Hi Records Presents Bobby McClure & Willie Clayton

So when you think Hi Records, the names Al Green, Ann Peebles and maybe Willie Mitchell are the best known. Those who dug a little deeper know Syl Johnson, Otis Clay and, of course, the great O.V. Wright. Ya gotta dig even deeper to come to these two guys, but the work is worth it. No hits here but there surely could have been, the music is plenty good enough.

Otis Clay - The Best Of Otis Clay The Hi Records Years

The links on this one were gone and Chubby needs a re-up so I'll bring it forward for those who missed it the first go-round. RIP Otis

Otis Clay was born 11th February 1942 in Waxhaw, Mississippi in rural Bolivar County, Mississippi to a musical family, who moved in 1953 to Muncie, Indiana. After singing with local gospel group, the Voices of Hope, he returned to Mississippi to sing with the Christian Travelers, before settling in Chicago in 1957. There, he joined a series of gospel vocal groups including the Golden Jubilaires, the Famous Blue Jay Singers, the Holy Wonders, and the Pilgrim Harmonizers, before making his first solo secular recordings in 1962. They were unissued, and Clay joined the Gospel Songbirds, who recorded in Nashville in 1964 and who also included Maurice Dollison who sang R&B under the name Cash McCall, and then the Sensational Nightingales.

In 1965 Clay signed with One-derful! Records in Chicago, to make secular recordings.  After releasing a series of gospel-tinged soul records, his first hit came in 1967 with "That's How It Is (When You're In Love)", which reached # 34 on the R&B chart, followed by "A Lasting Love" (# 48 R&B).  In 1968 the record company folded and his contract was bought by Atlantic Records, who launched their subsidiary Cotillion label with Clay's version of the Sir Douglas Quintet hit, "She's About A Mover", produced at the FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals. The record became Clay's biggest pop hit, reaching # 97 on the Hot 100 (# 47 R&B). However, follow-ups on Cotillion, including "Hard Working Woman" produced by Syl Johnson, and "Is It Over?" produced by Willie Mitchell in Memphis, were less successful.


Clay moved to Mitchell's Hi Records in 1971, and made many of his best known soul blues records for the label. His biggest hit came with "Trying To Live My Life Without You," a # 24 R&B hit in late 1972, which he followed up with "If I Could Reach Out". "Trying To Live My Life Without You" was later covered by Bob Seger, whose version made # 5 on the pop chart in 1981. After several more

Otis Clay w/ the Hi Records Rhythm section

Hi singles and the album I Can't Take It, Clay moved to Kayvette Records, where he had his last national hit single in 1977, "All Because Of Your Love" (# 44 R&B). He later recorded for the Elka and Rounder labels, as well as his own Echo Records for whom he recorded the original version of "The Only Way is Up" in 1980.

He has remained a popular live act in Europe and Japan, as well as the US, and has recorded two live albums, Soul Man: Live in Japan and Respect Yourself, recorded live at the Lucerne Blues Festival in Switzerland. In the 1990s he also recorded two soul albums for Bullseye Blues: I'll Treat You Right and the Willie Mitchell-produced This Time Around. In 2007, he recorded the gospel album Walk a Mile in My Shoes.

In a way, Clay has become a standard bearer for the grittier blues soul hybrid and the Chicago soul tradition when the city is more readily recognised as the nerve centre of so many great blues records and home to a number of the great and legendary straight ahead blues performers. He has been a nominee for a Grammy for Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance. As a resident of Chicago's West Side, he is actively involved in community-based economic and cultural initiatives, including the development of The Harold Washington Cultural Center.

O.V. Wright - On Stage (Live In Japan)

O V Wright is a big fave of all of us here at Chitlins...
KC has supplied a biography accompanying  his post of 'The Complete Backbeat and ABC Recordings', which are undeniably OV's  greatest achievements ( Check this out under the 'Featuring' tag ).
 Preslives provided us with his earlier gospel  recordings and Poppachubby has become a new and cherished fan of this great Southern deep-soul singer ( Chubbs will have more to say about OV in some great future posts here ... so stay tuned)
This is OV's only known and available live recording - Made up of performances recorded over 2 nights in Tokyo during September 1979 on his sole visit to Japan - He is accompanied by the Hi Records Rhythm section, consisting of the Hodges brothers, Charles, Leroy and Teenie on keyboards, bass and guitar,   Howard Grimes on drums, Melvin Rodgers trumpet, Dennis Bates trombone and James Webb backing vocals.

It's a tight soulful funky production with OV delighting the crowd with his heartfelt forthright vocals, performing most of his best loved numbers along with some very tasteful covers. You'd be a fool to miss this....So enjoy.
Tracks - 1. I'd Rather Be Blind Crippled And Crazy 2. Ace Of Spades 3. Eight Men And Four Women 4. Precious Precious 5. Love And Happiness 6. Medley - God Blessed Our Love - When A Man Loves A Woman - That's How Strong My Love Is - You're Gonna Make Me Cry 7. Into Something (Can't Shake Loose)

Al Green - Southern Soul Superstar

I have had large issues figuring out what to do with Al since he is so obvious and it feels like you should all already have these. Still...

This is a poppachubby music contribution, and a KC review.

In 1968 Willie Mitchell was the moderately successful leader of a super tight instrumental group that had become the 'House Band' of Memphis based Hi Records. He had begun to really blossom, however, as the 'in-house producer / AR guy / talent scout' role that eventually made him a partner in the label. Ann Peebles was one of his first successes in that role.

While on the road with his band at a club in Midland, Texas, a 22 year old singer from Arkansas opens up for him and immediately Mitchell hears something that convinces him that he has a star in the making. He invites the young man to Memphis, promising to make him a star, but all the young man seems to be interested in is how long it would take to realize actual money from the effort and when told it would be at least a year, the young singer seems ready to walk, citing the need to make immediate money to handle some family crisis in Detroit. (the family had moved there after the war like so many others)

After some further discussion, Mitchell takes a significant gamble and fronts he young man something like $3,000 to go home and handle his business and then return to Memphis. Incredibly, he lets the singer leave without giving him any idea how to find or contact him in Detroit. Mitchell's account seems to indicate that he expected his investment to return to Memphis in a time frame like 2 weeks to a month. A month passes with no word, then two, three, and eventually 11 months pass and Mitchell has written off the bad gamble in his mind when the young man appears at the door of Hi Studio ready to begin. Mitchell never mentions what it was that took so long, it appears he wasn't offered an explanation.

Of course the young singer was Al Green and he would become the 3rd genuine superstar of Southern Soul (I count Ray and Aretha as the first two, but you may have to include James Brown as well, he is something of a unique situation). This first album is fascinating, in part, for what isn't there yet. Al is certainly recognizable here but not at all fully formed yet, his style is still a mish-mash of Sam Cooke, Jackie Wilson, Dave Ruffin and anyone else he admired. Still the elements of what came later are all there, the unique phrasing with the small groans at the start of lines, the effortless and smooth falsetto cries as compared to a Wilson Pickett or a Little Willie John who have more shriek to their falsetto. Green's sound blended the smoothness of Motown and Philly with the rhythms and passions of Southern Soul.

By the second album Mitchell and Green have found the sweet spot, the rest is history.

Ann Peebles - 99 pounds of Soul

 A diminutive singer with a powerful voice and an even stronger attitude, Ann Peebles was one of the artists who defined Willie Mitchell's legendary Memphis soul label Hi Records, along with Al Green and, later, O.V. Wright. Easily the best female singer in the Hi stable, Peebles ranked among the finest deep Southern soul singers of the decade, notching an instant classic with her 1973 hit "I Can't Stand the Rain." She co-wrote a generous share of her own material with husband Don Bryant, and while she cut plenty of love and heartbreak tunes, her persona was built on the grit and resilient strength she displayed on songs like "I'm Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down." Peebles wasn't always as appreciated on the charts as her work often merited, especially among pop listeners, but her best recordings hold up among the best of their era.

Peebles was born April 27, 1947, in East St. Louis, Missouri. Her father was a minister and her mother a singer, and naturally Peebles began singing at a young age in her father's church choir. She also sang with the family group, the Peebles Choir, which had been touring the gospel circuit since Peebles' grandfather founded it a generation earlier. As a teenager, she sang secular music on the St. Louis club circuit, supported and accompanied by her father. There she met blues bandleader Oliver Sain, a local legend, and eventually joined his revue. Peebles caught her big break in 1968 on a trip to Memphis, where she asked to sit in on a club set by trumpeter Gene "Bowlegs" Miller. Miller was already signed to Hi Records at the time, and duly impressed with Peebles' voice, he brought her to Hi house producer Willie Mitchell for a tryout. Mitchell, who was still in the process of shifting the label from country to R&B (and had not yet discovered Al Green), immediately offered Peebles a contract; she was still shy of her 21st birthday.

Mitchell teamed Peebles with singer and house songwriter Don Bryant, seeking a bit more seasoning in her R&B phrasing. Peebles and Bryant soon began writing together (and would also end up dating). In the meantime, Peebles recorded her debut single, "Walk Away," a song written by Sain that just missed the Top 20 on the R&B chart in 1969. The follow-up, "Give Me Some Credit," was also a minor hit. Both songs were featured on the singer's debut album, This Is Ann Peebles. Her fourth single, 1970's "Part Time Love," was her first R&B Top Ten. 1972's Straight from the Heart was her first artistically realized LP, however; it featured several minor R&B hits in "I Pity the Fool," "Slipped, Tripped and Fell in Love," "I Feel Like Breaking Up Somebody's Home" (later covered by Bette Midler), and "Somebody's on Your Case," plus the signature album track "99 Lbs." Her hot streak continued with 1973's I Can't Stand the Rain, which many critics still regard as her finest work. "I'm Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down" was a decent-sized hit, and the brilliant title cut -- written by Peebles, Bryant, and disc jockey Bernard Miller -- became her biggest hit, peaking at number six R&B and famously becoming a favorite of John Lennon. She also charted with "(You Keep Me) Hangin' On" and "Do I Need You," but more importantly, married Bryant in 1974.

In the wake of "I Can't Stand the Rain," Peebles was a star on the soul circuit, even if she never duplicated its commercial success. "Beware," "Come to Mama," and "Dr. Love Power" were all charting singles from 1975's Tellin' It, but the rise of disco and the sale of Hi Records in 1977 would conspire against Peebles' career momentum. 1977's If This Is Heaven produced only one single in the title cut, which was more polished than Peebles' usual fare; none of the singles from 1979's The Handwriting Is on the Wall cracked the R&B Top 50. With Mitchell and most of the Hi house band gone, Peebles took a hiatus from the music business to concentrate on her family.

Peebles reunited with Mitchell in 1989 for Call Me, an album released on Mitchell's short-lived new label, Waylo; however, longtime fans generally found it a disappointing comeback overpowered by sterile electronic instrumentation. Peebles returned to a more organic approach by signing with roots label Rounder's Bullseye Blues subsidiary for 1992's Full Time Love. Another effort, Fill This World with Love, followed in 1996, which featured guest spots from Mavis Staples and Shirley Brown. During the '90s, Peebles guested on several albums by Maria Muldaur. Meanwhile, "I Can't Stand the Rain" was covered by numerous artists, including Tina Turner, and revived by Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott via sampling on her 1997 smash "The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)."

The Complete O.V. Wright on Hi Records, Vol. 1 In The Studio

By the time O.V. is released from the Texas penitentiary in 1975, he was incarcerated on a narcotics charge, his old label has been sold and his contract along with it. As Don Robey's health failed he sold everything to ABC, who were less than enthusiastic about Wright in the wake of the absence from the market. After a couple of half-hearted attempts at recording him, ABC handed Wright back his contract and he was a free agent.

His friend and collaborator Willie Mitchell was now at Hi records and riding the wave of success with both Al Green and Sil Johnson and he was more than happy to add O.V. to the stable and hoped he would propel him  to the kind of stardom that he had found with Green. I imagine he was even more motivated because by this time there was already evidence that Green was loosing it and becoming unstable.

The O.V. that came to Hi was not the man who had made those phenomenal Back Beat recordings. Drugs, alcohol and heart trouble were taking a serious toll on his body although he strove to hide it from nearly everyone. The voice was still better than anyone else and apparently at first he was still the show stopping live performer he had always been.

One story of a tour that gives you an idea of his ability to tear up a house was a tour with Tyrone Davis, Johnnie Taylor, Little Milton and O.V. The discussion on the first day centered around the performing order and since Wright was the only guy who didn't seem concerned with the subject he was asked to lead off the show. By the end of the night all three of the other guys told the promoter that O.V. would close the show for the remainder of the tour, no-one wanted to follow him ever again.

The material on this set is unquestionably good but there is a feeling of Willie Mitchell trying to shoehorn O.V. into Al Green's loafers. Green and Wright were very different but somehow Mitchell failed to alter his approach. The Hi band had fallen into a very comfortable groove and certainly by the late 70's was getting a little stale (Mitchell later acknowledged that). All that said, even flawed O.V. Wright is better than damn near anyone else so don't think for a second that this isn't worth hearing.

Health problems derailed Wright a number of times in the last 5 years of the decade, but each time he emerged from the hospital he returned to work and by 1980 he was an emaciated shadow of his former self. The last year of his life Wright returned to Gospel and was quoted as saying that he never really liked singing Soul, and had always longed to return to the Gospel fold. In November 1980 Wright collapsed while on the road and despite Roosevelt Jamisons' heroic efforts to get him to an adequate hospital, Wright died shortly after reaching the hospital, he was 41 years old.

Wright laid in an unmarked grave in Memphis for some 28 years until 2008 when a fund and concert was put together to put a proper marker on the grave on the anniversary of his death.