"The Ozark Mountain Daredevils/It'll Shine When It Shines" by THE OZARK MOUNTAIN DAREDEVILS – December 1973 and December 1974 US Debut and Second Studio Albums on A&M Records (April 1974 and January 1975 in the UK) – featuring John Dillon, Michael "Supe" Granda, Larry Lee, Buddy Brayfield, Steve Cash and Randle Chowning (January 2005 UK Beat Goes On Reissue – 2LPs Onto 2CDs (No Bonuses) – Andrew Thompson Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

"...Light In The Lowlands..."

In 1974 I was fully committed. Not to Bedlam (as some had hoped) but to buying every album my lounge-boy Guinness and Gordon's bar-tips could afford. I bought "The Confessions Of Dr. Dream..." by Kevin Ayers on Island Records in a two-quid deal as well as Greenslade's third on Warner Brothers "Spyglass Guest", Todd Rundgren's Utopia and their self-titled monster debut on Bearsville, Dan Fogelberg's gorgeous "Souvenirs" on Full Moon/Epic - and so many more. Average White Band, Planet Waves, On The Border, Caribou, The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway, Hergest Ridge, Relayer, Sheet Music, On The Beach, Court And Spark, The Payback, Rejuvenation, Perfect Angel, It's Too Late To Stop Now, Irish Tours '74, Sneakin' Sally Through The Alley, Second Helping, Roxy's Country Life, Phaedra, Joe Walsh's fab So What – 1974 was a good year for albums and diversity of genres.

Then I spotted the intriguing grandma and shack A&M Records sleeve for "It'll Shine When It Shines" by the quirkily named THE OZARK MOUNTAIN DAREDEVILS (again in a sale). I liked the inner foldout lyrics sheet that made the release feel substantial; I mostly dug Country Rock and Acoustic Country in all its guises and thought - what the hell - let's give this pretty mountain goat a whirl. I played that album to death and of course back-tracked to the debut from the previous year which I found was just as good - and some would say - even better. Hell, the debut even had Prog elements in songs like "Spaceship Orion" and "Colorado" - a genre I was equally obsessed with. And so, I've been a huge fan of the hoot and a holler Ozarks ever since. To the matter...

What you get here is their December 1973 US debut album (April 1974 in the UK) and their second platter from December 1974 USA (January 1975 in the UK) - both on A&M Records - remastered to perfection onto 2CDs in 2005 by England's Beat Goes On (BGO) and the pair of albums loaded down with fun, warmth and astonishingly good/calming and refreshing melodies that get their hooks into you and won't leave.

The Byrds in the late Sixties, The Flying Burrito Brothers, Gram Parsons, Emmylou Harris, America, John Prine and of course the mighty Eagles (among many) had all broken down the Country Rock door moving the largely US genre away from Hicksville into tunes you couldn't deny. The Ozark Mountain Daredevils embodied all of it and actually did feel like the crystal clear waters of a Missouri stream, light in the lowlands. Here are the boys hat made the mountains sing...

UK released 24 January 2005 - "The Ozark Mountain Daredevils/It'll Shine When It Shines" by THE OZARK MOUNTAIN DAREDEVILS on Beat Goes On BGOCD 648 (Barcode 5017261206480) offers their debut and second studio albums Remastered onto 2CDs that play out as follows:

CD1 (38:46 minutes):

1. Country Girl [Side 1]

2. Spaceship Orion

3. If You Wanna Get To Heaven

4. Chicken Train

5. Colorado Song

6. Standin' On The Rock [Side 2]

7. Road To Glory

8. Black Sky

9. Within Without

10. Beauty In The River

Tracks 1 to 10 are their debut album "The Ozark Mountain Daredevils" - released December 1973 in the USA on A&M Records SP-4411 and April 1974 in the UK on A&M Records AMLH 64411. Tracks 1 and 7 written by Randle Chowning, Tracks 2 and 9 by Larry Lee, Tracks 4 and 8 by Steve Cash, Tracks 6 and 10 by John Dillon and Tracks 3 and 5 by Steve Cash and John Dillon. Produced by GLYN JOHNS and DAVID ANDERLE - it entered the US LP charts in February 1974 and peaked at No. 26 (didn't chart UK)

CD2 (44:20 minutes):

1. You Made It Right [Side 1]

2. Look Away

3. Jackie Blue

4. Kansas You Fooler

5. It Couldn't Be Better

6. E.E. Lawson

7. Walkin' Down The Road [Side 2]

8. What's Happened Along In My Life

9. It Probably Always Will

10. Lowlands

11. Tidal wave

12. It'll Shine When It Shines

Tracks 1 to 12 are their second studio album "It'll Shine When It Shines" - released December 1974 in the USA on A&M Records SP-3654 and January 1975 in the UK on A&M Records AMLH 63654. Produced by GLYN JOHNS and DAVID ANDERLE - it entered the US LP charts in December 1974 and peaked at No. 19 (didn't chart UK). 

The outer card wrap is both classy and a trademark look for BGO CD reissues and I would imagine BGOCD648 has been a steady seller for them. The sixteen-page booklet reproduces both lyric inserts that came with the original vinyls and also sports new JOHN TOBLER liner notes. All six band members are profiled - John Dillon, Steve Cash, Randle Chowning, Larry Lee, Michael "Supe" Granda and Buddy Brayfield along with their British and American Producers - Glyn Johns and David Anderle - pals who in-between gigs for The Rolling Stones went to see the band in Kansas, liked them and produced both records with superb fidelity. The legendary Glyn Johns has lent his hand to "Joan Armatrading", "Who's Next", "Eagles" - engineered the first Zeppelin and so many more - and the Andrew Thompson Remaster here is just glorious - bringing out that polish Johns brought to the original sessions.

As you can see from the track lists and playing-times provided above, Beat Goes On has chosen to separate each album onto its own CD. And I mention this because the only real downside (given that there was room on both discs) is that they didn't include the non-album 45 flipside to the huge hit "Jackie Blue" which was called "Better Days" (January 1975 US on A&M Records 1654-S, February 1975 UK on A&M records AMS 7150). There was also the exclusive "Dreams" that only showed up on the British 45 to "You Made It Right" in April 1976 on A&M Records AMS 7223. To my knowledge neither of these period B-sides have ever made their way onto digital (maybe future BGO reissues would consider adding these two rarities on?). Outside of that, this is an audio and presentation winner. Let's get to the Country girls and Kansas foolers...

The jaunty strum of "Country Girl" sets the tone immediately - very Eagles "Take It Easy" with Randle Chowning on Lead Vocals, Lead Electric and Acoustic Guitars, National Steel and Harp too. His "Country Girl" is a sweetie and a dead-ringer for easy radio-programming, so hardly surprising that A&M chose it as the lead off 45 in October 1973 - two months before the album arrived in December. It was paired with the Side 2 album cut "Within Without" on A&M 1477-S (another pretty strummer) - but neither song caught on. Single number two did. With the album picking up momentum, A&M tried the equally catchy "If You Wanna Get To Heaven" b/w "Spaceship Orion" on A&M 1515-S - a very cool twofer of album gems released in April 1974. It took some months, but in the second week of June 1974, it finally made Billboard's singles chart and eventually rose to No.25 giving the Springfield, Missouri band their first (semi) hit.

Perhaps not wanting the band to be lumbering with the riotously funny hoot 'n' holler square-dancing "Chicken Train" - it seems odd now that this obvious crowd-pleaser (neck jerking ahoy) wasn't issued as a follow-up 45 in either the USA or UK - but alas. For those looking towards ballads, "Road To Glory" is a harmonica strummer about card games in courtyards whilst "Black Sky" starts out like "Stone Fox Chase" by Area Code 615 (the theme song to "The Old Grey Whistle Test") before it becomes something akin to something on Cooder's "Paradise And Lunch" - all sliding acoustics as the Harp warbles over the stove lyrics. The LP's finisher "Beauty In The River" is a tad too hick for my tastes, but both "Spaceship Orion" and the fabulous "Colorado Song" shock me still with their gorgeous and clever melodies (love that guitar solo, very Genesis even somehow and those crescendo harmonies). I'm going back to Colorado, rolling down the highway...take me with you boys.

The second studio album made good on the America-good melodies of the debut opening strongly with "You Made It Right" – a very McGuinness Flint jolly old rag mama strummer with "clear blue windswept sky" lyrics. It’s an infectious tune – simple and beautifully captured by Producer Johns. Geetar honky tonk follows with the equally slick "Look Away" – a chugger with piano rolls and oh lord look away gospel words. I remember liking "Jackie Blue" when I first heard it in 1974 but didn’t think much past that. The American listening public begged to differ – loving the tune to distraction where it became a huge radio tune pushing A&M 1654 all the way up to No. 3 in March 1975. While the cool "E.E. Lawson" finishes Side 1 in great slide guitar fashion (did those deep vocals), my heart returns more to the pretty love song "It Couldn't Be Better" – a John Dillon co-write with Elizabeth Anderson where I think she provides uncredited harmony vocals amidst those crickets. Side 2 is the better stew pot of ballad gems like "What's Happened Along In My Life" and in particular the gorgeous "Lowlands". There are more but best you discover them yourself.

Sticking with A&M Records, The Ozarks would make "The Car Over The Lake Album", "Men From Earth" and "Don't Look Back" in 1975, 1976 and 1977 only to end their tenure with the label on the double-live album "It's Alive" in 1978. BGO have paired 1975 and 1976 on another release. But many feel the Springfield sixers are best remembered here.

"...I heard a song that was taught to a lady and it made the mountains sing..." – the boys teach on the beautiful opening to "Lowlands". Investigate these river songs and enjoy...

"Like An Old Fashioned Waltz" by SANDY DENNY – October 1973 UK Third Studio LP on Island Records (May 1974 USA on Island) - featuring Ian Armit of John Baldry's Hoochie Coochie Men, Dave Pegg of Mr. Fox, Danny Thompson of Pentangle, Alan Skidmore of Centipede and Chris McGregor’s Brotherhood Of Breath, John "Rabbit" Bundrick of Free, Crawler and The Who, William "Diz" Disley with Jerry Donahue, Pat Donaldson, Trevor Lucas, Dave Mattacks and Richard Thompson of Fairport Convention and Fotheringay (May 2005 UK Island Masters Single-Disc Extended Edition CD Remaster with Four Bonus Tracks - Denis Blackham Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...

 

"…The Real Thing Comes Along…"

Sandy Denny's 1971 debut album "The North Star Grassman And The Ravens" was a patchy start (moments of brilliance with others that just didn't work). But her second outing simply called "Sandy" emblazoned her gorgeous brand of Folk and Folk-Rock into music-loving hearts like nothing before. A flowing river singer-songwriter masterpiece, that's been revered ever since.

Which brings us to this gorgeous sounding CD of solo album number three – "Like An Old Fashioned Waltz" from October 1973 (again on Island Records originally). Part of a whole 2005 'Fairport Convention and their Solo Acts' reissue campaign (Sandy Denny, Richard and Linda Thompson, Fairport Convention etc) – each of these single-disc CDs are on the Island Remasters Series.

And this bad boy features a stellar cast of UK Folk-Rock heroes as well as R&B and Jazz players that could compliment her vision f stretching out musically - Ian Armit of John Baldry's Hoochie Coochie Men, Dave Pegg of Mr. Fox, Danny Thompson of Pentangle, Alan Skidmore of Centipede and Chris McGregor's Brotherhood Of Breath, John "Rabbit" Bundrick of Free, Crawler and later The Who, William "Diz" Disley with Jerry Donahue, Pat Donaldson, Trevor Lucas, Dave Mattacks and Richard Thompson of Fairport Convention and Fotheringay.

And as the album title indicates, bedded alongside the seven original SD tunes, the ex Fairport Convention and Fotheringay singer even tackles the old Doris Fisher and Sammy Cohen standards "Whispering Grass" and "Until The Real Thing Comes Along" (famously associated with The Inkspots and Fats Waller) with such subtle loveliness that you wish there was a whole album of the same. Here are the friends of old...

UK released 2 May 2005 - "Like An Old Fashioned Waltz" by SANDY DENNY on Island Remasters IMCD 315 / 982 802-3 (Barcode 602498280232) is a Single-Disc Expanded Edition CD Remaster with Four Bonus Tracks that breaks down as follows (65:53 minutes):

1. Solo [Side 1]

2. Like An Old Fashioned Waltz

3. Whispering Grass

4. Friends

5. Carnival

6. Dark The Night [Side 2]

7. At The End Of The Day

8. Until The Real Thing Comes Along

9. No End

Tracks 1 to 9 are her 3rd solo album "Like An Old Fashioned Waltz" – released October 1973 in the UK on Island ILPS 9258 and May 1974 in the USA on Island Records SW-9340. Engineered and Produced by JOHN WOOD and TREVOR LUCAS (of Nick Drake fame) – it didn’t chart in either country in either year

BONUS TRACKS:

10. At The End Of The Day (Alternate Take Without Strings)

First issued 11 October 2004 in "A Boxful Of Treasures", 5CD Box Set on Fledg'ling Records NEST 5002

11. King & Queen Of England (Home Demo)

Recorded December 1974 by Trevor Lucas, first issued June 1988 in the vinyl-only 7LP Box Set "Island Life: 25 Years Of Island Records" on Island Records IBX 25

12. Like An Old Fashioned Waltz (Live with Fairport Convention)

Recorded by John Wood live at The Troubadour, Los Angeles, February 1974

PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

13. No End (Solo Piano Version)

Recorded by John Wood at the Walthamstow Assembly Halls, London, 3 December 1972. First issued January 1986 in the 4LP Sandy Denny UK Vinyl Box Set "Who Knows Where The Time Goes?" on Island SDSP 100. 

As do all four of the albums in this Sandy Denny Island Records output - it comes in a fetching outer card wrap (slipcase) and the 12-page booklet features original artwork, lyrics, photographs and January 2005 liner notes by expert and long-time devotee DAVID SUFF (of Fledgling Records). It's tastefully done and the DENIS BLACKHAM Remaster from original master tapes is truly gorgeous – warm, atmospheric and full of presence. The only blip is the CD label colouring that sports the black and orange eye Island Records logo from the late 60ts instead of the pink-rim palm-tree variant it was actually released on in 1973. Other than that, it reeks of class...

Broken hearts and the open wounds of love lost are never far from the surface when Sandy sings – and as the stunning crescendo of voices that make up the chorus of the Side One opener "Solo" touches you so deeply – its hard not to be tearful as she aches – I've just gone – Solo. The song also contains the lyric "I've Always Kept A Unicorn" that gave an Acoustic Sandy Denny 2CD set in April 2016 its title (see separate review). Fans are divided on the strings overload laid thick on "Like An Old Fashioned Waltz" – orchestral arrangements by Harry Robinson. I've learned to just roll with it, wallow in the old world romance. It's quickly followed by the Doris Fisher standard made famous by The Inkspots - "Whispering Grass" – brass arrangements by Bob Leaper. I love this song and Sandy feels so at home with the piano plinking and high-hat shuffles – whispering grass don't tell the trees because the trees don't need to know (dig that Danny Thompson double-bass long note).

But then comes one of the album's true masterpieces – the and-you-feel-all-right-now but for how long "Friends". And this is one song where the string arrangements feel complimentary and not intrusive – even if that guitar solo stills feels somehow lost in the mix. "Friends" is gorgeous even in its quiet please leave anger (time to leave and you know the way). She'll be just fine now – so long. Side 1 ends with another original, the acoustic lovely "Carnival" – as warm a melody as she ever penned and in my books one of her catalogue's hidden gems (good day to you sweet Autumn, so gently you appear).

After the lush romance/melancholy of Side 1 and its slow songs - "Dark The Night" opens Side 2 with an uneasy upbeat drumbeat. Quickly joined by strings and oboes and layered vocals – I've never really been convinced by its neither here nor there vibe (cool electric keyboard solo though). Far more convincing is the Jackson Browne-sounding piano love song "At The End Of The Day" – a "you're the one I'm thinking of" tune as I bring my love home to you. And again the strings work adding an epic feel to the centre passage of the long song accompanying a Mike Oldfield-sounding guitar solo. Cover number two comes in a fabulous shuffle – the Fats Waller famous "Until The Real Thing Comes Along". You might as well be on the set of Boardwalk Empire as gorgeous gals entertain the well-heeled gentlemen before they get too liquored-up to do any performing of their own (and if that isn't love, it'll have to do).

It comes to an end with 6:37 minutes of "No End" – another hugely moving epic. But what is astonishing is the Bonus Track "Solo" version of "No End" recorded in February 1974 at the Walthamstow Assembly Hall with just Sandy on piano – haunting and mesmerizing. The demo of "King & Queen Of England" is the same – a piano demo recorded by Trevor Lucas at her home in December 1974 with what you can only describe as audiophile skill (stunning remaster). It was tucked away on the scrappy-doo "Island Life" 7LP Box Set in 1988 and how good is it to see it finally a CD release. For many the idea of a Previously Unreleased track by Sandy with Fairport Convention is enough to make them lose what little hair they have left – but while "Like An Old Fashioned Waltz" is nice – its live and hissy – but still worth having.

We would lose her in 1978 aged only 31. I remember meeting John Walters when I was working at Reckless (he was John Peel's legendary producer and we bought his extensive record collection) and we were in a pub discussing gigs he'd seen that blew his mind. John was told by Bernie Andrews (another legendary BBC producer) to go see this young girl in a bar that he'd heard about who was causing a stir. It was Sandy Denny before she'd joined the ranks of Fairport Convention. The purity of her English Folk voice left him shaking and stunned. I can still see his smile to this day and the memory of it etched into his face.

It's nice to know that all their memories have been given a Folk Royalty nod by this fab little reissue from The Real Thing…

"Black Moses" by ISAAC HAYES – November 1971 US 2LP Set on Enterprise Records and February 1972 UK 2LP set on Stax Records – featuring backing bands The Isaac Hayes Movement and The Bar-Kays with Backing Vocals by Hot Buttered & Soul featuring Pat Lewis and Arrangements by Johnny Allen and Dale Warren (April 2009 UK Universal Music Group/Stax/Concord Music Group, Inc. Deluxe Edition Reissue With Repro Foldout Cross Card Sleeve – 2LPs onto 2CDs - Bob Fisher Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...

"...Ike's Rap..."

There was industry discussion in the October 1971 issue of Billboard Magazine as Stax/Enterprise prepped for the release of Isaac Hayes' second double-album "Black Moses" in the same year ("Shaft" had been issued in July 1971). Stax had locked down all promotion of his new November 1971 opus. This was because some DJ had reputedly been offered $300,000 for his Promo Copy with the aim of bootlegging it.

Why would someone offer an A&R employee such a huge amount of cash in 1971?  Because his previous effort "Shaft", as a Movie and 2LP Blaxploitation Soul Music Soundtrack, was massive – an absolute phenomenon and in a way that few had ever seen before. The handsome sex symbol lead actor Richard Roundtree, the bespectacled and impossibly cool musician Isaac Hayes with his beard and bling, the wah wah guitar theme he composed that just slaughtered all in its path worldwide - this bad mother was everywhere. Stax was even then claiming that such was the demand for Isaac’s fourth release, that nearly 40% of copies of "Shaft" in American circulation were bootlegs - gazillions of them.

Few now remember (or even know) that November 1971's "Black Moses" was going to be Isaac Hayes' fifth No. 1 US R&B LP in a row – a feat no one had ever achieved (he would nab another two R&B number one albums in 1974 with "Truck Turner" and the 1976 double "Live At The Sahara Tahoe"). Seven No. 1 R&B albums – wow!

Which brings us via a reissue circuitous route to this 2009 foldout love-in and Remaster for the slightly forgotten "Black Moses" splurge – and tis a wee bit sexy thing too if you ask me. Time to get down brothers and sisters with the man with the plan - Ike's Rap...

UK released 6 April 2009 (24 February 2009 in the USA) - "Black Moses" by ISAAC HAYES on Universal Music Group/Stax/Concord Music Group, Inc.  0888072312388 (Barcode 888072312388) is a Deluxe Edition offering the full 2LP Set Remastered onto 2CDs with repro foldout cross packaging (like the original vinyl double-album) and plays out as follows:

CD1 (50:06 minutes):

1. Never Can Say Goodbye [Side 1]

2. (They Long To Be) Close To You

3. Nothing Takes The Place Of You 

4. Man's Temptation

5. Part-Time Love [Side 4]

6. Medley: Ike's Rap IV/A Brand New Me

7. Going In Circles

CD2 (43:36 minutes):

1. Never Gonna Give You Up [Side 2]

2. Medley: Ike's Rap II/Help Me Love

3. Need To Belong To Someone

4. Good Love 6-9969

5. Ike's Rap III/Your Love Is So Doggone Good [Side 3]

6. For The Good Times

7. I'll Never Fall In Love Again

The studio double-album "Black Moses" was released 15 November 1971 in the USA on Enterprise ENS-5003 and February 1972 in the UK on Stax 2628 004. Produced by ISAAC HAYES and featuring THE BAR KAYS, THE ISAAC HAYES MOVEMENT and HOT BUTTERED & SOUL as backing bands – the double-album peaked at No. 1 on the US R&B charts (entered 18 December 1971), No. 10 on the Pop LP Charts (entered 11 December 1971) with a No. 38 placing on the UK LP charts in February 1972. CD1 contains Sides 1 and 4 while CD2 contains Sides 2 and 3, aping how the original American LPs were issued.

The first thing that hits you is the packaging – aping for the first time since its 1971 US release - the huge foldout cross with Isaac looking like a Bedouin preacher asking for rain in the desert. The story by Chester Higgins of Jet Magazine that was done in ye old Biblical style typeface across the inside of the cover is present and accounted for too, "...And so it came to pass that 28 years ago Isaac (Black Moses) Hayes was born in the town of Covington, Tenn., a snoozing little hamlet... " Yeah brother.

Once unfolded, three flaps at the end of the cross house the two CDs and 12-page booklet. I have to say though that once out of its shrinkwrap – the thing is a bit of a beast to handle or get back into a shape that doesn't easily crumple. The 12-page colour booklet is a pleasingly in-depth affair with November 2008 liner notes from ROB BOWMAN, author of the acclaimed label tome "Soulsville U.S.A.: The Story Of Stax Records". There are three black and white photos of our hero in full-on pimpmobile dude attire complete with fur coats, glasses and bling - while the final more humble shot shows Ike at an organ in a record store surrounded by admiring brothers. The snap of Ike outside Soulsville USA studios is so damn cool – stripped trousers and all. A good read then and despite its unwieldy nature, I love that packaging.

The ROB FISHER 24-Bit Remaster was done at Pacific Multimedia and really lifts the splurge of cover versions – all that Dolby Systems production full and punchy as Hell. While "Shaft" was famous for its legendary Funky theme song, like its predecessor, "Black Moses" is surprising mellow throughout – a seducer really.

The musical landscape of this sprawling double album is a veritable river of f cover versions with five bits of new material amidst its sixteen tracks. Hayes does contemporary songwriters like the Bacharach and David classic "(They Long To Be) Close To You" made a monster number one Billboard smash by The Carpenters and the Kris Kristofferson love song "For The Good Times" from his 1970 debut album on Monument made a Country No. 1 single in 1970 by Ray Price - to older R&B and Soul heroes like Toussaint McCall and his 1967 Ronn Records hit "Nothing Takes The Place Of You", the Curtis Mayfield B-side gifted to Gene Chandler in 1963 on Vee Jay Records "Man's Temptation" and another from 1963, the Clay Hammond song "Part-Time Love" recorded by Little Johnnie Taylor.

Soul legends Kenny Gamble, Leon Huff and Jerry Butler had written "Never Give You Up (Never Gonna Give You Up)" for Shirley & The Shirelles on Bell Records in 1969 – here Ike calls it simply "Never Gonna Give You Up". He preambles his own "Ike's Rap II" into a two-song medley attaching it to the Luther Ingram, Johnny Baylor, Tommy Tate and Mickey Gregory song "Help Me Love". Ingram would eventually do his own version of "Help Me Love" on his fabulous album "If Loving You Is Wrong I Don't Want To Be Right" issued October 1972. It was in turn coupled with "Always" (as the A-side) from the same LP and released as a KoKo Records 45 in February 1973.

The covers keep coming. After his own "Ike's Rap III" – Hayes tagged on a Whispers song called "Your Love Is So Doggone Good" – a tune that was a current May 1971 hit while the Movement was recording "Black Moses". Hayes then dipped backwards to "Going In Circles" – a No. 15 Billboard Pop hit for The Friends Of Distinction in October 1969 on RCA Victor Records. And for the final song, he slinked into a deadringer to his style of Soul-ifying easy listening pop songs – the Bacharach and David smash "I'll Never Fall In Love Again" made immortal by Dionne Warwick in 1970.

It's a lurve-thing baby. I guess you could say that in June 2020, this relic of Soul Music's flashier history is a bedroom swinger that's past its woke sell-by-date. But I love it and the Audio on this has only made me want to rant and rave about the deep-voiced one.

Chester Higgins finishes his "Black Moses" liner notes on the original double-album by saying, "...Black Moses of the famous "Memphis Sound" is indeed a soulful prophet of the Chosen People, a willing servant of the Lord, and one helluva entertaining genius, to boot..." Well, on the renewed evidence presented here – you have to say that da Higster had a point...