"Wrap It Up: Isaac Hayes And David Porter Songbook" by VARIOUS ARTISTS (30 September 2022 UK Ace Records CD Compilation with Duncan Cowell Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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****

I had a feeling that this Ace CD would be a humdinger and with 24-tracks spanning 1966 to 1985 giving us the cream of STAX Records writing-team ISAAC HAYES and DAVID PORTER - it's a joyful and surprisingly varied listen - all seventy-five minutes and 42 seconds of it. To the bad go-getters...

 

UK released Friday 30 September 2022 - "Wrap It Up: Isaac Hayes and David Porter Songbook" by VARIOUS ARTISTS on Ace Records CDTOP 1622 (Barcode 029667106924) is a 24-Track CD compilation of Remasters that plays out as follows (75:42 minutes):

 

1. 60 Minutes Of Your Love - HOMER BANKS (September 1966 US 45-single on Minit 32008, A-side - January 1967 UK 45-single on Liberty LIB 12047, A-side)

2. As Long As I've Got You - THE EMOTIONS (first appeared on the 2009 Emotions UK CD compilation "Song Of Innocence And Experience...And Then Some" on Stax CDSXD 138)

3. B-A-B-Y - RACHEL SWEET (November 1978 UK 45-single on Stiff BUY 39, A-side - a Carla Thomas cover version)

4. Can't Trust Your Neighbor - FREDDIE KING (from the June 1972 US LP "Texas Cannonball" on Shelter Records SW-8913 - originally done by Johnny Taylor)

5. May I Baby - PETER FRAMPTON (from the 1979 US LP "Where I Should Be" on A&M Records SP3710 - features Tower Of Power horns, Steve Cropper on Guitar and Bob Mayo on duet vocals - was also 45-single B-side of "I Can't Stand It No More" issued May 1979 USA on A&M Records 2148. The song was originally a Sam & Dave B-side to "Soul Man" in 1967)

6. You're Taking Up Another Man's Place - ARETHA FRANKLIN (first issued on the 1986 Aretha Franklin US LP "The Delta Meets Detroit" on Atlantic 81696-1)

7. Hold On, I'm Comin' - THE RIGHTEOUS BROTHERS (from the 1967 US LP "Sayin' Somethin'" on Verve Records V6-5010 in Stereo - a Sam & Dave cover).

8. I've Got To Love Somebody's Baby - PETER GALLAGHER (from the 2005 CD "7 Days In Memphis" on Epic 8-2796-97753-2 - a Johnnie Taylor cover) 

9. I'll Understand - EDWIN STARR & BLINKY (from the September 1969 US LP "Just We Two" on Gordy Records GS 945 in Stereo)

10. I Take What I Want - THE BISHOPS (April 1978 UK 45-single on Chiswick Records NS 33, A-side - a Sam & Dave cover version from 1965)

11. I Thank You - ZZ TOP (from the 1979 US LP "Deguello" on Warner Brothers HS 3361 - also January 1980 US 45-single on Warner Brothers WBS 49163, A-side)

12. My Baby Specializes - DELANEY and BONNIE (from the October 1969 US LP "Home" on Stax STS 2026, March 1970 UK on Stax SXATS 1029 - a Judy Clay cover version) 

13. Never Like This Before - MARCIA BALL (from her 1985 US LP "Hot Tamale Baby" on Rounder Records 3095)

14. Soul Man - SAM & DAVE (August 1967 US 45-single on Stax S-231, A-side)

15. Left Over Love - RUBY JOHNSON (from the 1993 Ruby Johnson UK CD compilation "I'll Run Your Hurt Away" on Stax CDSXD 049)

16. The Sweeter He Is (Parts 1 & 2) - THE SOUL CHILDREN (from the 1969 US debut album "The Soul Children" on Stax STS 2018 in Stereo) 

17. Toe Hold - JOHNNIE TAYLOR (Previously Unreleased Complete Version of Stax 202 from 1966) 

18. When Something Is Wrong With My Baby - OTIS REDDING and CARLA THOMAS (from the 1967 duet album "King And Queen" on Stax S-716 in Stereo)

19. Wrap It Up - ARCHIE BELL and THE DRELLS (October 1970 US 45-single n Atlantic 45-2768, A-side)

20. You Don't Know Like I Know - KEITH and BILLIE (Keith Powell and Billie Davis) (June 1966 UK 45-single on Piccadilly 7N.35321, A-side)

21. "You Got Me Hummin' - THE HASSLES (October 1967 US 45-single on United Artists UA 50215, A-side - band featured Billy Joel)

22. Your Good Thing (Is About To End) - MABLE JOHN (May 1966 US 45-single on Stax 192, A-side)

23. Love Is After Me - CHARLIE RICH (1966 Us 45-single on Hi Records 2116)

24. I'm Dedicating My Life - DANNY WHITE (1965 US 45-single on Atlas 1257)

Tracks 1, 22, 23 and 24 are MONO - all others are STEREO

Track 17 is PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED 

 

A 24-page jam-packed booklet gives you typically superb liner notes from Soul expert and genre lover TONY ROUNCE - all of it pumped up with US and UK 7" single labels (stock and promo copies of Stax, Atlantic, Liberty, Sue, Verve etc). There are rare US, UK and European picture sleeves, sheet music and publicity photos from artists you don't see too much of like The Emotions and Edwin Starr and Blinky. With quality mastering from their resident Audio Engineer - the uber experienced DUNCAN COWELL - it has the overall wallop all of these Ace Records CD compilations have - quality. To the chunes... 

 

It's a measure of their class-act status that something as lovely as The Emotions doing "As Long As I've Got You" - a demo probably recorded 1969 in their Stax Records heyday and first unearthed for a 2009 Rarities CD - sisters Sheila, Janette and Wanda Hutchinson shining like Dionne Warwick. Four very clever choices include US actor Peter Gallagher doing a Michael Bolton passionate rendition of "I've Got To Love Somebody's Baby" (originally a Johnnie Taylor cover on Stax), a superbly 1979 Pop-Soulful Peter Frampton version of "May I Baby" that sees the ex Herd and Humble Pie vocalist backed up by Steve Cropper on Guitar, Bob Mayo on Duet Vocals with the Tower of Power horns lifting all ("May I Baby" was originally the B-side of Sam & Dave's "Soul Man" 45-single in 1967). Third and fourth choices are Rachel Sweet's forgotten Soul sweetness on "B-A-B-Y" on England's largely Punk and New Wave label in 1979 with The Count Bishops taking a few leaves out of Rory Gallagher's guitar book when he covered Sam & Dave's "I Take What I Want" for his 1975 Chrysalis Records album "Against The Grain" - The Counts mixing in his guitar boogie with their own chugging rhythms to make a great dancer issued on England's Chiswick Records in 1978. 

Then Husband and Wife team Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett do Judy Clay's "My Baby Specializes" from their excellent "Home" album on Stax (1969 USA, 1970 UK) - white people digging the black sounds and then some while South Louisiana's Marcia Ball gets her considerable larynx around "Never Like This Before" - a track that Hayes and Porter gave to William Bell. You could argue that you might never again want to hear Sam and Dave's "Soul Man" it's been so overdone - but once it's working your speakers - resistance will be difficult. A properly Bluesy Soulful duo of tracks comes at you with Ruby Johnson's gorgeous take on "Left Over Love" - a 1967 nugget from this lady cult hero of Soul (I've got to get more of her stuff) - and then The Soul Children lay on the suffering-today for "The Sweeter He Is". What sends it into the stratosphere is that Ace has smartly included the full album cut Parts 1 & 2 of the song (6:17 minutes) where the ladies handle the uh-huh on the first part but lead vocalist John Blackfoot goes ballistic guttural in Part 2 - a gem worth the price of admission alone.

 

Racing to the end we get more guts-for-garters vocals with Johnnie Taylor's "Toe Hold" - it's 1966 rendering restored with the intro edited into the whole so its become a 2022 new cut - very cool indeed. Mable John has been a fave of deep Soul lovers for decades and her piano-and-guitar shuffling take on "Your Good Thing (Is About To End)" from 1966 on Stax is fabulous - you can so hear why Bonnie Raitt and Lou Rawls did covers of it in the 70ts. "When Something Is Wrong With My Baby" sees the powerhouses of Otis Redding and Carla Thomas trade vocals in this famous been-through-so-much-together Stax Records smoocher. But for me even that genuine piece of Soul masterclass by Otis and Carla is outdone by the CD's title piece - the fabulous shake-yer-booty brass and tambourine joy of "Wrap It Up" by Archie Bell & The Drells - the kind of dancer gem that makes you believe Soul Music is the greatest!  

For sure a few choices don't really work - The Hassles with a very young and inexperienced Billy Joel, Charlie Rich not quite silver-foxing it or the supposed white boy soul of The Righteous Brothers. But overall this is another great installment from Ace Records amongst so many celebrating heroes. Recommended...