I spent the best part of the last 2 days reseting my PC after windows kept crashing and had to start from scratch getting it back to some sort of normality...Windows 11 is a complete bag of crap that microsoft STILL havent gotten right...Bloody Nightmare, i nearly called it a day but after sweat and toil here i am again,a mug for punishment 🤣..........With over 30 studio albums and over 100 x 45,s to her name Candi Staton is one of the finest female singers ever to grace a Southern
Soul recording, her achingly vulnerable vocals perfect for the lyrics of
the best country/soul songs. Luckily for us, during her tenure at Rick
Hall’s Fame label she got the best songs, mostly from the pen of George
Jackson, perhaps the top Southern Soul songwriter of his generation.
George spent every waking minute of his day writing songs and probably
came up with a few while he dreamt too. As Candi herself said, “That was
his thing. Brought to the FAME studio by her then
husband to be Clarence Carter, Candi had a Top 10 R&B hit with her
very first single on the Fame label, the catchy and upbeat ‘I’d Rather
Be An Old Man’s Sweetheart (Than A Young Man’s Fool)’, penned by Jackson
in 1969. Those who flipped the single over were treated to more
Staton/Jackson magic on the beautiful ballad ‘For You’. From
1969 to 1973, Hall got the very best from Candi, with one gem after
another pouring out of his studio down in rural Alabama, songs of
cheating, heartache and loss such as the superb ‘Mr And Mrs Untrue’, the
edgy ‘Evidence’, the tender ‘Too Hurt To Cry’, the heartrending ‘You
Don’t Love Me No More’ and the churning ‘I’m Just A Prisoner’.Years later Candi revealed that the appealing raw edge which crept into
her voice at times was achieved by Hall urging her on to record the same
song up to 25 times. Though George Jackson was Hall’s writer of choice
for Candi, Rick was also brave enough to take a chance recording her on
songs that were firmly associated with other more established artists.
Candi’s take on Tammy Wynette’s ‘Stand By Your Man’ is a marvelous slice
of Southern Soul whatever your views on the politically incorrect
lyrics, while her exquisite version of ‘In The Ghetto’ rivaled Elvis
Presley’s mega-hit, and both her covers received Grammy nominations. Candi’s complete output on the Fame label, in pristine sound, would be a
mouth watering prospect for any soul connoisseur, but Kent have upped
the ante immeasurably with the addition of 12 previously unissued
tracks, including her final session for the label recorded just before
she signed with Warner Brothers in early 1974. The standard of the
unissued sides is easily on a par with her released material and I
wholeheartedly endorse Dean Rudland’s assessment of these tracks as
significant discoveries in his excellent liner notes accompanying this
release. Here again George Jackson’s name can be found on many of the
credits, including the infectious dancefloor number ‘One More Hurt’
(which has stood the test of time a lot better than many of Candi’s
later disco releases), but the find of Kent’s trawl through the FAME
vaults is ‘We Had It All’, an outstanding country soul ballad written by
Donnie Fritts and Troy Seals and previously recorded by Waylon
Jennings. Candi Staton has since spoken about the ups and downs
in her personal life at the time of these recordings, but even before
we read about it we could hear in her voice that she had lived the
heartache, loneliness and doomed love affairs contained in the lyrics of
these songs. There are many first class Southern Soul records by female
vocalists from the late 60s and early 70s, but none were as
consistently excellent as Candi Staton’s output for the Fame label. This
is simply as good as Southern Soul gets...She is a LEGEND!...On a sour note in a few weeks kent are re-issuing her first 2 albums seperately which is not right when they are both featured on this double CD...Money😦
AMM
The Tasters!
21 comments:
Welcome back & what a way to start , thanks AMM .
Oh man, He Called Me Baby is such a classic. I want/need this one, buddy. Many thanks, AMM!
Good to have you back AMM, Candi Staton is one of Souls great female vocalists
Candi Staton is always wonderful! Thanks for review, P.
Thanks AMM for Candi and good to hear that you recovered😂
Computer hell. Thanks for the beautiful Mrs Clarence Carter.
Thank you AMM for more kent's in flac
Thanks AMM for the Candi and sorry to hear of your computer woes.
Superb review my friend, glad you are sorted mate, Windows was the beginning of my greyness ha
Thanks for the review and - a great album all around!
Here's a soulful slogan for Windows 11: "Do it in the name of love!" 👊
Thanks, AMM!
Thank you very much AMM,Always Appreciated
There are a lot of Candi goodies on these tracks. She was a fine if not the finest southern soul singer. Thank you AMM.
Welcome back to the digital world of control from Win 11 enough of that Great Review here thanks for that as for Kent with those reissues not the first time with there track swapping to new comps Still mostly a great company As for Candi has had some massive hits over the years and what a great singer one of my Favorites Thanks AMM
Cheers Pedro
Great review, it's a keeper
yeah this is still great; for me esp a stereo version of "For You" the most!; thanks AMM
great comp AMM many thanks Reb
Thanks for a great reveiw AMM glad your back
Welcome back to both of us!(thanks for the re-invite)Just in time for a mega Candi Staton post!!Looking forward to this! ATB
Cheers!
Bill
Thanks a million for this.
Just another great review to make my day. Thanks AMM;
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