Barbara & The Browns: Can't Find Happiness - The Sound of Memphis Recordings (2007)

A four-girl family group out of Memphis, led by Barbara Brown, was first known as the Brown Sisters, but by the time they enjoyed their first and only charted single, ‘Big Party’, in 1964 (first on Wil Mo, then leased to Stax; peaked at # 97-pop) they had become Barbara & the Browns, and later on it would be only Barbara Brown on a couple of labels (Atco and Tower). Barbara has got a deep, rich voice that is clearly schooled in gospel, but pointed towards more secular ends; an approach that is very much in keeping with the best late ‘60s wave of soul from Atlantic Records, and which is carried off here with a sharpness and precision simply mindblowing. Why Brown never scored bigger is a real mystery, because these tunes come off like the cream of the crop of southern soul at the end of the 60s: not just obscurities for obscurity sake, but some of the highest level of soul a female soul singer could hope for at the time! This 20-track compilation has eight previously unreleased cuts, and it can roughly be divided into two parts. The first one covers releases on such labels as Cadet, Atco and Tower between 1966 and '68 - including most of the unreleased songs, too - and the second one offers singles on XL and Sounds of Memphis from 1971 and '72. If you're into raw and horn-heavy Memphis sound with intense and gospel-infused singing, then this set is for you. Barbara's six Stax sides (from '64 and '65) are not originally included in the set (though I added myself their 1964 version of ‘Big Party’ as a bonus), but there is more than a fair share of big-voiced deepies to satisfy your soul – ‘Can't Find No Happiness’, ‘It Hurts Me So Much’, ‘If I Can't Run to You I'll Crawl’, ‘I Don't Want to Have to Wait’ (this one has appeared on a number of compilations before), ‘Pity A Fool’, ‘Big Party’ (the 1972 version), ‘Play Thing' and 'Great Big Thing’, among others. Most of them are placed in the first part of the compilation, but starting from track # 7 there are also some toe-tappers, dancers and stompers on display. The '68 Tower single contains two country-soul sides, the touching ‘Things Have Gone to Pieces’ and the bluesy ‘There's a Look on Your Face’. Can't Find Happiness was well worth the wait. http://www.soulexpress.net/, http://www.dustygroove.com/
yy

Jackie Lee Special: End of a Rainbow - A Pye Anthology + 23 Bonus! (1961-1973)

One of my all-time favorite Brit Girls, Jackie Lee was a sadly underrated vocalist who enjoyed a long career in the music business, but only received great success for a pair of television theme songs. Born in North Dublin as Jacqueline Norah Flood on May 29, 1936, Jackie was raised in a household of music lovers — her mother played piano and her father was a trained baritone vocalist — and as a girl she won a scholarship to Dublin's Municipal School of Music, where she studied voice. By the age of 14, Flood was already singing professionally, appearing regularly with local dance bands and performing on Irish radio. In the early '50s, Flood relocated to London, England, to pursue her career and soon landed a prestigious gig as vocalist with Ronnie Aldrich's Squadronaires, a successful British dance band, where she took the professional name Jackie Lee. In 1955, Lee left the group to work as a solo act, and released her first single, 'For So Long as I Live' b/w 'I Was Wrong.' In 1959, Lee and her manager Len Beadle (who was also her first husband) formed a vocal combo known as the Raindrops, who recorded for Parlophone/EMI, Oriole, and Philips, specializing in covers of American pop and rock hits. While the group made frequent radio and television appearances and can be seen in the film Just for You (aka Disk-O-Tek Holiday), they never scored a major hit, and the members parted company in 1965. That year, Lee relaunched her solo career with a new single for Decca, 'I Cry Alone' b/w 'Cause I Love Him.' Two further singles, 'Lonely Clown' b/w 'Love Is Gone' and 'I Know, Know, Know I'll Never Love, Love, Love Anyone Else' b/w 'So Love Me', issued on the Columbia label, also failed. One of her finest moments came with her third single for Columbia, released in November 1966, 'The Town I Live In,' which was a wry comment on the suburban nature of the Buckinghamshire new town. The hitless Jackie was renamed Emma Rede for her next single, 'Just Like a Man'. (The excellent beat ballad 'I Gotta Be with You' appeared on the flip.) The move resulted in a place in pirate station Radio London's Fab forty charts in February 1967, and the record remains much in demand with collectors. Later that year, Jackie recorded 'Born to Lose' for the movie Robbery! The song was released as a single by Decca in September of that year, but also failed. In 1968, she was hired to sing the theme song for a BBC television series for young people, White Horses, and when the show became a hit, Lee's recording of the signature tune became a major chart success, though it was credited simply to Jacky. A follow up, 'We’re off and Running' b/w 'Well That's Loving You', proved inappropriately titled, though Jacky did get to release an album off the back of her hit single, which featured piano work from Dudley Moore. She also got to record for the soundtrack to Roger Vladim’s classic movie Barbarella. However, her material never made it into the film. Undeterred, she worked on a second soundtrack, this time for the film Loving Feeling, and released the single 'Love Is Now' b/w 'Never Will I Be', a fan favourite, on the Page One label. In 1969 she began a contract with the Pye label, and issued the great 'Love Is a Gamble' b/w 'Something Borrowed, Something Blue'. In 1970, another one of Lee's television recordings brought her back to the pop charts when she sang the theme song for the children's show The Adventures of Rupert Bear, which became a Top Ten hit for Pye Records. Pye took Lee into the studio to cut an album to capitalize on 'Rupert''s success, 1971's Jackie's Junior Choice, and a handful of fine singles followed, including the awesome 'Black Country' (a B-Side) and one of her best releases, which turned out to be her last, 'You Make My Head Spin' (1973). That same year, due to a throat problem, Lee retired from the music business, and after several years in the United States she settled in Canada. This collection gathers together for the first time Jackie's later solo recordings from her time with Pye Records (1969-1973). I also included 23 bonus tracks from her wonderful Decca, Columbia, Page One and Philips earlier catalogue, (most part of the aforementioned and all of the highlighted). These will surely be much more appealing to you than some of the 1970-'71 children's tunes. There are as well six cuts recorded with her group the Raindrops between 1961 and 1964; 49 tracks in all! I hope you enjoy Jackie as much as I do! http://www.readysteadygirls.eu/, http://www.allmusic.com/

aa

A rare performance by Jackie Lee on German TV in 1967. A couple of months later she became simply Jacky and recorded 'White horses':

a

Cinebox reel of Jackie & The Raindrops from 1963, adapted for the American movie Disk-o-Tek Holiday:

aa

'I Gotta Be with You', the song that made me absolutely fall in love with Jackie's voice, ten years ago, when I first heard it on the first volume of Dream Babes:

aa

A super-rare 16mm film reel of Jackie Lee & The Raindrops, recorded at De Lane Lea in 1963. The Raindrops were signed to Oriole at the time, but this particular song never made it onto vinyl:

aa

And, finally, Jackie performing 'Rupert' (as in Rupert the Bear). She scored her second and final hit with this children’s TV theme, which made #17 in the UK charts in 1971:

Eydie Gormé: Eydie Swings the Blues (1957) / Eydie in Love (1958)

Although most of her career was conducted during the rock era, traditional pop singer Eydie Gormé carved out a place for herself in several areas of entertainment. For 20 years, from the mid-'50s to the mid-'70s, she consistently scored in the pop charts, with a parallel place in the Latin pop field from the '60s on. For most of her career, she worked both solo and in a duo with her husband, Steve Lawrence. Soon before she married him, in 1957, Eydie released Swings the Blues, where we find her spreading her jazz wings and digging into a nice selection of pop/jazz/blues-style material. Paired here with her usual conductor and good friend Don Costa, it's one swingin' tune after the next. From the opening 'I Gotta Right to Sing the Blues,' right to 'A Nightingale Can Sing the Blues', the theme is obvious; the sentiment apparent. Costa and Gorme would go on to record many more albums together, as would Costa and Steve Lawrence. This album was, undoubtedly, a precursor for great things to come from Costa's baton and Gorme's pipes. Standouts here include Harold Arlen's 'When the Sun Comes Out,' with its torchy, soaring vocals and blazing brass all around Miss Gorme, and the sly underlying of 'I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart' in the arrangement of another Duke Ellington classic 'Don't Get Around Much Anymore.' Listen how effortlessly Eydie glides over vocal triplets on the tags of the old standards 'After You've Gone' and Gershwin's 'The Man I Love'. A year after this release, in 1958, Eydie recorded Eydie in Love, a heartfelt, deeply sincere collection of love songs and ballads that's sweet but never saccharine, thanks as much to her poignant vocals as to the impeccable backings of Costa. Gormé manages to articulate both girlish infatuation and world-weary resignation with authority and understanding, all rendered with the signature warmth that makes her records so appealing. From the opening strains of the poignant 'When the World Was Young,' sung here by young Eydie from a woman's point of view, to the classic, simple reading of 'In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning,' to Eydie's soaring vocals on the torchy 'Love Letters,' it's just one beautiful song after another. It is interesting to note that Steve Allen wrote the lovely 'Impossible'. Let's not forget Eydie recorded this in the earlier days of her career at age 27, just after she married Steve Lawrence, whom she met on the original Tonight Show hosted then by Steve Allen himself. A labor of love from one of the classiest female vocalists ever. http://www.amazon.com/
aa

Eydie Gormé singing 'Ma He's Making Eyes At Me':

aa

Eydie's rendtion of 'I Wanna Be Around', 1966:

aa

LaVern Baker: See See Rider (1963) / Blues Ballads (1959)

A versatile vocalist, LaVern Baker proved capable of melding blues, jazz and R&B styles in a way that made possible the emergence of a new idiom: rock and roll. The niece of blues singer Memphis Minnie, Baker had a stunning voice that, with little effort, could crack walls, and yet her ballad singing was wonderfully sensitive. During her time at Atlantic Records (1953-62), she cut half a dozen singles that rose to high positions on both the pop and R&B charts, including 'Tweedle Dee' and 'Jim Dandy.' Here are two of her best albums from the vaults of that label: ‘Blues Ballads’ and ‘See See Rider’, released in 1959 and 1963, respectively. The tracks are not presented in the original sequence, but the ones dating from 1963 are easily identifiable as they are in stereo and tend to feature prominent bass guitar, then something of a novelty. While the former is not all blues or ballads, there are some great sides here, all sung with the intensity and energy that made Baker's material so memorable, like 'I Cried a Tear', a major hit for her late in 1958. It also includes a solid version of the Edith Piaf hit 'If You Love Me' plus 'Love Me Right', 'I Waited Too Long', 'Humpty Dumpty Heart', 'St. Louis Blues' and others. "Rider" has a more pop oriented feel with strings on many cuts. Besides the hit 'See See Rider', it includes 'He's a Real Gone Guy', 'You Said', 'Don't Let the Stars Get in Your Eyes' and more. LaVern fans will enjoy this, since it contains so many fine recordings that aren't available anywhere else. http://www.oldies.com/

ee

44

LaVern Baker performing 'Love Me Right in the Morning' (1957):

ee

Marie Laforêt: L'Intégrale Festival (1960-1970)

Popular throughout the '60s and '70s, Marie Laforêt is a French pop singer who garnered fame initially as a film actress during the early to mid-'60s. Born Maïténa Doumenach to parents of Armenian heritage on October 5, 1939, in Soulac-sur-Mer, Aquitaine, France, she made her film debut in 1960 in the René Clément drama Plein Soleil, a big-screen adaptation of the Patricia Highsmith novel The Talented Mr. Ripley. Plein Soleil not only launched the acting career of Laforêt; it also made a cinema star of actor Alain Delon. In the wake of her showbiz breakthrough, Laforêt was offered one role after another, notably beginning with Saint Tropez Blues (1961) and La Fille aux Yeux d'Or (1961). Her onscreen performance of the title song from the former film, 'Saint Tropez Blues,' essentially launched her singing career while La Fille aux Yeux d'Or, on the other hand, earned her the nickname the Girl with the Golden Eyes. In the mode of a folksinger, Laforêt's recording career took flight in 1963 in association with the label Disques Festival; among her more notable early recordings was a cover of Bob Dylan's 'Blowin' in the Wind.' She made her full-length album debut in 1964 with a self-titled album comprised of her recording output to date. Successive self-titled full-length albums were released throughout the remainder of the '60s and were likewise comprised of previously released EP material. In the '70s Laforêt more or less abandoned acting and focused instead on a series of recordings released in association with the Polydor label. She returned to the cinema in the '80s and left music behind. This outstanding compilation of Laforêt's complete Festival '60s recordings has plenty of variety in the songs and is equally brilliant at up-tempo cuts and tender ballads. There are covers of international songs here translated into French, such as 'Viens Sur La Montagne' ('Tell It on the Mountain'), 'Marie Douceuer, Marie Colere' ('Paint It Black'), 'Qué Calor la Vida' ('Red Balloon'), 'La Flute Magique' ('El Condon Pasa') and 'Qu'est-Ce Qui Fait Pleurer les Filles' ('What Makes Little Girls Cry'). Marie sings all those songs superbly, but the real appeal of this collection lies in the many delightful original French songs including 'Les Vendagnes de l'Amour', 'Katy Cruelle', 'Mon Amour Mon Ami', 'Qu'y a-t-il de Change', 'La Bague Au Dogit', 'Manchester et Liverpool', 'Julie Crevecouer', 'Les Noces De Campagne' and many others. http://www.allmusic.com/, http://www.amazon.co.uk/

aa

Marie Laforet singing 'Mon Amour, Mon Amie', 1967:

aa

aa

Manchester et Liverpool (1967):

Rhetta Hughes: Re-light My Fire (1969)

A decent, if derivative, soul vocalist, Chicagoan Rhetta Hughes seemed about ready to move into the spotlight in 1969, when her remake of the Doors' ‘Light My Fire’ made the R&B Top 40. Later, in 1983, she would have a hit on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart with ‘Angel Man (G.A.)’. But she never sustained any momentum, and Hughes was soon on the supper club circuit. She starred in the Broadway musicals Dreamgirls, Don't Play Us Cheap, and Amen Corner, for which she was nominated for a Tony Award in the category Best Actress in a Musical in 1984. She appeared in the films Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song, The Wiz (as a member of the choir), as well as the film version of Don't Play Us Cheap. She was also seen in the TV version of the musical Purlie, and appeared in an episode of Law & Order. This 1969 album, with arrangements by Mike Terry and lots of tasty original tracks written by Jo Armstead, includes that Rhetta’s funky cover of ‘Light My Fire’, but there are lots of other nice ones, like ‘You're Doing It With Her’, ‘Gimme Some Of Yours (I’ll Give You Some Of Mine)’, ‘Giving Up My Heartaches’, ‘Sooky’, ‘I Can’t Stand Under This Pressure’, and ‘Cry Myself To Sleep’. Hard to find, too! .~ http://www.dustygroove.com/, http://www.answers.com/

aa

Bobbie Gentry: Ode to Billie Joe (1967) / Touch 'em With Love (1969)

Bobbie Gentry's eerily beautiful, ornate, and almost gothic approach to country music means there's never really been another artist quite like her, and this disc, which pairs 1967's Ode to Billie Joe, her debut album, with 1969's more pop and polished Touch 'Em with Love, offers plenty of that uniqueness. The opener, 'Mississippi Delta,' is raw, energetic, and raggedly funky. 'I Saw an Angel Die' is an effective mating of Gentry's country-blues guitar riffs and low-key orchestration, while 'Papa, Won't You Let Me Go to Town with You' is so desperately bright that it's easy to overlook the fact that Gentry, who is a wonderful songwriter, has painted an amazingly detailed portrait of a young girl's hopes and dreams. Then there's the creepy, eerie, and absolutely fascinating 'Bugs' and, last but not least, 'Ode To Billie Joe,' a storytelling tune about a secret love affair whose doom is related over a Sunday dinner. The song’s enigmatic question - what was it that Billie Joe and his lady friend threw off the Tallahatchie Bridge? - was the topic of conversation in supermarkets and over dinner. It even became the subject of church sermons. The tune itself was irresistible, a four minute audio book with an unforgettable acoustic guitar hook, bass, and occasional strings swooping into and out of the mix. Released in the summer of 1967, it almost immediately shot to #1 on the strength of sales and radio play. Touch 'Em With Love is Bobbie Gentry's finest studio effort, a fascinatingly eclectic and genuinely affecting record that broadened her musical horizons far beyond the limitations of the Nashville sound. Gentry's husky, sensual delivery proves as ideally suited for the Southern-fried funk of the opening title track as it does for the bluegrass-flavored 'Natural to Be Gone,' deftly moving from genre to genre to encompass everything from faux-gospel ('Glory Hallelujah, How They'll Sing') to lushly orchestrated pop ('I Wouldn't Be Surprised'). Even more eye-opening is that Gentry's originals stand tall alongside material from composers including Burt Bacharach ('I'll Never Fall in Love Again,' which earned her a chart-topping single in the U.K.) and Jimmy Webb ('Where's the Playground, Johnny') — her folky 'Seasons Come, Seasons Go,' an acute tale of lost love, offers Touch 'Em With Love's most profoundly beautiful moment. I have added as bonus tracks EIGHT duets with Glen Campbell from the lone album the two did together. http://www.answers.com/
a

aa

Bobbie Gentry's live performance of her classic 'Ode to Billie Joe', from the Smothers Brothers show:

aa

Bobbie Gentry: Patchwork (1971) / Fancy (1970)

This two-fer combo is a worthwhile roundup of two of Bobbie Gentry's more overlooked records. From 1971, Patchwork is by far the more artistically ambitious of the pair, as it consists entirely of original (and self-produced) material, whereas 1970s Fancy is mostly cover versions. Patchwork, oddly, ended up being the still-young singer/songwriter's final long-player, and found her Southern pop-country-folk-soul fusion going in a somewhat slicker, more orchestrated direction than her early work. That's part of the reason it's not one of the more impressive Gentry albums, another being that the songs don't rate among her very best, sometimes going off in unexpectedly bouncy or middle-of-the-road directions. Still, her singing remains fine, and some of the more serious and intimate songs ('Beverly,' 'Belinda,' 'Lookin' In,' and 'Marigolds and Tangerines') are fairly impressive. Fancy is an odd entry in her discography in that, though it features a self-penned title track, it's otherwise devoted entirely to outside material, recorded (à la several white blue-eyed soulstresses circa 1970) at Muscle Shoals. The title track is a "Billie Joe"-type story with a similar guitar figure; it also has a host of West Coast horns telling an unapologetic rags-to-riches story without regrets that mirrors Gentry's own. From here, Gentry, assisted or perhaps directed by producer Rich Hall, cuts a pair of Bacharach/David numbers ('Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head' and 'I'll Never Fall in Love Again'), James Taylor's 'Something in the Way He Moves,' Leon Russell's 'Delta Man,' Nilsson's 'Rainmaker,' Rudy Clark's 'If You Gotta Make a Fool of Somebody,' Laura Nyro's 'Wedding Bell Blues,' and a few others with full strings, horns, orchestras, and glockenspiels for accompaniment — along with a honky tonk piano, drum kit, and electric bass. As such, it was never going to be among Gentry's more distinguished efforts. But that's not to say it's not enjoyable, mostly for her superb earthy singing.

aa

aa

Bobbie Gentry sings 'Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head', 1971 :

aa

Bobbie Gentry: The Delta Sweete / Local Gentry (1968)

Bobbie Gentry's second and third albums, Delta Sweete and Local Gentry may not have been as successful as their predecessor, Ode to Billie Joe, but how could they have been? If they didn't sell near as well, they certainly were more adventurous. Banking on Ode to Billie Joe's success, Delta Sweete, released in March of 1968, was a concept album based on modern life in the Deep South. A lot of emphasis was put on the unique sound of Gentry's guitar and her unique singing and phrasing styles. Gentry wrote eight of the album's 12 tracks, with 'Okolona River Bottom Band' using the same basic cadence as her smash single's; the track is accented by a beautiful, sophisticated horn chart and some breathy strings. Likewise her reading of Mose Allison's 'Parchman Farm Blues' brings out the brass and strings in full jazz, big band fashion. The way it fades into Gentry's own 'Mornin' Glory,' with its high lonesome harmonica and shimmering strings and bells, is a forgotten '60s pop classic. 'Sermon' is a fine southern take on Neil Diamond's 'Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show' with a smoking lead trumpet part. Local Gentry is an exquisitely wrought collection of character studies steeped in the myth and lore of Southern culture, from the funeral parlor director portrayed in 'Casket Vignette' to the titular 'Ace Insurance Man,' Bobbie Gentry etches a series of revealing, well-observed narratives populated by folks both larger-than-life and small-time, adding up to something not unlike a country-pop Spoon River Anthology. A subtle, primarily acoustic effort, the record's sound and sensibility are steeped in Gentry's Mississippi upbringing, but despite the music's warmth and humanity, the effect is neither nostalgic nor saccharine — instead, Gentry wistfully and wryly evokes a colorful rural culture populated by soldiers, widows, and traveling medicine shows. The five original compositions here rank among her most literate and personal, while covers like the Beatles' 'Fool on the Hill' and 'Eleanor Rigby' add to the roll call of misfits, eccentrics, and beautiful losers. There are three bonus cuts included here, the best of which is a refreshing read on 'Stormy.' http://www.allmusic.com/

aa

aa

Bobbie and Bing Crosby duet on one of Bobbie's hits about the Delta, 'Okolona River Bottom Band'. From The Hollywood Palace, Jan. 1969.

Maxine Brown: Oh No Not My Baby - The Best of (1990)

Although there had been great female R&B and pop singers before she came along, it is generally accepted that Maxine Brown was the first female soul singer of any significance. Given the excellence of the music that Maxine recorded, it is remarkable that she did not achieve superstardom. This 28-song anthology, originally released in 1990, is undoubtedly the best compilation of this iconic soul singer’s work, featuring many of her '60s singles and several tunes from the era that were unreleased until the '80s. The set draws from her recordings for the Wand label between 1963 and 1967, when Brown was at her artistic peak. Of course the hit title track is a highlight, but there are no clunkers in this collection of overlooked '60s pop-soul, featuring the New York "uptown" production that also graced the records of fellow Wand/Scepter artists like Dionne Warwick and Chuck Jackson. The strings and soaring backing vocals are a brilliant counterpart to some hard hitting drums and punchy choruses, and there are some delicate numbers, too - while Maxine shines beautifully throughout! Titles include ‘One in a Million’, ‘It's Torture’, ‘Let Me Give You My Lovin'’, 'Yesterday's Kisses’, ‘Gotta Find A Way’, ‘Baby Cakes’, ‘Why Did I Choose You’, ‘Misty Morning Eyes’, ‘Since I Found You’, ‘Losing My Touch’, ‘If I Had Known’, ‘It's Gonna Be Alright’, an impressive live version of her classic ‘All in My Mind’, from 1964, and more. Brown was one of the most versatile soul divas of the '60s, showing the influence of Brill Building pop, girl groups, Motown, and even Stax soul and supper-club ballads. As with a similar artist like Betty Everett, this versaility has worked against her in some ways. Neither full-fledged pop nor unabashedly soul, her work cannot be easily pigeonholed into a certain soul genre, and has cost her the respect that some purists reserve for "deep" soul singers. Nevertheless, she is one of my favourite soul singers. http://www.allmusic.com/, http://www.dustygroove.com/

ee