Bobby Rush 4-CD box set 'Chicken Heads' collects 50 years and 20+ labels

50 YEARS OF MISSISSIPPI BLUES LEGEND BOBBY RUSH — CULLED FROM MORE THAN 20 LABELS —  COMING ON FOUR DISCS FROM OMNIVORE RECORDINGS ON NOVEMBER 27, 2015 Chicken Heads: A 50-Year History of Bobby Rush box set contains nearly five hours of music with 32-page booklet, noted by Bill Dahl, with quotes from Mavis Staples, Keb’ Mo’, Elvin Bishop, Leon Huff, Al Bell and more. “Bobby Rush is among the most treasured blues singers of all time. Because when the blues saints go marching in, Bobby Rush will be in that number.” —Leon Huff

Bobby Rush (Photo by James Patterson) LOS ANGELES, Calif. — When you’ve played with Elmore James, Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, and Jimmy Reed, you must be on to something. When you’ve had a multi-generational career in music, spanning blues, soul and funk, that’s something else.  Bobby Rush’s incredible half century of recorded music is ready to be devoured by those who’ve never tasted and those who want another helping on Chicken Heads: A 50-Year History of Bobby Rush, due out November 27, 2015 on Omnivore Recordings.  Nearly 100 tracks from the three-time Grammy® nominee’s storied career are finally collected in this unprecedented set. Including his Checker, Galaxy, and Jewel sides through Philadelphia International, Malaco/Waldoxy, LaJam, and Urgent cuts, as well as material from his own Deep Rush label, Chicken Heads tells the story of Bobby Rush: unfiltered, unedited and unbelievable. With almost five hours of music on four CDs, Chicken Heads traces his career from 1964’s “Someday” through the title track, from 1979 collaborations with Gamble & Huff to tracks from 2004’s FolkFunk.  The 32-page, full-color booklet is filled with photos, ephemera, liner notes from Bill Dahl and testimonials from friends and fans including Mavis Staples, Keb’ Mo’, Elvin Bishop, Denise LaSalle, Leon Huff, Al Bell, and many more. With mastering and restoration by Grammy® winner Michael Graves, Bobby’s vintage recordings have never sounded better. Born in Homer, La. in 1933, Rush cut his musical teeth in the Pine Bluff, Ark. area with the likes of Elmore James and Big Moose Walker. A move to Chicago in the 1950s put him in the company of Muddy Waters and Jimmy Reed, and led to sessions at the city’s Chess Records. 1971’s “Chicken Heads” proved his breakthrough, notching #34 on the Billboard R&B chart. He since recorded for a variety of labels and relocated in the 1980s to the Deep South, where he became one of the kings of the Chitlin’ Circuit. His crossover began largely in the early 2000s when he was included in the Martin Scorsese-produced, Clint Eastwood-directed The Blues documentary for PBS. Since then, he’s received three Grammy® nominations and 41 Blues Music Award nominations (of which he’s won ten, including 2015’s award for B.B. King Entertainer of the Year). He performed with Dan Aykroyd and the Roots on The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon in 2014, and appeared in the documentary film Take Me to the River, pairing blues and soul legends with young artists. At the age of 80, he still performs more than 200 shows all over the world. Mavis Staples attests, “He’s been a longtime friend, an honorable man, and my father loved him. He’s a joyful, happy person, and that rubs off on you when you run into him — you can’t help but feel good when you’re around Bobby. He’s always been respectful of me and my sisters, and he was like a son to Pops. I’m a big fan.” According to Rush, “It’s very exciting. Truly I feel honored that someone would think enough of me to do this. The record side of it is the glory side of me and that’s the side that I want people to know and I’m grateful for that. I’m happy that someone thought before I leave this land to tell my story. I’m proud of it and flattered about it. I want the world to know that this is my first time and I want to say it for people to be enthused about me. I’m not enthused about all of the songs because at the time I didn’t think they were all good. But after you become a ‘legend,’ you look back and it all looks good. There are things you had in the can you didn’t want to put out, and then you get asked what you have in the can that’s never been heard to put it out.” As annotator Dahl comments at the opening of his essay: “Blues never get funkier than when Bobby Rush swaggers up to the mic and lets fly with his homespun truisms. He’s always in motion, always smiling, always on fire as his skintight band cooks up irresistible elastic grooves behind him.”  So, prepare to get funky with Chicken Heads: A 50-Year History of Bobby Rush!  DISC ONE: 1. Someday 2. Let Me Love You 3. Sock Boo Ga Loo 4. Much Too Much 5. Gotta Have Money 6. Camel Walk 7. Wake Up 8. The Things That I Used To Do  9. Let It All Hang Out 10. Just Be Yourself 11. Done Got Good To Me, Part 1  12. Chicken Heads 13. Mary Jane 14. Gotta Be Funky 15. Gotta Find You Girl 16. Bowlegged Woman, Knock-Kneed Man Part 1 17. Niki Hoeky 18. She’s A Good ’Un 19. Get Out Of Here, Part 1 20. I’m Still Waiting 21. She Put The Whammy On Me  DISC TWO: 1. I Wanna Do The Do 2. Hey Western Union Man 3. Let’s Do It Together 4. Be Still 5. Talk To Your Daughter 6. Sue (Single Version) 7. Making A Decision (Single Version) 8. Bertha Jean (Single Version) 9. What’s Good For The Goose Is Good For The Gander 10. Dr. Funk 11. Never Would Have Thought It 12. A Man Can Give It (But He Can’t Take It) 13. Nine Below Zero 14. I Ain’t Studdin’ You (Single Version) 15. You, You, You (Know What To Do) 16. Time To Hit The Road Again 17. I’m Gone 18. Handy Man 19. One Monkey Don’t Stop No Show  DISC THREE: 1. Hen Pecked 2. She’s So Fine 3. Buttermilk Bottom  4. Big Fat Woman 5. Booga Bear 6. Hoochie Man 7. Scootchin’ 8. He Got My Attention 9. Always On My Mind 10. Wet Match 11. Undercover Lover 12. Tough Titty 13. When She Loves Ya 14. Evil (Live) 15. Ride In My Automobile 16. River’s Invitation  DISC FOUR: 1. Feeling Good (Pt. 1)  2. Night Fishin’ 3. Take Me To The River  4. Help Me 5. Howlin’ Wolf 6. Uncle Esau 7. What’s Goin’ On 8. I Got 3 Problems 9. Blind Snake 10. Show You A Good Time  11. Down In Louisiana 12. You Just Like A Dresser  13. Swing Low 14. Another Murder In New Orleans – Dr. John And Bobby Rush With Blinddog Smokin’ 15. Sittin’ Here Waitin’ – Bobby Rush With Blinddog Smokin’ 16. If That’s The Way You Like It – Bobby Rush With Blinddog Smokin’ 17. Push And Pull – Featuring Frayser Boy 18. Dedication (Excerpt)

Omnivore Recordings artist: Carl Hall - You Don't Know Nothing About Love: The Loma/Atlantic Recordings 1967-1972 - New Release Review

I just received the newest release (June 23, 2105), Carl Hall's You Don't Know Nothing About Love: The Loma/Atlantic Recordings 1967-1972 and it's incredible! This 19 track release includes 6 singles that were released previously and 13 tracks that have never seen the light of day. Opening title track, You Don't Know Nothing About Love, is an incredibly soulful track and an incredible demonstration of Halls voice. Wow! This is sweet soul music at it's best. Been listening to this all day and it is at the edge... but it is terrific! Just Like I Told You has a 60's Stevie Wonder feel and a solid melody. He'll Never Love You is a terrific track that runs the seam between soul and blues. Great track and great performance! It Was You That I Needed is a super gospel style track again really showing the strength of Hall's music. This is not passive listening... sit back and watch your hair blow back! Classic What Kind Of Fool Am I is an absolute treasure. Yes, most everyone has heard this tune...but not like this! Amazing! Sometimes I Do is another gospel like track with a definite touch of Stevie Wonder. Hall has a voice of his own and man what a voice. Lennon and McCartney's Long And Winding Road has never sounded so great...I mean absolutely incredible! Change With The Seasons is a beautiful soul ballad. The range of Halls voice is astounding and the mix is really super. The release closes with a really different cover of Time Is On Your Side. Hall has such a delicate hand on vocal that can turn to dynamite in a split second. This release is an incredible soul music spectrum in one package. It's really a travesty that this has been mostly obscured for so many years. I haven't given a play by play on every track, but if you aren't convinced that you need to hear this by now, it's probably not your bag. I love it!  

If you support live Blues acts, up and coming Blues talents and want to learn more about Blues news and Fathers of the Blues, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! -  ”LIKE”

 

Carl Hall, Northern soul singer, 'Loma/Atlantic Recordings 1967-72' coming on Omnivore June 23

CARL HALL’S YOU DON’T KNOW NOTHING ABOUT LOVE: THE LOMA/ATLANTIC RECORDINGS 1967-1972, OUT JUNE 23, 2015, IS INTRODUCTION TO PROLIFIC, UNDER-THE-RADAR NORTHERN SOUL SINGER  Compilation’s 19 songs include hits plus 13 unissued bonus tracks. All were produced by Jerry Ragovoy, and not previously available on album.   LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Carl Hall’s four-octave range first came into prominence on the gospel sides he cut in the 1950s for labels like Vee-Jay and Savoy. His later acting work on Broadway (Inner City, The Wiz, and Truly Blessed: A Musical Celebration of Mahalia Jackson) and in the film version of Hair was renowned. But it’s the soul sides he cut for the Loma and Atlantic labels, with producer Jerry Ragovoy, that are truly sought after. You Don’t Know Nothing About Love: The Loma/Atlantic Recordings 1967-1972 not only fills that need, but delivers in spectacular fashion. This 19-track CD, set for release on Omnivore Recordings on June 23, 2015, collects the singles from this era and adds an astonishing 13 previously unissued tracks, brand new to soul collectors, who up until now have only had the aforementioned single sides issued on the original 45s. In addition to the title track, “I Don’t Wanna Be (Your Used to Be),” and Hall’s take on Jefferson Airplane’s “Somebody to Love” (re-titled “Need Somebody to Love” for Hall’s version) You Don’t Know Nothing About Love gathers unreleased versions of hits from The Beatles (“The Long and Winding Road”), Broadway’s Stop the World — I Want to Get Off (“What Kind of Fool Am I”) . . . and even The Rolling Stones, who themselves had a hit with their cover of Ragovoy’s “Time Is on My Side,” represented here in a pair of unissued versions. You Don’t Know Nothing About Love acts as both a primer and a definitive statement on Hall’s six years under the Warner Bros. umbrella. The mystery of why so much of this music lingered in the vaults for so many decades and a historical overview of both Hall’s and his colleagues’ careers are brought to life via an essay from musicologist Bill Dahl. From Dahl’s notes: “The stratospheric four-octave vocal range of Carl Hall was truly a gift from on high. No less an esteemed authority than Anthony Heilbut declared him the finest male soprano in gospel. But after establishing himself in the sacred field, Hall crossed over to the secular arena, cutting a series of mesmerizing soul singles that showcased his uncanny vocal mastery just as vividly as those spirituals had.” Omnivore Recordings is proud to present yet another set of recording that many have talked about, but few have had the pleasure of hearing. You Don’t Know Nothing About Love: The Loma/Atlantic Recordings 1967-1972 guarantees you’ll know about Carl Hall. And, make you wish it hadn’t taken so long to find out. Track Listing: 1.       You Don’t Know Nothing About Love* 2.       Mean It Baby*3.       Just Like I Told You 4.       He’ll Never Love You 5.       It Was You (That I Needed) 6.       The Dam Busted* 7.       I Don’t Wanna Be (Your Used To Be)* 8.       Dance Dance Dance 9.       What Kind Of Fool Am I? 10.    Sometimes I Do 11.    The Long And Winding Road 12.    It’s Been Such A Long Way Home 13.    Time Is On My Side 14.    Need Somebody to Love* 15.  Change With The Season*  Alternate Takes: 16.  Just Like I Told You (Take 7)17.  It Was You (That I Needed)  (Take 12)18. The Dam Busted (1971 Remake) 19.  Time Is On My Side (Takes 1 & 2) All selections previously unissued except *  # # #

Omnivore Recordings: Beale Street Saturday Night - Various Artists

I just received the newest release, Beale Street Saturday Night, from Omnivore Recordings and it is raw and pure. Opening with Walkin' Down Beale Street by Sid Selvidge, the listener hears a blend of soul, jazz, blues and gospel with piano, slide guitar and horns. Fred Ford is up next with Hernando Horn, an exceptional old style blues track featuring exceptionally rich sax work. Grandma Dixie Davis, accompanied by piano is freewheelin and loose. No...this isn't Joe Bonamassa. Sleepy John Estes hits the ground running with Big Fat Mama/Liquor Store. Taking a breather in the track to tell the stories. Prince Gabe has a much more polished vocal presentation and again with story telling dialog. Furry Lewis is easily distinguished on Furry's Blues. A classic with Furry accompanying himself on guitar. Teenie Hodges lays down Rock Me Baby, raw and uncompromised. A more primitive version of the track by Alex with whistling and hammer claps like an old work song is exceptional. Thomas Pinkston tells the story Ben Griffin was killed in the Monarch accompanied by piano. Quite cool. Johnny Woods plays the Frisco Blow, a real authentic train blues on harp. Primitive and excellent! Mud Boy And The Neutrons plays a Dixieland style On The Road Again with every sort of instrument imaginable. Very cool! Thomas Pinkston tells the story of Mr Handy Told Me 50 Years Ago with guitar accompaniment. Unique. Furry Lewis is back with Chicken Ain't Nothin' But A Bird. There is hardly a blues player that is half a story teller like Lewis so this is a particularly cool track. Grandma Dixie Davis wraps the release with Roll On Mississippi. Now I do need to say, I've never heard anyone sing like Grandma Dixie Davis. This is an unusual set of tracks put together by James Luther Dickinson is a cool and historical documentation.
Along with the cd you get 5 pages of liner commentary by Stanley Booth, additional descriptives by Jim Lancaster and a number of wonderful photographs.
  If you support live Blues acts, up and coming Blues talents and want to learn more about Blues news and Fathers of the Blues, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! -  ”LIKE”

 

Sandra Rhodes—Al Green's backing vocalist—gets reissued on Omnivore

Twenty feet from stardom . . .

SANDRA RHODES SANG BACKUP ON AL GREEN’S CLASSIC HITS;

HER 1972 SOLO ALBUM, RECORDED AT SAM PHILLIPS’ STUDIO,

REISSUED ON OMNIVORE RECORDINGS ON MARCH 18

On CD for the first time, Sandra Rhodes’ Where’s Your Love Been

contains seven bonus tracks.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — While Sandra Rhodes made a name for herself singing behind Al Green on his classic Hi Records sides and writing songs including Conway Twitty’s #1 single “The Clown,” her best work missed the public eye. And ear.

Where’s Your Love Been, Rhodes’s 1972 album for Fantasy Records, was recorded at the Sam Phillips Recording Studio in Memphis (founded in 1960 as a roomier successor to the legendary producer’s Sun Studio). Just as her backing vocals (usually performed with sister Donna and then husband Charlie Chalmers) appeared on recordings of every genre, the disc reflects the Memphis native’s extraordinary musical flexibility. Much of the set displayed a pronounced country vibe, yet a couple of its selections were unabashed Memphis soul. Sandra sounds gloriously at home on all of them. That range — it’s why her own songs have been recorded by artists as diverse as Skeeter Davis and Isaac Hayes.

Co-produced by Sandra and Chalmers, the ten tracks on Where’s Your Love Been include originals like the title cut as well as a cover of the Rolling Stones’ “You Can’t Always Get What You Want.” To make this album’s CD debut, due out March 11 on Omnivore Recordings, even more special, seven bonus tracks from the sessions have been unearthed — all previously unissued.

Had this album been a commercial success, Sandra Rhodes’ musical fortunes might have unfolded differently. “You just never know if one thing had been a hit or another, what would have happened,” Rhodes muses. “I’m sure it would have changed the course of our lives in one way or another. But the way things went, we got to dabble in a little bit of all of it — and still are!”

Although Sandra and Charlie are no longer married, they still have a publishing com­pany and team on various musical ventures (Rhodes, Chalmers & Rhodes were on Al Green’s acclaimed 2003 secular comeback CD I Can’t Stop). Charlie operates his own recording studio in Branson, Miss. Sandra and younger sister Donna co-star in a new incarnation of The Rhodes Show television program — which enjoyed an initial 27-year run in Memphis in the ‘60s — around the Ozarks (Sandra now lives in Arkansas) and the mid-South.

With liner notes from Bill Dahl in a full color booklet, Where’s Your Love Been is ready for the audience that missed out on it over four decades ago. As with many other great “unheard” albums, Omnivore Recordings is proud to tell everyone that the question of Where’s Your Love Been has finally been answered.

Track Listing:

1. No One Else Could Love You More

2. I Think I Love You Again

3. No Such Thing As Love

4. Sho’ Is Rainin’

5. It’s Up To You

6. Where’s Your Love Been

7. You Can’t Always Get What You Want

8. Never Grow Old

9. The Best Thing You Ever Had

10. Sowed Love And Reaped The Heartache

Bonus Tracks

11. Double Dealing Woman

12. Someday Sweet Baby

13. Baby Don’t Go

14. I’d Rather Hurt You Now

15. Linda Was A Lady

16. Jingo

17. I Don’t Play The Game

# # #

Watch the trailer:

Omnivore Recordings: The South Side of Soul Street - The Minaret Soul Singles 1967-1976 - New Release Review

I just received the reissue of the South Side of Soul Street: The Minaret Soul Singles 1967-1972 and it's terrific! This 40 track (2 cd's) collection gathers all of the A's and B's of Minaret's soulful sides for the very first time. Opening the release is Big John Hamilton with The Train ... this is a terrific track with a pace along the lines of Stormy Monday, showing just how good Hamilton is as a vocalist and showcasing terrific guitar and piano riffs over stacked up horns. I'm sold already! Big Bad John is a rolling funky boogie with funky horns and understated guitar work. A high strutting R&B track you can smell the original sound when the sax kicks in... terrific! I Have No One is a beautiful vocal soul track with classic horn backing and understated guitar arpeggios. I Just Want To Thank You is another classic track which has roots in country...or does country have it's roots in soul. In any case, really nice. Genie Brooks is up next with some classic chugging R&B (Boogaloo), Fine Time,  featuring cool backing vocals and horns. Juanita is a real bluesy soul track with solid vocals and nicly articulated guitar compliments warmed up by great backing vocals. The Double Soul is up next with Blue Diamonds. This is a really solid track featuring great gospel like vocals and light guitar work. I Can't Use You is a great vocal track with dynamic harmonies and hot vocal leads pushed along with fat sax work. Big John Hamilton is back with Big Fanny with a light hearted track along the lines of Clarence Carter. How Much A Man Can Take has the dynamics of Otis Redding and is one of my favorite tracks on the release. On Pretty Girls, Hamilton gets the groove kickin and the horns are right on the riff. Some smokin guitar riffs make you think Albert is hangin back there. Johnny Dynamite cranks up the Night The Angels Cried, a romping R&B track with a pace like Proud Mary. Slowing it down for Everybody's Clown, Dynamite cranks out a beautiful soul/blues track. Genie Brooks is back with Helping Hand, a classic style soul track. Hamilton is back to deliver Breaking Up Is Hard To Do in style with classic piano style but with a surprise guitar twist giving the track just a twist of country. Love Comes and It Goes is another really sweet track with nice little guitar riffs on the response. Leroy Lloyd and the Dukes gets the crowd crankin with Sewanee Strut, a fast paced instrumental. Hot yakity sax work tops off this track. On A Taste Of The Blues Lloyd slows down the pace and with super key work and precise horn work builds a nice frame for white hot sax lead work and some of the hottest guitar I've heard on disk this month. Willie Cobbs opens CD 2 with I'll Love Only You and a cool bass lines. The vocals on each of these tracks are super but the horn work and on this track the guitar work is also really cool. Swinging Don't Worry About Me is a great track with super harp work added on the top of great soul singing. Doris Allen steps up with authority on A Shell Of A Woman. This is soul but blues vocals at it's best. Superb. Gable Reed sings I'm Your Man, a really nice blues track. This is a great track that has been sorely overlooked to be overplayed by all of the modern guitar slingers. What a nice job done by Reed and his guitar player. Hamilton and Allen team up on A Place In My Heart for a great vocal duet. Hamilton and Allen come back with a cover of Them Changes with a lot of funky soul drive. The bass on this track is particularly solid complimenting the driving drums and vocals. Searing guitar bursts find their way into this track as well. Hamilton comes back with another of my favorite tracks on the release, Lift Me Up, which is a classic blues track. Vocal work on this track continues to show how underrated Hamilton is and the horn work holding down the backing as crisp guitar riffs pepper the open air. ... Nice.... real nice!! Count Willie with LRL and the Dukes rolls out I've Got To Tell You, a super soul track. LRL and the Dukes continue with Double Funk, with tight bass riffs, funky guitar work and warm sax tones. Big John Hamilton wraps up the release with Free Me, a really clean soul track showing the fine line between soul and blues. This is a really super compilation of incredible tracks that I was totally unaware of. If you like soul and blues vocals...this is a really must hear! Also included in this package is an incredible 20 page set of liner notes and photos by music historian Bill Dahl.

  If you support live Blues acts, up and coming Blues talents and want to learn more about Blues news and Fathers of the Blues, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! -  ”LIKE”