Ruby Turner's become something of a benevolent musical national treasure – a position reinforced by her almost permanent role with the Jools Holland Band. Some people, therefore, might find it hard to believe that in the mid 80s she cut some fine and feisty, true soul LPs. To help us re-acquaint ourselves with her enormous talent, Cherry Pop (a subsidiary of Cherry Red) have reissued (for the first time on CD by the way) her 1986 Jive debut album 'Women Hold Up Half The Sky'. Yes, there's a generous helping of pop soul on it (the ultra-catchy 'In My Life' springs to mind) but plenty of blistering soul too – notably covers of 'I'd Rather Go Blind', Penn and Oldham's ' A Woman Left Lonely' and the Womacks' 'Hurting Inside' along with a surprisingly heavy Jonathan Butler song 'I'm In Love'. Of course you also get the catchy remake of the Staples' 'If You're Ready (Come Go With Me)' and a jaunty 'Bye Baby' which offers more than a nod to the lady's Caribbean roots. The LP's original 11 cuts are augmented with a quintet of bonus tracks including an extended version of 'If You're Ready' and a lovely take on Smokey's 'Ooh Baby Baby' from Ruby's sadly neglected album of Motown covers – now there's an album worth reissuing! In the meantime let's be happy that this pleasing debut set is back on the shelves.
(BB) 4/5
Last Updated on Thursday, 02 September 2010 15:19
Despite a decent solo career, Yazoo City's Michael Henderson is probably best known for his collaborations with Norman Connors (the most famous, of course, being 'You Are My Starship'). Prior to working with the percussionist, Henderson had played bass in the Motown studio band and on the road with the Fantastic Four, Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Billy Preston and Mile Davis. His work with Connors bought him a solo deal with Buddah and 'In The Night Time' was his third album for the label. It was also his most successful – going gold and yielding a no. 3 R&B hit in the shape of 'Take Me I'm Yours'. This Super Bird reissue allows us enjoy that lovely, easy-going swayer one more time and what a lovely slab of smooth soul it is! Featuring Rena Scott, the duet hasn't dated one jot and it's easy to hear why it went top 3 back in '78. 'We Can Go On' and 'In The Night Time' offer more smooth balladeering though 'Am I Special' – another slowie – is a lot more dramatic with hints of Marvin Gaye and Leon Ware about it. Elsewhere, Henderson flexes his funk muscles (albeit not too strenuously) on 'Yours Truly Indiscreetly' and on the instrumental 'Happy'. The two other cuts are 'Whisper In My Ear' which has a George Benson feel to it and the very loose and laid back 'One To One' which again will recall Marvin Gaye. And that's it – eight cuts... and all very welcome but you can't help but wonder why the label didn't offer some bonus cuts or even add a whole second album – like 1980's 'Wide Receiver', which, though not as successful overall as 'In The Night Time' did yield our man another big hit in the form of the quirky, funky title cut.
It's been a good three years since the last helping of previously unreleased Motown rarities which might indicate that the vault is, at last, drying up. We don't really know and the compilers and execs are keeping tight lipped – but what we can be sure of is that the quality of this "new" music remains consistently high, once again begging the question why, oh why it has remained in cold store for so, so long. Amongst the big 50 cuts there are plenty of big, big names – The Temptations, The Four Tops, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Smokey and The Miracles, David Ruffin, Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder amongst them. The Stevie song – the tuneful 'Why Don't You Come Home' – dates from 1968, and is quite superb – the equal of any his contemporary bone fide releases. Gaye fans get a brace of "new" recordings. 'Your Kiss Kiss' is a duet with Oma Heard and though bootlegged versions have been around for a time, this re-mastered cut is high on quality as is the man's 1963 cut 'Three Time Loser' (with the Vandellas on backing vocals). There's also lots from Motown's second stringers like the Fantastic Four, the Monitors, Chuck Jackson, the Originals, Shorty Long, the Contours and the Spinners. As ever, though, the best thing about this album is the unearthing of great cuts from almost unheard of artists like the Blackberries, the Vows, the Versatones, the Lollipops, sometime Artistic Robert Dobyne and Debbie Dean. Interestingly, a lot of the music here is a tad more down-tempo than the stuff featured on the first three volumes in the series – but, for me, that's a bonus when we're treated to stuff like David Ruffin's sensational 'In The Cool Of The Night' and the supper club flavours of Brenda Holloway's 'Little Miss Lonely' and Barbara Mc Nair's 'The Real You'. As interesting (especially to Motown anoraks) is the fact that a lot of the cuts (particularly the backing tracks) were recorded at Motown's California outpost. Clearly with so much music outsourced like this, it shows just how busy the Detroit Snakepit was in its heyday – practically being used round the clock, churning out classic after classic. With such an output, it's clear that there's lots, lots more to come from that huge archive. Here's hoping we're not left waiting another three years to hear it.
There can be no musical genre stranger than Northern Soul and few labels have served its followers better than the Ace imprint, Kent. This, their new 24 tracker, sums up what Northern Soul is all about and in that summation endorses the strangeness that we've just mentioned. First up everything here is "rare" – and rarity has always been a big bonus for any sound hoping to make it on the scene; then, to give lie to the critics who say that all "Northern" sounds the same, there's a huge variety of music here and what's more each and every track has some kind of back story to appeal to the anorak – and, let's face it, there's no bigger anorak than a Northern one! Listening to this album won't help you understand Northern Soul any better, but it will entertain you with plenty of gimmick-free, totally enjoyable, real soul music – and in essence that the secret.
Last month we highlighted this release in our "news" pages and we predicted that the set would become of the soul albums of the year. It seems we were right. Over the last four months 'America's Most Wanted' has been hammered by modern soul DJs and all the very best internet soul radio stations. The two cuts getting the most attention are the two tight little dancers – the album's title cut and 'Feels Like We Sexin''. Both have proved hugely popular with the steppers but anyone who likes a sedate little shuffle will find them both irresistible. They're built on catchy melodies and Calvin proves (again) that he possesses one of the best true soul voices in modern music. Those two are the most immediate cuts but the intricacies of 'You Possess My Body' and 'Paradise' will reward repeated plays. The ballads make a few more demands – they're properly passionate and avoid the sentimentality that bedevils lots of modern R&B slowies. 'You're So Amazing' is possibly the best of the quiet moments, though some might find its melody a tad too close to the Chi-Lites' 'Toby' for total comfort. 'Come Over' is a real 60s throwback ... intense and deep it rides a guitar figure that Steve Cropper would be proud of. Here, vocally, Calvin is in Bobby Womack mode... ditto 'Monday Morning' and 'Thug Livin'' – which opens with a tight little rap that the Soul Poet himself could have coined. There's more pleading balladry on 'Adore You', 'Never Do You Wrong' and 'Reach Out'. In short, this album shows that those who were wise enough to dub Calvin Richardson 'The Soul Prince' all those years ago weren't wrong; nor were we when we claimed that 'America's Most Wanted' will be one of the albums of 2010.
