Format Details: Jewel Case
Release Date: 26 July 2004
Label: Ace Records
Packaging Type: Jewel Case
No of Units: 1
Barcode: 029667002622
Genres: Blues Rhythm and Blues Soul/R&B R&B
Description
Back in 1988, boogaloo bad-boy Adrian Croasdell compiled one of the first Galaxy/Fantasy album reissues for the Kent imprint (Black Music Is Our Business"). This trove became a fave among UK Northern Soul tribes. Fantasy later put out their own Galaxy sets, "All Night Long They Play The Blues" and "Bad, Bad Whiskey" which included some smoking West Coast blues and soul singles. A recently culled collection of vocal group R&B goodies from the same source, "Going Back", was aimed for the most part at the collector completist." And now, Diggin' Gold", as compiler Alec Palao states in the opening paragraph of his extensive liner notes, focuses on the many rare blues and R&B entries in the Galaxy discography 1963-65 that came from one particular Los Angeles production house, that of producer Cliff Goldsmith and arranger Ray Shanklin, that have escaped reissue. With the help of Fantasy vault-keeper Stuart Kremsky, Alec Palao has mine-swept its deep recesses. Incendiaries include the party-romping Compact Baby by Rob Robinson in dual tempo, infused with strong funky jazz inflections-.-Joe Johnson's frenzied Rattlesnake, Baby, Rattlesnake and crazy steppin' Gold Diggin' Man workouts-.-Good Time Charlie stepping up in Bobby Parker's dancing bucks with the catchy Watch That Stuff-.-Clay Hammond offering Baby It's Alright in a Bobby Bland uptempo bag-.-and Little Johnny Taylor's urgently rendered You Gotta Go On, plus two more airborne movers by the man entitled She's Yours, She's Mine and Kiss Me Baby. Our intrepid compiler, while catering to the North-County groovers, has not forgotten us wet-faced, deep soul, back-in-the-alley, heavy burden bellowing collector types who wallow in soul-drenched anguish, because he has thoughtfully included many finely-cut blue diamonds, such as the sulky Too Far Beyond Repair by Billy Keene, as well as Keene's You're A Deserter, its clever lyrics pure soulster's poetry. We get the tonsil-twisting There's Gonna Be Some Changes by Clay Hammond, the tear-stained Just Wondering by Del Cunningham, and the sweet, heartaching Talk To You Baby and easy loping Nobody But You, both by Rob Robinson. Not to mention the plea-ridden My Love by Bill McAfee, the sorrowful As Quick As I Can by Little Johnny Taylor, along with his blues bucket My Love Is Real, the tough guitar-infected Del Cunningham vehicle Lay Up In Bed And Read, and Clay Hammond's reinterpretation of Rev Julius Cheeks' New Burying Ground - a church-tinged chart he calls My Baby Left Me Crying, plus one of Clay's foot-draggin', wig-worriers, It's All Over Now (No Use Crying), an opus which should have seen light of day when it was committed to tape way back in 1963. But you can say the same about Taylor's gritty, mid-paced On My Way Back Home or his knee-dropping Darling I Wonder. Out of twenty-five cuts, eight are born for the first time. My personal favorite is Bill McAfee's screaming yet melodic I Don't Know Why, perhaps a fitting tribute to the profound influence
Tracklisting
Young Jessie
Wynonie Harris
Willie Hightower
Willie Headen
Wayne Cochran
Wanda Jackson
Wanda Jackson
Walter Horton
Various Artists
Various Artists
Various Artists
Various Artists
Various Artists
Various Artists
Various Artists
Various Artists
