"Let's Cut Out This Game"
Wilson Meadows (New Album Alert!)
Composed by Wilson Meadows
October 2, 2022:
--Daddy B. Nice
About Wilson Meadows (New Album Alert!)
Wilson Meadows was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee in 1944. He grew up singing gospel music and while still young was a member of a group called the Zircons, who'd had a novelty hit back in the fifties. The Meadows Brothers, including Wilson, recorded at least two singles in the 70's, "I Can't Understand" and "I Tried It All." But that was as close as Wilson Meadows ever came to sniffing the "green" in the music business until 1997, when he was already in his fifties.
Memories received heavy rotation when it hit the radio waves in January of 1997 and due to the sheer number of radio-friendly tracks on the disc, the exposure continued through 1998. The album was a singer/songwriter's delight with such cuts as, "Let's Cut Out This Game," "I Promise," "That's Still My Love" and "Just Can't Do Without You."
Dealing Real appeared in 2000 and Choices (probably the closer in quality to the debut) came out in 2002. A Best Of collection (without, inexplicably, "Let's Cut Out This Game") appeared (again, on Bob Grady) in 2003, and Back To Basics was released in 2004.
Song's Transcendent Moment
"Who could have been there?
What was his name?
Can we cut out this game?"
Tidbits
1.
The 2004 radio single of "Shake" (from the Back to Basics CD) impressed deejays of the Deep South, who queued it up frequently. Following 2002's "Big Catch" and "Go On And Cry" from the Choices CD, it signaled Wilson Meadows' willingness to establish up-tempo dance grooves without losing that distinctive "Meadows" sound.
2.
February 24, 2007. I just read an absolutely brutal--meaning negative--review of Wilson Meadows in All Music Guide. I won't describe it any further, but it made me realize the fickle nature of Meadows' art. Wilson Meadows is the Kevin Costner of Southern Soul music, which is to say he's really good in a few things, but he can be grating when he's not right on.
In Meadows' case it has something to do with the vocal sound: it has a heavy dose of Curtis Mayfield and other Motown-style crooners, a sound--shall we say--that is out of vogue right now. And, truthfully, Meadows has not been able to follow up his classic, Memories (which, sadly, is out of the print at the present time) with a significant successor.
Nevertheless, your Daddy B. Nice finds himself crowning Meadows' new chitlin' circuit hit, "Dedicated To The One I Love," from the new Love Bomb CD (Bob Grady, 2006), the number-one song on his March, 2007 Top 10 Southern Soul Singles. In an inspired choice of material, Meadows has plucked a seldom-covered classic from R&B's Top-40 heyday and given it a treatment and performance that to these ears rings perfect. DBN.
3.
April 19, 2007. And Meadows' made DBN's April Top 10 with the track "She's Gone," with "Dedicated To The One I Love" still residing on the chart. The latter ("Dedicated") still impresses your Daddy B. Nice as being one of Wilson Meadow's finest vocal efforts. "I Got The Right One" and "She's Gone" gives evidence of the depth and excellence of the CD. "Love Bomb," not one of my favorites, is also a creditable track and is receiving plenty of airplay. "Love Bomb" is easily Meadows' finest album since Memories. (Bargain-priced Love Bomb CD.) DBN.
4.
Update: 2007
Wilson Meadows' career since I first wrote this appreciation, years ago, can be summed up as a long drought (since Memories) culminating in a spectacular comeback (Love Bomb). Some fans of Wilson Meadows grew blase' about his material over the years, and unfortunately, that long hiatus without a chitlin' circuit hit (on the order of "Let's Cut Out This Game" or "That's Still My Love" from Memories) has dampened the reception for a CD that goes a long way in fulfilling Meadows' early promise.
That's too bad for the Southern Soul audience, because they may be missing out on some of today's best music. There's no doubt that Wilson Meadows brings something very special to the table, a knack for extracting the soulfulness in songs with great melodies. Thus, "Dedicated To The One I Love," "She's Gone," "Love Bomb" and "I Got The Right One" from Love Bomb work spendidly not only musically but emotionally. They tug all the right strings of listeners who love love songs, and they will remind the R&B audience of how good Meadows really was--and still can be.
Speaking of which, I see no reason to change my long-term ranking of Meadows' songs. In retrospect, "Let's Cut Out This Game" is still one of the top twenty songs in Southern Soul over the last decade. Everything about it is perfect, from the somehow simultaneously delicate-but-rough arrangement to the signature, stuttering lead guitar and its famous hook. DBN.
5.
NEW ALBUM ALERT: August 9, 2008
Wilson Meadow's new CD, Transformation, is due out any day.
A new single, "It Is What It Is"--a typically heavily-syncopated Meadows rocker in a style that fans will nevertheless recognize as a new, jazzy-sounding style--has leaked out and is already receiving air play. Stay tuned. DBN
Bargain-Priced Transformation CD
First single: "It Is What It Is"
(See Daddy B. Nice's Top 10 "Breaking" Southern Soul Singles: March 2008)
6.
New Album/New Single Alert: October 4, 2008
See Daddy B. Nice's "Breaking" Southern Soul Singles for October 2008.
"I Wanna Get Witcha, Baby"
If You Liked. . . You'll Love
If you were a fan of Gene Pitney's "It Hurts To Be In Love," you should check out Wilson Meadow's "Let's Cut Out This Game."
Honorary "B" Side
"That's Still My Love"
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