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Southern Soul Showcase: Cryin' In The Streets Various Artists (Kent Soul)
Southern Soul Showcase:
Cryin' In The Streets
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KENT
CD CATALOGUE NUMBER
CDKEND 243
LABEL
KENT
DISC01
01HE MADE A WOMAN OUT OF ME
Bettye LaVettemp3 available
02I HAVE NO ONE
Big John Hamilton
03RECONSIDER ME
Johnny Adams
04ONE WAY LOVE AFFAIR
Danny White
05TOO LATE
Reuben Bell
06SO DEEP IN LOVE
Eddy Giles
07MY PILLOW STAYS WET
Oscar Irwin
08LONELY MAN
Johnny Soul
09YOU CAN NEVER GET SOMETHING FOR NOTHING
Peggy Scott
10CRYIN' IN THE STREETS PART 1
George Perkins & The Silver Stars
11I'M YOUR MAN
Gable Reed
12EVERYBODY'S CLOWN
Johnny Dynamite
13I WANT TO WALK THROUGH THIS LIFE WITH YOU
Johnny Adams
14DANCING TO THE BEAT
Clarence Murray
15HOW MUCH CAN A MAN TAKE?
Big John Hamilton
16A SHELL OF A WOMAN
Doris Allen
17MAMA'S GOT THE WAGON
Mickey Murray
18'TIL THE MORNING COMES
Peggy Scott & Jo Jo Benson
19I'M GETTING IT FROM HER
Big John Hamilton
20BLUE DIAMONDS
Double Soul
21IN A MOMENT OF WEAKNESS
Johnny Adams
22POOR BOY
Clarence Murraymp3 available
23LONELY FOR YOU BABY
Sam Deesmp3 available
24I CAN'T USE YOU
Double Soul
25CUMMINS PRISON FARM
Calvin Leavy
 Various Artists (Kent Soul)
Mickey Murray courtesy of John Ridley
 

BY MARTIN GOGGIN Juke Blues

This is the first in-depth look on CD of the high quality output of the SSS International Group run by Shelby Singleton out of Nashville, Tennessee. Shelby had his greatest commercial success with Jeannie C Riley's Harper Valley PTA so it comes as no surprise that his musical tastes veered towards the country side of soul, which, as any self respecting soul fan will know, is the essence of Southern soul. Revered soul artists like Bettye LaVette, Johnny Adams and Sam Dees were taken into the great studios of Muscle Shoals, Memphis and Nashville in the late 1960s/early 1970s and came up with many classic Southern and deep soul tracks.



Miss LaVette is a Detroit bred, big city girl but the gritty downhome singing on the churning He Made A Woman Out Of Me gives the impression that she is a natural talent raised back in the southern backwoods. It should have been a much bigger hit than #25 R&B. Johnny Adam's was a singer's singer who had the ability to astound with the incredible range and depth of his vocals, yet he rarely ventured outside his native New Orleans. Shelby saw his potential however and was rewarded when Reconsider Me went Top 10 R&B and Top 30 Pop. Sam Dees is at his best on his self-penned songs, but as the grooving Lonely For You Baby (his first ever recording) shows, he is well able to interpret material from other songwriters. Thankfully we don't get any of Peggy Scott and Jo Jo Benson's teen angst hits but instead are treated to their more adult cuts including a killer solo track by Scott, You Can Never Get Something For Nothing.

Artists like Big John Hamilton (a personal favourite), Doris Allen, Danny White, Eddie Giles and Reuben Bell are less known, but no less revered. Soul connoisseurs consider Hamilton's tortured vocals on How Much Can A Man Take and Allen's emotive A Shell Of A Woman classic examples of the Southern Soul genre. Also worth a mention is Hamilton's sublime I'm Getting It From Her which up to now was only available on a rare Japanese Album. Giles and Bell will be familiar to those wise enough to invest in "Shreveport Southern Soul - The Murco Story" (CDKEND 178) and the cuts here probably failed to chart only because of the plethora of talent around at that time.

Compilation releases like this present an ideal opportunity to highlight tracks by artists who may have recorded only one or two 45s in their entire "career", and Gable Reed's sparse, bluesy I'm Your Man is one such solid outing worthy of your attention. Better still is the stirring I Can't Use You by mystery duo Double Soul, but best of the lot (and a contender for track of the CD) is the heart-wrenching Everybody's Clown with its great lyrics and suitably despairing vocals by the terminally obscure Johnny Dynamite. No commercial success was forthcoming. However, other shadowy singers did have hits, like George Perkins with the anguished civil rights anthem Cryin' In The Streets and Calvin Leavy's equally despairing soul-blues of Cummins Prison Farm.

It's not all suicidal stuff, though. For example, listen to the bright, stomping Mama's Got The Wagon by Mickey Murray and Dancing To The Beat by his brother Clarence Murray.

I can't praise this release highly enough. I know compilers John "nice production!" Broven, John "have you heard this one?" Ridley and Richard "lovely bluesy ballad" Tapp have spent months agonising over the track selections. Slot in Mr Ridley's excellent liner notes - plus an affectionate introduction by SSS songwriter Margaret Lewis - and it all adds up to a package that will appeal to the legions of fans of Dave Godin's "Deep Soul Treasures" series and Kent's other outstanding Southern Soul releases such as "The Dial Records Southern Soul Story" (CDKEND 223). I hear there is enough top quality material for at least one further SSS volume. Meanwhile, one to treasure.

Label courtesy of John Ridley

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