Jackie Wilson – Soul Galore
The one, the only, Jackie Wilson!
Listen/Download – Jackie Wilson – Soul Galore
Greetings all.
I hope all is well in your corner of the soulful universe.
As mentioned on Monday, the fam and I had ourselves a nice little vacation down in Washington, and while I did no digging whatsoever, I was lucky enough to have a buddy in the area who had done some for me, picking me up a nice stack of records (some at my specific request) which he was kind enough to pass along while we were visiting.
I got some of it digimatized already, and it will surely appear in this space, as well as on the Funky16Corners Radio Show in the near future.
That – in addition to the stuff that finds its way into the crates via the mailslot – makes for a grip of excellent material now aging in the ‘to-be-blogged’ folder, so stay tuned.
The tune I bring you today is another great example of how I sometimes need to grab my ears and aim them away from the more obscure things in my orbit and concentrate on the bedrock (as it were).
Jackie Wilson is one of the most important soul/R&B artists of the 60s, and while I have a fair amount of his 45s and LPs, I cannot honestly say that I’ve made a serious study of his oeuvre. This is certainly true of many big-name/big-talent, marquee artists of the classic soul era, but I feel especially bad about my neglect in this case, since so many people whose opinions I respect hold Jackie in such high esteem.
One such person, a good friend in records and otherwise is my man Tarik Thornton.
He was up in the hinterlands of Minnesota a while back sitting in with the Hot Pants crew, and I was listening in to his radio set remotely when I heard the tune I bring you today for the first time.
My ears are seasoned enough that I recognized Jackie Wilson’s voice instantly, yet it was immediately obvious that I had never heard the song – ‘Soul Galore’ – before.
I set out to find myself a copy post haste.
Though the tune was first issued in the US by Brunswick in 1966, my copy is a late 60s (1969?) issue from the UK, where it was pressed as a kind of ‘double A-side’ with ‘I Get the Sweetest Feeling’, where both cuts were big with the English soulies.
Where ‘I Get the Sweetest Feeling’ is one of the finest examples of stylish, finely honed Northern Soul (and a melodic masterpiece as well), ‘Soul Galore’ is a storming, dance floor explosion with a relentless drum beat and a powerful horn section, both of which just happen to pale in comparison to Wilson’s vocal.
What is particularly perplexing is the fact that ‘Soul Galore’ does not appear to have charted in either the US or the UK, which might explain why it escaped my notice for so long.
That said, it is without any shadow of a doubt and ass-kicker of the first order.
I hope you dig it and I’ll see you all on Friday.
Peace
Larry
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Themocracy
Nice one Larry.Love this one and a great value 45 to boot!!
One of my all time favorits – thanks a lot Larry. An ass-kicker of the first order, indeed!