Album Reviews

There was a time when recordings studios were scenes, and the scenes produced great records, much like bar and club scenes produce great performers.

Though it had been around since 1959 and produced hits almost from beginning, the scene began to peak at Muscle Shoals Alabama's FAME Studios in the late 1960's. It's where 'Southern Rock' sprung and it's to there that the biggest recording stars of the era like Aretha Franklin, Duane Allman, Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, Etta James and even Tom Jones and Wayne Newton traveled to make records hoping to capture the studio's hit vibe and its intimate, direct-to-the-heart sound.

Etta recorded 'Tell Mama' at FAME. Aretha cut 'I Never Loved A Man. Wilson Pickett cut 'Land of 1000 Dances' and 'Mustand Sally' there.

The studio also boasted a roster of stellar session players including a legendary series of rhythm sections, the second of which included Jimmy Johnson (who engineers here), David Hood, Roger Hawkins and Barry Beckett.

I don't have the complete history, but this FAME recording was issued on Jewel Records in 1970. In March of 1969, the second rhythm section announced the opening of their own Muscle Shoals Sound Studios, financed with help from Atlantic's Jerry Wexler, who after completing the production of 'I Never Loved a Man' had supposedly stormed out of FAME with Aretha, after her husband complained that one of the back up musicians had hit on her.

So this record, featuring Beckett (keyboards), Hawkins (drums) and Hood (bass) plus Eddie Hinton on guitar must have been cut at FAME just before the walkout. Gene Kent, who I assume ran Kent Records, Fulsom's previous label. Perhaps the plan here was to produce a hit record using the hot studio and crack rhythm section.

The idea was a good one, with Fulsom's smooth but straightforward and gritty blues-tinged vocals meshing effectively with a stripped down bar band edition of the Muscle Shoals sound. It should have coincidentally appealed to a broad white audience, which was just becoming acquainted with The Allman Brothers Band, whose second and very successful album Idlewild South was issued the same year.

Either this album got lost in the business mess, or it was about a year ahead of its time. Whatever the cause, it fell between the cracks but now thanks to Sundazed it's back for you to enjuoy on vinyl.

Fulsom, who wrote 'Reconsider Baby' for Elvis and 'Tramp' for Otis and Carla, was almost 50 when this was recorded, twenty plus years after he'd had his first hit, 'Three O'Clock Blues,' in 1948.

Yes, Fulsom's vocals are big, powerful and models of smoldering control, and of course you know the rhythm section is going to set down a hot groove, but the real star of this record, for me at least, is guitarist Eddie Hinton, who just rips this record to pieces, laying down slashing, sometimes ferocious, often elastic licks Duane Allman would be proud to have played.

After the opener 'Look At You Baby' lures you in with its loping Allman Brothers' rhythm and piercing slide stings, you'll get hooked on the humorous'Why Don't We Do It In The Road' cover and then the slinky, horn punctuated 'Sleeper.'

There won't be an unfamiliar lick or an off the road melodic turn, but it doesn't matter because this kind of unselfconscious pure music making retains its classic appeal and, having been produced at the form's peak, its power is overwhelming.

The sound is classic FAME direct and clear, with big, meaty instrumental images probably recorded to 4 track and panned in the hard left/right/center style of the time.

Guitarist Hinton, who was 29 when this was recorded, played on albums by Solomon Burke, Elvis, Otis Redding, Joe Tex, Percy Sledge and even The Box Tops, also had a successful songwriting career. Yet he ended up living on the streets before being rescued by an old friend who helped him resurrect his career. This album is worth having just for Hinton's performance, though everyone else, and of course especially Fulsom, contribute equally.

Not a thick, audiophile-style pressing, and not the quietest either, but also not expensive. A rediscovered gem, well worth your while!