I
The Same Girl")
9.
Just Ain't No Love (1968 USA 7" single on Brunswick 55388, A)
10.
Am I The Same Girl (1969 USA 7" single on Brunswick 55399, A)
11.
Here Is A Heart (from her 1969 US LP "Seven Days Of Night" on
Brunswick BL 754148)
12.
Mr. Sunshine (Where Is My Shadow) (from her 1969 US LP "Seven Days Of
Night" on Brunswick BL 754148)
13.
Seven Days Of Night (1969 USA 7" single on Brunswick 755412, B-side of
"A Raggedy Ride")
14.
Love Had To Come To Stay (from her 1969 US LP "Seven Days Of Night"
on Brunswick BL 754148)
15.
You've Been In Love Too Long (from the 1970 US LP "Someone Else's
Arms" on Brunswick BL 754156)
16.
Show Me The Way To Go (1968 USA 7" single on Brunswick 55366, A, credited
to GENE CHANDLER and BABARA ACKLIN)
17.
Love Won't Start (1968 USA 7" single on Brunswick 55366, B-side to
"Show Me The Way To Go", credited to GENE CHANDLER and BABARA ACKLIN)
18.
From The Teacher To The Preacher (1968 USA 7" single on Brunswick 55387,
A, credited to GENE CHANDLER and BARBARA ACKLIN)
Disc
2 (56:47 minutes):
1.
Someone Else's Arms (1970 USA 7" single on Brunswick 755433, A)
2.
After You (1969 USA 7” single on Brunswick 755421, A)
3.
What's It Gonna Be (from her US LP "Someone Else's Arms" on Brunswick
BL 754156)
4.
More Today Than Yesterday (from her US LP "Someone Else's Arms" on
Brunswick BL 754156)
5.
Spinning Wheel (from her US LP "Someone Else's Arms" on Brunswick BL
754156)
6.
I Did It (1970 USA 7" single on Brunswick 55440, A)
7.
Make The Man Love You (1971 USA 7" single on Brunswick B 55447, B-side of
"I Can't Do My Thing")
8.
I Can't Do My Thing (1971 USA 7" single on Brunswick B 55447, A)
9.
I'm Living With A Memory (1970 USA 7" single on Brunswick 55440, B-side to
"I Did It")
10.
Lady, Lady, Lady (1971 USA 7" single on Brunswick 55465, A)
11.
I Call It Trouble (1972 USA 7” single on Brunswick 55486, A)
12.
I'll Bake Me A Man (from the 1972 US LP "I Call It Trouble" on
Brunswick BL 754187)
13.
Portrait Of A Broken Heart (from the 1972 US LP "I Call It Trouble"
on Brunswick BL 754187)
14.
Stop, Look And Listen (1971 USA 7" single on Brunswick 55465, B-side of
"Lady, Lady, Lady")
15.
It's A Groovy Idea (from the 1972 US LP "I Call It Trouble" on
Brunswick BL 754187)
16.
Anywhere But Nowhere (1968 USA 7" single on Brunswick 55387, B-side to
"From The Teacher To The Preacher", credited to GENE CHANDLER and
BARBARA ACKLIN)
17.
Will I Find Love (1969 USA 7” single on Brunswick 55405, B-side of "Little
Green Apples", credited to GENE CHANDLER and BARBARA ACKLIN)
18.
Little Green Apples (1969 USA 7" single on Brunswick 55405, A, credited to
GENE CHANDLER and BARBARA ACKLIN)
The
functional 8-page liner notes (no name provided) give a scant few pages to
Barbara's history (born 1944 in Chicago, passed away 1998, she was married to
Eugene Record of The Chi-Lites for some years) and basic track lists that can't
even be bothered to offer you catalogue numbers (I've found them out myself for
this review).
But the Audio more than makes up for the lack of decent
annotation. Although it doesn't say who did the transfers and remasters – if
this double is based on the 2002 single-CD set "20 Greatest Hits"
also on Brunswick – I'm certain the superb remastered sound comes courtesy of
IVAN JOSEPH GOLDBERG who used original master tapes. Add to this the fact that
Brunswick had the awesome talents of 5-time Grammy Winner BRUCE SWEDIEN as
their Engineer – and classics like "Just Ain't No Love", "Love
Makes A Woman" or "Am I The Same Girl" (a lyric version of
"Soulful Strut" by Young-Holt Unlimited) – clobber you with truly
fantastic audio quality. That backing rhythm of drums and piano punctuated by
great brass fills – slinky keys – what a blast.
Across
the two CDs you get all of the 7 hit entries she had on the American Billboard
R&B charts – "Show Me The Way To Go" with Gene Chandler (No. 30
in March 1968), "Love Makes A Woman" (No. 3 in July 1968), "From
The Teacher To The Preacher" with Gene Chandler (No. 16 in November 1968),
"Just Ain't No Love" (No. 23 in December 1968), "Am I The Same
Girl" (No. 33 in March 1969), "After You" (No. 30 in November
1969) and "I Did It" (No. 28 in October 1970). But the real joy for
collectors here is those rare non-album B-sides running alongside choice LP
cuts – the kind of stuff that rarely makes your usual compilation fodder. I'm
digging ace flipsides like "Come And See Me", "Be By My
Side" and "Make The Man Love You" that compliment cool album
cuts like "What's It Gonna Be", the sophisticated "More Than
Yesterday" from her 3rd Brunswick album "Somebody Else's Arms"
and her wicked cover of the Blood, Sweat & Tears classic "Spinning
Wheel" (written by Lead Singer David Clayton-Thomas).
It's
also a blast to have both the famous A-side "Love Makes A Woman"
nestle with its less famous B-side "Come And See Me Baby" on the same
compilation – what a winning pair. Another joyous single that deserves more
attention on the Northern Soul circuit is "After You" – a
finger-clicking slice of pure 60ts Soul heaven. The groovy piano and organ
backing that bedrocks "Just Ain't No Love" is typical of her material
with Brunswick – upbeat, dancefloor friendly and irresistible. Downsides - the
booklet is poor really when with a bit of effort it could have done her musical
legacy the honours it deserves and Disc 1 could easily have included rare
7" singles like "A Raggedy Ride" or even a few choice album cuts
from the 2nd LP "Seven Days Of Night" - but alas...
There
is a single-disc 20-track variant available Stateside that I’ve also reviewed
called (unimaginatively) "20 Greatest Hits". It came out February
2002 on Brunswick BRC 33011-2 (Barcode 646953301124 will locate the right
issue) in the USA, runs to 59:04 minutes, has a functional 6-page inlay but
more importantly enjoys that same great remastered-sound. In fact "20
Greatest Hits" is available online for less than four quid in places and
would suffice if the double feels like too much of an outlay. But in truth -
even as a casual buyer - I'd try to spend the few extra spondulicks – you’ll be
'so' glad you did.
It
doesn’t take Mensa genius to work out that Brunswick Records housed some truly
gorgeous Soul in its classy roster of artists (Jackie Wilson, Erma Franklin,
Gene Chandler, Tyrone Davis and of course The Chi-Lites). And you would have to
say that Barbara Acklin’s stay between 1967 and 1973 epitomises that with
style.
"...Oh
yes it's love...that makes a woman..." Succumb to the call people…
