"…Losers
Weepers…"
The
respected and much-loved MOJO Magazine of the UK decided in 2005 to use their
knowledge and compile a series of rather cool (and cheap) Chess Records CD
compilations.
Four
appeared using generic card digipak artwork with the '20 Tracks Hand-Picked By
MOJO' logo in the bottom left corner - "Chess Originals", "Chess
Soul Sisters", "Chess Northern Soul" and this emotional little
sniffler - "Chess Tearjerkers". There was also a 15-track CD sampler
of sorts that preceding the four themed comps called "Chess Classics"
which was given away with copies of MOJO August 2005 when it went on sale in
July (that actually had several tracks not featured in the four but on other
Chess CD Remasters).
The
MOJO magazine's respected Soul authority and uber-fan LOIS WILSON did the
smart-choice compiling and I've always dug them as short but oh so sweet
listens. And even now in September 2019, most are still available at a frankly
laughable pre Brexit outlay (get them before the panic sets in and they shut
down the emotional borders on us all). Here are the aorta-wrenching details for
the Tearjerkers set...
UK
released 29 August 2005 - "Chess Tearjerkers" by VARIOUS ARTISTS is
on Universal/Chess/Mojo 9830154 (Barcode 602498301548) and breaks down as
follows (58:50 minutes):
1.
Losers Weepers – ETTA JAMES (September 1970 USA 7" single on Cadet 5676,
A)
2.
He Will Break Your Heart – LAURA LEE (July 1968 USA 7" single on Cadet
2052, B-side of "Need To Belong")
3.
You Left The Water Running – MAURICE and MAC (March 1968 USA 7" single on
Cadet 1197, A)
4.
Since I Fell For You – FONTELLA BASS (from the March 1966 US LP "The 'New'
Look" on Checker Records LPS-2997 in Stereo)
5.
Can't Make It Without You – FRED HUGHES (February 1968 USA 7" single on
Cadet 5579, B-side of "Come Home Little Darlin")
6.
Somewhere Crying - IRMA THOMAS (July 1967 USA 7" single on Chess 2010,
B-side of "Cheater Man")
7.
Only Time Will Tell - ETTA JAMES (January 1966 USA 7" single on Cadet
5526, A)
8.
Temptation 'Bout To Get Me - THE KNIGHT BROTHERS (May 1965 USA 7" single
on Checker 1107, A)
9.
I Had A Talk With My Man - MITTY COLLIER (August 1964 USA 7" single on
Chess 1907, A)
10.
Nothing But Tears - MARLENA SHAW (from the 1967 US LP "Out Of Different
Bags" on Cadet LPS 803 in Stereo)
11.
Need To Belong – LAURA LEE (July 1968 USA 7" single on Chess 2052, A)
12.
Without A Woman - KIP ANDERSON (August 1966 USA 7" single on Checker 1145,
A)
13.
You'll Never Know aka You'll Never Ever Know - FONTELLA BASS (August 1966 USA
7" USA single on Checker 1147, B-side of "Safe And Sound")
14.
After The Laughter - GENE CHANDLER (April 1967 USA 7" single on Checker
1165, B-side of "To Be A Lover")
15.
It's Mighty Hard - LAURA LEE (July 1967 USA 7" single on Chess 2013,
B-side of "Dirty Man")
16.
I'd Rather Go Blind - ETTA JAMES (October 1967 USA 7" single on Cadet
5578, B-side of "Tell Mama")
17.
Have Pity On Me - BILLY YOUNG (May 1966 USA 7" single on Chess 1961,
B-side of "You Left The Water Running")
18.
Drown In My Own Tears - MITTY COLLIER (a Ray Charles cover from her 1965 US LP
"Shades Of A Genius" on Chess LPS-1492 in Stereo)
19.
Yours Until Tomorrow - IRMA THOMAS (Previously Unreleased July 1967 session at
Fame Studios - first issued Japan 1984 on the LP "Down At Muscle
Shoals" on Chess/P-Vine PLP 6013 - then August 1990 on the US CD
compilation "Something Good/The Muscle Shoals Sessions" on Chess CHD
93004 - Barcode 076741300426 as one of two bonus tracks)
20.
I Fooled You This Time - GENE CHANDLER (October 1966 USA 7" single on
Checker 1155, A)
Compiled
and annotated by LOIS WILSON - the oversized 16-page booklet (inside a gatefold
card digipak) is a lovely thing to behold - insightful paragraphs on each of
the songs - 7" single labels reproduced (Laura Lee and Etta James on Chess
and Cadet), black and white and colour publicity shots of Gene Chandler,
Fontella Bass and gorgeous colour shots of the Mitty Collier album "Shade
Of A Genius" and Fontella's 1967 Cadet Records gem "Out Of Different
Bags". Very nicely done...
Same
as the other compilations in this series - long-time Audio Engineer GARY MOORE
at Universal carried out the excellent remasters. The audio varies from
source-to-source - incredible one moment and more than acceptable the next. But
as with the "Soul Sisters" entry in this series - all of that gets
blown out of the water by the sheer joy of the music (recorded well or not).
And once again very clever song choices abound here 'hand-picked' by those
canny bods at England's fabulicious MOJO magazine. You get deep LP cuts from
Marlena Shaw and Fontella Bass, a Fame Studios unreleased cut by Irma Thomas
that first surfaced in Japan in 1984, Curtis Mayfield songs like Laura Lee's
take on "Need To Belong", overlooked B-sides instead of overplayed
A's and all of it combined with talcum-powder crowd pleasers like Maurice &
Mac's "You Left The Water Running" and the Etta James classic
"I'd Rather Go Blind" that would become a future pluck-your-eyes-out
cover version for England's Chicken Shack. Sung by Christine Perfect prior to
her marrying John McVie and later becoming an integral part of Fleetwood Mac - Etta's
"I'd Rather Go Blind" was in fact the 1967 flipside of the dancefloor
killer "Tell Mama" – talk about a shifting moods double-whammy...
The
compilation begins with a duo of heavy-hitter torch-song ladies giving it some
serious bemoaning of their between-the-sheets misery – Etta walloping out Part
1 of "Losers Weepers" from 1970 and Laura Lee covering the fabulous
Jerry Butler, Curtis Mayfield and Clarence Carter tune "He Will Break Your
Heart" from two years earlier in 1968 (both were Cadet Records 45s in the
States – the Lee track tucked away as a B-side). From that tasty starter – we
get Maurice McAlister and Green McLauren ordinarily known as Maurice And Mac
for the US R&B charts. Both formerly vocalists in The Radiants, their sexy
shuffling 1968 variant of "You Left The Water Running" (a hit Barbara
Lynn had had on Atlantic Records two years earlier) was a huge Northern Soul
club-spin in Seventies Blighty and has subsequently become a mucho-placed entry
on American LP and CD compilations (the Rhino "Soul Shots" LP series
comes to mind as does their fabulous 6CD 1995 Single-Shaped Box Set "Beg,
Scream & Shout! The Big ‘Ol Box Of 60s Soul")
Other
hidden gems include the impassioned Fontella Bass version of "You'll Never
Know" (the Oliver Sain song is actually credited as "You'll Never
Ever Know" on the original American 45) - another 'standing in the shadows
with tears streaming down my face' flip-side on the Chess Records subsidiary
Checker or the identikit Otis Redding voice of Billy Young on the Tommy Roe
song "Have Pity On Me" - an on-your-knees pleader to his gal for an
emotional stay of execution (oddly enough I think our Billy did her wrong
again).
Gospel
man (Rev) James Cleveland scribed "It's Mighty Hard" and along with
Cadet Concept leading light Charles Stepney (future Arranger for Terry Callier,
Rotary Connection and The Dells) - they gifted Laura Lee a fantastic vehicle
for her voice, even it was relegated to the B-side of the more catchy and
controversial "Dirty Man" on the Plug Side. There's a genuinely eerie
feel to "Without A Woman" - Kip Anderson prior to drug addiction,
jail and rehabilitation - and as a counter to that - Gene Chandler possessing
such a great expression as he pours on the heartbreak in the Billy Butler
written "After The Laughter". And there's plenty more where that came
from...
So
there you have it - so many great tunes you don't know and need to. "Chess
Tearjerkers" is the kind of Soul CD compilation that has gotten lost in an
overcrowded marketplace but deserves rediscovery. My advice - shopping basket
some Talcum Powder and a box of Kleenex and check this cool little misery guts
out...
The Four Compilation Titles in the 20 August 2005 (UK)
UNIVERSAL/CHESS/MOJO CD Series are:
1.
Chess ORIGINALS: 20 Tracks Hand-Picked By MOJO
(Universal/Chess/Mojo
9830156 – Barcode 602498301562)
2.
Chess NORTHERN SOUL: 20 Tracks Hand-Picked By MOJO
(Universal/Chess/Mojo
9830153 – Barcode 602498301531)
3.
Chess SOUL SISTERS: 20 Tracks Hand-Picked By MOJO
(Universal/Chess/Mojo
9830155 – Barcode 602498301555)
4.
Chess TEARJERKERS: 20 Tracks Hand-Picked By MOJO
(Universal/Chess/Mojo
9830154 –Barcode 602498301548)
