miércoles, 11 de febrero de 2009

Thelma Jones: Second Chance - The Complete Barry and Columbia Recordings (2007)

Aretha Franklin scored a smash hit in 1968 with ‘The House That Jack Built’, but Harlem-based Thelma Jones recorded the song first. And she did it better, too. It was a seal of approval when Aretha covered you; witness her versions of Ray Charles, Baby Washington, Johnny Ace, Dionne Warwick and Ben E. King songs. Thelma was in great company! Jones’ recording career came in two bursts: ten tracks cut for Barry Records in 1966 through 1968 (including her R&B Top 50 ‘Never Leave Me’ and the Northern Soul stomper ‘Souvenir of a Heartbreak’, both in 1967) and a dozen for Columbia a decade later, when she reappeared with ‘Salty Tears’, a beautiful ballad by the crack songwriting team of Teddy Randazzo and Victoria Pike. Eleven years after her first hit, Thelma brushed the R&B charts for a second and final time with a revival of the Miracles’ ‘I Second That Emotion’. Columbia released her eponymous album that same year. Since then, nothing. What a shame. The oft-funky Barry sides are infused with gospel fervour, while the Columbia decks are glossy, commercial and occasionally disco-fied (in a good way). Yet the two phases sit side-by-side very happily on this compilation, which contains virtually her complete recorded output, thanks to the common denominator of Thelma Jones’ fabulous vocals.~ http://www.acerecords.co.uk/


4 comentarios:

Liam Latrine dijo...

Amazing post.

One question, can I live at your home so I can listen to all of these "now" (lol)

rockinkat dijo...

Any Chance of a re up the link is not working.
Thank you very much.
Great blog you have here.

troods dijo...

wonderful! Thanks.

troods dijo...

oops, you're right. There is something missing at the end of the address that breaks the link.