BOBBY FREEMAN
Give My Heart A Break: The Complete King Recordings
Ace CD
www.acerecords.com
San Francisco-born pianist/singer and songwriter Freeman is pushing 70 now (and still active) but at age 14 he was singing doo-wop with The Romancers for Dootone Records.
As a solo artist he then had a string of rock ’n’ roll and ballad hits for the Josie label in the late ’50s – including the immortal ‘Do You Wanna Dance’ – but in 1960 made the mistake of signing with Syd Nathan’s King empire. He scored almost immediately with ‘Shimmy Shimmy’ but the remainder of the fine soulful sides he cut (18 in all) have been largely unissued until now.
In addition to further self-penned, crackerjack titles like the fervid ballad ‘You Don’t Understand Me’, up-tempo bouncers like ‘There’s Gonna Be A Change’ and ‘Be My Little Chick-A-Dee’ and the ballad masterpiece ‘Please Stay By Me’, Freeman also stirringly revives favorites by Sonny Thompson (the title track), James Brown, Donnie Elbert, Larry Williams and Little Willie John.
The enclosed booklet puts it all in perspective.
Gary von Tersch
Carol Woods
Out Of The Woods
Fantastic Voyage CD
www.futurenoisemusic.com
The church has given generously to secular soul music over the years. One such gift is listening to Carol Woods walk Out Of The Woods for the first time on CD.
Before Woods, the granddaughter of a Pentecostal minister and former gospel choir star, became a successful actor, walking the boards in numerous Broadway musicals and appearing on screen with Eddie Murphy, the native New Yorker was a struggling singer and registered nurse who cut this excellent slice of sophisticated soul for Ember, the small independent label founded by the owner of London's Flamingo Club, Jeffrey Kruger.
Recorded in New York and London between 1970 and ’72, Woods's debut LP was given a UK-only release and gradually slip-slided away, only to become a sought-after item for collectors of ’70s soul.
Listening to Woods' sassy and classy lessons in love, whether it's the finger-poppin' love rush 'Bigger Than I', the smooth-to-the-groove heartbreaker 'Why You Wanna' or the gospel-inflected take of The Chiffons' 'Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?' as her voice rises ever higher over sweeping strings, it's not hard to understand why crates were being furiously dug the world over.
Alan Brown |
