Complete Hi Records Vol. 1 1969 - 73

Even if your interest in soul music is thin as a slice of cheese, you STILLgot to gave this! An amazing collection of songs from one of the rawest,sexiest, deepest, meanest, sweetest soul singers that ever lived, backed upby the super tight Hi Rhythm section, a unit that put some serious weight infor those of you who thinks less is more. They got that raw, funky edge totheir music, and never sound boring, calculated or too slick.For me, they are only equalled by Booker T. & The MGs as the best backingband from this period, and it`s easy to hear that someone like Bosco Mannfrom Daptone Records has picked up a few tricks from these guys.Ann Peebles, Good God! What a voice!She's got to be one of the most under-appreciated singers ever.She really should be mentioned alongside Nina Simone and Aretha Franklin.If I had to recommend just one female soul singer for people who are more intofunk than soul, or think a lot of soul music is too smooth or sentimental , Iwould go for Ann Peebles.38 songs, and there is hardly a bad one amongst them.It's impossible to pick favorites, the quality runs right through this one, butnevertheless; "Trouble, heartaches and sadness" got to be one of the greatestheartbreak songs ever made(It's been sampled for another masterpiece;"Shadowboxin" from GZA's "Liquid swords".) and songs like "Make Me Yours","Somebody On Your Case", "I Pity The Fool", "I Take What I Want", "HeartachesHeartaches", "I Can`t Stand The Rain" and "Run Run Run" are just smokinggood tunes.

Four original albums from 1969-1973, on 2CDs here. I suppose Ann Peebles gets most of her airings these days through various sampled hiphop tracks, these two albums contain the original material later lifted. Ann's roots are in gospel choirs and her phrasing, dramatic, often overwrought but surprisingly tender style, is reminiscent of Mahalia Jackson, infused with southern soul. Too many highlights - I'm Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down and I Can't Stand the Rain are up with the best soul songs ever - so to say the other 37 songs or so stand comparison, and are not found wanting, is about as good a recommendation as I can give.

The Complete Ann Peebles On Hi Records, Vol. 1 contains her first four albums, as well as the additional B-sides up to 1974, and contains much of her best work. To find them collected and complete on just two CDs at a reasonable price should make it an irresistible first stop for anyone wishing to add some of Ann Peebles work to their collection on CD.Ann Peebles of course continues to this day to be an important artist, and Volume 2 and beyond are recommended subsequent purchases, but for sheer quantity of gems, such as I Can't Stand The Rain, Feel Like Breaking Up Somebody's Home, I'm Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down, I Pity The Fool, (You Keep Me) Hangin' On and A Love Vibration, all hit singles, this obviously is the place to start, and naturally you get to hear the albums as they were meant to be heard as well as two B-sides that did not appear on albums. Ann Peebles' third album, Part Time Love, named after her hit version of the Little Johnny Taylor track, is an exception to this at it was largely a repackaging of previously released material, and the duplicated tracks are not repeated, but the four new tracks complete disc one, following This Is Ann Peebles. This was her debut album and contains far less original material than her other albums. However I have no complaint at hearing Ann Peebles singing Bettye Swann, Fontella Bass, Aretha Franklin or the untypically funky Isley Brothers hit It's Your Thing.Disc two is essentially Straight From The Heart, a title that sums up Ann Peebles vocal style, and her fourth album, I Can't Stand The Rain. Both contain a number of songs written by Ann and her partner Don Bryant, and some by Hi staff writer Earl Randle.All the tracks were recorded at the Royal Recording Studios in Memphis, produced, engineered and arranged by Willie Mitchell, and hugely benefit from the combined forces of the Hi Records studio band, the Memphis Horns, the Memphis Strings and the backing vocals of Rhodes, Chalmers and Rhodes; the same team of course that created those great Al Green sides.Mastering is very good considering the age of the masters and stereo album mixes have been used throughout, with the strange exception of I've Been There Before. This was also the B-side of Somebody's On Your Case, so possibly the mono single mix has been used in error, as the stereo mix has turned up on previous CD pressings that include the album Straight From The Heart. Both the non-album B-sides, Heartaches Heartaches and I Can't Let Go, are also mono, presumably because they were never mixed into stereo.

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Great album