Tony Rounce - Take Me To The River: A Southern Soul Story 1961-1977

A deep boxful of pure soul

Compilers Tony Rounce and Dean Rudland modestly avoid calling this “The” Southern Soul Story, but it does that job magnificently, with 75 tracks on a 3-CD box set that’s surely one of the best compilations ever, in any genre.

Unlike Northern soul, named after its original fanbase in the North of England (though, coincidentally, most of the music also came from the Northern USA), Southern soul got its name from its source, the states below the Mason-Dixon line. And, though many fine records in the Southern soul style were made elsewhere, the gold standard was set in places like Memphis, Muscle Shoals, Shreveport, Sheffield, Macon and Miami, in legendary studios like Stax, Fame, Royal, American and Quinvy.

Southern soul, at its best, is probably the most visceral and emotional form of popular music ever created, and this writer has never met anyone, from heavy rockers to classical music aficionados, who doesn’t acknowledge its potency. It’s a fusion of gospel, blues, country and, crucially (at least in its early years), of black voices and mostly white musicians.

Its roots stretch way back, but this Story identifies the first recognisable Southern soul exponents as William Bell and Arthur Alexander. Like many of the artists featured here (and the brilliant 72-page sleevenotes contains some very sad stories) their careers were dogged by bad luck, but they paved the way for the likes of Otis Redding and Al Green to take soul to the world. It’s a tribute to the balance and completeness of this collection that “obvious” names such as Otis (with a ragged but fascinating early take of Try A Little Tenderness), Al, Aretha, Wilson Pickett, Sam & Dave and Joe Tex are included. Quality, not obscurity, is the price of admission here, but there are also enough rarities and “unknown greats” here to please all but the most jaded of soul connoisseurs.

Like Dave Godin’s Deep Soul series, this set deserves to be heard by a much wider audience: in fact anyone with a spine to be tingled, a tear to be shed and a soul to be sanctified.

Kent | KENTBOX 10 (3-CD)

Reviewed by Alan Lewis
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