Any Major Dude With Half A Heart

Volume 16 in the series, and no letting up. There are still many more fine soul covers in stock.

Unusually, we kick this one off with an instrumental “” but what an instrumental! King Curtis” cover of A Whiter Shade Of Pale, which also scores the opening sequence of the film Withnail & I. That film was set in 1969, but the song was actually released only in 1971, on Curtis” Live At Filmore West LP.

We”ve had a couple of soul cover mixes of Beatles songs; the overflow will be sprinkled over the next few mixes. Diana Ross” version of Come Together, from 1970, is quite excellent; see what you make of The Impressions” fairly straight cover of The Fool On The Hill.

Joe Simon, on the other hand, delivers a thoroughly reworked take on the Rolling Stones” Let”s Spend The Night Together.

I think I”ve gone on record as saying that every Kris Kristofferson song is best performed by the man himself. Here, Al Green is giving it everything to disprove my notion. Where KK”s version is melancholy about the break-up sex, Al is going to make the final night so memorable that she”ll change her mind about splitting (if it is indeed her who is agitating for separation; what do you think?).

Definitely outperforming the original is Maxine Weldon with her harp-dominated version of Fire And Rain.

It seems right to let the late Major Harris close off the mix with his version of My Way, a terrible song which in his hands is actually quite good once he goes into Philly Soul mode halfway through.

As always, the mix is timed to fit on a standard CD-R, for which homebaked covers are included. PW in comments.

TRACKLISTING
1. King Curtis – A Whiter Shade Of Pale (1971)
2. Diana Ross – Come Together (1970)
3. Joe Simon – Let’s Spend The Night Together (1976)
4. Hodges, James & Smith – I Who Have Nothing (1975)
5. New York City – Hang On Sloopy (1973)
6. Solomon Burke – Proud Mary (1969)
7. The Staple Singers – For What It’s Worth (1967)
8. The Impressions – Fool On The Hill (1969)
9. Jimmy Hughes – I Stand Accused (1967)
10. Al Green – For the Good Times (1972)
11. The Manhattans – By The Time I Get To Phoenix (1970)
12. The Temprees – We’ve Only Just Begun (1972)
13. Gladys Knight & The Pips – The Look Of Love (1968)
14. Maxine Weldon – Fire And Rain (1971)
15. Margie Joseph – Baby I’m A Want You (1974)
16. The Undisputed Truth – Killing Me Softly With His Song (1973)
17. Al Wilson – This Guy’s In Love With You (1968)
18. Major Harris – My Way (1974)

GET IT!

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