Sandra Phillips / Bette Williams: Swamp Dogg's Southern Soul Girls (2007) ... plus

Forget the Swamp Dogg reference in the title, because the work here is totally different than his usual bag and very much in the best female Southern Soul mode of the time. The first half of the compilation features the rare Canyon LP Too Many People in One Bed by Sandra Philips. Even though she only got a chance to cut this one album, it is more than enough to demostrate what a heck of a great singer she was. Jerry (Swamp Dogg) Williams produced, and the set has got a sweet southern style that puts it right up there with the best work of Ann Sexton, Tommie Young, or other obscure southern females from the same generation. There is a great mix of heartbreaking soul and more righteous modes here; definitely enough to show that despite her deep feelings, Sandra is no pushover. Williams wrote most of the songs as well, but they are quite different from his usual fare, quite sensitive stuff without any of the Swamp Dogg jokes or political moments you might expect. Titles include ‘After All I Am Your Wife’, ‘Please Don’t Send Him Back to Me’, ‘Some Mother's Son’, ‘My Man and Me’, ‘Rescue Song’, and ‘To the Other Woman (I'm the Other Woman)’. The second half of the set features some equally great work by Bette Williams: another singer who worked with Swamp Dogg during the same time, but with a style that was almost funkier overall. Most of the Williams material here was issued on singles for the Gregar label from 1970-1971, but the set also features some unissued tracks too, plus 2 numbers from the Swamp Dogg Presents label. Titles include ‘Got to Travel On’, ‘He Took My Hand’, ‘Now That I'm Gone’, ‘If She's Your Wife’, ‘A Feeling’, and ‘Another Man Took My Husband's Place’. The comp also features the instrumental backing track for Bette Williams' ‘He Took My Hand’ -titled ‘Robin Right On’- that was used on the B-side of that single. As bonus tracks I added 4 of Sandra Phillips' earlier '60s 45s, which found favour with the Northern Soul crowd, including the Broadway recordings 'You Succeeded', 'When Midnight Comes' and 'World Without Sunshine' and her 1968 Okeh release 'I Wish I Had Known'. http://www.dustygroove.com/

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A clip of Sandra Phillips performing her monster Blackpool Mecca anthem 'World Without Sunshine', circa 1998: