"Soul Music"
Vick Allen (21st Century Southern Soul)
Composed by Vick Allen
June 1, 2023:
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Vick Allen's career has been pretty close to meteoric, from his modest entrance into the Southern Soul world in the early 00's (#56 on Daddy B. Nice's original Top 100 Southern Soul chart) all the way through the ensuing decade with increasingly-popular songs, CD's and videos. Today there are few performers who generate as much enthusiasm or anticipation. The Southern Soul audience may be witnessing the emergence of a star with the charisma of Sir Charles Jones and T.K. Soul. It's all chronicled below--so with no further adieu...
b>Note: Vick Allen also appears on Daddy B. Nice's original Top 100 Southern Soul Artists (90's-00's). The "21st Century" after Vick Allen's name in the headline is to distinguish his artist-guide entries on this page from his artist-guide page on Daddy B. Nice's original chart.
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May 27, 2013:
--Daddy B. Nice
About Vick Allen (21st Century Southern Soul)
Vick Allen was born September 17, 1971 in Jackson Mississippi, where he honed his skills in church and performed for family and friends at an early age. By the time he was in high school, he had self-produced a CD. After high school, he joined the Canton Spirituals, one of the South's most respected Gospel groups.
Allen joined the secular ranks with the release of his solo R&B debut in 2002 (Let's Dance, Brown Hill). The title track entered Southern Soul rotations that year, quietly accumulating a fan base. As time went on, Deep South deejays showed no inclination to discard it, and when, two years later, Allen issued his second LP via Malaco subsidiary Waldoxy Records, headed by Tommy Couch Jr., Allen reprised "Let's Dance" on the CD's final track. Old School New Flava, (2004) was well received. Allen scored chitlin' circuit hits with "Clean House," (a Charles Richard Cason song), "I Better Walk Away," and to a lesser extent "So Sweet, So Fine," a duet with the prolific Willie Clayton.
Simply Soul, released jointly by Malaco/Waldoxy a year later (2005), was less successful, notching marginal radio airplay with "I'm Giving It Up" and "Who You Been Giving It To."
Baby Come Back Home (Waldoxy, 2007) proved to be a breakthrough album, mixing Allen's vintage-rendering vocals and brilliant, textured arrangements with first-rate material from songwriters as diverse as Omar Cunningham, Zavier Ayers (aka Mister Zay), Robert Conerly (aka Bobby Conerly) and the estimable George Jackson. Among the solid Southern Soul hits from the disc were the atmospheric, strings-drenched "Baby Come Back Home" and the uptempo club jam, "When You Pack Your Bags."
The CD (or EP) was unique in that it contained only seven songs, as if Allen was determined to avoid any filler. "Breakin'" Me Down" made Daddy B. Nice's "Top Ten Singles" in December 2007. "Baby Come Back Home" was a nominee for Best Male Vocal in 2007, and "When You Pack Your Bag" was a candidate for Best Male Vocal of 2008.
Allen moved to Reggie McDaniels' Soul 1st label for his 2009 CD, Truth Be Told. Once again, it was a surprising barometer of growth. The first single from the CD, "I'm Hooked," was a fairly typical, light, pop-tinged Allen vehicle.
However, the follow-up single, "Forbidden Love Affair (The Preacher Song)," written by the acerbic-witted Luther Lackey, was by comparison an event. The tune became an instant favorite on the Stations of the Deep South, and a long-lived one, charting for more than a year and becoming one of the most popular Southern Soul songs of 2009.
Forbidden Love Affair also marked the first time Allen posted a music video on YouTube, a modest but skillful work that Allen would continue to use in enhancing his popularity.
But the firepower from the Truth Be Told album didn't end there. In 2010 Allen released the single "If They Can Beat Me Rockin'" (See Daddy B. Nice's #1 Southern Soul Single"--Best Of 2010.
Vick Allen comes of age with his finest work to date, Daddy B. Nice wrote, and the gifted, songwriting-savvy artist does it with label-mate Omar Cunningham's hootenanny-style song.
"If They Can Beat Me Rockin'" was also accompanied by a masterful YouTube video.
In 2011, two years after the intial release of the 11-song TRUTH BE TOLD's publication, the singles "I Need Some Attention" and "I'm Thankful For My Woman On The Side," both with their own YouTube videos, followed with solid audience response, completing an airplay-conquering sweep by the first five songs from 2009's Truth Be Told album.
Vick Allen's career was at a personal high when the ballad "Soul Music," an ode to the vintage soul of yesteryear and Allen's first new music since 2009's TRUTH BE TOLD, was released in 2012.
This sleek, Willie Claytonesque ballad reminds me, Daddy B. Nice wrote, of what Peggy Scott-Adams told me about meeting Vick by chance when he was still singing gospel. Peggy was yearning to get back to Gospel Music, while Vick wanted to move to R&B. Looks like Peggy passed the baton to Vick. He's done nothing but get better, and today he's one of the most charismatic performers in Southern Soul.
(See Daddy B. Nice's Best of 2012: Best Ballad: Vick Allen's "Soul Music"/Best Male Vocalist: Vick Allen, "Soul Music".)
"Soul Music" and its video brought Allen accolades throughout the Southern Soul community (See Daddy B. Nice's #1 Southern Soul Single--Best of 2012), and the CD Soul Music (Soul 1st, 2012) followed late that year.
A new single from the SOUL MUSIC CD, "I'm Tired Of Being Grown," was released in the spring of 2013. (See Daddy B. Nice's #2 "Breaking" Southern Soul Singles for April 2013.)
Vick Allen Discography:
Let's Dance (Brown Hill 2002)
Old School, New Flava (Waldoxy 2003)
Simply Soul (Waldocy 2005)
Baby Please Come Back Home (Waldoxy 2007)
Truth Be Told (Soul 1st 2009)
Soul Music (Soul 1st 2012)
To read more about Vick Allen's early years in Southern Soul, go to Daddy B. Nice's Original Artist Guide to Vick Allen (90's--00's).
Song's Transcendent Moment
"Like Donny Hathaway,
Like Aretha,
Like Johnnie Taylor
When he sung 'cheaper to keep her'.
Let's go back to singing
And not just putting on a show.
Ask one of these young'uns
'Who was the 'Candy Licker'?
And I'll bet they don't know."
Tidbits
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April 16, 2013: Vick Allen on YouTube
Listen to Vick Allen singing "If They Can Beat Me Rockin'" (with Omar Cunningham singing background) on YouTube.
Listen to Vick Allen singing "Soul Music" on YouTube.
Listen to Vick Allen singing "Forbidden Love Affair" on YouTube.
Listen to Vick Allen singing "I'm Thankful For My Woman On The Side" on YouTube.
Listen to Vick Allen singing "Clean House" on YouTube.
Listen to Vick Allen, Omar Cunningham and T. K. Soul singing "Haters Gone Hate" on YouTube.
Listen to Vick Allen singing gospel on "Lord, You've Been Good To Me" on YouTube.
Listen to Vick Allen singing "I Need Some Attention" on YouTube.
Listen to Vick Allen singing "Forbidden Love Affair" Live Onstage in Meridian, Mississippi on YouTube.
Listen to Vick Allen singing "My Baby's Phone" on YouTube.
Listen to Vick Allen singing "Lady Of Magic" on YouTube.
Listen to Vick Allen singing "I'm Hooked" on YouTube.
Listen to Vick Allen and Tre' Williams & The Revelations singing "Girl I Gotta Have It" on YouTube.
Listen to Vick Allen singing "Breaking Me Down" on YouTube.
Listen to Vick Allen singing "Mr. Telephone Man" on YouTube.
Listen to Vick Allen singing "Good Love" on YouTube.
Listen to Vick Allen singing "I Wanna Do Something Freaky To You" on YouTube.
Listen to Vick Allen singing "When You Pack Your Bag" Live Onstage on YouTube.
Listen to Vick Allen singing "99.999" on YouTube.
Listen to the gospel group The Canton Spirituals (with Vick Allen) singing "You Need To Recognize" Live Onstage on YouTube.
Listen to Vick Allen singing "As Long As I Got My Baby" on YouTube.
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To read Daddy B. Nice's Review of Vick Allen's TRUTH BE TOLD CD...
VICK ALLEN: Truth Be Told (Soul 1st) Five Stars ***** Can't Miss. Pure Southern Soul Heaven.
...Go to Original Vick Allen Artist Guide and scroll down to "Tidbits #6."
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May 27, 2013:
VICK ALLEN: Soul Music (Soul 1st) Five Stars ***** Can't Miss. Pure Southern Soul Heaven.
I knew Vick Allen's new Soul Music song and CD rated five stars when I gave a friend a ride and turned on "Soul Music" on my CD player. I had been feeding this friend certain Southern Soul tunes, including "Soul Music," in an effort to acquaint her with the genre and all it has to offer, but I wasn't prepared to hear her singing along, phrase by phrase, word for word, while the song rocked through the speakers at the high volume she'd requested.
"Like Donny Hathaway,
Like Aretha,
Like Johnnie Taylor
When he sang
'Cheaper To Keep Her.'"
"That's such a happy song," she said when it was over.
Listen and Watch the Vick Allen "Soul Music" Video on YouTube.
See Daddy B. Nice's #1 Southern Soul Single of the Year (2012): "Soul Music"---Vick Allen
Vick Allen's new Soul Music CD is filled with such good-time music, and the first-time listener will find in Vick Allen an artist with a sophisticated sense of the soulful side of pop (Michael Jackson, Al Green, Bobby Womack, Sam Cooke) with all the arranging tools and taste of those great forebears.
One of the key contributors to the new album is Allen's label mate at Reggie McDaniels' Soul 1st Records, fellow Southern Soul star Omar Cunningham. Cunningham wrote and co-sung Allen's "If They Can Beat Me Rockin'" from Allen's hit-laden Truth Be Told album, which more than any other Vick Allen song seemed to signal this was the right artist at the right time.
The opening track of Soul Music, "Have A Good Time," had me wondering if Vick was doing a cover of Cunningham's "Party, Have A Good Time" from his WORTH THE WAIT CD, but this tune has a different melody and lyrics. Cunningham also co-wrote this album's masterpiece, "Soul Music," and the bouncing, piano-riffing jam, "True To Me," which peppers away at its tidy hook like insistent rain on a window glass.
Unlike the anthem-like "Soul Music," which boasts a panoramic cultural snapshot of the social and musical South, both "True To Me" and "Have A Good Time" hew to modest "B-side" expectations. "Have A Good Time" turns into a stepping song, with the interesting addition of a Bigg Robb-like, voice-over verse. In other words, even the filler--the tunes between the hits--carry a certain pop heft.
The fourth Omar Cunningham-composed tune, "My Baby's Phone," is in its way as spectacular as "Soul Music." Although the subject matter is very different, My Baby's Phone may remind and please fans of another of Allen's breakthrough singles, "Forbidden Love Affair (The Preacher Song)."
My Baby's Phone is about listening to a lover's cell phone connection (mistakenly left on) while said lover is immersed in a sexual betrayal with a third party. The melody, lyrics and arrangement are stellar, but what raises the song to a rare, classic level is the indelible chorus, in which a vocally-enhanced, somewhat mysterious-sounding female background sings:
"Go slow, baby,"
and
"I don't get this at home."
The effect is as memorable as any Top Forty hook of any era, and "My Baby's Phone" is a cinch to become a popular radio single.
"My Baby's Phone," by the way, is the kind of weeper Sir Charles Jones used to churn out like pancakes, and the thought of Charles singing this song--or maybe just the chorus, as a duet with Vick--sends chills up my spine.
"Party All Our Blues," written by Patrick Hobson, is also a significant candidate for radio-chart play. Allen has a special ear for mixing and contrasting lead and background vocals, always looking for that little bit of shading that makes a song different and distinct.
Recent singles from Vick Allen's new Soul Music CD that have already entered Daddy B. Nice's "Breaking" Southern Soul Singles Review include:
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From...
Daddy B. Nice's Top 10 "Breaking" Southern Soul Singles Review for January 2013...
5. "Crazy Over You" -----Vick Allen
"Say it ain't so, Vick!" you'll be muttering when you hear Allen's natural, cello-sensitive voice twisted up an octave, i.e. vocally-enhanced-baby!, but there's a lot of the natural Vick Allen, too. This isn't a home-run record on the order of "Soul Music," but the third time through I swear I heard the ghost of Sam Cooke.
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From...
Daddy B. Nice's Top 10 "Breaking" Southern Soul Singles Review for April 2013...
2. "I'm Tired Of Being Grown"---------Vick Allen
An idiosyncratic but brave, pushing-the-envelope original from the indefatigable Vick Allen, who extends a singles winning streak second only to the Miami Heat's recent NBA run. "I'm Tired Of Being Grown" sounds like one of those top-forty tunes from yesteryear that started out sounding real weird but had a way of working themselves into your brain's inner recesses.
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Two songs from the collection were published previously. "I Gotta Have It" was a featured single on Tre' Williams & The Revelations' Concrete Blues CD, which appeared in late 2011 (Nia). Vick wrote the song with the band's Wes Mingus and other members of The Revelations and collaborated with Tre' Williams on the lead vocals.
"I'm Thankful For My Woman On The Side" first appeared on Vick's previous album, Truth Be Told, and was the latest-breaking of many successful radio singles from that disc.
--Daddy B. Nice
Sample and Buy Vick Allen's Soul Music CD or individual mp3's from the album.
Comparison-Priced Soul Music CD
Read Daddy B. Nice's new 21st Century Countdown (#12) Artist Guide to Vick Allen.
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Lastly, on a personal note, I just want to say that every time I post Vick Allen's caricature on the Concert Calendar or Daddy B. Nice's Corner" anymore, I feel guilty because my drawing gives Vick a distinct double chin. I know how much this means to people because my daughter once berated me for drawing her with a double chin (I hadn't even been aware) in a drawing I made of her. Vick's lost his body fat. He's sleek as an otter. In his promotional shots (yes, I take note of that stuff) he looks ten years younger than my drawing, almost as if he was vying with the photogenic, much younger J-Wonn for southern soul calendar boy. So hold on, Vick, there's a new chart coming, a new decade, with all-new caricatures, and hopefully something that won't make you wince. Just don't grow old before I get there.
If You Liked. . . You'll Love
If you liked Smokey Robinson & The Miracles' "The Tracks Of My Tears," you'll love Vick Allen's "Soul Music."
Honorary "B" Side
"If They Can Beat Me Rockin'"
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