Little Milton - Sings Big Soul (Malaco Comp 2014)

The title of Ace's 2014 compilation emphasizes Little Milton's singing, which is appropriate as that was the featured instrument on his albums for Malaco. Little Milton was with the Southern soul label for nearly 20 years, debuting in 1984 with Playing for Keeps and leaving after 2002's Guitar Man. Little Milton Sings Big Soul culls 18 highlights from these records, slightly emphasizing his ballad side but finding space for some deep soul and funky grooves. This doesn't proceed in chronological order -- it opens in 1984, then hopscotches through the decades -- but that winds up emphasizing how Milton's records were consistent, always working from the same formula and containing the same punchy, slightly too clean production. Record by record, this could get a little wearying, but a cherry-picked compilation such as this is a testament to a giant in winter: it shows he had a mastery of the form, that he never lost his powerful skills and could always be counted on to entertain. As a portrait of the last third of his career, this compilation could hardly be better. (AllMusic Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine)

Z.Z. Hill - The Malaco Recordings

 "Texas-born singer Z.Z. Hill managed to resuscitate both his own semi-flagging career and the entire genre at large when he signed on at Jackson, MS-based Malaco Records in 1980 and began growling his way through some of the most uncompromising blues to be unleashed on black radio stations in many a moon. His impressive 1982 Malaco album Down Home Blues remained on Billboard's soul album charts for nearly two years, an extraordinary run for such a blatantly bluesy LP. His songs "Down Home Blues" and "Somebody Else Is Steppin' In" have graduated into the ranks of legitimate blues standards (and few of those have come along over the last couple of decades). "Texas-born singer Z.Z. Hill managed to resuscitate both his own semi-flagging career and the entire genre at large when he signed on at Jackson, MS-based Malaco Records in 1980 and began growling his way through some of the most uncompromising blues to be unleashed on black radio stations in many a moon. His impressive 1982 Malaco album Down Home Blues remained on Billboard's soul album charts for nearly two years, an extraordinary run for such a blatantly bluesy LP. His songs "Down Home Blues" and "Somebody Else Is Steppin' In" have graduated into the ranks of legitimate blues standards (and few of those have come along over the last couple of decades)....But Hill's vocal grit was never more effective than on his blues-soaked Malaco output. From 1980 until 1984, when he died suddenly of a heart attack, Z.Z. bravely led a personal back-to-the-blues campaign that doubtless helped to fuel the subsequent contemporary blues boom. It's a shame he couldn't stick around to see it blossom." Bill Dahl

Motel Lovers Southern Soul From The Chitlin' Circuit (expanded and even more nasty!)

Just so I have done my moral duty thang:::DO NOT PLAY THIS WITH YOUR CHILDREN IN THE ROOM...Have I made myself clear? This here is the deep NAASTY stuff from the the jukeboxes of the Chitlins Circuit bars; NOT something to casually throw on when the Mother-in-Law is visiting for example. Extremely White Folk Beware! This may not be your cup o' tea.

Motel Lovers - Southern Soul From The Chitlin' Circuit
Label:Trikont – US-0363
Format:CD, Compilation, Dig
Country:Germany, Released:2007

Actually this is all pretty damn great stuff with surprisingly good production values and just wonderful fun but I can certainly imagine some uncomfortable conversations with your younger children should you be less than discrete when checking this out. HAVE I MADE MYSELF CLEAR? 

Wait for the adult party for this one and then you will rock the house. If these songs don't make you smile, shake your shoulders and bob your head at the very least, then I suggest you make plans for your final demise because Baby you must be just about dead!

Since I started this blog with this compilation, I think it is fitting that I bring it back and roll out my own 2 compilations that were intended as follow-up volumes to this theme - you will notice that there are three links - the two major themes of modern Chitlin Circuit Soul are sex and partying in the club till dawn - my volume two is all about sex, volume three is more about the club (there's still some dirty stuff too). 

Perhaps this is a strange Valentines present for some, but it sure as hell fits this blog now don't it? Your baby may be more of a freak than you think, play her some of this stuff and see....send the children to bed first tho.

Mosley & Johnson - Juke Joint

How about something a bit more modern today?

"Although the African American community of New Albany, Mississippi has been small in number, it has produced many citizens of distinction. In the fields of blues, rhythm & blues, and gospel music, the names of Sam Mosley, Bob Johnson, Billy Ball, the Rev. Leon Pinson, and Elder Roma Wilson are known around the world. Mosley and Johnson, who launched a prolific creative partnership in 1967, performed together for 31 years and wrote songs for many of the top artists in blues.

Sam Mosley & Bob Johnson drafted their own hometown success story by utilizing their skills as performers, producers, and songwriters throughout their long tenure together in New Albany. As Mosley & Johnson, the team recorded several albums of blues and southern soul in the 1980s and '90s for the Muscle Shoals Sound and Malaco labels, but found a more lucrative niche as songwriters for Malaco artists Johnnie Taylor, Bobby Bland, Little Milton, and others. They recorded their first album, Mississippi Mud, on their own Sabo label in 1971, as Sam and Bob & the Soulmen. They also recorded in the 1970s for Polydor under the name Mojoba.

Sam Mosley was born in the Beaver Dam community on March 30, 1946, while Robert A. “Bob” Johnson was born in New Albany on March 4, 1946. Mosley's father, sharecropper Joe Mosley, played mandolin in a string band with Sam's uncles, Bud and Theodore (“Shoat”). In 1959 Joe's sons, Jamie, Sam, and Ralph, began performing as Jamie & the Dynamics. Sam left Mississippi for several years and served in Vietnam, but when he returned home in 1967 he hooked up with Johnson, an old schoolmate who was leading a band called Bobby Johnson & the Messengers. Although neither had formal musical training, they later learned the ins and outs of music arranging and producing when they worked with the vaunted Muscle Shoals studio band in Alabama. After Johnson died of a heart attack onstage at a Verona, Mississippi, performance on August 22, 1998, Mosley and Bob's brothers Willie and Miles continued to perform as the Mosley Johnson Band." Ms Blues Trail

Latimore - Sexy Miami Soul

Now surely you are hip to Latimore....no? Oh Boy! Are you in for a treat! 

I was never too thrilled with the reception Latimore got first time around and the link was dead anyway, so I'm bringing him back with a major addition of a second 'best' of collection covering the same time-frame with only two overlaps.
 
Benjamin "Benny" Latimore (born 7 September 1939, Charleston, Tennessee), usually known professionally simply as Latimore, is an American R&B singer, songwriter and pianist.

He was born in Charleston, Tennessee, and was influenced by country music, his Baptist church choir, and the blues. His first professional experience came as a pianist for various Florida-based groups including Joe Henderson and Steve Alaimo. He first recorded around 1965 for Henry Stone's Dade record label in Miami, Florida. In the early 1970s he moved to the Glades label, and had his first major hit in 1973 with a jazzy reworking of T-Bone Walker's "Stormy Monday", which reached #27 on the R&B chart.

His first national hit was a cover of Gladys Knight's "If You Were My Woman" (#70 R&B). His biggest success came in 1974, with "Let's Straighten It Out", an R&B chart #1 which also reached #31 on the U.S Billboard Hot 100 charts. He followed it up with more hits including "Keep The Home Fire Burnin'" (#5 R & B, 1975) and "Somethin' 'Bout 'Cha" (#7 R &B, 1976). However, the hits dried up in the late 1970s.

Latimore moved to Malaco Records in 1982, resulting in seven albums worth of modern soul music. He briefly left the label in 1994 and released a song for the J-Town label ("Turning Up The Mood") before returning to Malaco in 2000 with "You're Welcome To Ride". Next he recorded one album with Mel Waiters' label Brittney Records called "Latt is Back".

After several years he collaborated on a new record label with Henry Stone called LatStone, which issued his first new album in six years called "Back 'Atcha".

He has also continued to work as a session pianist. He appeared most recently on Joss Stone's albums, The Soul Sessions (2003) and Mind, Body & Soul (2004), along with fellow Miami music veterans Betty Wright, Timmy Thomas and Willie Hale.

I'm going to share something with you my brothers, if Latimore don't get her in the mood then she just ain't into you and it is time to move on!

Johnnie Taylor - ...Just Can't Do Right

I was happy to see that there appear to be some big time Johnnie Taylor fans here at the Blog.  I am certainly one of them.   Johnnie Taylor is one of those singers who is a constant inspiration to me.   I am the proud owner of every one of his records.

Most of JT's gospel masterpieces with the Soul Stirrers and Highway QCs have already been posted here.  I assume that most people here are already familiar with much of Johnnie Taylor's output during the time of his huge national commercial success on Stax and Columbia during the 1970s.   So I have dipped into his large output on Malaco from 1984-1999 to pull out this gem from 1991 that may not be as familiar. 

The Malaco period was the time when Johnnie Taylor moved from the large concert halls that he filled in the wake of "Disco Lady" back to the Chitlin' Circuit, where he had worked exclusively in the early-mid 1960s before striking gold with "Who's Making Love."   (In fact, before that hit, JT cashed in for a while on confusion about his name in the wake of Little Johnny Taylor's #1 R&B smash, "Part Time Love."  JT's promotional posters and materials from the early 1960s included a citation of that song!).  During the 1980s and 1990s, Johnnie Taylor continued to draw some of the largest crowds on the Circuit as one of the reining Kings of Southern Soul, and as someone who actually helped to define the genre itself.  

 In general, I am quite fond of most of JT's Malaco records.  It is true that the Malaco sound can sometimes get to feel rather formulaic.   But they always took Johnnie Taylor very seriously at Malaco, and worked hard to provide him with high quality material from George Jackson, Sam Mosley and other talented songwriters.  Almost all of Johnnie Taylor's Malaco albums have at least a few first rate compositions and performances.  " ...Just Can't Do Right" has not received as much attention as some of the other Malaco albums, but I consider it to be one of his very best of the period.   Most of the material is of notable high quality, and succeeds in putting JT solidly in his element.   It is one of JTs many albums that I still spin quite often.  I hope that you enjoy it too.