Wilson Pickett - It's Harder Now

When this album was recorded in 1998, it had been 17 long years since the Wicked One had been in the studio. It had been nearly as long since he had even had his own working band. He spent most of the time post 70's traveling around in soul shows playing the old hits with the 'house band' carried by the tour. Not much chance of doing anything new under those circumstances.

Enter multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, producer Jon Tiven and his talented wife Sally. Tiven was the guy who, in 1990, had found Arthur Alexander driving a school bus in Cleveland and made possible his short career resurgence; it seems to have since become Tiven's calling in life to find and record these folks and he is doing a hell of a job. "It's Harder Now" was both Pickett's triumphant return and, ultimately, his swan song. The album received 3 W.C. Handy awards and a Grammy nomination, Wilson was voted Male Artist of the Year, Comeback Artist of the Year, etc... I remember at the time eagerly awaiting the next chapter, but alas, it never came.

I have come to revere this album as one of the strongest final statements of any artist I can think of. A giant portion of what makes it so good is the writing and musicianship of Jon and Sally Tiven. Jon plays guitars, organ, piano, harmonica and saxophones, (whew!) produces, and writes, while Sally is the very funky bass player and frequent song collaborator. The music is exceptionally well played, like Muscle Shoals good, but it is the songs that make this one so special. Wilson's voice has moved to the bluesier side and there is a weight and gravel to his voice that was not there before. The songs fit him to a tee, oozing sex and bravado while acknowledging the passage of time, this is a mellowed Pickett as he makes clear on Soul Survivor and It's Harder Now. Other songs like What's Underneath That Dress and All About Sex, however, have a wicked sense of humor that is just irresistible. Had he been provided material this good in the prior decades, who knows?... If you don't have this one, DO NOT PASS ON IT! ALL KILLER!

Wilson Pickett - Funky Midnight Mover: The Atlantic Recordings (1962-1978)

Pres' fantastic Opal Nations Pickett collection spurred a request for new links on my first Wicked Pickett post. Well rather than just restore my post of the Double L album I've decided to shoot the works and give you the whole 6 disc Rhino Handmade box of all the Atlantic material including the Double L material which Jerry Wexler bought when he signed Pickett to Atlantic. It a bit of overkill but I'll let each of you pare it down as you will.

"Wilson Pickett was a force of nature, a one-man hurricane that blew everything out of his path. As he sang in one of his many Top 40 R&B singles, he was A Man and a Half, a title so fitting it served as a summary for Rhino's 1993 double-disc compilation, a collection that stood as the most exhaustive Pickett retrospective until Rhino Handmade unleashed the six-disc box Funky Midnight Mover: The Atlantic Recordings (1962-1978), a monumental testament to the sweatiest, grittiest, soul singer who ever grabbed a microphone. This set may not be billed as the "complete recordings", but it is effectively that, rounding up all the master takes Pickett cut for Atlantic during those 16 years, dipping back for a few sides by his early group the Falcons, skipping his three-year sojourn at RCA from 1972-1975, adding some rarities, but essentially serving up all his prime titles in a handsome, hardcover book."

What has been glossed over by most writers when discussing Pickett is the REAL derivation of the name Wicked Pickett or Evil Pickett. The fact is he earned the name with an extremely volatile temper and a penchant for violence and weapons. His first session at Stax was largely responsible for the split between Stax and Atlantic as Wexler was told in no uncertain terms to never bring that crazy MF into their studio again. There was an incident of Pickett and the Isley brothers getting into a gun battle in the parking lot outside a show. Most people in the industry fully expected him to be the next Little Willie John and to end up in prison for having killed someone. Pickett was a stupendous talent no doubt, a great voice and dynamic stage presence, but apparently his ego and temper made him difficult to be around and a constant disruption on a tour because everyone had to walk on eggshells around him. At one point he erupted on someone who was attempting to compliment him because they included a reference to another singer in the compliment! You won't read too many warm fuzzy memories of Wilson as a young man.

So here is the whole shebang, all the Atlantic material -- I think it could really be distilled to 2, one of the hits and maybe one of the many  covers he did so relentlessly might be interesting. you get to decide.

Wilson Pickett - The Evil Pickett

As most of us are aware, Wilson Pickett's voice was one of God's most powerful gifts to soul music.   KingCake already made an initial post on this blog of a collection of Pickett's pre-Atlantic sides from the mid-60s: "It's Too Late."  I also assume that most of us have core 60s collections of Wilson Pickett on Atlantic from Memphis, Muscle Shoals, and Philadelphia.  If you don't, then I highly recommend that you rectify that situation right away.

What we have here is a fabulous and intriguing private collection put together by none other than Opal Lee Nations.  A handful of the big hits and other Atlantic tracks are here, most likely selected on the basis of being Opal's personal favorites.  But there are also a lot of rare gems.  Altogether, we get a portrait of the Great Wicked One that is different than anything commercially available.  This is a Pickett collection that I reach for as often as any, and I hope that you will too.  

For the biographical details on Wilson Pickett, I refer you to the previous post by KingCake. Pickett started his career in Gospel under the main influence of Julius Cheeks of the Sensational Nightingales.  He joined one of the great young gospel quartets, the Violinairies, in the late 50s.  The Violinairies already had a dominant lead singer in Robert Blair, and there unfortunately would appear to be no Violinairies recordings with Pickett leads.  There is one Violinairies track on this compilation where Pickett is supposedly singing background vocals, but even that is disputed and (if true) not really audible.   But Wilson Pickett did sing lead on a great 45 with the Spiritual 5.  Opal included that 45 on the collection as well as a later gospel song (Run On), recorded in 1968.   This gives us a short and concise portrait of Wilson Picket, the gospel singer.  And what a gospel singer he was!   R&Bs gain was certainly Gospel's loss. 

Wilson Pickett began his secular career with the Falcons where he scored a hit with the scorching "I Found A Love."  Opal has gathered here the remaining Falcons 45s featuring Wilson Pickett leads, many rare and difficult to find.  We have a number of the pre-Atlantic solo tracks recorded after Pickett left the Falcons, some of which duplicate the collection posted by KingCake.  The unmistakable guitar of Robert Ward graces many of these and the Falcons tracks.  The collection leads off with a stirring live version of If You Need Me from 1964.  All in all, there is much to savor on this selection by Opal Lee Nations. 

The FAME Studios Story 1961 - 1973: Home Of The Muscle Schoals Sound

This 3 disc comp is nothing short of excellent.  The story of FAME is told through the music - from the pop side all the way to the gut bucket r&b side.

A wide range of artists worked with this legendary outfit, but one thing ties them all together... success!!

I'm sure you guys already have alot of these tracks but they made a huge effort to include some rarities;  undoubtedly for the collector types.

Enjoy!!!

Certain studios and labels occupy almost mythical stature in American musical history and FAME Studios, home of the Muscle Shoals sound, is among the elite. During the '60s and into the early '70s, the rotating crew at FAME Studios cranked out single after single, building a legacy that rivals such '60s stalwarts as Motown, Stax/Volt, and Chess, yet despite being the point of origin for such timeless 45s as Wilson Pickett's "Land of 1000 Dances," Arthur Alexander's "You Better Move On," Joe Tex's "Hold What You've Got," Etta James' "Tell Mama," Clarence Carter's "Patches," James & Bobby Purify's "I'm Your Puppet," and Aretha Franklin's "I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)," the label and studio aren't as well known as their peers. Ace's peerless three-disc box The FAME Studios Story: 1961-1973 should go a long way in firming up the label and studio's reputation in the eyes of the mass public. Anchored on those big hits, the compilation tells the story of FAME in exhaustive yet exciting detail, digging up a wealth of rarities (ranging from an unedited acoustic version of "You Left the Water Running" by Otis Redding and a version of "Another Man's Woman, Another Woman's Man" whose singer is unknown to a bunch of singles that rarely pop up on reissues), but this is hardly something for crate-diggers. This is a big, bold set filled with surprises for even seasoned record collectors and much of that has to do with context. Expertly compiled by Alec Palao, Tony Rounce, and Dean Rudland, The FAME Studios Story doesn't shy away from the moments when the Muscle Shoals sound seeped into the mainstream: very early in the set, teen idol Tommy Roe pops up with "Everybody" and toward the end the Osmonds come in with their Jackson 5 knockoff "One Bad Apple" and the revelation is how the FAME musicians gave these teenybopper stars some real swing and funk. That turns out to be the key to the FAME sound -- while Stax/Volt always had grit on the soles of their shoes, FAME was a little lighter, able to ease into slicker crossover material, something that served them well whenever they cranked out some bubblegum or backed Bobbie Gentry or, especially, when they cut effervescent pop-soul/Northern soul singles by Spooner & the Spoons ("Wish You Didn't Have to Go") and David & the Giants ("Ten Miles High"). Which isn't to say FAME didn't get down and dirty (of course they did -- witness Wicked Wilson Pickett's "Hey Jude," complete with guitar from Duane Allman), but they were versatile, adapting to the needs of either the performer or the song. And that very versatility may be part of the reason why FAME isn't as immediately recognizable a name as Motown or Stax -- the Muscle Shoals crew could cop both of those sounds, after all -- but it's also the reason why this set is such a wildly entertaining listen, in addition to being a historically necessary document housed in a very handsome hardcover book.

- Stephen Thomas Erlewine/AMG

Wilson Pickett - It's Too Late

 Pickett was born March 18, 1941 in Prattville, Alabama, and grew up singing in Baptist church choirs.

He was the fourth of 11 children and called his mother "the baddest woman in my book," telling historian Gerri Hirshey: "I get scared of her now. She used to hit me with anything, skillets, stove wood — (one time I ran away and) cried for a week. Stayed in the woods, me and my little dog." Pickett eventually left to live with his father in Detroit in 1955.

Pickett's forceful, passionate style of singing was developed in the church and on the streets of Detroit, under the influence of recording stars such as Little Richard, whom he later referred to as "the architect of rock and roll.

In 1955, Pickett became part of a gospel music group called the Violinaires. The group accompanied The Soul Stirrers, The Swan Silvertones, and The Davis Sisters on church tours across the country. After singing for four years in the locally popular gospel-harmony group, Pickett, lured by the success of other gospel singers of the day, who left gospel music in the late 1950s for the more lucrative secular music market, joined the Falcons in 1959.

The Falcons were one of the first vocal groups to bring gospel into a popular context, thus paving the way for soul music. The Falcons also featured some notable members who went on to become major solo artists; when Pickett joined the group, Eddie Floyd and Sir Mack Rice were also members of the group. Pickett's biggest success with The Falcons came in 1962, when "I Found a Love," (co-authored by Pickett and featuring his lead vocals), peaked at #6 on the R&B chart, and at #75 on the Hot 100.

Soon after recording "I Found a Love," Pickett cut his first solo recordings, including "I'm Gonna Cry," his first collaboration with Don Covay. Around this time, Pickett also recorded a demo for a song he co-wrote, called "If You Need Me." A slow-burning soul ballad featuring a spoken sermon, Pickett sent the demo to Jerry Wexler, a producer at Atlantic Records. Wexler heard the demo and gave it to one of the label's own recording artists, Solomon Burke. Burke's recording of "If You Need Me" became one of his biggest hits (#2 R&B, #37 Pop) and is now considered a soul standard, but Pickett was crushed when he discovered that Atlantic had given away his song. However, when Pickett—holding a demo tape under his arm—returned to Wexler's personal studio, Wexler asked him whether he was angry about this loss, but denied it saying "It's over". "First time I ever cried in my life". Pickett's version of the song was released on Double L Records, and was a moderate hit, peaking at #30 R&B, #64 pop.

Pickett's first big success as a solo artist came with "It's Too Late," an original composition (not to be confused with the Chuck Willis standard of the same name). Entering the charts on July 27, 1963, it eventually peaked at #7 on the R&B chart (#49 Pop). This record's success convinced Wexler and Atlantic to buy Pickett's recording contract from Double L Records in 1964.