it has all the elements but you find it...
The_Hook_Up
8,182 Posts
difficult to ride for:Lavenia Lewis "Find a man that Satisfies" funky sister soul is most definitely my cuppa tea, and this one has a great singer, HUGE drums, great horn lines, nice raw recording...but it aint cuttin it..I wanna like this..but something about it doesnt measure up, kind of weak songwriting I suppose.what records are like this for you?
Comments
Others which you'd think would move me, but are mysteriously lacking:
- that Bob & Gene[/b] reissue on Daptone (and I just got through saying, right here on Soul Strut, that everything Daptone releases is worth hearing, but I forgot about this one...these vintage soft-soul recordings aren't bad, but not essential by a long shot)
- Bobby Powell[/b] (dull southern soul singer whose biggest hit was a 1965 remake of "C.C. Rider"...he's not offensive, but everything I've heard on ole boy is the epitome of
- Blind Lemon Jefferson[/b]
- Alex Bradford[/b] (gospel legend)
- Damnation Of Adam Blessing[/b] (early-'70s hard-rock band from Ohio who had a few albums on UA...the sound is there, but the songs aren't)
- Allen Toussaint[/b] (love his songwriting and productions for other people, and he was great when I saw him live last year about this time, but I'm not too hot on most of his own records)
- I dig Aretha Franklin[/b], but I can't see myself going back to that recent compilation of rare & unissued recordings...good for historical reasons, but not much more
And this is not a list of artists or records I don't "get," it's more like, as Hookup sez, the elements are there, it's my "thing," on paper they're doing it right, and it's not horrible, but something's not coming together.
WOW.
Dull?
Have you heard "Do Something for Yourself?" or the duet
with Jackie Johnson, "I'm Gonna Leave You?" or the later
2-sider "Question" and "Peace Begins Within?" I find almost
all of his Whit 45's to be solid, if not the Excello ones.
I know it's not a "they suck" post but a "doesn't do it for me"
one, but, knowing your tastes, I'm surprised to hear you say this.
I have the "Do Something..." single. It's got a nice, danceable feel that gets by, but doesn't make me levitate or anything.
I guess that's my problem with Powell...I have a few of the Whit singles and the grooves are great but don't really take off. "This Little Girl Of Mine" (B-side of "C.C. Rider") is almost good, but is sabotaged by a chorus that (probably intentionally) sounds like a nursery rhyme.
I've never heard the other records you mention, but I haven't given up on him just yet. However, what I've heard so far is definitely second-string.
"Peace Begins Within" is solid, man. The problem: there's not a good Whit/BP compilation out there. There are two very cursory CDs (read: 10 tracks each) that are floating around out there, but it's like the Hand of Fuchs is holding Powell down here. I'll echo that most of Powell's tracks (esp. early on) are really only Passable, but there are a few of the rarer, later ones that are tops, including Question/Peace Begins Within.
I agree, as I've said before, on the Bob and Gene. I'm cool with Tousan - esp. Life, Love, and Faith (complete with the bass rhythm that Steve Miller only wishes he wrote). But Blind Lemon? I'll take a few of the Deltamen sooner, but dude.
I seem to vaguely recall a Charly comp on vinyl from the eighties (probably from the Whit label), but I wouldn't be surprised if that were long gone by now.
I love acoustic Delta blues, too, but BLJ sounds rather ordinary...I know he's one of the main men of the genre, but for some reason it ain't stickin'...the one album of his I own is a two-record set on Milestone, and if only two songs stand out, out of God-knows-how-many-other tracks, well...
I don't think I've ever heard those tracks, so I can't comment
I think that most Strutters are more versed in the Whit sides than the man's early- and mid-60s output.