The Definitive Sound of Atlantic Soul

When I first saw this album, I thought it would be like many classic soul compilations, with it including all of the well-known songs, and straying to some of the recent stuff today. I'm pleased to say that I was wrong. This album not only covers everyone's favourites (Soul Man by Sam and Dave, and Respect by Aretha Franklin) but also contains "Memphis Soul Stew" by King Curtis and "Soul Finger" by the Bar Kays. As a comprehensive tour of many of the Atlantic label's finest, it covers the best of everything, from those everybody has heard of, to those the avid soul fan recognises. Fantastic sounds!

This is the greatest collection of Soul Music on one purchase. Atlantic is the heart of Sixties soul. Raw talent and wonderful songs. Hit after hit, hours of entertainment. Try keeping your feet still. This is the pride and joy of my CD collection.

It's quite revealing that somebody has tagged this product as "Motown" - when of course, this collection represents the cream of the OTHER side of the 60s soul explosion: The tracks on these CDs have little or nothing to do with the music magicians in Detroit, though they were made during the same period as Motown's golden days, these were made by another set of musical magicians based around Memphis TN.

In the decades since the 1960s, the Motown back catalogue has been more skilfully and continually remarketed and repackaged than Atlantic's. Unfortunately, to some extent, this has skewed the perception of generations who were not even born when these records were new, thinking that Motown was "It" for Soul Music in the 60s. That's simply not true, whilst Motown was big and led the market, it didn't have things all its own way. What a useful tool, then, is this album in resetting that perception. Soul music fans, of whatever age, urgently need to sit down a listen to this lot. It's soul music made for the Atlantic Records label, and yes, it's definitive. It does what it says on the box.

Atlantic records was setup way back in 1947 by Ahmet Ertegün and Herb Abramson - mainly with the aim of marketing what was then known as "black music" - what we now call R&B, Gospel and Jazz. As time went on, they signed up some class acts (for example Ray Charles was under contract to Atlantic through most of the 1950s).

By the 1960s, the label found itself at the cutting edge of the "Soul Music" boom. It had spawned sub-brand labels like Stax and Atco. Along with Motown and a few other smaller players (such as Chess records), it took black music into the mainstream, breaking down the remaining segregation of music. Many of the tracks on this CD represent the sledgehammers that did that breaking down. Tracks like "The Midnight Hour" and "Soul Man" had a honesty, directness, energy and style that cut through the syrup of sweet and coy pop music that had previously reigned supreme. Of course, it helped that the top white groups of the time, Beatles, Stones, Animals etc, loved all this stuff. Many of those bands did their own cover versions of their favourite soul tracks, a compliment that was returned by the black artists when they recorded soulful versions of Beatles and Stones songs!

With such an inferno of forces at work it's hardly surprising that the Soul Music movement caught fire: In one form or another, it's been burning pretty brightly ever since. But, the tracks on this collection are part of the bedrock of that Soul movement. So let's look at the highlights on these discs.

We have a whole heap of classics here, Soul Man, Sweet Soul Music, In The Midnight Hour, Dock of the Bay (Yes!! it's the original and much superior Mono mix, not the gutless stereo mix that know-nothing radio stations now like to play), When a Man Loves a Woman, Aretha's version of "Satisfaction" and so on and on ..

Then, we have the superb Booker T and the MGs doing the bizarre hit Green Onions - an iconicly superb 40 second intro ... followed by another minute and a half of wondering what to do next 8-).

Ray Charles is here with - for example "What'd I Say". Eddie Floyd, The Coasters, soul funk meister Rufus Thomas, The Drifters, Brook Benton and Ben E. King all get a shot in this collection. Especially nice to see the almost-a-hit track "Take a Letter Maria" by R B Greaves included - always loved that track.

The Detroit Spinners and The Persuaders represent a slightly later period into the early 1970s with producer arranger Thom Bell doing some great work for the Spinners on "Could It Be I'm Falling in Love" (also an 80s hit for David Grant and Jaki Graham in the UK).

I played this collection straight through three times when I got it! Uniquely, for me, there is not a track on here that I wanted to skip. That's a powerful testament to the quality of what's on offer here.

It's pretty simple. If you like Soul Music you'll adore this collection. Atlantic Soul - definitively.