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MOJO
DECEMBER 2006
George Soule
* * *
Take A Ride ZANE
Long - awaited inaugural
outing from Southern soul songwriter.
Between recording singles for La Louisianne
in 1965 and his first long player 41 years later,
Soule's been a busy man. A chief architect of
the Southern soul sound, he honed his songwriting
skills for Tommy Couch at Malaco Studios before
settling at Muscle Shoals writing for Jerry Wexler's
stable. Teaming with Don Covay, he co-authored
Shoes for Brook Benton in 1970. As George Glenn
he released his own version two years later and
revisits it here again. It's a great version with
Soules voice smooth and warm yet capable of a
husky rasp when necessary. His take on I'll Be
Your Everything, a US R&B Top 20 hit he scribed
for Percy Sledge in 1974, is equally fab, while
the George Jackson composition Get Involved, a
passionate slice of funk, resonates as fiercely today
as it did when Soule's original take was adopted as
a civil rights rallying cry in the early '70s.
Lois Wilson
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IN THE BASEMENTNOVEMBER 2006 - JANUARY 2007 George Soule * star pick Take A Ride ZANE ZNCD 1024
You've seen the man's name in the songwriting credits on many
a southern soul hit and youÕre doubtless familiar with his 1973
Fame outing, 'Get Involved' - revived here - but now, fresh from
the plaudits gathered from the 'Country Soul Revue' project,
George Soule steps into the spotlight in his own right at long last.
'Take A Ride' was produced by Mark Nevers at the Beech House
Studio in Nashville and if you think Nevers and Beech House look
familiar, they are the producer and studio that brought you Candi
Staton's 'star-picked' masterpiece, 'His Hands'. It's an award
winning combination and it's just hit the bullseye again. Not every
song carries the Soule name in the writing credits: pals such as
Larry Henley and Eddie Struzick penning the strolling horn
supported opener, 'Something Went Right' - a perfect item to
smack you right between the eyes from the off - and Dan Penn
and Spooner Oldham were responsible for the party-heavy rocker
'Come On Over'. Other outside material includes the moody ÔFind
The Time' (JL Nichols/W Nunes) and the country-slanted plodder
'Wait and See (Greg Cartwright). 'Shoes' was a top r&b hit for
Brook Benton on Cotillion just as 1971 kicked in but liner writer,
Nial Briggs, tells us that George recorded his own version of the
song (he had written with Don Covay) a year later under the name
of George Glenn. It gets a remake here, while our man adds his
own special magic to 'I'll Be Your Everything' and 'My World
Tumbles Down', vehicles for Percy Sledge (the former) and
Reuben Howell, Jimmy Jules and the Patterson Singers (the
latter).Elsewhere, the driving 'Take A Ride' defies you to keep
your feet from tapping; the horn filled 'Bend Over Backwards',
with vocal support from multi-tracked Ann McCrary and a
credential of being cut by Ernie Shelby for Polydor in 1972 and
the 'bonus track' A Man Can't Be A Man' maintain the high quality.
Just one track left to mention and, if there was any doubt the 'Star
Pick' rating, here's the clincher..'Trust'. Written by Soule with
Deborah Ball-Lau, it's an intense ballad that features just George
Supported by Tony Crow on Wurlitzer and both it and the man
Himself simply ooze S-0-U-L .
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