Various Artists - Night Train to Nashville: Music City Rhythm & Blues (1945-1970)
Compilations can be funny things. Sometimes they give you all the best in one package; but more often times not. Of course, there's all kinds of underlying reasons as to why every other pop compilation seems to include Duran Duran's Reflex...and everyone is out to make a quick buck buy throwing together some collection. Of course, the vast majority of compilations are geared towards "casual buyers" who are just looking for some background music for their theme party: AKA the "karoake collectors".
So when I saw this album, I knew I was taking a gamble. Gambling that some record label didn't just "inherit" some old masters from 2 defunct labels and release a bunch of terrible sounding relics. But the title won me over. Being a lover of all things from the soul/blues/R&B strain...I admit I don't own a huge variety of the genre. I enjoy my share of some obscure Northern Soul that the Europeans have managed to throw together on a CD; but Motown, Hi, Loma, Chess and Atlantic seem to pop up over and over again on the bindings of my recordings.
And sometimes...just sometimes, you get lucky.
This 2-CD set is nothing less than a precious piece of American musical history. It was actually compiled by the Country Music Hall of Fame's employee's (something I didn't find out until opening the packaging). The stylings of the tracks is more diverse than the title would lead you to believe - and yet they all have a similar "flavor" to them. Every word of every lyric is sung like it was felt a thousand times before it was ever recorded. You can also close your eyes and imagine the White youth in America (and other places...Anna (Go To Him) by Arthur Alexander is included...which was covered by the Beatles). You can hear the influence that this music had on the more "refined" soul of the northern locales. Conversely, you can also hear the influence that traditional country music had on R&B/early rock 'n' roll.
The tracks appear in chronological order; yet the consistency in sould quality is amazing! And to keep things interesting, there are some off-the-wall bonus tracks such as a radio commerical by Little Richard himself.
This is definitely a collection with more duds then gems...if there are any "duds" to begin with. For anyone who likes their soul with a bit of southern-fried crunch...these two CDs would satisfy you totally.
So when I saw this album, I knew I was taking a gamble. Gambling that some record label didn't just "inherit" some old masters from 2 defunct labels and release a bunch of terrible sounding relics. But the title won me over. Being a lover of all things from the soul/blues/R&B strain...I admit I don't own a huge variety of the genre. I enjoy my share of some obscure Northern Soul that the Europeans have managed to throw together on a CD; but Motown, Hi, Loma, Chess and Atlantic seem to pop up over and over again on the bindings of my recordings.
And sometimes...just sometimes, you get lucky.
This 2-CD set is nothing less than a precious piece of American musical history. It was actually compiled by the Country Music Hall of Fame's employee's (something I didn't find out until opening the packaging). The stylings of the tracks is more diverse than the title would lead you to believe - and yet they all have a similar "flavor" to them. Every word of every lyric is sung like it was felt a thousand times before it was ever recorded. You can also close your eyes and imagine the White youth in America (and other places...Anna (Go To Him) by Arthur Alexander is included...which was covered by the Beatles). You can hear the influence that this music had on the more "refined" soul of the northern locales. Conversely, you can also hear the influence that traditional country music had on R&B/early rock 'n' roll.
The tracks appear in chronological order; yet the consistency in sould quality is amazing! And to keep things interesting, there are some off-the-wall bonus tracks such as a radio commerical by Little Richard himself.
This is definitely a collection with more duds then gems...if there are any "duds" to begin with. For anyone who likes their soul with a bit of southern-fried crunch...these two CDs would satisfy you totally.
