"Do Right Man" by DAN PENN (1994 Sire/Warmer Brothers/Blue Horizon CD Album) - A Review by Mark Barry...

"...I Leave Myself Wide Open..."

It's one thing to be able to write great songs that are name-checked as masterpieces some 45 years later (Penn has scribed many as you will find out) – but it's another ball of wax to find out that the man can actually sing 'Soulful' too - gargle warmth and personality with the best of them –reminding you at times of great unsung white male singers with black Soulful voices like Eddie Hinton and Terry Reid.

The premise here is this – Alabama’s DAN PENN - a 60ts and 70ts gifted white boy in-house songwriter working with huge names in the Soul and Rock world in Rick Hall’s legendary powerhouse FAME STUDIOS in Muscle Shoals – revisits his old hits in his old stomping ground with his playing buddies at his side. He will do 'his' versions of songs made famous by icons like Aretha Franklin - her 1967 smash "Do Right Woman, Do Right Man" on Atlantic Records, James Carr's 1967 hurting "The Dark End Of The Street" on Goldwax, Percy Sledge's 1966 heartbreaker "It Tears Me Up" on Atlantic, James and Bobby Purify's 1966 ode to devotion "I'm Your Puppet" on Bell Records and "You Left The Water Running" - a song so popular it was first done by Barbara Lynn, Otis Redding, Maurice & Mac, Sam & Dave, Ralph Jackson and Wilson Pickett. In fact in the case of "I'm Your Puppet" - a song also done by Dionne Warwick and as a duet with Marvin Gaye and Valerie Simpson - I'd argue that the new 1994 Penn version excels the sublime original and all other retellings - instilling the new take with incredible pathos, genuine beauty and feel. I play this sucker into the ground - always moving me. But let's get to the technical details first...

UK released 31 October 1994 - "Do Right Man" by DAN PENN on Sire/Warner Brothers/Blue Horizon 9362-45519-2 (Barcode 093624551928) was Produced by DAN PENN and GEORGE DRAKOULIAS, Recorded and Mixed at MUSCLE SHOALS SOUND STUDIOS in Sheffield, Alabama and Mastered by STEPHEN MARCUSSEN (he handled the 2009 Rolling Stones Remasters). The 16-page booklet has liner notes from noted R 'n' B and Soul Writer/Historian PETER GURALNICK and its ten-tracks plays to 37:15 minutes:

1. The Dark End Of The Street

2. Cry Like A Man

3. It Tears Me Up

4. You Left The Water Running

5. Do Right Woman Do Right Man

6. Memphis Women And Chicken

7. Zero Willpower

8. He'll Take Care Of You

9. I'm Your Puppet

10. Where There's A Will (There's A Way)

The band reunites Penn with:

REGGIE YOUNG and JIMMIE JOHNSON on Lead Guitars

BOBBY EMMONS, SPOONER OLDHAM, DAVID BRIGGS and CARSON WHITSETT on Keyboards

DAVID HOOD on Bass

ROGER HAWKINS on Drums.

The MEMPHIS HORNS on all cuts are:

WAYNE JACKSON on Trumpet, HARVEY THOMPSON on Tenor Sax

DOUG MOFFET on Baritone Sax (Flute on "He'll Take Care Of You")

CHARLES ROSE on Trombone

BACKING SINGERS on all cuts are:

AVA ALDRIDGE, CINDY RICHARDS-WALKER, LENNY LeBLANC, BUZZ CASON and GEORGE SOULE

DELBERT McCLINTON plays Harmonica on "Memphis Women And Chicken"

It's true that the new songs are competing with tunes so ingrained in your consciousness that it's hard to think of the newbees as anything you could compare favourably with the old - but I'd argue that Penn succeeds. His interpretations of "Dark End Of The Street", "It Tears Me Up" and especially "Do Right Woman Do Right Man" are spine-tinglingly good. And that "I'm Your Puppet" just does me in. Not to be outdone there are 'new' old songs too - tunes he's returned to that apparently lay unfinished - some for over twenty years.

There's the slow groove of "Cry Like A Man" - maybe an answer song to "Cry Like A Baby" - a Penn tune picked up by Arthur Alexander and Cher in 1969. The jaunty greasy food song "Memphis Women And Chicken" and the truly gorgeous "Zero Willpower" - a song you'd swear has to have been done by some Soul giant back in the Sixties but turns out to be new - a modern day classic (lyrics from it title this review). It ends on the Funky Brass groover "Where There's A Will (There's A Way)" which is good rather than being great.

He would tour this album with just Spooner Oldham - voices and keyboards - simple, eloquent and Soulful. And in some ways that's how you would sum up this overlooked beauty of an album – an eloquent slice of Modern Day Soul by a songwriter who helped shape its very foundations.

Get the 'Do Right Man' into your life soon as poss...

"Sweet Inspiration – The Songs Of Dan Penn And Spooner Oldham" by VARIOUS ARTISTS. A Review Of The 2011 Ace Records CD Compilation.

"…I’m Yours…To Have And To Hold…"

You know you’re in the presence of a great compilation when the compilers put Dionne Warwick and Charlie Rich on a 'soul' CD – clever choices and class acts. And this latest issue in Ace’s 'Songwriters' series is a real class act - a bit of a masterpiece frankly.
But to the details first…

Released Monday 31 January 2011 in the UK (15 February 2011 in the USA), Ace Records CDCHD 1284 breaks down as follows (66:52 minutes):

1. Out Of Left Field by PERCY SLEDGE (1967, Atlantic 2396)
2. I’m Your Puppet by DIONNE WARWICK (1968, Scepter 12352)
3. Sweet Inspiration by THE SWEET INSPIRATIONS
(1968, Atlantic 2476)
4. A Woman Left Lonely by CHARLIE RICH (1971, Epic 10745)
5. I Worship The Ground You Walk On by ETTA JAMES
(1968, Cadet 5606)
6. I’m Living Good by THE OVATIONS (1969, Goldwax 342)
7. Take Me (Just As I Am) by SOLOMON BURKE (1967, Atlantic 2416)
8. Cry Like A Baby by ARTHUR ALEXANDER (1969, Sound Stage 7 2652)
9. It Tears Me Up by JEANNE NEWMAN
(Previously Unreleased Goldwax Recording From 1966)
10. Slippin’ Around With You by ART FREEMAN (1966, Fame 1008)
11. I Met Her In Church by TONY BORDERS (1969, Revue 11040)
12. Are You Never Coming Home by SANDY POSEY (1967, MGM 13824)
13. Let It Happen by JAMES CARR
(Previously Unissued Alternate Version of Goldwax 323)
14. Everything I Am by THE BOX TOPS (1967, Mala 580)
15. Feed The Flame by TED TAYLOR (1967, Atco 6481)
16. Watching The Trains Go by TONY JOE WHITE
(1968, Monument 1053)
17. In The Same Old Way by ARTHUR CONLEY (1966, Fame 1007)
18. Denver by RONNIE MILSAP (1969, Scepter 12246)
19. Dreamer by PATTI LaBELLE And THE BLUEBELLES
(1967, Atlantic 2408)
20. Good Things Don’t Come Easy by IRMA THOMAS
(Originally Unissued Chess Recording From 1967 Put Out In 1988)
21. I Need Someone by THE WALLACE BROTHERS (1968, Jewel 792)
22. He Ain’t Gonna Do Right by BARBARA LYNN (1968, Atlantic 2585)
23. Wish You Didn’t Have To Go by TOMMY ROE (1965, ABC 10706)
24. Let’s Do It Over by JOE SIMON (1965, Vee-Jay 694)

The mastering has been done by NICK ROBBINS at Sound Mastering in London and the extensive 28-page booklet features a 10,000-word exploration of every track by noted soul aficionados TONY ROUNCE and BOB DUNHAM. I’ve raved about the Bear Family CD compilations “Sweet Soul Music” from 1961 to 1970 (reviewed all 10) and their great sound and packaging (regularly hitting 70 pages and beyond in each booklet) – well Ace are on the same tip here because their booklet is a truly fabulous read – and beautifully laid out. There isn’t a wasted page – photos of the artists, 7” US singles in their label bags (some demos), trade adverts – it’s just a feast of informative and enthusiastic detail that enhances your enjoyment of these deeply Southern Soul sides. Even the inlay under the see-through plastic tray advertises other Ace releases with Penn/Oldham songs on them – and after hearing this peach - imminent purchase of all seven advertised CDs may become a priority – credit-crunch or no…

The sound quality varies from the merely good (“Out Of Left Field”) to the stupendous (“Take Me (Just As I Am)”, “Dreamer” and “I Need Someone” - and back again. Mostly it just sounds great throughout. These are big American labels and rarely does the quality dip. But what overrides all of that is the awesome material itself and how it’s been sequenced…

Take “I’m Your Puppet” (lyrics above) – the version everyone knows and loves is by James And Bobby Purify – Ace has craftily chosen a lesser-heard but equally sweet Dionne Warwick version from her 1969 US album “Soulful”. When I put this CD in our shop play shuffle on Saturday, this track immediately brought soul customers to the counter asking after it. The intense Percy Sledge version of “It Tears Me Up” is another – the compilers know that as good as it may be, Percy’s version has been heard one too many times – so it’s been replaced with a countrified-soul version by Bobby Gentry soundalike Jeanne Newman – and it’s just brilliant. And a major previously unreleased coup occurs with the James Carr track – Ace have uncovered an alternate take of the slow and majestic “Let It Happen” where the background vocals are removed - it even features him talking a little as the track plays out – wow!

Then there’s the picture on Page 17 of the ultra-rare Tony Borders Fame 7” single “I Met Her In Church” – it’s a Northern Soul monster and will have NS fans weak at the knees and stroking their debit cards with an evil glint in their eye - already forming a great excuse for the wife when she gets to see the bank statements at the end of the month. It all ends of a lethal triple-whammy – Barbara Lynn and Joe Simon versions to die for - even the “Dizzy” Tommy Roe gets a moment to shine on “Wish You Didn’t Have To Go”.

Niggles - I suppose looking at the 66 minute plus playing time - you could argue that more tracks should have been included, but actually I think the lack of overkill is perfect – quality and not quantity.

To sum up - both Penn and Oldham have been underground white-boy songwriters for Black Soul music for decades – and finally this disc does them justice. I’m more than impressed – easily one the hippest and best reissues to date in 2011. Well-done boys and roll on Volume 2…

PS: if you want to hear Dan Penn cover his own huge hits – check out his own solo outing on CD from 1991 called “Do Right Man” – it’s brilliant and he’s possessed of the loveliest Tony Joe White type voice and warmth.