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What Is The Best Joe Simon LP?

GuzzoGuzzo 8,611 Posts
edited November 2007 in Strut Central
This is a dude that never seems to get shine on soulstrut. 'm wondering why, classic soulthern soul singer he started putting out LP's on the Sound Stage 7 label back in '68 and later jumped over to the Spring label for most of his 70's output.I recently got "The Chokin' Kind album from '69 and its a fairly solid listen all the way through. I must've passed his stuff up countless times through the years and I did it without even taking a listen to any of it. I surprised myself when I looked back over my collection and saw that my recent pick up was my only Joe Simon pick up...ever (not counting his work on the Cleopatra Jones OST).So whats good from this man?

  Comments

  • holmesholmes 3,532 Posts
    The Chokin Kind is def nice.
    I picked up a greatest hits LP of his SS7 stuff that is a great listen, bottom right of this pic


    I also have The Sound Of Simon that I bought a few months ago, but haven't listened to yet, it's on Spring & I bought it after needle dropping it so it must be ok even though I don't remember it exactly.
    can't seem to link a pic because photobucket is being an ass.

    As far as 45s go, his uptempo stuff is usually pretty good but they are almost always ballad/uptempo splits so it's kinda hard to find a solid double sider by him. Here are the ones I have & they are all at least good on one side.

    Joe Simon You Keep Me Hanging On/Long Hot Summer Monument
    Looking Back/Standing In The Safety Zone Monument
    Nine Pound Steel/The Girl's Alright With Me Monument
    Come On & Get It/No Sad Songs Sound Stage 7 (US)
    I Found My Dad/Trouble In My Home Spring (US)
    Step By Step/Talk Don't Bother Me Spring (US)
    You're The One For Me/I Ain't Givin' Up Spring (US)
    I'll Take Care Of You/I Need You, You Need Me Spring (US)
    Farther On Down The Road/Wounded Man Monument
    I Love You More Than Anything/Your Time To Cry Spring (US)
    What We Gonna Do Now/The Best Time Of My Life Spring (US) promo
  • luckluck 4,077 Posts
    In about 75 or 76, Monument reissued The Chokin' Kind and Better Than Ever (his first two LPs in 1969) on one 2LP package. It's a nice two-fer.

    Simon Sings is the last LP he recorded before leaving SS7 in 1969. It's actually a bit tough to find for an artist that was doing so well at the time. Good stuff.

    Steer clear of Simon Country. A letdown to both genres.

    Drowning In The Sea Of Love (Spring) is pretty good, if glossy.

    "Your Time To Cry" is my favorite Simon single. You can find it on his first Spring LP, entitled "The Sounds Of Simon."
  • tripledoubletripledouble 7,636 Posts
    yo whats the one with the "fresh and so clean" sample?
  • undertheradarundertheradar 619 Posts
    yo whats the one with the "fresh and so clean" sample?

    It's the one on the left...Easy To Love

  • pickwick33pickwick33 8,946 Posts
    Just like most southern soul singers, Joe Simon was primarily a singles artist, and since he was a consistent hitmaker, his 45's on both SS7 and Spring are easy to come by. if you gotta go the album route, find a good compilation. One SS7 album I always see is The World Of Joe Simon, a two-record compilation which is a seemingly random collection of hits and album tracks. There were two other SS7 compilations, The Best Of Joe Simon (mentioned earlier) and Joe Simon's Greatest Hits, both of which contain essential Joe Simon 101 tracks like "Put Your Trust In Me," "Farther On Down The Road" (written by Taj Mahal!), and his main hit, 1969's "The Chokin' Kind."

    Surprisingly enough, Spring never put out a Joe Simon anthology to my knowledge, although I'm sure somebody must have collected his post-'70 hits on CD at some point.

    As far as the actual albums, I'm partial to ...Better Than Ever, a 1969 goodie on SS7 that contains the heartbreaking "Silver Spoons & Coffee Cups." I also like Get Down on Spring, which comes perilously close to being disco, but since it's from '75, is a lot more soulish than you'd think. You need to get this for a devastating minor-key slow number called "It Be's That Way Sometime," which is what Joe's date said after she wouldn't put out (hear his spoken intro for the full details - love it when he starts referring to himself in the third person).

    And put this one near the top of your list - Joe Simon on Buddah, which was later reissued as The Best Of Joe Simon on VJ International. Basically this is early stuff he recorded for Vee Jay around 1964-65 - a couple of these songs were hits, but apparently there was an unreleased album that didn't come out until Buddah started reissuing the Vee Jay catalog in '69.


    As far as 45s go, his uptempo stuff is usually pretty good but they are almost always ballad/uptempo splits so it's kinda hard to find a solid double sider by him.

    The ballad/uptempo splits are not a bad thing. Variety is the spice of life and all that.
  • GuzzoGuzzo 8,611 Posts
    just 6 replies to a record question on a board about records?

    y'all got 18 replies on how Alex Rodriguez is a chump. in likw 20 minutes.

    Only a handful of peoples will ride for this southern soul singer but 18 will cosign on perspective baseball contracts?

    c'mon now

  • PABLOPABLO 1,921 Posts
    The Chokin Kind is great and the Easy To Love album is (IMO) fantastic, far better than Sea Of Love which I never really got into. I think you'd really dig that one.
    Been meaning to grab that for years, haven't seen it around.
  • holmesholmes 3,532 Posts


    Surprisingly enough, Spring never put out a Joe Simon anthology to my knowledge, although I'm sure somebody must have collected his post-'70 hits on CD at some point.
    I think there may be a UK CD Spring "Best Of"



    And put this one near the top of your list - Joe Simon on Buddah, which was later reissued as The Best Of Joe Simon on VJ International. Basically this is early stuff he recorded for Vee Jay around 1964-65 - a couple of these songs were hits, but apparently there was an unreleased album that didn't come out until Buddah started reissuing the Vee Jay catalog in '69.
    Never heard of this but it has just slid high up on my imaginary 'wants list'.


    As far as 45s go, his uptempo stuff is usually pretty good but they are almost always ballad/uptempo splits so it's kinda hard to find a solid double sider by him.


    The ballad/uptempo splits are not a bad thing. Variety is the spice of life and all that.

    Yeah, I guess not bad at all, but I was meaning 'solid 2 uptempo sides' def not hating on some of the ballads.
  • onetetonetet 1,754 Posts
    Just like most southern soul singers, Joe Simon was primarily a singles artist, and since he was a consistent hitmaker, his 45's on both SS7 and Spring are easy to come by. if you gotta go the album route, find a good compilation. One SS7 album I always see is The World Of Joe Simon, a two-record compilation which is a seemingly random collection of hits and album tracks. There were two other SS7 compilations, The Best Of Joe Simon (mentioned earlier) and Joe Simon's Greatest Hits, both of which contain essential Joe Simon 101 tracks like "Put Your Trust In Me," "Farther On Down The Road" (written by Taj Mahal!), and his main hit, 1969's "The Chokin' Kind."

    Surprisingly enough, Spring never put out a Joe Simon anthology to my knowledge, although I'm sure somebody must have collected his post-'70 hits on CD at some point.

    As far as the actual albums, I'm partial to ...Better Than Ever, a 1969 goodie on SS7 that contains the heartbreaking "Silver Spoons & Coffee Cups." I also like Get Down on Spring, which comes perilously close to being disco, but since it's from '75, is a lot more soulish than you'd think. You need to get this for a devastating minor-key slow number called "It Be's That Way Sometime," which is what Joe's date said after she wouldn't put out (hear his spoken intro for the full details - love it when he starts referring to himself in the third person).

    And put this one near the top of your list - Joe Simon on Buddah, which was later reissued as The Best Of Joe Simon on VJ International. Basically this is early stuff he recorded for Vee Jay around 1964-65 - a couple of these songs were hits, but apparently there was an unreleased album that didn't come out until Buddah started reissuing the Vee Jay catalog in '69.

  • luckluck 4,077 Posts

    The Joe Simon
  • UnherdUnherd 1,880 Posts

    "Your Time To Cry" is my favorite Simon single. You can find it on his first Spring LP, entitled "The Sounds Of Simon."


    Hell yeah, love that song. If I remember correctly, that lp is pretty solid.

    I think Simon's relative lack of acclaim is due to his relatively smooth vocals, esp in comparison to a lot of southern soul from the period.
  • luckluck 4,077 Posts

    "Your Time To Cry" is my favorite Simon single. You can find it on his first Spring LP, entitled "The Sounds Of Simon."


    Hell yeah, love that song. If I remember correctly, that lp is pretty solid.

    I think Simon's relative lack of acclaim is due to his relatively smooth vocals, esp in comparison to a lot of southern soul from the period.

    The Sounds Of Simon is kind-of up and down, especially because "Your Time" is so good that it makes the other tracks look a tad pedestrian. At least that's my recollection.

    I can see where folks'd say Simon's music (esp. the Spring sides) isn't raw enough for them. I think that's often a valid complaint with Simon, if you take all his songs back-to-back. But his hot singles are (as in the case of "Your Time") very worth the minimal time it takes to find the LPs or 45s.
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