Friday, April 14, 2006

Rhino Hi-Five: Wilson Pickett

A primer on one of the greatest voices to ever grace planet Earth and why we all miss him.

Rhino's a great company that keeps a lot of great music and TV alive and this EP is a short and sweet, no muss no fuss love letter from Wilson Pickett.

Track 1, "In the Midnight Hour" one of the greatest blues songs ever written. This is one of those songs where Pickett's vocals can take a song any good bar band can do competently (and they have, for decades) and make it great through his sheer vocal talent.

Track 2, "634-5789" a great blues number that is built around Pickett's amazing vocal delivery and a great backing band.

Track 4, "Mustang Sally" the definitive Wilson Pickett song. Raunchy and smooth in equal measure, with a drive that just doesn't let up.

Track 5, "Land of 1000 Dances" a song I first heard from the Blues Brothers movie. And even though they brought in one of their many ringers for this one, Ray Charles in this case, there's just no comparison. Pickett's enthusiasm is always infectious and no one is able to carry off this song the way he did.

No comments: