HERE COMES THE HURT - SOUL BALLADS FROM KING, FEDERAL, & DELUXE

Here Comes The Hurt is a successor to the two volumes of “King’s Serious Soul” that John Ridley compiled for us about 10 years ago. This time, by not sticking strictly to southern soul origins or influences, we’ve been able to include many excellent tracks that weren’t eligible for those previous releases, although the south is still well represented.

James Duncan, Thomas Bailey and Billy Soul have many followers; their tracks, like most on here, appear on CD for the first time. Charles Spurling’s ‘Don’t Let Him Hurt You Baby’ is a great ballad from a man who lived and worked well north of the Mason-Dixon line and usually wrote and sang uptempo numbers. His second offering, ‘Buddy Boy’, also displays his command of all styles within the soul genre.

Ricky Lyons, June Sims and Lee Holland were one-shot artists but cut the mustard on their lone singles. Ricky Lyons’ 45 came out on both the Federal and King labels and has the authority of a soul standard, yet it seems to be his only recording. Toni Williams’ ‘Precious Minutes’ is a little-known southern masterpiece, as is Bobby Wade’s lushly produced ‘Blind Over You’. Bigger acts such as Earl Gaines, Marva Whitney and Pat Lundy sing lesser-known but terrific soul tracks.

Vocal group collectors will enjoy the early soul of the Snapshots and the King Pins and dig the later harmony of Dee Dee, Joseph & David. Lee Holland’s ‘Give Me Back My Heart’ features fabulous backing vocals too. Tony & Carol ‘Let’s Not Wait’ is a harmonious duet that builds to quite a crescendo.

Acts from an earlier era show how they could adapt to the brave new soul era; Hank Ballard and the Bobbettes give virtuoso demonstrations of how to deliver a soulful ballad. Lynn Davis is backed by a female chorus on ‘My New Love’ which, like the Bobbettes, will impress lovers of the girl group sound.

A great deep soul Federal recording, ‘Fall In These Arms Of Mine’ by Johnny Soul is released here for the first time ever. For those with a gospel bent, Christine Kittrell’s ‘Ain’t Never Seen So Much Rain Before’ is a tour-de-force and T.C. Lee & the Bricklayers’ ‘Get Away From Here’ features a preaching lead with chorus straight out of the church.

The sound quality is immaculate; all tracks are taken from the original master tapes. US soul enthusiast Bob Abrahamian provides informative and fascinating notes and there are some great new photos from the King archives. The recordings stretch from 1960 to 1971 and feature a wide range of soul styles on slow burning ballads.

By Ady Croasdell / acerecords.co.uk