Joan Osborne’s 1995 smash, “One of Us,†may be the best thing that ever happened to her commercial fortunes, but her inability to follow-up its chart-topping success is more likely the best thing that ever happened to her artistry. In the wake of the triple-platinum Relish, Osborne receded into touring, social activism, musical study and guest appearances, taking five years to issue a follow-up that couldn’t possibly repeat the success of her major label debut. But in failing to sell millions of copies, Righteous Love freed Osborne from the expectations of another lightning strike, and set her on a path led by musical muses. She explored classic and original soul, recorded country and Americana, and even reunited with the team that had produced Relish.
Her first set of soul covers, 2002’s How Sweet It Is, featured modern production that was at odds with the material’s grit. Her second set, 2007’s Breakfast in Bed, is the more direct antecedent to this new album, with funkier arrangements that seem to have been inspired by her terrific appearance in Standing in the Shadows of Motown. For her latest set of covers, Osborne’s picked songs in which she hears the blues, going beyond the standard I-IV-V to find songs that connect to the emotion. It’s a diverse set, ranging from blues standards popularized by Sonny Boy Williamson, John Mayall, Muddy Waters and Slim Harpo to soul sides from Ray Charles, Ike & Tina, Betty Wright, Bill Withers, Otis Redding and Al Green.
The album breaks from the gate in full stride with a propulsive version of Ashford and Simpson’s “I Don’t Need No Doctor†that heats up Ray Charles’ 1966 original. Drummer Aaron Comess and bassist Richard Hammond lay down a wickedly funky bottom end punctuated by Chris Karlic’s baritone sax, and the Holmes Brothers’ backing vocals push Osborne to great heights of protest. Osborne’s equally effective singing low and seductive, taking the band with her on Muddy Waters’ “I Want to Be Loved.†The song list features some deep singles, including Olive Brown’s R&B “Roll Like a Big Wheel,†and album tracks such as John Mayall’s solo “Broken Wings.â€
Some of the better known tunes accrue layers from multiple earlier covers, such as how Willie Dixon’s “Bring it on Home†picks up notes from both Sonny Boy Williamson’s original and Led Zeppelin’s more lascivious cover, and James Moore’s “Shake Your Hips†picks up from Slim Harpo’s original and the Rolling Stones’ well-known remake. Others are sung in straightforward tribute to the originals, such as Betty Wright’s “Shoorah! Shoorah!†(with songwriter Allen Toussaint pitching in on piano), and at least one, “I’m Qualified,†keys entirely off a soul cover (by Clarence Carter) rather than the R&B original (by Jimmy Hughes).
Excellent, but ill-fated second album with super bonus tracks
Given the indelible mark Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders made with Clint Ballard Jr.’s “Game of Love†(#2 in the UK, chart-topping in the U.S.) it’s surprising just how short they ran as a unit. Nine singles, two albums, and by 1965 they’d gone their separate ways. In fact, their run ended as their singles (“It’s Just a Little Bit Too Late†from this second LP and “She Needs Love,†included on this reissue as a bonus) failed to capitalize on their breakthrough and Fontana’s solo career was realized more quickly than had previously been expected. It’s reported that he informed the band of his departure as he walked off stage midway through an October 1965 live show. Fontana and the band continued on separately (the latter scoring quickly with Toni Wine and Carole Bayer Sager’s “A Groovy Kind of Loveâ€), and this second album, released three months after the split, was left to founder.
Fontana and the band had been pulling in different directions before the split – the former looking to highlight his singing, the latter (lead by guitarist and future 10cc founder, Eric Stewart) their instrumental abilities. The latter’s versatility is highlighted in the range of songs tackled on this second album – a collection that was put together over a longer period of time than the single day afforded their debut. There are only two originals (“Like I Did†and “Long Time Comin’â€), both mid-tempo beat numbers written by Fontana under his given name of Glyn Ellis. The rest of the album picks up songs from a talented array of American writers, including Leiber & Stoller, Gene Pitney, Chuck Berry, Van McCoy, Goffin & King, Willie Dixon and Burt Bacharach. The selections are typically UK-centric, including a UK hit (“Memphis, Tennesseeâ€) that was a non-charting U.S. B-side, and Merseybeat favorites from Richard Barrett (“Some Other Guyâ€) and Bill Haley (“Skinny Minnieâ€).
The album included the follow-up single to “Game of Love,†sticking with Clint Ballard for “It’s Just a Little Bit Too Late.†Despite its great beat, twangy guitar and catchy lyric, it only edged into the UK Top 20, and fell short of the U.S. Top 40. The group’s last single, included here as a bonus track, was yet another Ballard beat-ballad, “She Needs Love,†which cracked the UK Top 40, but failed to chart in the U.S. The album’s original dozen tracks are augmented on this Bear Family reissue with nine rare single and EP sides. Pre-LP singles include Jimmy Breedlove’s “Stop Look and Listen†(b/w a cover of Gene Chandler’s “Duke of Earlâ€), and the group’s UK smash cover of Major Lance’s sweet soul “Um, Um, Um, Um, Um, Um.†The latter is backed by a cover of the rare Doc Pomus and Phil Spector tune, “She Needs Love,†originally recorded by Ben E. King.
World-traveling Texan cooks up soulful, polycultural Americana
Chris Jamison is a native Texan whose travels eventually brought him back to Austin with a musical worldliness informed by time spent in Europe, South and Central America and Africa. He sings in an alto that momentarily suggests Lindsey Buckingham, but in longer form finds the polycultural soulfulness of Paul Simon. His third album moves between Latin-tinged organ-soul and gut-string Americana, with touches of tuba, trumpet and the rhythmic magic of New Orleans. The recordings were split between studios in Austin and Marfa, the latter of which Jamison says “seemed like a proper setting for the sound and feel I was going for; just the right distance from home and all the baggage it carries to let us get absorbed in the music and spirit of the songs as well as the open and charged energy of West Texas.â€
Following his 1968 break with fellow Righteous Brother Bobby Hatfield, Bill Medley kicked off a solo career with this pair of releases for MGM. Both albums grazed the bottom of the Billboard 200, and three singles (“I Can’t Make it Alone†and “Brown Eyed Woman†from the first album, “Peace Brother Peace†from the second) charted short of the Top 40. It would be Medley’s last solo chart action for more than a decade, as he’d reteam with Hatfield in 1974 and forgo solo releases for several years afterwards. By the time he re-engaged his solo career in 1981, the music world and his place in it had changed, leaving this pair of albums the best evidence of the solo sound grown from his first run with the Righteous Brothers.
Following the Righteous Brothers’ falling out with Phil Spector (who had produced three Philles albums and four hit singles for them), Medley assumed the producer’s seat for the duo’s last #1, “(You’re My) Soul and Inspiration.†In conjuring a convincing imitation of Spector’s Wall of Sound, Medley showed himself to have ambition and talent that was larger than the role of featured vocalist. As he took the producer’s chair for his solo records he leaned heavily on big band arrangements of blues, soul and stage standards that suggested he’d been listening to Ray Charles and other blues and soul singers. He creates a Spectorian crescendo for “The Impossible Dream,†shouts his way through “That’s Life,†sings at the ragged edge of his husky voice on “Run to My Loving Arms,†and chews the scenery with the Neil Diamond-meets-Blood, Sweat & Tears gospel-soul of “Peace Brother Peace.â€
Steve Bernstein’s Millennial Territory Orchestra is a New York nonet, featuring a five-piece horn section of brass and reeds, a foundation of guitar, bass, and drums, and drop-ins of violin and banjo. They’ve made a practice of not practicing, learning tunes and working out arrangements on stage and in the studio, giving their records the vitality of live performance seasoned by the simmered qualities of a road ensemble. Their repertoire mixes jazz-age standards with reworked contemporary pop songs, mating ‘20s and ‘30s classics with the works of the Beatles, Prince and Stevie Wonder. For their third album, they’ve focused on the songs of Sly and the Family Stone, with help from vocalists Sandra St. Victor, Antony Hegarty, Martha Wainwright, Dean Bowman and Shilpa Ray, as well as Bernie Worrell on Hammond, Vernon Reid on guitar and Bill Laswell on bass.
As Greg Tates notes in his liners, Sly and the Family Stone date back to an era when collectives were a common social currency and bands mattered as much (if not more) than individual vocalists. Even among soul groups, however, the Family Stone stood out from the carefully groomed powerhouse acts of Motown. Not only was the membership almost defiantly multiracial, but in sound and style, the group was a combination of its unique ingredients, rather than a corporate-developed vision to which the members were trained. The aesthetic is a natural fit for the MTO, as Bernstein provides a framework within which the individual players express themselves – much as do members of jazz groups, and so to the members of the original Family Stone under Sly’s leadership.
You can get a feel for the music issued on the Truth & Soul label by noting that they still release old-school vinyl singles. Two solid shots of soul at a time. They also release full albums, of course, and digital, but their musical ethos is rooted in a time when singles dominated radio, and radio dominated listeners’ imaginations. In March the Brooklyn-based T&S will release their second album on veteran soul singer Lee Fields. Now in his fifth decade as a vocalist, the edges in Fields’ voice are especially well fitted to the throwback sound of his latest session, which can be previewed in this track “You’re the Kind of Girl.”
An oddly sequenced collection of Diamond’s diamonds
As anyone familiar with Neil Diamond’s career knows, he’s had more hits that could possibly fit onto a single CD. But drawing across his stints on Bang, Uni, Capitol (for which he recorded the soundtrack to The Jazz Singer) and Columbia, this twenty-three track set shows Diamond’s maturation from Brill Building songwriter to hit-making singer to worldwide superstar to reinvented elder statesman. Of course, given the set’s non-chronological programming, you’ll only hear the actual arc of his artistic development if you reprogram the tracks as 12, 4, 9, 10, 16, 21, 20, 18, 6, 11, 21, 7, 5, 13, 8, 17, 2, 14, 1, 3, 15, 22, 23, 19. If you play the set as-is, you’ll start near the end of Diamond’s hit-making career with 1978’s “Forever in Blue Jeans†and spin through a few other 1970s releases before jumping back to 1966’s “Cherry, Cherry.â€
Given the focus on hits, it’s easy to excuse the great album tracks left behind, but the inclusion of lesser sides in place of the hits “Thank the Lord for the Night Time,†“Longfellow Serenade†and “Heartlight†is surprising. The mix of Top 10s, Adult Contemporary hits (“Beautiful Noiseâ€), low-charting singles that were hits for other artists (“I’m a Believer†and “Red Red Wineâ€) and latter-day sides with Rick Rubin (“Pretty Amazing Grace†and “Hell Yeahâ€) covers the breadth and depth of his career, but the muddled timeline and interweaving of mono Bang-era tracks with modern stereo productions is without obvious purpose. Segueing from the 1980’s “Love on the Rocks†to hard-rocking guitars of “Cherry, Cherry†is awkward, as is the mood shift from 1972’s “Play Me†to 1967’s bubblegum-soul “I’m a Believer.â€
Despite the set’s odd characteristics, Diamond shines as a talented songwriter who learned early on how to write a hook, and a dramatic vocalist with a memorable voice. He’s been well-served by arrangers and producers who fit his voice into a variety of contexts – guitar-charged rock, organ-backed soul, contemporary pop and huge productions that echo the operatic grandeur of Roy Orbison. Diamond’s song-by-song notes are peppered with interesting recollections and generous sharing of credit with his many exceptional co-workers. It may surprise casual fans to find that he co-wrote with Marilyn and Alan Bergman, was produced by Robbie Robertson, and recorded several of his biggest hits in Memphis at Chips Moman’s American Sound Studio.
Appalachian rock ‘n’ roll, country, blues and soul
You can get a feel for the music issued on the 