Wilson Meadows (New Album Alert!)
Daddy B. Nice's #19 ranked Southern Soul Artist
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Wilson Meadows (New Album Alert!)Daddy B. Nice's #19 ranked Southern Soul Artist |
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"Let's Cut Out This Game" Wilson Meadows (New Album Alert!) Composed by Wilson Meadows October 2, 2022: New Album Alert!Buy Wilson Meadows' new WILSON LAST NAME MEADOWS CD at Blues Critic. WILSON, LAST NAME MEADOWS TRACK LIST:1I'm Curious 2 I'm With It 3 Middle Of The Night 4 It's A Lie 5 I Knew It Was You 6 Just Hang Tonight (feat. Sir Charles) 7 We Doin' All Right (feat. Beat Flippa) 8 At-Ti-Tude 9 Lady Luck 10 Jump On It  Daddy B. Nice notes:In May of this year Meadows published a five-song EP titled Wilson, Last Name Meadows. This new and expanded CD of the same name, Wilson, Last Name Meadows, bolsters the former EP with five additional tunes: two recent radio singles---"Just Hang Tonight" with Sir Charles Jones and "We Doin' Alright" with Beat Flippa---and three formerly-recorded singles, "At-Ti-Tude", "Lady Luck" and "Jump On It"."Just Hang Tonight" is a splendid Sir Charles production, and Meadows is both made to fit (by Charles) and does fit (all Wilson) seamlessly into the graceful fabric of the song. "We Doin' Alright" is a dance jam with a funk edge, a perfect vehicle for the groove-master Meadows, and Beat Flippa wraps it all in a comforting blanket of horn fills that contrasts the song's gritty rhythm track with a melodic hook that lingers long after listening. These two singles highlight this new and expanded set. The only other track that comes close to their perfection is the Wilson Meadows classic, "Still My Love," which Wilson has reprised on his last three long-play recordings and whose official video has drawn a jaw-dropping fourteen milllion views on YouTube in less than three years, an unheard-of number for a two-decade-old southern soul standard. (Note that the YouTube link above is not the re-tooled and skillfully-burnished version presented on Wilson, Last Name Meadows.) Of the last three songs in the set, all taken from 2018's The Facts Of Life, "Lady Luck" arguably best captures Wilson Meadows' unique blend of vulnerability/sensitivity and penchant for smoking hooks. Listen to Wilson Meadows singing the first five songs (beginning with "I'm Curious") of his new WILSON LAST NAME MEADOWS CD on YouTube. Buy Wilson Meadows' new WILSON LAST NAME MEADOWS CD at Blues Critic. 
February 1, 2014: NEW ARTIST GUIDE ALERT! 
Wilson Meadows is now the #29-ranking Southern Soul artist on Daddy B. Nice's new 21st Century Top 100 Countdown. Go to Daddy B. Nice's new 21st-Century Artist Guide to Wilson Meadows. ************ May 8, 2011: NEW ALBUM ALERT Bargain-Priced Man Up CD Comparison-Priced Man Up CD *************** See "Tidbits" below for the latest updates on Wilson Meadows. To automatically link to Wilson Meadows' charted radio singles, awards, CD's and other references throughout the website, go to "Meadows, Wilson" in Daddy B. Nice's Comprehensive Index. *************** Daddy B. Nice's Original Critique Wilson Meadows' "Let's Cut Out This Game" is a re-tooling (not a cover) of Latimore's monument of Southern Soul rhythm and blues, "Let's Straighten It Out." Both recordings focus on an argument between lovers, and you would think Meadows' "Let's Cut Out This Game" would suffer by comparison with its Mount Rushmore-like predecessor. But it ain't necessarily so. Meadows begins with a talking intro too, but the minute the music starts you're in a completely different world, a folksier blues countryside where leaves tingle and light sparkles (musically speaking), and where it seems just right that the name "Wilson Meadows" should refer to a blues artist and not a housing subdivision. It's a neo-soul sound that proves Tyrone Davis' argument that Motown and Southern Soul are just a backyard fence away from each other. You'd have to go back to Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell to rediscover the kind of delicacy and refined passion that comes through every syllable of Meadows' distinctive vocal. Meadows writes many of his best songs, including this one, and as is often the case with long-delayed first albums, one senses that his debut CD Memories (Ichiban, 1997) contains years of pent-up songwriting. But while Latimore's hero seems the guilty party in the argument he's trying to "straighten out," Meadows' hero appears to be the victim. "So many nights we go to bed, And I'm begging you to make love to me." Meadows knows there's something going on behind his back, but he can't really prove it, and as he bends over backward to resolve things with his mate, you can hear him struggling even more within his own mind. "I pretend I don't care, When all the time I'm wondering Just who could have been there." And as he negotiates the shoals of his jealousy, one of the sweetest call-and-responses in contemporary soul commences. The first duet is between Meadows and his back-up chorus, the other is between Meadows and a restrained, stuttering lead guitar line that qualifies as an instantly identifiable, hall-of-fame blues riff. Besides being influenced by Tyrone Davis, Wilson Meadows grew up in Tennessee, and there is a hint of bluegrass to his vocals that make them unique in R&B. Whether the arrangements feature electric guitars or not, the overall sound is always natural, folksy, and acoustic in tone, with an underlying fragility uncommon in male R&B vocalists. The typical Meadows' song examines a sensitive man's attempt to come to terms with the opposite sex, but the man's bargaining position almost always appears shakier than the woman's. Still My Love," "Just Like I Promised," and "Just Can't Do Without You" are excellent and likeable examples of this plaintive, pleading style, of which "Let's Cut Out This Game" remains the template and masterpiece. Perhaps ready for something different, Meadows assumed a relatively "tough" stance on such tracks as "Go On And Cry" and "Big Catch" from his Choices LP, but he returned to his sensitive-guy specialty with 2004's "When You Really Love Somebody," one of the best radio singles from his Back To Basics CD. --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.
Song's Transcendent Moment "Who could have been there?
Tidbits 1.
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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