I keep my eye out for things from Muscle Shoals. Everything recorded there is worth a listen. It has a groove that appeals to me. As I prepared to go there last year I started doing a bit of research on what was actually recorded there or involved personnel from the Swampers. I started to take mental notes of what was out there, what I thought sounded interesting and what I might buy. Albums titles and artists names have embedded themselves in my memory so as I sift through sale bins I seem to know when to stop and read the liner notes. I would also add album titles it to my wantlist on the Discogs website. Obsessive but maybe not so compulsive.
Anyway over the last six months or so I have grown my collection of Muscle Shoals Music quite a lot - some I have paid a bit for and some have been bargain basement stuff - with the emphasis on bargain!
One of my favourite recent additions has been Margie Joseph's Makes a New Impression on the Volt label. Some of this was recorded at Stax with the BarKeys and some down the road at Muscle Shoals.
It opens with a monologue about trust and fidelity and then launches into a funky version of Stop! In the Name of Love that really let's you know what the song is all about. Other highlights include the similarly themed Temptation's About to Take Your Love and How Beautiful the Rain.
Very tasty all round.
A little bit more interesting is Barry Goldberg's Blast From My Past. I knew nothing about Mr Goldberg at the time but the album has Eddie Hinton, Duanne Allman, Danny Whitten and Harvey Mandell on guitars - wow what a collection of pedigree. I do not think that Goldberg is a keyboard organ player that, as happens frequently for music fanatacists once I hear about an artist I start seeing his name everywhere. So I now know that Barry started out in a high school band with Steve Miller and also played in early blues band with Michael Bloomfield. Today even there was a connection when I saw that Barry wrote one of the songs on a Gladys Knight album I was playing
I could not find a link to any songs off the album but here are Goldberg and Mike Bloomfield playing two of the tracks from the album Jimi the Fox and Blues for Barry and Michael .
Anyway over the last six months or so I have grown my collection of Muscle Shoals Music quite a lot - some I have paid a bit for and some have been bargain basement stuff - with the emphasis on bargain!
It opens with a monologue about trust and fidelity and then launches into a funky version of Stop! In the Name of Love that really let's you know what the song is all about. Other highlights include the similarly themed Temptation's About to Take Your Love and How Beautiful the Rain.
Very tasty all round.
A little bit more interesting is Barry Goldberg's Blast From My Past. I knew nothing about Mr Goldberg at the time but the album has Eddie Hinton, Duanne Allman, Danny Whitten and Harvey Mandell on guitars - wow what a collection of pedigree. I do not think that Goldberg is a keyboard organ player that, as happens frequently for music fanatacists once I hear about an artist I start seeing his name everywhere. So I now know that Barry started out in a high school band with Steve Miller and also played in early blues band with Michael Bloomfield. Today even there was a connection when I saw that Barry wrote one of the songs on a Gladys Knight album I was playingI could not find a link to any songs off the album but here are Goldberg and Mike Bloomfield playing two of the tracks from the album Jimi the Fox and Blues for Barry and Michael .
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