Alice Clark – S/T
Posté : 23 juin 2011 19:21
Alice Clark – S/T (Mainstream MRL 362, 1972)
Titres
A1 I Keep It Hid 3:27
(Jimmy Webb)
A2 Looking At Life 3:10
(John Bromley, Petula Clark)
A3 Don't Wonder Why 3:22
(Leonard Caston)
A4 Maybe This Time 3:18
(Fred Ebb, John Kander)
A5 Never Did I Stop Loving You 2:34
(Juanita Fleming)
B1 Charms Of The Arms Of Love 2:38
(Bobby Hebb)
B2 Don't You Care 2:49
(Bobby Hebb)
B3 It Takes Too Long To Learn To Live Alone 3:34
(Leon Carr, Robert Allen)
B4 Hard Hard Promises 3:05
(Bobby Hebb)
B5 Hey Girl 3:16
(Earl DeRouen)
Arrangements : Ernie Wilkins
Production : Bob Shad
Cet album est un sommet du genre de la soul. Pas de la mièvrerie année 80 chantée par un certain L R... (petit chambrage en règle). Un vrai régal à chaque fois que je le pose sur ma platine, pas mécontent d’avoir l’original, sachant que maintenant il se monnaie pour beaucoup.
Heureusement pour ceux qui préfèrent pas trop dépenser ou n’ont pas la chance de tomber dessus, l’album a été réédité.
J’ai toujours été étonné de voir cet album sur ce label de jazz créé par le producteur de l’album d’Alice Clark (qui pour la petite histoire a aussi produit Janis Joplin, une des voix féminines qui me fait le plus décoller et me prend le plus aux tripes…).
La voix d’Alice Clark elle aussi prend aux tripes. Je trouve la pochette superbe, le regard d’Alice Clark traduisant bien le contenu de l’album, la photo est parfaite sur le fond graphique de Mainstream que je trouve toujours excellent. D’ailleurs Mainstream a toujours de très belles pochettes, un peu comme Blue Note mais dans un style différent. Ces labels font encore plus acheter le vinyle pour l’objet et son contenant !
Je reprends textuellement le bel article d’Allmusic:
"The self-titled 1972 disc from Alice Clark has more than stood the test of time, it is a sublime masterpiece of R&B/pop from the house of Bob Shad, the jazz producer who founded Mainstream Records, the original home for this superior project.
Perhaps it isn't a coincidence that Clark's repertoire is exactly the kind of material Janis Joplin would pick up on in her days after Big Brother & the Holding Company, as this was also the first imprint that Joplin & the Holding Company recorded for professionally.
Jimmy Webb's "I Keep It Hid" starts things off, one of the singles released from this original package and a nugget from another soul masterpiece, Supremes Arranged and Produced by Jimmy Webb, when Webb oversaw the post-Diana Ross girl group the same year as this release.
A rendition of Fred Ebb and John Kander's tune, "Maybe This Time" from the motion picture Cabaret, is included along with three compositions from "Sunny" author Bobby Hebb. The collection of material from Webb, Ebb, and Hebb is actually genius A&R because all of it is a perfect fit. Northern soul fans and R&B critics are aware of this hidden treasure, but the buildup in this review of all the magnificent trappings shouldn't overshadow the fact that Alice Clark delivers the goods from start to finish.
Some call it acid jazz, but truth be told, beyond the cult niches of space age bachelor pad and Northern soul -- the base that keeps obscure gems such as this bubbling on a variety of radar screens -- this is some of the best R&B you've probably never heard. The trifecta of Bobby Hebb songs include "Don't You Care" and "Hard, Hard Promises," two titles Hebb has yet to release on his own.
The third is an up-tempo version of "The Charms of the Arms of Love" which concluded his 1970 album Love Games. Clark rips apart "It Takes Too Long to Learn to Live Alone" in wonderful fashion with tasteful guitar, chirping horns, and restrained vibraphone.
Juanita Fleming's "Never Did I Stop Loving You" is just brilliant as the vocals take off into different dimensions inside and between the unique melody.
The final track,"Hey Girl," is not the famous Carole King/Freddy Scott hit -- it's a true find originally covered by Donny Hathaway and written by Hathaway's percussion player, Earl DeRouen. Here Clark changes it to "Hey Boy" in a lively, jazz-heavy jaunt which concludes the Toshiba/EMI version of this dynamite set of recordings that should have made Alice Clark a superstar.”
Don’t You Care
Looking At Life
Charms of the Arms of Love
Never Did I Stop Loving You
Hard Hard Promises
Titres
A1 I Keep It Hid 3:27
(Jimmy Webb)
A2 Looking At Life 3:10
(John Bromley, Petula Clark)
A3 Don't Wonder Why 3:22
(Leonard Caston)
A4 Maybe This Time 3:18
(Fred Ebb, John Kander)
A5 Never Did I Stop Loving You 2:34
(Juanita Fleming)
B1 Charms Of The Arms Of Love 2:38
(Bobby Hebb)
B2 Don't You Care 2:49
(Bobby Hebb)
B3 It Takes Too Long To Learn To Live Alone 3:34
(Leon Carr, Robert Allen)
B4 Hard Hard Promises 3:05
(Bobby Hebb)
B5 Hey Girl 3:16
(Earl DeRouen)
Arrangements : Ernie Wilkins
Production : Bob Shad
Cet album est un sommet du genre de la soul. Pas de la mièvrerie année 80 chantée par un certain L R... (petit chambrage en règle). Un vrai régal à chaque fois que je le pose sur ma platine, pas mécontent d’avoir l’original, sachant que maintenant il se monnaie pour beaucoup.
Heureusement pour ceux qui préfèrent pas trop dépenser ou n’ont pas la chance de tomber dessus, l’album a été réédité.
J’ai toujours été étonné de voir cet album sur ce label de jazz créé par le producteur de l’album d’Alice Clark (qui pour la petite histoire a aussi produit Janis Joplin, une des voix féminines qui me fait le plus décoller et me prend le plus aux tripes…).
La voix d’Alice Clark elle aussi prend aux tripes. Je trouve la pochette superbe, le regard d’Alice Clark traduisant bien le contenu de l’album, la photo est parfaite sur le fond graphique de Mainstream que je trouve toujours excellent. D’ailleurs Mainstream a toujours de très belles pochettes, un peu comme Blue Note mais dans un style différent. Ces labels font encore plus acheter le vinyle pour l’objet et son contenant !
Je reprends textuellement le bel article d’Allmusic:
"The self-titled 1972 disc from Alice Clark has more than stood the test of time, it is a sublime masterpiece of R&B/pop from the house of Bob Shad, the jazz producer who founded Mainstream Records, the original home for this superior project.
Perhaps it isn't a coincidence that Clark's repertoire is exactly the kind of material Janis Joplin would pick up on in her days after Big Brother & the Holding Company, as this was also the first imprint that Joplin & the Holding Company recorded for professionally.
Jimmy Webb's "I Keep It Hid" starts things off, one of the singles released from this original package and a nugget from another soul masterpiece, Supremes Arranged and Produced by Jimmy Webb, when Webb oversaw the post-Diana Ross girl group the same year as this release.
A rendition of Fred Ebb and John Kander's tune, "Maybe This Time" from the motion picture Cabaret, is included along with three compositions from "Sunny" author Bobby Hebb. The collection of material from Webb, Ebb, and Hebb is actually genius A&R because all of it is a perfect fit. Northern soul fans and R&B critics are aware of this hidden treasure, but the buildup in this review of all the magnificent trappings shouldn't overshadow the fact that Alice Clark delivers the goods from start to finish.
Some call it acid jazz, but truth be told, beyond the cult niches of space age bachelor pad and Northern soul -- the base that keeps obscure gems such as this bubbling on a variety of radar screens -- this is some of the best R&B you've probably never heard. The trifecta of Bobby Hebb songs include "Don't You Care" and "Hard, Hard Promises," two titles Hebb has yet to release on his own.
The third is an up-tempo version of "The Charms of the Arms of Love" which concluded his 1970 album Love Games. Clark rips apart "It Takes Too Long to Learn to Live Alone" in wonderful fashion with tasteful guitar, chirping horns, and restrained vibraphone.
Juanita Fleming's "Never Did I Stop Loving You" is just brilliant as the vocals take off into different dimensions inside and between the unique melody.
The final track,"Hey Girl," is not the famous Carole King/Freddy Scott hit -- it's a true find originally covered by Donny Hathaway and written by Hathaway's percussion player, Earl DeRouen. Here Clark changes it to "Hey Boy" in a lively, jazz-heavy jaunt which concludes the Toshiba/EMI version of this dynamite set of recordings that should have made Alice Clark a superstar.”
Don’t You Care
Looking At Life
Charms of the Arms of Love
Never Did I Stop Loving You
Hard Hard Promises