Dorothy Morrison

Listen/Download – Dorothy Morrison – Ain’t That Peculiar MP3

Listen/Download – Dorothy Morrison – Higher and Higher MP3

Greetings all.

The name Dorothy Morrison ought to be familiar to longtime readers of the blog, as she has been featured here twice before, with her groovy cover of ‘Spirit In the Sky’ and her Loft classic ‘Rain’.

Morrison, who got her start in gospel, working with the California State Youth Choir and then the Edwin Hawkins Singers (that’s her on ‘Oh Happy Day’), eventually appearing in the 1969 film ‘Celebration at Big Sur’ (Dorothy Combs Morrison and the Combs Sisters, singing her first secular single ‘All Gods Children Got Soul’).

Morrison had a relatively brief career in the soul realm, running from 1969 to 1972 (with one last, rare 45 for the Brown Door label in 1975), but the records she did lay down are all excellent.

The record I bring you today is her 1972 version of Marvin Gaye’s ‘Ain’t That Peculiar’ (with a cover of Jackie Wilson’s ‘Higher and Higher’ on the flip).

Morrison had a deep, sultry voice with a remarkable amount of control, and it is displayed to great effect on ‘Ain’t That Peculiar’.

The arrangement starts out smooth, but builds up a nice head of steam, especially when the percussion and flute come in midway through.

The flipside, ‘Higher and Higher’ gets off to a very heavy start, indeed, before settling into a nice groove, which is refreshing when you consider what Rita Coolidge did to the song a few years later.

Oddly, despite the high quality of her records, Morrison was met with almost complete commercial indifference (aside from ‘Rain’ becoming something of an underground dance classic).

After her Brown Door 45 (co-produced by labelmate and fellow Oakland-ite Marvin Holmes), Morrison returned to gospel.

I hope you dig the 45, and I’ll see you all on Friday.

Keep the faith

Larry

 

 

 

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Also, make sure that you check out the links below to the Be The Match Foundation and POAC (click on the logos for more info).

 

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.