domingo, 14 de junio de 2009

Clydie King: The Imperial & Minit Years (1964-1968)

Texan born singer Clydie King is better known as a backing singer, having worked for many of the great names, including Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, Ray Charles, Joe Cocker, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Crosby, Stills & Nash and many others. She was one of the most in demand backing vocalists during her decades of singing; yet she only released three albums of her own between 1971 and 1976. Her career began when she was still a teenage, fronting the band Little Clydie and the Teens. She then recorded a series of singles for various labels, including RPM, Minit, Imperial, Specialty, Phillips and Lizard. In 1966 she became one of the original Raelettes backing Ray Charles and later dueting with him on his album Love Country Style, released in 1970. King sang on The Supremes song Nathan Jones as well as the Dylan project Dylan's Gospel. Around the same time her band the Blackberries signed to Motown where they recorded an album which was never released - King was too busy recording for other labels to find time to promote the release. Her next band was called Brown Sugar and in 1973 King had her first and only chart hit with ‘Loneliness (Will Bring Us Together Again)’. This 22-track compilation features all of her singles released through Imperial and Minit Records between 1964 and 1968 in chronological order. Given the close relation of those labels there's a relatively unified feel, kind of a California approach, that mixes in a bit of deep soul roots to a fuller, more New York style of soul. Clydie has also a nice, somewhat shy voice and understated, subtle delivery that comes as a refreshing contrast to the usual soul belters who try so hard to sing their hearts out. Production on some tracks is by Jimmy Holiday and Jerry Riopelle and arrangements are by Rene Hall, Nick DeCaro, and others. It is really great throughout, with a quite surprising strength, given the spare circulation of these singles at the time. The set features the two duets she recorded with the equally underrated Jimmy Holiday; ‘Ready, Willing and Able’ is an up-tempo funky number reminiscent of the girl group sounds of the time. In addition there are 8 previously-unreleased bonus tracks which show her trying some pretty unexpected tunes by the likes of Mickey Newbury, Bobbie Gentry, and Phil Ochs, as well as some rootsier stuff like the bluesy ‘I'm Glad I'm a Woman.’ Other tracks include 'My Love Grows Deeper', 'He Always Comes Back To Me', 'Soft And Gentle Ways', and 'Shing-A-Ling'. http://www.answers.com/, http://www.dustygroove.com/, http://www.bol.com/
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I am afraid this video has very poor quality, but it seems to be the only way to see a performance of Clydie in the '60s:
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7 comentarios:

Noelia Almenara dijo...

http://rapidshare.com/files/244420695/Clydie_King_-_The_Imperial___Minit_Years__1964-1968_.rar

DeaconBlues1103 dijo...

Yes, Nosi, it appears that great minds think alike! We both posted the exact same album at the same time. Spooky!

Troglodyte dijo...

I drove right passed this album because I had not heard of Clydie King and was in a hurry. I almost downloaded it but then I passed on by. Then I saw DeaconBlues had posted the same album along with a couple more of her albums so I read more and reconsidered.

I am sure glad I changed my mind. Clydie has a beautiful voice. I just love this compilation. It is one of the best new discoveries I have found in a while.

I downloaded yours and DeaconBlues just in case one or the other had a glitch. That way I would have another copy. lol So far, not a single imperfection in your rip.

Thanks!

Anónimo dijo...

Great compilation - one small correction: there are no songs written by Phil Ochs on the disc; the only title that matches one of Ochs' is "When in Rome," but the song is entirely different.

hooch dijo...

Thank You!

Troglodyte dijo...

The video is not great quality but it is certainly worth watching. Clydie is a lovely lady and has such a pretty voice. Thanks again for the album and thanks for posting the video.

Stretch dijo...

Your blog is a gold mine of classical soul!!! I thank you for all your hard work and dedicattion in putting together a wonderful site...One of the best I've found thus far!!!

THANKS AGAIN!!!