Thursday, August 5, 2021

Kent 148 - Syl Johnson - Dresses Too Short/ Is It Because I'm Black(1997)2 Albums For 1 CD-Rare Soul(FLAC)

One of the truly great Soul Artists of all time...A Legend!...Born in 1936 in Mississippi Johnson sang and played with blues artists Magic Sam,Billy Boy Arnold,Junior Wells and Howlin' Wolf in the 1950s,before recording with Jimmy Reed for Vee Jay Records in 1959. He made his solo debut that same year with Federal Records,a subsidiary of King Records of Cincinnati,backed by Freddie King on guitar.He then began recording for Twinight Records of Chicago in the mid 1960s.Beginning with his first hit,Come On Sock It to Me in 1967,Johnson dominated the label as both a hitmaker and producer.Like other black songwriters of the period,several of his records at this time explored themes of African-American identity and social problems in songs including Is It Because I’m Black,which reached Number 11 in the R&B charts in 1969.In 1971, Willie Mitchell brought Johnson to Hi Records, for whom he recorded three albums and a number of singles. Produced in Memphis with the Hi house band, these yielded music of power and enduring value, including the hits We Did It, Back for a Taste of Your Love and Take Me to the River, his biggest success, reaching Number 7 on the R&B charts in 1975. However, at Hi Johnson was always to some extent in Al Green’s shadow commercially, if not artistically.After the Hi years ended, Johnson produced two LPs for his own label Shama, the latter of which (Ms. Fine Brown Frame, 1982) was picked up for distribution by Boardwalk Records, Inc. and produced Johnson’s last hit record, the title cut.
Around the mid-eighies, Johnson started a fast-food fish restaurant business, and became semi-retired from performing, only making occasional appearances at blues club gigs.
In 1992, Johnson found out that his classic song Different Strokes have been sampled by number of rappers including Wu-Tang Clan, MC Hammer, and Geto Boys. Stimulated by this fact, he decided to make a come back in the music business. In 1994, he released the album Back in the Game on Delmark Records. The album featured the the Hi rhythm section and his youngest daughter Syleena Johnson.Blues guitarist and singer Jimmy Johnson, and bassist Mack Thompson are his brothers.This CD Comprises his frist 2 albums,now attaining legendary Status...again thank god for the CD as My LP,s Are badly worn out...Full Artwork Included.....SUPER,SUPER,SOUL!!!    

                                                     2 GREAT TASTERS FROM BOTH ALBUMS BELOW!


 

                                                                        TRACKS ON BACK COVER BELOW(FLAC)




9 comments:

Big Dave said...

This looks great... thanks for the review AMM

BigD

PS - I hope you had a good holiday :)

RMstorm said...

Thanks AMM. Enjoy the rest of your time away.

Little Bill said...

Great review amm, welcome back!

reb.jukebox said...

Didn't expect you back till next week hope you had a great time with your family
Many thanks for more Kent Reb

pedro B said...

Needs no introduction this guy as allway been one of my favorites even bought the box set the first single I got was 'Back for a taste of your love' and 'We did it'

Thanks All Music Man

Cheers Pedro

tsi&hrjs said...

Hope you had a great get away! Thanks for another Kent winner.

tennessee boy said...

Very good voice ! Thanks AMM !

renald said...

Got this guy's whole discography stacked away somewhere. This will be a welcoming addition to my review list.

richsoul said...

I have one part of this but am looking forward to hearing the other part.