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Friday 9 January 2009

Credit where it’s due

Charles Spencer battles the credit crunch

Best of all, however, is Take Me to the River, a compact and beautifully packaged three-CD set containing 75 prime cuts of Southern Soul. All the tracks were recorded south of the Mason-Dixon line between 1961 and 1975 and almost all of them explore the fleeting pleasure, and the lasting pain, of often adulterous love. If Tamla Motown was the sound of Young America, southern soul is emphatically music for grown-ups. Most of the numbers are mid-tempo or slow, making it unsuitable for dancing but ideal for smooching and indulging in fond memories as the music delves deep into the human heart.

Though the singers were black, the musicians were often white, and they created superb, often surprisingly jaunty grooves for these tales of loss and sorrow, with throbbing bass lines, edgy guitars, swirling organ and punchy brass sections. Many of the thrillingly emotive singers, the best of whom seem to lay bare their very souls in the course of a three-minute song, were inspired by the Gospel music they heard in church each Sunday, Here, however, they celebrate profane rather than sacred love, often with more than a hint of masochism, as such titles as ‘Hurts So Good’ and ‘If I Can’t Run to You I’ll Crawl’ suggest.

The compilers from Ace records have done their usual splendid job, mixing the famous (Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, Aretha Franklin, Al Green) with the less familiar and the downright obscure. There is barely a duff track and heartbreak has rarely sounded so beautiful. This is music to keep your soul warm when the lights go out this winter. q

Charles Spencer is theatre critic of the Daily Telegraph.

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