VA - Leo Blokhuis Presenteert The Sound Of The South 1961-1976, Where Soul And Country Meet [2011] (4 x CD's)

 

SOUL MEETS COUNTRY

VA - Leo Blokhuis Presenteert The Sound Of The South 1961-1976, Where Soul And Country Meet [2011] (4 x CD's)

 Leo Blokhuis is an award-winning author and music journalist familiar to Dutch TV audiences as host of a prime-time music show ‘Top 2000 a Gogo’. In his latest ‘sound book’ he writes of the period in the 60's and 70's when soul and country music traditions married together to create country soul and vice versa. The book part is 176 pages of Dutch text and since my near neighbours language is not one of the main languages that I can read I am unable to comment on Blokhuis’ writing skills. What I can say is that the text is interspersed with photographs of significant artists, record labels and a page on each featured song that lists studio details and participating musicians. Clearly a labour of love the book looks great and feels substantial.   Don’t be put off if you cannot read Dutch because the ‘sound’ part includes four CD's featuring no less than ninety-seven songs from a host of golden evergreens from Arthur Alexander to Irma Thomas to Aretha to Cissy Houston, just four picked at random. Some of the selections are a tad too familiar but maybe couldn’t be left out. Thus, we get James Carr eternal ‘Dark End of The Street’, Percy Sledges’ When a Man Loves a Woman’ Tony Joe White’s ‘Rainy Night In Georgia’, Clarence Carter’s ‘Patches’ each one a thing of great beauty but surely owned already by just about all lovers of this genre. By way of compensation though Blokhuis selects lesser-known delights from Ann Peebles ‘(You Keep Me) Hangin’ On’, Bobby Womack’s take on Charlie Rich’s ‘Behind Closed Doors’ and Kip Anderson’s ‘I Went Off and Cried’. The inclusion of the deeply moving Vietnam deep soul ‘Mama Hold My Hand’ by Troy Seals was a pleasant surprise and clearly Blokhuis knows his subject also including outstanding cuts by Tommy Tate, Lattimore Brown, George Soule and Bettye Lavette.

This more than worthy labour differs from other surveys of country soul by including several cuts on each CD by artists normally classed as out and out country. I have no doubt that some die-hard soul fans will find the warbling of the likes of Larry Jon Wilson, Bob Dylan, Cher, Ronnie Milsap et al highly irritating. For myself I found that I actually warmed to a number of country intrusions particularly Delbert McClinton’s ‘Lesson In The Pain Of Love’ and Bobby Gentry’s ‘Fancy’. (Amazon)

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Pt.1     Pt.2 

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Track lists

CD1

01 Solomon Burke Just Out Of Reach (Of My Two Open Arms) 2:46

02 Jimmy Donley Think It Over 2:41

03 Joe Hinton Funny How Time Slips Away 3:05

04 Jimmy Hughes Steal Away 2:28

05 Joe Tex Hold What You've Got 3:06

06 B.J. Thomas There'll Be No Teardrops Tonight 2:58

07 Percy Sledge When A Man Loves A Woman 2:51

08 David Houston Almost Persuaded 2:59

09 Dallas Frazier Mohair Sam 2:12

10 Otis Redding You Left The Water Running 2:20

11 James Carr The Dark End Of The Street 2:32

12 Lonnie Mack She Don't Come Here Anymore 2:10

13 William Bell Everybody Loves A Winner 2:53

14 Aretha Franklin Do Right Woman - Do Right Man 3:16

15 Don Varner Down In Texas 3:02

16 Irma Thomas A Woman Will Do Wrong 2:51

17 Eddie Hinton Cover Me 2:52

18 Etta James Don't Lose Your Good Thing 2:26

19 Toussaint Mccall Nothing Takes The Place Of You 3:22

20 Barbara Lynn I'll Suffer 3:04

21 Hour Glass Power Of Love 2:49

22 James & Bobby Purify Just Like Old Times 2:58

23 Clydie King Ode To Billie Joe 4:31

24 Arthur Conley This Love Of Mine 3:24

25 Bill Brandon Rainbow Road 2:53

26 Betty Swann Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye 3:45

CD2

01 Skip Anderson I Went Off And Cried 3:01

02 Margie Singleton Harper Valley P.T.A. 2:58

03 Sam Baker Sugar Man 3:18

04 Laura Lee It's All Wrong But It's All Right 2:44

05 O. C. Smith The Son Of Hickory Holler's Tramp 3:50

06 Ronnie Milsap Do What You Gotta Do 3:01

07 Joe South Games People Play 3:34

08 Lattimore Brown Everyday I Have To Cry Some 2:38

09 Dusty Springfield Son Of A Preacher Man 2:27

10 Tony Borders Gentle On My Mind 4:07

11 Tony Joe White Rainy Night In Georgia 3:42

12 Homer Banks The Ghetto 3:15

13 Jim Ford Love On My Brain 3:15

14 Wilson Pickett Back In Your Arms 2:56

15 Bob Dylan Tonight I'll Be Staying Here With You 3:24

16 Elvis Presley True Love Travels On A Gravel Road 2:29

17 Johnny Adams Reconsider Me 3:51

18 Cher I Threw It All Away 2:50

19 Lou Johnson She Thinks I Still Care 3:14

20 Sammi Smith Brownsville Lumberyard 2:50

21 Ella Washington All The Time 2:36

22 Troy Seals Mama Hold My Hand 4:15

23 Delaney & Bonnie Get Ourselves Together 2:29

24 Baby Washington Breakfast In Bed 3:10

CD3

01 Willie Hightower Walk A Mile In My Shoes 3:21

02 Bobbie Gentry Fancy 4:15

03 Joe Simon Yours Love 3:03

04 Lulu Sweep Around Your Own Back Door 2:43

05 Spencer Wiggins Love Works That Way 2:45

06 Barbara Mandrell I've Been Loving You Too Long (To Stop Now) 2:11

07 Rob Galbraith Jezebel Of The Morning 3:02

08 Lee Dorsey If I Were A Carpenter 2:34

09 Little Richard Lovesick Blues 4:33

10 Clarence Carter Patches 3:13

11 George Soule What I Don't Know Won't Hurt Me 2:36

12 Ray Charles Ring Of Fire 3:07

13 Larry Saunders Stranger 3:41

14 Roy Head Soul Train 2:30

15 Eric Quincy Tate I Want 'cha 2:46

16 Candi Staton He Called Me Baby 3:32

17 Brook Benton Shoes 2:55

18 Sami Jo Don't Hang No Halos On Me 3:15

19 Tommy Tate Help Me Love 3:46

20 Charlie Rich A Woman Left Lonely 3:18

21 Don Nix Amos Burke 2:59

22 Paul Kelly Hangin' On In There 2:59

23 Allen Toussaint The Chokin' Kind 3:22

24 Mac Davis A Little Less Conversation 2:19

CD4

01 Arthur Alexander In The Middle Of It All 3:04

02 Cissy Houston Midnight Train To Georgia 3:53

03 Luther Ingram I'll Be Your Shelter (In Time Of Storm) 3:16

04 Z.Z. Hill My Adorable One 3:21

05 Travis Wammack Slip Away 2:51

06 Denise Lasalle You'll Lose A Good Thing 2:36

07 Bettye Lavette If I Can't Be Your Woman 3:48

08 Bobby Patterson She Don't Have To See (To See Through You) 3:24

09 Al Green I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry 3:09

10 Dobie Gray Drift Away 3:54

11 Dan Penn Nobody's Fool 2:49

12 Warren Storm Daydreamin' 2:47

13 Millie Jackson It Hurts So Good 3:26

14 Dorothy Moore Mistie Blue 3:38

15 Ann Peebles (You Keep Me) Hangin' On 2:40

16 Tina Turner Help Me Make It Through The Night 2:59

17 Donnie Fritts Winner Take All 3:43

18 The Staple Singers Back Road Into Town 4:16

19 Maxine Weldon Just Leave Me Alone 3:30

20 Larry Jon Wilson Choopee River Bottomland 3:41

21 Delbert Mcclinton Lesson In The Pain Of Love 2:50

22 Jerry Lee Lewis I'm Knee Deep In Loving You 4:50

23 Bobby Womack Behind Closed Doors 2:29

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