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January 28, 2012:
Sonny Mack: Going For Gold (Ecko) Three Stars *** Solid Southern Soul Debut by a New Male Vocalist.  Sonny Mack gives a succinct description of his life and musical style in his song "Guitar Licker" from Mack's new solo debut CD, Going For Gold.
"When I was a young boy
In old Chi-Town,
Watching all the pretty girls
Walking around.
One day a woman
Pulled me to the side
And she showed me
How to lick it."
And, after the "guitar licker" chorus. . .
"I moved to Memphis
About twenty years back.
Started playing the blues,
Now how about that?
I do what I do
Pretty good, I'm told.
I've been licking that thing
Since I was twelve years old."
Sonny Mack's "licking" style is in the bluesman mold of Albert King, Buddy Guy and Robert Cray, and even as Mack ventures into Southern Soul territory in tunes like "It's Saturday Night"--with traces of Theodis Ealey here and O. B. Buchana there--he remains anchored in the blues.
Sonny Mack is not a natural singer. He is a guitarist and songwriter/arranger first and foremost, and like some other emerging artists of the moment--Bobby Conerly and Jim Bennett--he has to "work" at his vocals just to carry them off. "Going For Gold," the title track, has the lyricism of B. B. King or Little Milton, but Mack is by no means a vocalist of their level of talent.
The Southern Soul singer Mack most resembles is Chuck Roberson, a journeyman performer (also from the Ecko label, only a decade earlier) whom you would never put in the same breath with a Johnnie Taylor or Tyrone Davis, but who was always best when hewing to a blues context.
Roberson is a sweeter, more sophisticated singer than Sonny Mack, but your Daddy B. Nice would be hard-pressed to think of a Roberson album that had as much quality and quantity as this one.
Going For Gold is a generous 14-track collection, with nary a throw-away, gimmick or remix. All the music was written by Mack (under the name William Norris). Among the notable tunes:
"Guitar Licker" is Sonny Mack's equivalent of Little Milton's "Guitar Man."
"Going For Gold" is the album's centerpiece, with the set's finest melody and arrangement. The song is really an ode to the Southern Soul scene emanating from Jackson, Mississippi.
"It's Saturday Night" is Sonny Mack's version of Sir Charles Jones' "Friday," a working-man's anthem to letting go. Here the over-achieving "want-to" in Mack's vocal is particularly successful, raising the song to a higher level.
"I Forgot To Say I Love You" is a mid-tempo, Ealey-like song with background vocals by Morris J. Williams and Sheilena Banks. The background, if only the variety of hearing the notes an octave higher, adds immeasurably to the arrangement and might have done much to distinguish other songs on the set, which suffer from a certain sameness and lack of color.
"I Only Get Laid When I Get Paid" is a Buchana-like ode to the well-documented (in Southern Soul, at least) connection between money and sexual attraction.
"You Do That To Me" boasts a refreshingly different guitar sound, but the melody never quite resolves itself.
"I'm A Blues Man" is standard bar blues, but it's what Mack does best, and it shows. This tune does have a rare female background.
"La La La" shows Sonny Mack at his creative best, marshalling a good song with fresh chord changes and a better-than-average vocal.
"Midnight Man," with its peppy keyboard and all-business beat, almost sounds like a Lee "Shot" Williams song. Mack's vocal is convincing.
The only clunkers are the overly derivative "Let Me Change My Mind," "Playing Catch Up," "Bang That Thang" and "Moon Over Memphis," which sounds at times like a religious hymn and at other times like a country-western ballad. Despite "Moon Over Memphis's" doubled vocal track, it and the other three tracks expose the ordinariness of Mack's voice.
Going For Gold introduces a mature guitarist/singer/writer who has obviously been accruing valuable material for quite some time.
If you're looking for the next Sir Charles Jones, or a young enfant terrible with the vocal technique and "wow" factor of LaMorris Williams, you've come to the wrong CD.
But if you're looking for genuine, modest, blues-based Southern Soul, and at least one standard torch-bearer for the genre in "Going For Gold" (the song), you could do much worse than to check out Sonny Mack.
--Daddy B. Nice
Bargain-Priced Sonny Mack Going For Gold CD
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January 7, 2012:
AL LINDSEY: Can You Handle This? (Pulsating Music) Two Stars ** Dubious. Not much here.  In the fabulous sixties Michigan was the heart and soul of the R&B universe. The Detroit sound ruled not just the rhythm & blues charts but the pop charts. Smokey Robinson, The Supremes, Little Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Jerry Butler and The Temptations rubbed shoulders with The Beatles and The Beach Boys and sold millions of records.
Motown brought grit to the Top Forty, but that was then. This is now. So many urban R&B styles--including jazz, smooth jazz, disco, funk, rap and hiphop--have swept over the North in tsunami-like waves since then, inundating the culture in inferior, ever-more-diluted styles, that musicians in the Northeast grow up in a veritable Tower of Babel.
It's not like that in the Deep South. Because of the region's cultural isolation, the music--and the taste of its audience--has remained surprisingly pure. On the radio, people can pick up an entirely different sound while driving through the countryside. Traditional R&B survives. It's not quite the same, and it's admittedly not as well produced as the 60's and early 70's, but it's got the same grit and depth, and in some ways is even more authentic than back in the day.
Al Lindsey is one of a group of Michigan musicians, including Simeo (the hiphop-styled producer and solo artist) and Maurice Davis (the singer/guitarist and self-styled "King of Party Blues"), who have a love jones for Southern Soul. Give them credit, at least, for that much.
Encouraged by other well-meaning but misguided pundits and artists, they routinely show up on the Southern Soul radio playlists and occasionally create some media buzz. Though Simeo is under-rated as a vocalist, Al Lindsey is arguably the finest singer of the trio, a wispy, sensitive-voiced purveyor of sultry, urban-styled ballads. Lindsey's new CD, Can You Handle This?, follows in the footsteps of its two immediate predecessors, Caught
(2005) and So In Love (2007), which the artist himself has aptly described as music "easy on the ear."
And therein lies the problem. Southern Soul music has been called a lot of things, but it's never been described as easy listening. In the three albums listed above--all recommended for the smooth jazz, urban R&B fan--Al Lindsey has recorded only one song that could indisputably be called a Southern Soul tune: "Hollow Point" from the 2005 album Caught. The rest of his catalog has been borderline Southern Soul at its best.
What is the comparison? Your Daddy B. Nice's vision of a northern version of a Southern Soul song would be (but not restricted to) Dennis Edward's "Don't Look Any Further," TLC's "Creep" or "Montel Jordan's "This Is How We Do It." Love ballads might be something like SWV's "Right Here (Human Nature)" or Milestone's "I Care About You."
Consequently, Lindsey ballads like "A Simple Love Song," "Nothing Greater Than Love" and "Let It Go" from the Can You Handle This? album sound almost embarrassingly smarmy.
The peppy but anorexic "Keep On Getting It On" and the tinny-sounding, disjointed title tune "Can You Handle This?" hold little interest. "Keep On Getting It On" teases with its likeable, upbeat tempo. It even references Betty Wright's "Tonight Is The Night"--
"Tonight is the night
You make me a man."
--and its "two steps to the left, two steps to the right" refrain cajoles you into believing you're listening to Southern Soul (but you're not). "Diamonds And Pearls" is one of the better cuts from the album, but it will only get the Southern Soul fan to first base, i.e. Isley Brothers' territory.
Simeo Overall (who has never produced an authentic-sounding Southern Soul song) produced the album and wrote the music for some of the tracks, including the slow jams "Let It Go," "A Simple Love Song" and "Nothing Greater Than Love."
Lindsey himself wrote most of the music and the lion's share of the lyrics, so it's hard to believe these two seasoned and successful Saginaw natives, Al Lindsey and Simeo, weren't aware they were trying to serve two mutually-contradictory markets, the silk-sheets smooth of urban R&B (and current Michigan) and the gunny-sack rough of the Southern Soul South.
And the silk sheets won out.
The cover "Leaving Me"--not to be confused with silk sheets--a great song by an obscure vintage band called the Independents (and written by J. Giles and M. Barge), has the fullest, most Southern Soul "feel" to it and will probably please Southern Soul enthusiasts more than any other track on the CD. Lindsey could do worse than put it out as a radio single.
Is Can You Handle This? competent? Yes. Pleasant? To some extent.
But it would be a disservice and mis-labeling to recommend it to fans hungry to hear eat-with-your-hands Southern Soul. This is by comparison little-finger-slightly-raised, tea-sipping music. And if it's considered Southern Soul, how do you explain to a stranger what Southern Soul really is, and why Southern Soul is blowing the roof off the rest of today's R&B?
--Daddy B. Nice
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December 10, 2011:
MS. JODY: Ms. Jody's In The House (Ecko) Five Stars ***** Can't Miss. Pure Southern Soul Heaven. 
Can Ms. Jody, who's being touted as the new Queen of Southern Soul, have been with us only a half-dozen years? It's hard to believe, but true. The sweet-singing, hard-working performer has released six full-length CD's in that time span.
The first, You're My Angel, went largely unnoticed (as per most debuts), introducing Ms. Jody's first noteworthy single, the country-influenced "I Never Take A Day Off (From Loving My Baby)."
The debut also lay down the formula for one of Ms. Jody's most durable draws: simplistic but memorable and often self-referential dance jams, in this case the tune "Ms. Jody," which foreshadowed such subsequent hit singles as "Ms. Jody's Thing" and "Ms. Jody's Keeping It Real."
The second CD, What You Gonna Do When The Rent Is Due, featured the hit single, "Your Dog's About To Kill My Cat," a uniquely-arranged ballad loosely based on Billy "Soul" Bonds' "Scat Cat, Kitty Kitty" and other "dog" (man) vs. "cat (woman) songs popular in 21st Century Southern Soul music. The album also featured another popular single in "Big Daddy Don't You Come."
The third disc, I Never Take A Day Off, reprised Ms. Jody's 2006 single (the title tune) for a much larger audience the diva hadn't yet gained on her earlier release. The album also contained a number of memorable singles including "Energizer Bunny," "It's The Weekend," "Lonely Housewife" and "Ms. Jody's Thing."
A slight drop-off in quality marred three subsequent albums, It's A Ms. Jody Thang and Ms. Jody's In The Streets Again and Ms. Jody's Keeping It Real.
Your Daddy B. Nice was particularly critical of the latter, released earlier this year, questioning whether Ms. Jody was beginning to repeat herself and whether her musical formulas were growing stale.
There were no such qualms on the part of most critics, however, and led by "The Bop" (from Ms. Jody's In The Streets Again), one of those simple but hooky dance jams at which Ms. Jody has always excelled, the Mississippi diva's reputation took its greatest strides.
Many of the accolades could be attributed to Ms. Jody's sheer determination--her visibility on the concert scene and the frequency of her output--which trumped occasional lapses in quality.
In the same time period, the two greatest female Southern Soul singers of the day--namely, Shirley Brown and Denise LaSalle--were putting out their own masterpieces, but at a much less furious pace, and Ms. Jody's main competition in the younger ranks--the immensely talented Nellie "Tiger" Travis--had fallen off.
Now, as if to satisfy both diehard fans and critics, Ms. Jody has released a second CD in one year, Ms. Jody's In The House, just in time for wrapping and placement under the Christmas tree. And the new sounds in the CD are bound to please everyone. Ms. Jody's In The House is as chock full of gold-plated material as any of her early triumvirate of CD's. In fact, it may be Ms. Jody's finest LP to date.
The album is anchored by Ms. Jody's most substantial song since "I Never Take A Day Off" and "Your Dog Is Killing My Cat." The song is "When Your Give A Damn Just Don't Give A Damn Any More," which is loosely based--or in the tradition of--Latimore's "My Give A Damn Gave Out (A Long Time Ago)."
This tune succeeds on so many levels it could almost walk on water, and in recognizing it your Daddy B. Nice wrote:
Daddy B. Nice's Top 10 "BREAKING" Southern Soul Singles Review For. . .
NOVEMBER 2011
1. "When Your Give A Damn Just Don't Give A Damn Any More"---------Ms. Jody
Ms. Jody's finest chorus since "I Never Take A Day Off." The tune begins with the bass line and chords from "Groovin,'" but Ms. Jody soon floats away on her own sun-kissed cloud of inspiration. John Ward's carefully modulated arrangement is key. Before you realize it, you're asking yourself, "Did I just listen to Ms. Jody sing and testify for six-plus minutes?"
The album furnishes two renditions of "When Your Give A Damn Just Don't Give A Damn Any More," a "radio version" and the extended take critiqued above, and such is the pull of the song I still haven't bothered to listen to the shorter radio track. Ms. Jody has "voiced-over" (or talked) on many songs from her catalog, most recently in "Ms. Jody's Keeping It Real." But she has never delved into a subject (getting out of a bad relationship) with such convincing emotional authority.
And yet, even that doesn't address the 100 per cent-proof credibility she musters on "When Your Give A Damn Just Don't Give A Damn Any More." After all, there are countless examples of authority and credibility that one wouldn't want to listen to over and over again.
Ms. Jody's voice-over on "When Your Give A Damn Just Don't Give A Damn Any More" transcends its message. It works not only as content but as style, the words doing their Ella Fitzgerald thing while meshing musically to perfection with that bass hook and that deeply satisfying organ-style keyboard. The result: pure soul--Southern Soul--to be precise.
The measuring stick of just how good this CD is the song "Southern Soul Dip," a throwback to "The Bop" and "Ms. Jody's Thang."
Whatever you thought of "The Bop," which captivated many fans but also had some scratching their heads, wondering what all the fuss was about, the fact was it was fairly light fare. If this were just another Ms. Jody album in the generic sense (the pattern over the last couple of CD's), the "Southern Soul Dip" would have been the anchor song, and it would have been surrounded by lesser, even "lighter" tunes. And yet "Southern Soul Dip," this album's version of "The Bop," not only isn't the best (i.e. anchor) song on the CD. It's not even among the top three or four tracks. And it's still pretty damned good.
Here are the heavyweight tracks:
"Something I Want": This is the duet with David Brinston that has charted on Southern Soul stations all summer. Despite a mediocre melody, the tune has a killer hook that the arrangement pounds home with the finality of a mountain man splitting firewood with a sledge and wedge.
"Let Me Be The Shoulder": This song was the centerpiece of a little-noticed album by singer Brenda Williams, the wife of Morris J. Williams (long associated with Ecko Records in Memphis). It's an indication of how thoroughly Ms. Jody cast her net for "primo" material. The ballad sounds like a Southern Soul standard.
"You Lost A Fortune": Another inspired choice of a retread tune, this one originally done by Lorraine Turner, and (like the Brenda Williams ballad) also a song that sounds like a classic via Ms. Jody's version.
"I Never Knew Good Love Could Hurt So Bad": Here's a completely unexpected, blues-oriented, future classic. It's got a little B. B. King. It's got more than a little R. Kelly in his best southern soul & blues mode, i.e. "You Made Me Love You." The song is terrific.
"I Did It": This track also made it onto Daddy B. Nice's Top 10 "Breaking" Southern Soul Singles" as follows:
Daddy B. Nice's Top 10 "BREAKING" Southern Soul Singles Review For. . .
DECEMBER 2011
2. "I Did It"---------Ms. Jody
I've always been a sucker for nursery rhymes (not to mention military chants) in popular songs--they always seem to be so much fun--and this material is perfect for Ms. Jody. "I Did It" also has a nifty rhythm section reminiscent of Johnny Otis's Bo-Diddley-inspired "Hand Jive."
On a slightly lower tier of success, the collection offers "Ms. Jody's Thang (Zydeco Remix)," which is very catchy (and a former DBN "breaking" single), "Southern Soul Dip" (this CD's "The Bop"), "Come A Little Closer," "I Just Wanna Love You" and "Just A Little Bit Won't Get It."
With arrangements by John Ward & company that are especially attuned to the seasoned Southern Soul ear, and with songwriting from Ward, Raymond Moore, Joanne Delapaz (Ms. Jody), Brenda & Morris Williams, Sam Fallie, Gerod Rayburn and Susan Shelby, every one of the bunch hitting on all cylinders, this album makes all the right decisions and reaps the benefits.
Even the filler on this musically-rich CD has the magic touch. "Ms. Jody's In The House," a one-minute, twenty-two second appetizer (on which Ms. Jody doesn't even sing) featuring a "house" rhythm track and some uncredited male singers chanting "Ms. Jody," accompanied by cheers, hand-claps and a persistent "wolf" whistler, works to perfection.
Southern Soul Heaven.
--Daddy B. Nice
Bargain-Priced Ms. Jody's In The House CD
Comparison-Priced Ms. Jody's In The House CD
Read Daddy B. Nice's Artist Guide to Ms. Jody.
Ms. Jody on I-Tunes
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November 12, 2011:
BIG G: All About Me (Stone River) Four Stars **** Distinguished Effort. Should please old fans and gain new. Big G breathes new life into the clichés of domestic life on his new CD, All About Me.
"Walk Away," the thematic heart of the album (see Daddy B. Nice's #1 "Breaking" Southern Soul Single for October 2011) reworks "The Hands Of Time," a tune Big G recorded previously on the Special Delivery album.
A singer develops a technique (in this case artfully cracked vocals) through years of hard experience to be able to convey the hurt, disillusionment and realistic self-appraisal Big G. conveys in the lines--
"I'm not a play-thing,
I'm a full-grown man."
--from "Walk Away."
The album as a whole mixes three perspectives on love and relationships: the pain of losing love ("Walk Away"), the joy of requited love (the first track, "Get It On") and the energetic pursuit of it.
"Get It On"will remind longtime fans of "Hot Lovin,'" the iconic Big G tune that in one way or another graced many of Big G's early CD's. The loping, mid-tempo beat provides the perfect backdrop for G's twanging country tenor.
Then the masculine sensitivity of "Walk Away" segues into "Love Me Right," representing the desperate search for new love and companionship.
"She don't have to be a beauty queen," Big G reports,
"An everyday girl will do."
While the mainstream music world may still look at this kind of music as embarrassingly outmoded, Southern Soul fans will know better. It's still the substance of real life and as such valid material if the true emotion shines through--and it does. Big G's plaintive verses and empathy-provoking voice-overs make sure of that.
"Have A Good Time" is generic, but Track #5, "Bad Self,"another home-breaking domestic ode with familiar Big G chords, has a nice refrain:
"Go on with your bad self."
The ballad "My Special Prayer" has a throwback feel to it, so much so that it sounds like a cover of an old standard your Daddy B. Nice couldn't put his finger on. Big G excels at vintage sounds.
The niftily-titled "Small Brown Frame" redoes such Big G uptempo tunes as "Pop That Thang" and the even better "Chillin'" slows it down with a winsome melody and a refreshing female chorus. In fact, after "Walk Away," "Chillin'" holds the most potential as a Southern Soul single, with a swaying, rocking hook that revels in its romantic message: spending time with a loved one.
The title cut, "All About Me," and the slow jam, "So Long," bring the album to its beach-music finale, "Myrtle Beach," "just a few hours away" from this Carolina native's home.
"It's a place I love. . .
Sometimes I wanna go there
And make a new start."
Big G acquits himself with customary professionalism and guy-next-door immediacy on this, his umpteenth album. With a catalog that makes most Southern musicians seem like johnnie-come-lately's, Big G is still an underground phenomenon, but his audience continues to grow, and justifiably so. He has a unique sound and a disciplined approach to his career.
All About Me confirms Big G as heir apparent to his onetime mentor, Roy C.
--Daddy B. Nice
Bargain-Priced All About Me CD, MP3's.
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October 30, 2011:
OMAR CUNNINGHAM: Growing Pains (Soul 1st) Four Stars **** Distinguished Effort. Should please old fans and gain new.
Pent-up interest in this new Omar Cunningham album, Growing Pains, has been heavy, so let me just caution fans at the outset that it's not the home run some--including your Daddy B. Nice--may have anticipated. That speaks to expectations, and when you're beginning to put a guy up there with Sir Charles Jones and T. K. Soul and two or three other top young guns in Southern Soul music, expectations can get out of hand.
A lot of the expectations were based on two songs Omar Cunningham didn't even record but gave to others, both of which became very popular Southern Soul singles in the last two years, "Man Enough" by Karen Wolfe and "If They Can Beat Me Rockin'" by Vick Allen. If Omar could string together together two or three more classics like that on a CD, the thinking went, he'd have the Southern Soul equivalent of "Sergeant Pepper."
All of the selections on Omar Cunningham's Growing Pains CD are of excellent quality, but they blend into one another rather than jump out at you. In fact, the most surprising thing about the album is that there is no one spectacular cut: no song on the order of "Baby Don't Leave Me" or "I Get By" or "Give Me A Chance" or "The Beauty Shop" or "My Life."
"Maintenance Man," the first radio single and the most radical departure from any prior style of Omar's, is probably the best candidate for an exception, but let's get to the tracks in order first.
1. "Let Me See You Shake Your Jelly" is a variation on the most well-known "jelly" song, the late Fred Bolton's "It Must Be Jelly" ("Girl it must be jelly/ Because girls don't shake like that)." Omar's song honors the same tempo and keyboard sound.
2. You may shed a tear when you hear how close the rhythm track, tempo and overall sound of "Find A Good Woman" are to "Man Enough," the song Omar wrote for Karen Wolfe, the song that put her over the top, the song--let's admit it--that's better than this one. The tears may continue for two or three listenings, then the "Good Woman" hook begins to take over. You gradually forget about "Man Enough" and everything's okay.
3. "Here I Am" is as traditional and Vandrossian as you can get, almost--dare I say the dreaded word--"mainstream".
"Here I am standing here
Ready and willing and able.
I just want you to know
I'm putting my cards on the table."
The chorus is old-old-school (which I liked), Ames Brothers-old if anyone is left alive who remembers them. One oddity is a man/woman call and response in which Omar uses his own voice, rather than a female's, on the woman's part.
4. But just when you're maybe thinking this is Cunningham's bedroom album, along comes "If We Can't Get Along," a ballad on the subject of separation.
"If we can't get along
We need to get apart,
Because you broke up all of my shit
And now you're breaking my heart."
As with the preceding cuts, the production is crisp and lush.
5. A real change of pace, "I'm Your Maintenance Man" features upfront percussion and a Ray Manzarek-style keyboard on a fast, bare blues that visits the territory of Bobby Rush's "I'll Be Your Handyman." This is the toughest, most aggressive rocker ever by Omar.
6. "That's A Lie" returns to the separation theme of "If We Can't Along." Here Omar takes it to the limit, complete with rousing arrangement with urban r&b crescendos hitherto unheard (except for maybe Carl Sims and more recently Queen Emily) in Southern Soul.
Maybe this is the album's "spectacular" song. It's without a doubt Omar's most impassioned vocal.
7. "What You Want With My Momma" is a novelty song with children's voices somewhat reminiscent of the late Jackie Neal's "The Way We Roll" or, more recently, Unckle Eddie's and Crystal Dylite's "I'm Gone Tell Momma."
"Mr. Lowdown" (9) and "Do Right" (8) are mid-tempo, "Check To Check"-like tunes, the latter co-composed with Vick Allen. The hooks are generic but the scintillating sheen of Cunningham's production is everywhere evident.
Omar closes out the set with an extravaganza of guest cameos on a soulful, gospel-drenched coda, "Gotta Keep (Do You Know Him?)," in order of appearance Lacee, Bigg Robb, Vick Allen and LaMorris Williams. The album is co-produced by Soul 1st Record's Reginald McDaniel.
Growing Pains, I think, is an apt title. This album has a "transitional" feel to it.
One thing's for sure. Once you start playing it, you won't turn it off. Highly recommended.
--Daddy B. Nice
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October 9, 2011:
LUTHER LACKEY: Married Lyin' Cheatin' Man (Ecko) Five Stars ***** Can't Miss. Pure Southern Soul Heaven. Married Lyin' Cheatin' Man, the new CD from Luther Lackey, starts slowly, but it gradually becomes evident this collection is not a sprint but a marathon. In effect, it's a double album, its bounteous helping of fifteen songs in the same league, if not quite up to the par of the musicianship, with Bob Dylan's masterpiece, Blonde On Blonde, which, incidentally, is ranked #9 in Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Albums Of All Time."
Luther Lackey is a confounding talent. When "The Village Voice" showcased Southern Soul music (the first time in the mainstream press) earlier this year, Luther Lackey was one of the three artists (along with Mel Waiters and Sweet Angel) profiled.
As a songwriter, both witty and musical, Lackey has few peers in the Southern Soul ranks, and as a singer he has a distinctive, ornery clarity, but as a promoter of his own work (be it touring or nuts-and-bolts PR), not to mention as a judge of his own work, Luther Lackey has never excelled.
And so the work, the marvelous musical catalog, remains raw and often under-developed--and, of course, often limited by the programming. Married Lyin' Cheatin' Man is the work of two studio wizards: Lackey and Ecko Records' John Ward.
More's the shame, if that's what's keeping the bigger audience away, because there is not another Southern Soul performer with the pure, musical, break-out potential--from song conception to song execution--of Luther Lackey, and Married Lyin' Cheatin' Man is proof, if any were needed. The album is awash in wonderful music.
Your Daddy B. Nice has been trying to figure out the key to Lackey's artistic breakthrough for years, offering hints and suggestions while giving the singer consistently high marks for his brilliance.
(See Daddy B. Nice's numerous awards and citations under "Luther Lackey" in the Comprehensive Index.)
And when the single "Rebound Love Affair" (the CD's opening cut) appeared earlier this year, ahead of the album release, I once again mused on Lackey's inability to hit the "home run" song that would bring fans flocking:
Daddy B. Nice's Top 10 "BREAKING" Southern Soul Singles Review For. . .
JUNE 2011
9. "Rebound Affair" -----------Luther Lackey
My theory on Luther Lackey is that he's a little too far-out for even Southern Soul fans. The vocal tics that he values as his signature style are frequently off-putting. His dilemma is discovering which vocal mannerisms work with audiences (and eliminating those that don't) and applying them in a new, streamlined vocal style to one of his always promising compositions.
"Rebound Affair" gives a hint.
Now I don't know if any of that makes much sense. But I do know that what's not mentioned in my snapshot above is how exquisitely Luther Lackey sings and writes when he's on his game, i.e. in "Ain't Scared No More," one of the many, many gems from Lackey's new CD.
The reason I suspect Married Lyin' Cheatin' Man starts slowly, as if shaking off some rust, is because "Rebound Love Affair" doesn't have quite the melody and bridge to completely work.
Nor does the gospel-knockoff, "If We Ain't Gonna Break Up" (the number-two track) or the odd choice for an album title (the number-three track), the one-dimensional "Married Lyin' Cheatin' Man."
The meat of the album begins with the fourth track, "I Ain't Scared No More," the latest in Lackey's series of songs based on his signature hit, "Scared Of Getting Caught." I Ain't Scared No More is as perfect as a song can be. Luther's lead vocal is winning, and the background vocals utilize the poignant gospel choruses that populated the song's predecessors. The crowning touch is a steel-drum accompaniment, a daring touch that fits the composition like a glass slipper fits Cindarella.
"Talking On The Telephone" isn't quite as good, but it's lifted to a high level by a nifty bridge that seals the deal.
"Hopper Grass" is a furiously-done song, with a hot lead guitar part that does in fact recall the fast tracks from Dylan's "Highway 61 Revisited." I've never been partial to Lackey's uptempo songs. I believe (as is the case with most Southern Soul artists) that Luther's true calling is in the ballad hemisphere. That said, I don't think Lackey has ever recorded a better scorcher than "Hopper Grass."
One of the best decisions Lackey makes on this CD is the inclusion of some of his best hits from yesteryear, all of which still suffer from lack of exposure and air play. So the appearance of "If She's Cheatin' On Me, I Don't Wanna Know," the excellent song from Lackey's The Preacher's Wife CD, is a big plus.
The addition of "The Blues Is Alright Because Of You," a redo of the soulful "The Blues Is Alright (A Tribute To Litle Milton)" from the I Should Have Stayed Scared album, is yet another wise choice.
And the album's closer, "I Don't Care Who's Gettin' It," is yet another keeper from the I Should Have Stayed Scared album. Give credit to Lackey for including these durable songs from his past. They add immeasurably to the album's luster.
"Caught Between Two" and "Could She Be The One For Me" are interesting mid-tempo songs with much to like. These songs, which qualify somewhere between "filler" and "killer" on Lackey's CD, would be high-profile on most Southern Soul songwriters' albums. "Could She Be The One For Me" is one of two songs on the CD about commitment. Doe Luther have a new woman in his life?
I suspect Lackey may have considered "Hold My Mule" a throwaway or novelty song, but it's an impressive exercise and warranted a number-two ranking on DBN's Top Ten Singles last month as follows:
Daddy B. Nice's Top 10 "BREAKING" Southern Soul Singles Review For. . .
SEPTEMBER 2011
2. "Hold My Mule"---------Luther Lackey
Great foray into folklore and fable. The song's simplicity lends an aura of timelessness.
Sample "Hold My Mule" on Bargain-Priced Married Lyin' Cheatin' Man CD
The slow blues "Big Bosomed Woman" and the frenetic "Get Out Of My Bed" have the feel of B-sides, but when an album is anchored by as many songs that demand to be heard again and again as this CD possesses, even the lesser songs gain cachet.
"Could She Be The Woman Of My Dreams" (the other song about commitment) is no B-side. This song is fully-fleshed out musically and lyrically, with memorable personal details and a heart-breakingly spiritual and tuneful chorus.
Lackey knows how to infuse the catchiest parts of gospel-singing into his R&B, and he's not afraid to incorporate exotic influences. Another storied performer did that in highly-popular songs like "Cupid" and "We're Having A Party," making a huge impression on popular music in the process. His name was Sam Cooke.
Luther Lackey's Married Lyin' Cheatin' Man is without a doubt one of the best Southern Soul CD's of the year.
--Daddy B. Nice
Married Lyin' Cheatin' Man CD
Daddy B. Nice notes: This CD is also available on CD Baby (a first for Ecko Records) at a reduced price. Click the link below.
Bargain-Priced Married Lyin' Cheatin' Man CD
Read Daddy B. Nice's Artist Guide to Luther Lackey.
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Feedback, comments, information or questions for Daddy B. Nice?
Write to daddybnice@southernsoulrnb.com
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Sonny Mack, Going For Gold, 1/28/12
Al Lindsey, Can You Handle This? 1/7/12
Ms. Jody, Ms. Jody's In The House 12/10/11
Big G, All About Me 11/12/11
Omar Cunningham, Growing Pains 10/30/11
Luther Lackey, Married Lyin' Cheatin' Man 10/9/11
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Recently reviewed:
Jim Bennett, Taking It To The Next Level, 10/1/11 (Scroll down this column.)
Frank Lucas, American Bluester, 9/18/11 (Scroll down this column.)
Sheba Potts-Wright, Let Your Mind Go Back, 9/4/11 (Contained in "Tidbits" section of Artist Guide. Click link.)
Larry Shannon Hargrove, Crown Prince Of Southern Soul, 8/13/11 (Contained in "Tidbits" section of Artist Guide. Click link.)
Uvee Hayes, True Confessions, 7/29/11 (Scroll down this column.)
Hog Pin, Soul Time, 7/16/11
(Scroll down this column.)
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Rating Guide:
Five Stars ***** Can't miss. Pure Southern Soul heaven.
Four Stars **** Distinguished effort. Should please old fans and gain new.
Three Stars *** Solid. The artist's fans will enjoy.
Two Stars ** Dubious. Not much here.
One Star * A disappointment. Avoid.
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October 9, 2011:
JIM BENNETT: Taking It To The Next Level (Aviara) Four Stars **** Distinguished Effort. Should please old fans and gain new.
Like the late, great, underground Southern Soul singer Frank Mendenhall, Jim Bennett hails from the D.C. area, and like Mendenhall his music is idiosyncratic, rhythm-obsessed and self-contained in a supremely self-confident way.
Bennett's songs may not impress you on first listen. Certainly, lyrically they won't--it's just "feel good and party." Bennett's band is a tightly woven unit honed over many years of bar-band venues, and his "feel good" creativity is poured entirely into the textures of the rhythm section (and rhythm guitar) of each song. The lead guitar (Bennett) seldom wanders far from a rhythm guitar mode, leaving most fills to the keyboards.
The songs work a very narrow slice of R&B style, both in musical and conceptual range, but what they do, they do to near-perfection. Bennett's voice is not spectacular. His slightly-nasal tone is as rough as crumbling asphalt, but his self-assurance and authenticity are beyond reproach.
So while Bennett's songs may not be spectacular the first couple of times you listen to them, they gradually and diligently grow on you, the best of them pulling you into their mesmerizing rhythmic textures, culminating in an almost insatiable drawing power.
Jim Bennett has a passel of self-published albums to his credit, many featuring his longtime vocal collaborator, Lady Mary, and all featuring his trusty and self-assured live band. (See all of Jim Bennett's albums in Daddy B. Nice's CD Store.) He's gone through many phases--a guitarist phase, a gospel phase (ongoing), and a singer phase, to name just a few--and all of these dues duly paid are buried within the content and artistry of Bennett's newest album, Taking It To The Next Level.
And while the older CD's betray Bennett's influences--Barry White, Otis Redding, Gerald Levert--in frequently very direct and traceable ways, Taking It To The Next Level really accomplishes what the title promises, building upon the signature style that first became readily apparent in Bennett's previous collection, "Slap It...Tap It."
Bennett has locked into a signature style of tightly controlled hooks delivered with live instruments in a deliberately slow, grown-folks tempo. The result is a sound that hasn't been heard on the contemporary chitlin' circuit.
Your Daddy B. Nice officially hopped on the admittedly compact-sized Jim Bennett bandwagon this past summer after hearing "The Body Roll" (one of the highlights of the new CD) and falling in love with it as follows:
Daddy B. Nice's Top 10 "BREAKING" Southern Soul Singles Review For. . .
JUNE 2011
1. "The Body Roll" -------------Jim Bennett
A mainstay of the DC area (along with the more well-known Hardway Connection), Jim Bennett knows where he's going and how to get there. I've seldom heard a Southern Soul band sound so tight. Bennett's ready to blossom into a star, and every time I hear this song, I turn up the volume.
Sample or buy "The Body Roll" MP3 on Bargain-Priced Shots of Southern Soul, Vol. 3 CD.
Around the same time, I gained an invaluable insight into the band's workings by stumbling across a video of the unit in action.
Watch Jim Bennett, Lady Mary and the band singing "Slap It Tap It" on YouTube.
"Action" may seem too strong a word for the serpentine movements of the upfront players, Bennett, Lady Mary, and Darlene Holbrook. No prancing and pacing onstage ala T. K. Soul or the late Reggie P. The Bennett band's "body rolls" are as subtle and tightly controlled as the unit's rhythm section.
Now, perhaps to celebrate that Number 1 appearance on Daddy B. Nice's Top Ten "Breaking" Singles, there's a new video of "The Body Roll" on YouTube. Bennett negotiates one of his best vocals ever, husky and emotive, and when he slyly smiles under that Groucho Marx mustache, you can feel the intense satisfaction he's getting from finally and indisputably hitting that musical sweet spot.
"It's You I Need," another track from the new CD, is also on YouTube.
Meanwhile, the opening track of the new album, "I'm Ready To Party," is my pick for a promising single. The band's subtle guitar licks and always soulful keyboards captivate in much the same way as "The Body Roll."
Other noteworthy tracks on Taking It To The Next Level" include "Keep On Backing It Up" (with a little piano and strings), a reprise of "Slap It...Tap It," "She Wanna Come Back" and "Look What Love Has Done" (about as close as Bennett comes to doing ballads), "TGIF" (a redo of formerly-recorded Bennett track) and (for the beach music crowd) "A Carolina Beach."
"I heard that Mel Waiters
Is going to be in the house--"
Jim Bennett sings towards the end of "I'm Ready To Party."
"And Roy C, too.
Jonothan Burton gonna get down
And Clarence Carter
Gonna stroke it for you."
Jim Bennett is stroking it as well as any of them, and even if you can't stay "up until a quarter to four" any more, you can dream about it vividly while enjoying this highly-recommended effort.
--Daddy B. Nice
Sample or Buy Bargain-Priced Taking It To The Next Level CD.
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September 18, 2011:
FRANK LUCAS: American Bluester (Alvert/Bridgeport) Two Stars ** Dubious. Not much here.
I was hoping to see Frank Lucas, one of the most eccentric characters in rhythm and blues, mine a diamond similar to "The Man With The Singing Ding-A-Ling" on his new CD, American Bluester.
A true original, as sleazy and street-wise as they come, Frank Lucas makes the rowdiest stars of the chitlin' circuit--O. B. Buchana, Ms. Jody and the like--look and sound like gentle-folk in a nineteenth-century drawing room.
To get the full flavor of just how raunchy this guys looks and sings, check out the video of "The Man With The Singing Ding-A-Ling," in which the "good-thing" man sings over a background track borrowed from Betty Wright's "Tonight Is The Night." Wright, by the way, had previously shoplifted the background from the Rascals' summer-in-the-park mega-hit, "Groovin'."
Perhaps women can relate better to Betty Wright's story of a girl's first sexual experience, but I doubt whether there's a man alive (and quite a few women) who wouldn't rather listen to Frank Lucas singing about his "ding-a-ling" with the hormonal obliviousness of a rooster crowing at dawn.
It's funny, it's "dirty" (the CD containing it is titled Dirty Old Man), and it boasts a hook that lends itself to singing along with the abandon of drunken tail-gaters reveling in an autumn-weekend victory.
In awarding "The Man With The Singing Ding-A-Ling" no less than the #6 Southern Soul Single of the entire year of 2009 (and the "Best Outa-Left-Field" song of that year), your Daddy B. Nice wrote:
The song alternates between the romantic (we're talking "romantic" from a masculine perspective here, ladies) and the hilarious. Romantic when it best approximates the feverish buzz of a man primed to do the deed. Hilarious when it goes so far over the top you can hear even the women bursting into laughter.
The people in the "business" who are turning up their noses at the silliness and/or the "X-rated-ness" of the lyrics are the same people who were turning up their noses when Marvin Sease's "Candy Licker" and "Hoochie Momma" first came out--and they refused to play him, too.
(See Frank Lucas in Daddy B. Nice's Comprehensive Index.)
Unfortunately, the new CD's candidate for a follow-up single, "Don't Put Out The Fire," falls far short of the heady revelry of its predecessor, or even "Ding-A-Ling's predecessor, "The Good Thing Man," first recorded by Lucas many years earlier.
All the elements are present--the idiosyncratic singing style, the shamelessness, the pep and pizzazz--but the material is B-side quality, and try as he will Lucas can't squeeze this lump of coal into a diamond that sparkles with the same intensity as either "The Man With The Singing Ding-A-Ling" or "The Good Thing Man."
Listen to Frank Lucas singing "The Good Thing Man" on YouTube.
One wants to encourage an artist so willing to go where even the established "wild men" of the chitlin' circuit--Bobby Rush, Chick Willis, Dr. Feelgood Potts, O. B. Buchana, Joe Poonanny--seldom go any more, but in the end Lucas's daredevil style here comes off too thin and amateurish-sounding.
The two most interesting cuts on American Bluester are, not surprisingly, also the most radical. Lucas is most fascinating when he's approaching material with a devil-may-care, audience-be-damned, peers-be-ignored style.
Thus, the near-rap "I Wanna Get Personal" has some integrity and bite. Likewise, the off-the-chain, blushingly-romantic "I Left My Heart In Lousiana," sung in Frank's whiney but street-real vocal tone, bears repeated listening.
See Frank Lucas's "I Left My Heart in Lousiana: Daddy B. Nice's #6 "Breaking" Southern Soul Single, September 2011.
Another tune, "Mary Had A Baby," has an intriguing and vaguely folkish arrangement. It tells a Lucas-like tale of outlaw parentage--and a baby that looks like him.
"She's my best friend's old lady,"
--Lucas sings with sly humor and typical amorality of the mother--
"Now how could that be?"
But like most of the songs on American Bluester, the track doesn't generate enough musical momentum to seal the deal.
Frank Lucas is an acquired taste. He's definitely what Pam Grier, in Steven Seagal's first action movie "Above The Law," calls "the element."
"Oh no, Nico" (Seagall's character). I don't want to go in there," Grier (playing Seagall's sidekick) says as they peruse an upscale, inner-city nightclub across the street.
"What's the matter?" Seagall asks.
"It's the ELEMENT, Nico," Grier says.
Frank Lucas is the Southern Soul "element," embodying all the danger, gaucheness and outright weirdness that even the wild hinterlands of Southern Soul had tamed in most of its headline performers.
In American Bluester, it may be the lack of the ELEMENT that ultimately does Frank Lucas in. He's a bit too tame, both musically and lyrically. This time he doesn't finish with the material at hand, and as a result he doesn't win.
--Daddy B. Nice
Sample or Buy American Bluester CD or MP3's.
Sample or Buy Dirty Old Man CD or MP3's of "The Man With The Singing Ding-A-Ling" and "The Good Time Man."
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July 29, 2011:
UVEE HAYES: True Confessions (Mission Park) Two Stars ** Dubious. Not much here.
Uvee Hayes deserves enormous respect for her diligent work in rhythm and blues for over a generation. Although her vocal talent is a little thinner and more brittle than the first rank of soul divas, Hayes' precision in pitch and tone has always been unerring.
Her singing signature is a long, ascending run which creeps higher and higher, ending in an impossibly-high, falsetto peak, pinched but pitch-perfect.
Uvee Hayes had what amounted to a Southern Soul novelty single two years ago with her version of the minor Johnnie Taylor standard, "Play Something Pretty." The single and CD "Play Something Pretty, with vocals shared by Chicago soul star Otis Clay, came out in 2009 (CDS) and introduced--in some case re-introduced--Ms. Hayes to a new audience.
Hayes also teamed up with fellow St. Louis performer Barbara Carr that year for Southern Soul Blues Sisters (Aviara).
Talk about "old school." Uvee Hayes makes "old school" sound "new school." Some of the songs--roughly half of the songs, actually--on Hayes' new album, TRUE CONFESSIONS, go back as far as 50's stars like Dinah Washington and Lena Horne.
Uvee's music wouldn't be out of place on one of those variety shows of yesteryear--The "Ed Sullivan Show," long before The Beatles--on a black and white screen on a box TV with vacuum tubes.
Not only are the songs "dated," many are recycled. Uvee Hayes has been recording "In My Eyes" on almost every CD she's published since its original appearance in 1984.
"Steal Away To The Hideaway" dates back to Uvee's SWEET AND GENTLE CD (1998), and Uvee initially covered Betty Everett's "There'll Come A Time" in her 2001 THERE'LL COME A TIME CD. "He's My Man" (done twice on this CD) also appeared on the THERE'LL COME A TIME CD. Thus it's safe to say that even Uvee Hayes fans will find little new to entice them here.
The gem of the set, once again, is a duet with the seasoned and vibrant Otis Clay. Just as Barbara Carr has gained a valuable collaborator in Roy Roberts recently, Uvee Hayes has found a once-in-a-lifetime singing partner in Otis Clay. "Steal Away To The Hideaway" is the one sterling Southern Soul tune on this disc, a genuine keeper.
Thanks to the one-two punch of the first two tracks--the fresh duet with Clay on "Steal Away" followed by the bracing redo of "There'll Come A Time"--I must admit I was smitten with this album the first time I heard it. The sound was different, the material sounded fresh. But I quickly grew tired of the "yesterday" style.
Uvee actually covers one of Dinah Washington's more tepid originals, "Don't Come Running Back To Me," complete with a retro-jazz arrangement straight out of the post-WWII era, and she maintains a similar, straight-faced, cabaret-style soul on at least three other tracks.
Don't know if anyone under the age of sixty-five is interested in such music any more--although, come to think of it, it may be an age group that still purchases CD's.
When Uvee segues into the next tune, "Someone To Believe In," the sense of being in a time warp--or a Manhattan supper-club catering to seniors, or maybe just a mall elevator--intensifies.
"It's Just A Man's Way" continues the pinch-yourself, am-I-really-hearing-this-on-a-Southern-Soul-album quandary.
"He don't bother to take me out any more," Uvee croons.
"Not even to the grocery store. . .
. . . Or is it just a man's way?'
Even the lyrics are embedded in the morals and sentiments of a bygone time.
The remaining songs break down into a gospel tune, "No Faith No Love," a creditable Southern Soul tune (the only other one on the CD) called "Caught," and a borderline Southern Soul/R&B tune called "He's My Man" done in two versions, one with Stevie Wonder on harmonica.
But even on these three cuts, one can't help but think this is music for the kind of gentrified folk who as a rule disdain the uncouthness of Southern Soul.
Don't miss the MP3 of "Steal Away To The Hideaway" with Otis Clay, though. With Clay Ms. Hayes has found her perfect foil. The authority in his vocals gives Uvee the "entree" into the Southern Soul world to do her thing. His depth provides the perfect backdrop for her butterfly-like brilliance.
--Daddy B. Nice
Sample or Buy Bargain-Priced Uvee Hayes TRUE CONFESSIONS CD, MP3'S
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July 16, 2011:
Hog Pin: Soul Time (Brittney) Three stars *** Solid Southern Soul Debut by a New Vocal Group.
Where in the world is Southern Soul going? So many of the new artists--Bigg Robb, Simeo, LaMorris Williams, Cupid, Rude, Lina--have a completely different sound, harder-edged, more crisply produced, in which hiphop and urban/R&B dominate over classic, blues-and-gospel-influenced Southern Soul.
Three Alabamans with hiphop roots--Setitoff, Bonnavill, and Passion (the latter a female)--make up Hog Pin, a new group with a new album, Soul Time, out on Brittney, Mel Waiters' label.
The sound is urban, influenced predominantly by eighties and nineties Northern and Euro Soul: Michael Jackson, Mtume, Maxwell, Blackbox, Soul II Soul, The Fugees, Snap and Midnight Star.
With all the legitimate Southern Soul performers trawling for label deals, you might wonder why a central Southern Soul figure like Mel Waiters, who met the group in Demopolis, Alabama, would sign an act with such tenuous ties to traditional Southern Soul.
The answer is undoubtedly economic. Hog Pin is a very organized, very up-to-date, savvy, technically accomplished singing assemblage whose work is really aimed at a more mainstream audience than the usual Southern Soul act.
And it's not as if this conflict between "purist" Southern Soul and "crossover" Southern Soul is anything new. Mel Waiters himself gave his blessing to Bigg Robb's funk/synth/hiphop cover of his signature song, "Hole In The Wall."
And it's often forgotten that, back in the day, Johnnie Taylor's biggest-selling single was not "Big Head Hundreds" or "Soul Heaven" or "Last Two Dollars," all decidedly "purist" Southern Soul.
No. JT's biggest seller (we're talking post-"Disco Lady," of course) was the cross-over hit, "Good Love," which appealed to a market far beyond the Deep South and had very little in common with anything ever heard on the chitlin' circuit.
I've been receiving promotional singles from Hog Pin for the better part of the last year without finding much to like. Call me a "purist."
But I am impressed with Soul Time, the Hog Pin collection that brings all of these singles together. Gathered onto one disc, these songs have a cumulative impact. If nothing else, one has to respect the professionalism behind the songwriting, song selection, vocal expertise and production quality.
"Red Dress," the opening track, with background singing by Mel Waiters, sounds very Soul II Soul-ish. The rhythm section is as sharp as stilleto heels and the arrangement just as stylish.
"You Gone Be Real Or Fake" features a similar, stripped-down and edgy rhythm track with a fine lead vocal.
"Snoopin' Around" is in the JT "Good Love" vein, with a druggy, downbeat tone. Like many of the melodies on the CD, it's a little too transparent and superficial. And yet, it's impossible to get out of your head once you've played it a few times.
"It Don't Matter" takes you back to late eighties in a heartbeat. Atlantic Starr provides the genetic pool. Passion has some superb vocal lines. It's not Southern Soul, but it is old school.
"You've Got My Time" and "Forever and a Day" are throwback-styled ballads.
"Sho' Like That" will take you even farther back--early eighties--with a keyboard riff that'll remind you of Harold Faltermeyer's "Beverly Hills Cop" soundtrack and also of the Average White Band.
Along with "Red Dress," "Can You Drop It (This Song Is For The Ladies)" may be the most Southern Soul-sounding tune of the LP, although it too is primarily northern and old-school in orientation. The song features a primer on rhythm guitar along with typically expert vocals and rhythm track.
"Give Her Love" and "God Knows" close out the CD on a gospel note, although the latter, somewhat curiously, is dominated by an in-your-face rap lead.
Soul Time" won't satisfy the deep craving for heartfelt Southern Soul in the classic vein, but if you've been listening to too many poorly-produced, one or two worthy songs-to-a-CD Southern Soul albums lately, it'll give you a bracing refresher in what across-the-board musical competence sounds like. It's hard to imagine a collection of songs being negotiated with more class and sophistication--the results, I'm sure, of a lot of hard work and attention to detail.
Is there any way we could kidnap this band, move them to Jackson, Mississippi, and keep them locked in a room with only real Southern Soul radio to listen to for a few months?
--Daddy B. Nice
Bargain-Priced Hog Pin "Soul Time" CD & MP3's
Download Hog Pin on I-Tunes
Read more about Hog Pin on Hog Pin's website.
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Bargain-Priced Blues Mix, Vol. 3: Chitlin Circuit Soul CD
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