Ben E King – What Is Soul?
Mr Ben E King
Listen/Download – Ben E King – What Is Soul
Greetings all.
I hope all is well in your corner of the world.
I should remind you all that the Funky16Corners Radio Show once again takes to the airwaves of the interwebs this Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio.
This week we have a very groovy – and in the words of Slim Gaillard “Mellow like a cello” – all soul ballads show for you. If you can’t make it at the time of broadcast, you can always stop by the blog and pick up the MP3 version of the show over the weekend, or listen to it in the Flash player in the sidebar.
The tune I bring you today fell into my ears fairly late in the game.
I have to be honest and say that I have slept on the sounds of Ben E King in a big way.
Aside from ‘Spanish Harlem’, the Soul Clan, various and sundry Drifters cuts, and of course ‘Stand By Me’ (one of those tunes I never need to hear again), I hadn’t heard much of anything else from his catalog.
Then someone, somewhere (I forget who) posted a clip of ‘What is Soul?’ and I was all “What the hey?”
Where had this gem been all my life?
I started to look for a copy forthwith and was initially unsuccessful.
It seemed that most of the available copies were over in the UK (where it was included on a popular late 60s comp) or over here for prices a little higher than I was willing to spend.
Fortunately, as one of the old dogs that has been able to learn a new trick along the way, I was patient, did a saved search and a nice copy popped up before long at an even nicer price.
The appeal, upon first listen is obvious.
The tune, recorded with Eric Gale’s band in October of 1966, and beginning with a very tasty drum break by Bernard Purdie, ‘What Is Soul?’ is an odd but compelling hybrid soul shout/ballad.
Ben E’s vocal is pure heat and the production/arrrangement by Bob Gallo (who also did Patti LaBelle and the Bluebelles stunning version of ‘Take Me For a Little While’) is hot in every sense of the word. It sounds like one of those sessions where the meters were pushed into the red all the way through the song.
‘What Is Soul’ slipped just inside the R&B Top 40 in January of 1967, remained on the charts for two weeks and then disappeared. King wouldn’t have another big hit until 1975’s ‘Supernatural Thing’.
Interestingly enough, not long after I grabbed this 45, I found a cover of the tune by one of my favorite acts, Benny Gordon and the Soul Brothers (which I’m saving for another time).
Ben E. King would sneak the song through the back door of the Top 40 again in 1977, when his cover of the song with the Average White Band appeared on the b-side of the song ‘A Star In the Ghetto’.
I hope you dig the tune, and I’ll be back on Monday.
Peace
Larry
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Themocracy
Thanks for posting this Larry, haven’t heard it for a while. AWB did a whole album with Ben e King in 1977 – Benny and Us. Includes this song and a good version of Donny Hathaway’s Some Day We’ll All Be Free. It’s worth a listen if you can find it anywhere. I’ve got it on audio cassette and haven’t got around to converting it yet.
I have that AWB/Benny album buried somewhere. I need to dig it out and record it.
Hi Larry, Thanks for reminding me of this fantastic gem – this just oozes soul, passion and intensity. My elder sister introduced me to this track in 1968 via one of my favourite (and influential) albums of all time “This Is Soul”, a budget album from Atlantic. As I recall this cost me 14/6 in old GB money (£0.72p, probably $1.25 at the time). “What Is Soul?” closed side one of the album, and I was blown away the first time I heard it.
That album also introduced me to the Atlantic sound, and its roster of artists including Otis, Wilson, Aretha, Same & Dave, Arthur Conley and Solomon Burke.
Whilst I love the earlier and more mellow Ben E. / Drifters tracks including “Stand By Me” and “Save The Last Dance”, this one absolutely beats ’em to the winner’s post!