Soulful Reviews (Wilson Pickett and Bobby Bland LPs)
Soul Double Review with Wilson Pickett’s “I’m in Love” LP and Bobby Bland’s “Here’s The Man” LP.
Label: Atlantic Recording Corp.; Year: 1968; Format: Vinyl LP
About freaking time I write another entry for Hits From The Past, but let me tell you that by having integrated my former sole blog into a website serving multiple purposes has been a blessing and a curse as so much of my time is spent preparing interviews and just corresponding with people. Anyhow, enough of the complaining as I have found some time to listen to some records and this time around it is two Soul LPs as I just simply wasn’t in the mood for punk rock or any other type of loud and blaring guitar driven music.
Let me start off with Wilson Pickett, born 1941 in Alabama as the fourth of eleven children to a mother with assumedly a bad temper as she hit poor little Wilson with just about anything in sight. By 1955 Wilson moved up to Detroit to live with his father and it was in Motown’s churches and streets where he developed his passionate style of singing. In 1959 he was discovered by Willie Schofield, a member of the popular Detroit vocal group, the Falcons. Wilson served with the Falcons for several years before becoming a solo artist. Those years turned out to be hugely important in Wilson’s development as an artist because it was with the Falcons that he first achieved his marvelous synthesis of rhythm and blues and gospel. In 1964 Wilson signed a solo artist contract with Atlantic Records and “I’m in Love” is his second full length for Atlantic, released in 1968.
What I love about records from said time period is not just the music, but also the fact that many had a write up about the artist on the back cover, in this case written by Jon Landau who at the time was earning his crust writing for Rolling Stone and Crawdaddy!. Those reviews provide the listener to this day with a sense of where the artist(s) came from and how he or she arrived at the junction of recording the record you are holding in your hands. I don’t know why that stopped at some point but my guess is that the record companies just cut the costs by not employing someone to write liner notes, a true shame. Landau writes:
In terms of material the album is excellent. There is, of course, the usual gutty up-tempo material, combined with a somewhat more sophisticated type of ballad than Wilson has recently been recording, thereby giving this album a somewhat different slant.
I couldn’t agree more with Mr. Landau’s assessment, as this record has it all when it comes to a good mix of more upbeat and faster soul tracks as well as slower tunes. As is the case with many of the old records quite a few songs were originally not penned by Wilson Pickett, such as ‘Stagger Lee’ by Lloyd Price or Sam Cooke’s evergreen ‘Bring it on home to me’ to mention two.
What I can say with absolute certainty is that if you come home after work and feel somewhat down and just fall into your recliner thinking that the day sucked, putting on this record will instantly lift your mood. Back in 1968 Landau said: “As a whole, ‘I’m in Love’ is a fine expression of what modern soul music really is. As such, it gives us further evidence why the music of Wilson Pickett will be with us for a long time to come”.
Unfortunately alcohol and cocaine addiction led Wilson Pickett to face many uphill battles in his later life, leading to his early departure from this earth at the young age of 64 having died of a heart attack. His music shall live on.
Label: Duke Records, Inc.; Year: 1962; Format: Vinyl LP
Alright, on to the second LP for tonight’s review, and it’s another goodie from the ‘60s with Dynamic Bobby Bland “Here’s The Man”. Born Robert Calvin Brooks in 1930 in Tennessee, but best known as Bobby "Blue” Bland, he developed a style that can be best described as a mix of gospel, blues and R&B. The liner notes written by Dave Clark and Rene Williams have the following to say about Bobby’s deliverance of the blues:
It reflects a combination of things; the lyrics are stories he feels and the music adds to his emotions. the combination is well expressed when he emits with his very soul, his renditions of the blues. There are many kinds of blues. Some about the way you’ve been treated in this crazy mixed-up world. Some about the gal that left you behind, some about the time when you didn’t have enough bread to pay the rent and the age old blues about hard work and low pay. Bobby undoubtedly has experienced some of this and to prove my point, listen to the soulful expression of this Blues Giant on his interpretations of “Stormy Monday Blues”, “Blues in the Night” and “Jelly Jelly Jelly”.
An interesting fact about the career of Bobby Bland is that he was discovered by no other than Ike Turner back in 1951. Bland enjoyed quite a bit of chart success, starting in 1957 with “Father up the Road”, all the way up to 1963 with “That’s the way love is”. Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison was an early admirer of Bland, covering “Turn on your love light” when he was with his band Them, while Bland was an occasional guest singer at Morrison’s concerts.
To sum it up is to say that if you want to be taken back in time and catapulted into a smokey room in the back of a bar of 1960’s Chicago, then this is a record you should put on while sipping on a cold glass of whiskey and rum. I for once thoroughly enjoyed listening to this record and would like to give a shoutout to George at Apples & Oranges Records, where I had bought both of these records. So, if you’re in Buffalo, or visiting, and are in the mood for some good music, check out his store. I shall give him a more proper introduction through an interview, so stay tuned for that and many more reviews. Hope you enjoyed this ride back to the ‘60s with me. Peace!
