Sam & Dave – Soul Man Explosion: The Nashville Sessions
Goldenlane Records
13 songs time – 34:47
Billed as a collection of revamped classics from the legendary soul greats Sam & Dave, it is a bit misleading. It isn’t of their original recordings; it is a revamping of re-recorded classics and cover songs that were recorded in Nashville in 1978. Hence their vocal delivery isn’t as tight and they utter various asides from time to time that can be a bit distracting. It seems like a licensing agreement couldn’t be reached to use the original recordings. There are a few interesting moments here, but I would rather listen to the originals. Long time fans might enjoy it.
I am not familiar with The Nashville Sessions, but it contains a few interesting cover songs and a few guest artists appear on this re-worked version. Steve Cropper re-creates his signature riff on “Soul Man” and on an instrumental version of it. British rock-jazz veteran Brian Auger adds what is listed as organ, but sounds like another keyboard instrument, to little effect on “I Thank You”. The two member band The Courettes add guitars, bass, various percussion, piano and vocals to “Hold On, I’m Comin'”. They end up just cluttering up the song, similar to having two different songs overlapping on bad radio reception from two stations.
As far as the cover songs go, they qualify as ok. They do a commendable take on Sam Cooke’s “(What A) Wonderful World”, but they should have lost the female backing vocals that add no energy. They commit a passable “Another Saturday Night”, but you can’t keep from sorely missing Sam Cooke’s deeply soulful vocal. A similar sentiment for their cover of The Spencer Davis Group’s “Gimme Some Lovin'”. They are no match for Steve Winwood’s soul-drenched vocal on the original. They do “Summertime” justice except for just dropping off at the song’s conclusion.
Sam & Dave fans ‘s will want this, but as for me I would prefer a collection of the original hits. I hate to say it, but this pretty much looks like a money grab. I do have to admit though, each time I here the signature riff of “Soul Man”, I can’t get the image of John Belushi and Dan Akroyd doing their lumbering crazy white boy dance out of my head.
