"...Got Everything I Need..."
Sometimes the enormity of an
album can elude the public, even with 52 years of hindsight.
1968's "This Is
Soul" was a HUGE LP and not just for 60ts Soul Music but for Atlantic
Records specifically. This simple 12-track compilation enamoured the hugely hip
American record label to a whole new generation of English buyers - and let’s
face it, Rock Bands too (Zeppelin would sign with them in 1969). A little
history first on this mighty hunk of knock on wood...
Released Stateside in late
March 1968 as "This Is Soul" on Atlantic SD-8170 – that variant also
had 12-tracks but a boring titled-sleeve (no pictures front or rear) and
US-centric song choices. It hit Billboard's R&B charts on 30 March 1968 and
rose to a height of No. 22 with a 9-week stay. But apart from the name - its
similarity to the more famous and wildly influential British issue ends.
Atlantic UK dropped eight of
its American choices and replaced them with British tastes. So out went the
more R&B bop and stroll orientated songs like "Release Me" by
Esther Phillips, "Cool Jerk" by The Capitols, "What'd I
Say" by Ray Charles, "On Broadway" by The Drifters and
"Hold What You've Got" by Joe Tex - to be replaced with Carla Thomas,
Sam & Dave, Otis Redding and Eddie Floyd – none of whom were on the US LP.
The mid-tempo "Spanish Harlem" by Ben E. King was also replaced with
the more upbeat "What Is Soul?" while the Wicked Pickett (gracing the
English sleeve in that supercool live pose with jigsaw design around him) got
to keep his version of "Land Of A Thousand Dances" but blagged one
more on the British album. His mule-kicking let's-get-the-party started
"Mustang Sally" set the pace of the LP as Track 1 on Side A. So -
when played side to side (as opposed to the US variant), the British Atlantic
Plum Label LP worked like a dream. This lethally good sequencing did not go
unnoticed as UK students and hipsters dragged the reasonably priced 13
schillings and 11 old pence album along to parties and social gatherings (where
more than Smarties were on offer) - its sexy laminate colour sleeve acting as a
badge of cool.
And it sold - big. Issued
late March 1968 in the UK on Atlantic 643 301 in Mono and Stereo variants (both
had the same catalogue number) - its first sales appearance was 23 March 1968
on the NME LP charts – in at No. 5 with a bullet. The following week (30 March
1968), it gathered momentum and went to No. 2. Continuing to sell bucket-loads
for another four weeks (stayed at No. 2 for all four of them) but kept off the
top slot by Dylan's eagerly awaited "John Wesley Harding" – it
finally ascended to the mountaintop of No. 1 on the 4 May 1968. The thing is
that it stayed there (at number one) for a storming further eight weeks only to
be dislodged in July by that other Number one giant of 1968 – the Small Faces
and their mind-blowing and beautiful "Ogden's Nut Gone Flake" on
Immediate Records.
So for March, April, May and
June of 1968 – this LP was smashing it at the top of the British LP charts and
in fact didn't leave the NME Top 15-20 until 28 September 1968 (and would of
course bubble under for the remainder of that mercurial year). Trojan would
mimic the "This Is Soul" formula of gathering together winning
singles on one compilation with their ground-breaking "Tighten Up"
(Volume 1) LP in January 1969, Island Records would offer their first Rock LP
sampler in June 1969 with "You Can All Join In", followed by
"Nice Enough To Eat" in October 1969 and so on. "This Is
Soul" cast a long shadow. Now let’s get to the music and this stunning CD
reissue of it.
There are two variants of
the UK CD – first up came 2 April 2007 with "This Is Soul" by VARIOUS
ARTISTS was on Rhino/Atlantic 5144-20123-2 (Barcode 5051442012323) – A Card
Digipak with 17 Bonus Tracks.
What we have here is a
reissue of that – 22 June 2018 on Rhino/Atlantic/Warner Music (UK) Ltd
0603497859139 (Barcode 0603497859139). It sports the same 29 tracks (see below
for order), a gatefold card sleeve, an Atlantic Records inner bag for the CD, a
12-page-booklet (themed artwork like the bag) with specific liner notes from
Mojo Magazine's CHARLES WARING and the same GIOVANNI SCATOLA Remasters of 2007
mostly in STEREO.
LP fans should also note that 22 June 2018 saw a reissued VINYL
copy of the 12-Track British LP in repro'd original artwork on Rhino/Atlantic
643 301 (Barcode 0603497859122).
Back to digital - at 79:29 minutes, the CD plays out as
follows...
1. Mustang Sally - WILSON
PICKETT [Side 1]
2. B-A-B-Y - CARLA THOMAS
3. Sweet Soul Music - ARTHUR
CONLEY
4. When A Man Loves A Woman
- PERCY SLEDGE
5. I Got Everything I Need -
SAM & DAVE
6. What Is Soul? - BEN E.
KING
7. Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa (Sad Song)
- OTIS REDDING [Side 2]
8. Knock On Wood - EDDIE
FLOYD
9. Keep Looking - SOLOMON
BURKE
10. I Never Loved A Man (The
Way I Loved You) - ARETHA FRANKLIN
11. Warm And Tender Love -
PERCY SLEDGE
12. Land Of A Thousand
Dances - WILSON PICKETT
BONUS TRACKS:
13. Hold On I'm Coming - SAM
& DAVE (1965)
14. Soul Finger - THE
BAR-KAYS (1967)
15. Memphis Soul Stew - KING
CURTIS (1967)
16. Hard To Handle - OTIS
REDDING (1968)
17. Save Me - ARETHA
FRANKLIN (1967)
18. Tighten Up Pt. 1 -
ARCHIE BELL & THE DRELLS (1967)
19. Funky Broadway - WILSON
PICKETT (1968)
20. Tramp - OTIS REDDING
& CARLA THOMAS (1967)
21. Get Out Of My Life - THE
MAD LADS (1968)
22. You're Losing Me -
BARBARA LYNN (1968)
23. Some Kind Of Wonderful -
SOUL BROTHERS SIX (1967)
24. Soul Girl - JEANNE &
THE DARLINGS (1967)
25. Funky Street - ARTHUR
CONLEY (1968)
26. Big Bird - ARTHUR CONLEY
27. That's How It Feels -
SOUL CLAN
28. Ain't That Lovin' You
(For More Reasons Than One) - JOHNNIE TAYLOR (1967)
29. (Sittin' On) The Dock Of
The Bay - OTIS REDDING (1968)
The Audio is absolutely
punching – the moment you get that Wicked Pickett wham in "Mustang
Sally" – it feels like this CD is out to prove something. The same applies
to the Percy Sledge weepy "When A Man Loves A Woman" – a song you may
feel you've heard too many times, but here the Audio is going to grab you
again. And I never get over the sheer power of Solomon Burke as his massive
frame rips through "Keep Looking". Clear as World Health Organisation
conscience too is the brass and drums intro to Sam & Dave as they
laugh/plead that you 'listen to me' on their sexy smoocher "I Got
Everything I Need". The whole LP is like this - such a great listen. As
Wilson would say – huh! – alright! – mashed potato – do the Watusi – nah nah
nah nah – need somebody to help me…feel pretty good y'all…watch me work…yeah
baby!
Bonuses: Atlantic Records
fetishists like me have long since fantasised as to what "This Is Soul
Volume 2" would have looked like - another 12-tracks of the same. It never
did get issued, so Rhino have instead supplied a fantastic set of 17 Bonuses
that they say are in 'the spirit of the original LP'. And listening to
dancefloor cookers like Aretha's "Save Me" beside Otis Redding's
hip-swaying "Hard To Handle" itself next to the truly ace Arthur
Conley gem "Funky Street" - and few would disagree with their
assessment. They open bonus proceedings with the perfect 60ts Soul bopper -
"Hold On I'm Coming" by Sam & Dave. But there is also the
discoveries of lesser heard names like The Mad Lads with their bass and piano
thumping "Get Out Of My Life", the sexily cool Barbara Lynn with her
'you don't do right/I know you got someone else' tune "You're Losing
Me" or the genuine slow-ache-soul of "That's How I Feel" by Soul
Clan – a front name for an Atlantic five piece vocalist supergroup containing
Solomon Burke, Ben E. King, Arthur Conley, Don Covay and Joe Tex.
The Soul Brothers Six nugget
"Some Kind Of Wonderful" has been covered by loads including Grand
Funk while Jeanne & The Darlings also throw in the hugely hooky "Soul
Girl" - all piano shots and brass jabs aimed at your hips. The only one I
don’t quite dig is the Johnnie Taylor version of "Ain't That Loving You
(For More Reasons Than One)" because the Luther Ingram version on Koko
Records (Stax in the UK) from 1970 is infinitely more touching (see my review
for Bear Family's beautifully rewarding "Sweet Soul Music - 1970"
CD). And the bonuses end of the posthumous number one - Otis Redding's
"(Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay" - a tune I've probably heard one too
many times now.
I also love the way it
looks, that clever spread of Atlantic Records sevens and cover memorabilia on
the inner gatefold, the Atlantic Records inner paper bag to house the CD that
apes the colouring of the original British LP and the detailed booklet. The
only thing that is missing from the original LP is the rear artwork that
advertised twelve other Atlantic Records LPs - but that's been repro'd exactly
on the 2018 VINYL variant.
"This Is Soul" is
a brilliant and cleverly presented CD reissue that can be picked up for under
six quid in 2020 - and Soul Brother/Soul Sister - that's a six-pack well worth
splashing out the talcum powder for...
PS: I'm probably going to be
hung up by some private part for saying this by men in white coats, but I think
the Guinness Book Of Hit Albums is wrong in credited the LP with a 14 June 1969
charting (climbed to a peak of No. 16 on a 15-week run) and therefore as some
have presumed – a belated June 1969 release date. It should read June 1968 for
the Official Pop Charts and is an error that’s ben compounded over the years.
