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"...Don't Let Her Make You Cry..."
The first Volume in this series "Deep Shadows: The Best Of Kent Ballads" hit the streets of Soul-Mad Blighty in August 2010 – and lovers of (largely) unreleased torch-sung ballads have been dribbling in pools of talcum powder ever since. Never one to keep their eager punters waiting – Ace only took a piffling five years to come up with Volume 2 – "Lost Without You".
It's most definitely not as immediate as its illustrious predecessor I'd have to say right off the bat - but after repeated plays – Volume 2 is a more than worthy follow-up. Here are the sob-stories...
UK released Friday, 30 October 2015 (November 2015 in the USA) – "Lost With You: The Best Of Kent Ballads 2" by VARIOUS ARTISTS on Ace/Kent-Soul CDKEND 439 (Barcode 029667243926) breaks down as follows (74:45 minutes):
1. Stay Away – THE TURN AROUNDS (a Fraternity Recording from 1966 – Previously Unreleased, 2015)
2. I Don't Need Nobody – JERRY WASHINGTON (an Excello Recording from 1974 – Previously Unreleased, 2015)
3. I Love You More – LEE WILLIAMS & THE CYMBALS (a Joe Evans Production, 1966 USA 7" single on Carnival 521, A)
4. Lost Without You – LORRAINE CHANDLER (first appeared on the 2015 Various Artists CD compilation "Pied Piper: Follow Your Soul" on Ace/Kent-Soul CDKEND 429)
5. Don't Let Her Make You Cry – J.J. JACKSON & THE JACKAELS (a Brent Recording from 1962 – Previously Unreleased, 2015)
6. After He Breaks Your Heart – THE WANDERERS (1963 USA 7" single on United Artists 570, A)
7. Lonely Girl – JULIUS WRIGHT (a Brent Recording from 1967 – Previously Unreleased, 2015)
8. Nobody But You – THE EXOTICS (an Excello Recording from 1968 – Previously Unreleased, 2015)
9. Apartment No. 9 – LITTLE JOHNNY HAMILTON (a Watts Way Recording from 1969 – Previously Unreleased, 2015)
10. I Can Fix That For You – DORI GRAYSON (1968 USA 7” single on Murco 1045, A)
11. Everybody Knows – PEGGY GAINES (a Bob Holmes Production from 1965 – Previously Unreleased, 2015)
12. I Give A Damn – JOHNNY WATSON ('not' Johnny 'Guitar' Watson - a 1970s recording first issued in 1999 on a 45 - Valise 6915, A)
13. Crying Clown – EDDIE PARKER (1968 USA 7" single on Awake 502, A)
14. Messing Up A Good Thing – JOHN EDWARDS (1974 USA 7" single on Aware AW-037, A)
15. Sure Thing – JIMMY SCOTT (a 1984 Dave Hamilton Recording – Previously Unreleased, 2015)
16. Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight – TY KARIM (James Taylor cover version - a 1973 USA 7" single on Romark 73-104, A)
17. Heaven's Will (Must Be Obeyed) – ALICE CLARK (A 1969 USA 7" Promo Single on Warner Brothers 7270, B-side of "You Hit Me (Right Where It Hurt Me)" and also on the Various Artists 1971 LP "Soul Black & Beautiful Vol.1" on GWP Records ST 2037)
18. How's Things With You – JOE MAYFIELD (a 1964 USA 7” single on Excello 2256, A – Jay Miller Production)
19. King For A Day – DANNY WHITE (a 1969 USA 7" single on Kashe 443, A – written by Eddie Singleton)
20. The Last One To Be Loved – LOU JOHNSON (a Bacharach/David song – a 1964 USA 7" single on Big Hill 553, A)
21. Give This Fool Another Chance – EDDIE WHITEHEAD (a 1967 USA 7" single on Black Jack 711, A)
22. Lonely Man – THE SOUL BROTHERS (a 1967 USA 7" single on Sho-Biz 401, A)
23. Take Another Look – THE TURQUINETTES (a Previously Unreleased A.F.O. Records Recording, 2015)
24. The Price – MARY LOVE-COMER (from the 1988 US LP "His Servant Am I" on CoLove Records 1001)
[NOTES: Tracks 1, 2, 5, 7, 8, 9, 11, 15 and 23 are Previously Unreleased, 2015
Tracks 2, 3, 14 15, 16, 17 and 24 are STEREO - all other Tracks are MONO]
The 16-page booklet has track-by-track assessments by Soul Authority and Lifelong Genre Lover ADY CROASDELL (compiler too) – a name that has graced countless quality CD compilations for Ace and Edsel. In-between text is photos of those rare American 45s on long-forgotten labels like Carnival, Kashe, Murco, Awake, Aware and Sho-Biz, label publicity photos and even a snap of Croasdell with Nashville Producer Bob Holmes. DUNCAN COWELL has mastered the tracks from original analogue recordings and the audio quality is typically fabulous – even when some of the sources are obviously less than audiophile.
"Lost Without You" on paper seems like another classy outing from Ace's Kent-Soul wing (a compilation of ballads spanning 1962 to 1988) – but in truth – I found a lot of it simply refused to fly at first. Nine of the 24 cuts are Previously Unreleased and although some are very good – you can 'hear' why they stayed in the can. Musically songs like "Stay Away" by The Turn Arounds and "I Don't Need Nobody" by Jerry Washington fit all the criteria for torch tunes – but they never really grab you by the throat because they’re trying but not really succeeding. The first time I felt the feeling was the compilation’s title song "Lost Without You" by Lorraine Chandler – but that's already showed on a previous Kent-Soul CD I got this year – "Pied Piper" (see review). Of the unreleased stuff - "Nobody But You" by The Exotics is one of the nuggets on here as is J.J. Jackson's vocal-group melodrama of "Don't Let Her Make You Cry". Both "Everybody Knows" by Peggy Gaines and Jimmy Scott's alternate take of "Take A Chance On Love" from 1984 called "Sure Thing" is excellent.
Ty Karim's cover of James Taylor's love song "Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight" somehow unintentionally strips the song of its Rock sweetness and stuff like the positively awkward "Take Another Look" by The Turquinettes and the funereal "How's Things With You" by Joe Mayfield are ruined by inappropriate instruments intruding on the tune. Far better is "Apartment No. 9" by Little Johnny Hamilton, the simple Soul of "King For A Day" by Danny White and the truly sublime rarely-heard Gospel B-side "Heaven's Will (Must Be Obeyed)" by Alice Clark – a stunning vocal and as Soulful as you're ever likely to hear a singer get (the A-side is a monster Northern Soul side). Speaking of the Lord – Mary Love-Comer gets all 80ts Soulful on "The Price" – a nice tune – but it partially works and is a weird and unsatisfying way to end this CD compilation.
To sum up - I've had to listen to "Lost Without You: The Best Of Kent Ballads 2" more than a few times to get used to it and enjoy its depths – and I'll admit it grows on me more and more. Just don't expect the usual first-time fireworks you normally get with Kent-Soul CD compilations of this kind...
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