Well, a promo copy of
The Essential Charlie Rich just arrived at the office today, and even though I have most of these songs already, it's cool having them all in one place (and now I'll be able to rip "Mohair Sam" to the iTunes, something I couldn't do with my vinyl at home). I know we've had country threads where we've given him props before, but as I listen to some of these cuts, I figured
fuck it, this guy needs his own home. I've always said that Charlie Rich is the kind of guy you recommend to jazz fans trying to get into country!! Sounds absurd, I know, but really, Rich was THAT kind of artist that always used to come out of the south back in the '60s and '70s...the kind of person who could be rock, soul, and country simultaneously. Within the same song, too ("Life Has It's Little Ups & Downs," "Mohair Sam"). Yet he started out as a teenage jazz fan, and fittingly, the last record he ever got to make before he passed away was an all-jazz album (
Pictures & Paintings, from the early nineties). Despite all this, you'll find his records in the country bins.My fave Charlie sessions are those two albums he did for Smash in the '60s (reissued in the '70s as one Mercury 2-record set,
Fully Realized), but just about every period of his career had some kind of goodness, even in that shaky period on Epic where producer Billy Sherrill essentially "whitened" his sound with strings and background voices. But even in that era, he was kicking ass - just witness all those soul versions of "Life Has It's Little Ups & Downs" (Brook Benton, Latimore and Walter Jackson all took a crack at this tune) and "Behind Closed Doors" (Little Milton and Percy Sledge knew what time it was).Full respect - despite sappy producers who tried to dumb down his sound, Rich had one hell of a career.
pickwick33
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A brilliant artist. A handsome man. The Real Thing by any standard. A goddam genius for sure.
Hey,
Funny you mentioned Charlie Rich, because I've always been a fan since I was a kid. I'll definitely pick up the box set you mentioned. Weirdly enough, from an early age, country artists have appealed to me. I sometimes avoid mentioning artists I think won't be "felt" up in here. I guess I should rethink that tact.
Peace,
Big Stacks from Kakalak
I knew you'd have something to say!! Now I'm waiting for Terry Clubbup's testimony!
I remember, when I used to work in a record store, I used to play his Pictures & Paintings album on the regular, and I'd get all these older African-American jazz fans in their fifties & sixties asking who it was. And we're talking folks who had Billy Eckstine or Sarah Vaughn playing in the background the night they first got laid.
Seriously, even back when I wasn't much of a country fan, I had a major soft spot for Charlie's more "soulish" records like "Mohair Sam." By now, he's in my ten-albums-or-more gallery of greats right alongside Taj Mahal, James Brown, Buck Owens, the Rolling Stones, Ike & Tina Turner, and Johnny Cash. And oh yeah, Paul Revere & the Raiders.
It's back to what I scream about here on Soulstrut. I wonder, for some, is music a commodity or a passion. Too many times, people seem oblivious to great music right under their noses, in lieu of rare 45s or the funk break of the day. There's nothing wrong with funk 45s (I love 'em too), but true music fans appreciate an array of music. There seems to be a little too much compartmentalization of music up in here sometimes, like missing the forest for the trees. I'm not judging or dissin' (which isn't my steeze), just stating my opinion.
Peace,
Big Stacks from Kakalak
That record is a master class in comeback records. Up there with any of the Cash records of the 90s.
Coincidentally, on satellite radio I started hearing them play a song by Rich called "There Won't Be Anymore" that sounded really damn good and soulful. I tried tracking it down but instead of the version they were playing fairly often on satellite radio I instead heard some older, more traditional sounding version of the song I didn't like nearly as much. Finally, through the magic of the internet I found a copy of an album called "Lonely Weekends: The Sun Years" on Bear Family Records which has the version of the song I was looking for. For your listening pleasure (or displeasure, depending) I uploaded the track A HREF="http://download.yousendit.com/C70E82467FB94151"> here /A>. I imagine the first few bars of the song could really be sampled and used effectively by somebody.
I didn't mean to hate on his later, Billy Sherrill-produced countrypolitan stuff, but after "The Most Beautiful Girl" (one of the weaker songs on Behind...) became a crossover smash, his records became corny pretty quickly (starting with the next one, 1974's Very Special Love Songs).
Myself, I think the Behind Closed Doors album is as good as it gets for the countrypolitan Charlie. Of course, I don't think it's that great all the way through, but 6 out of 11 ain't bad - how can you front on "Behind...," "I Take It On Home," "Peace On You," "Sunday Kind Of Woman," "If You Wouldn't Be My Lady," and "You Never Really Wanted Me?" Soul music in the broadest sense of the word.
The "older, more traditional sounding version" was a belated hit in 1974, after RCA reissued it to cash in on his Epic fame. This fairly uptempo version is good for what it is, but you're right - the slower, bluesier version on Sun is the better take.