{"id":228,"date":"2010-05-06T05:29:48","date_gmt":"2010-05-06T10:29:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=228"},"modified":"2016-02-02T21:46:09","modified_gmt":"2016-02-02T21:46:09","slug":"album-review-various-artists-good-to-the-last-drop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2010\/05\/06\/album-review-various-artists-good-to-the-last-drop\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Review: Various Artists – Good to the Last Drop"},"content":{"rendered":"

For whatever reason, some of the most interesting compilations of soul, funk and R&B are coming out of the UK. Keb Darge<\/strong>‘s work in this area<\/a> is well-known; his comps of heretofore obscure sides are all worthwhile.<\/p>\n

UK label Ember put out a lot of fine singles and albums in its era. As one of the most successful indie labels of the 60s and early 70s, Ember released a lot of fine material that never got a wide hearing. But Fantastic Voyage has licensed the Ember catalog and has put together an amazingly deep list of collections and album reissues.<\/p>\n

One of the most interesting of the comps is a collection called Good to the Last Drop<\/em>. The disc collects rare soul tracks of the era. Twenty-three songs in a variety of subgenres, Good to the Last Drop<\/em> is also good listening.<\/p>\n

The tracks come from a wide swath of sources, so fidelity is uneven, but that shouldn’t discourage intrepid listeners. The disc is full of highlights, and fans of soul, funk and R&B will delight in the discovery of previously unheard songs by previously unknown artisits. The driving “Compared to What” from Mr. Flood’s Party<\/strong> leads off the set; beefy horn charts propel the song.<\/p>\n

Some of the songs travel in retro (even for then) styles: “Wee Bit More of Your Lovin'” from Jewel Akens<\/strong> sounds older than it is, but the song would be perfect for Northern Soul DJs.<\/p>\n

Sure, some of the stuff is derivative: “That’s the Way” by the Casinos <\/strong>sounds uncannily like at least three other well-known songs. But that doesn’t detract from the song’s enjoyment.<\/p>\n

Mickey Stevenson<\/strong>‘s “Here I Am” is the sort of cut you can play to friends and say, “Remember this? Big hit. Remember?” And they’ll nod, if slightly unsure that you’re not putting them on. (You are.)<\/p>\n

Dee Edwards<\/strong>‘ “Why Can’t There Be Love” melds two Detroit styles: the Supremes <\/strong>and Amboy Dukes<\/strong>. No kidding: SRC<\/strong>-styled heavy rock meets tight Motown girl-group. Listeners might well wonder why more material like this wasn’t produced.<\/p>\n

You want Memphis style? Try Carol Woods<\/strong>‘ “Baby Don’t You Leave Me.” A bit looser than what the Stax cats were turning out, the number should have been the start of a big career in the USA. The well-researched liner notes will fill you in on what happened instead.<\/p>\n

A few tunes take a turn in the direction of mid 70s soul-pop; listeners will inevitably conjure up visions of matching jumpsuits and stage settings that would look at home on the Carol Burnett Show<\/em>. But that’s cool, and in this context even those numbers — like Tony & Tyrone<\/strong>‘s close-harmony “Everyday Fun” work well.<\/p>\n

Comprehensive history is not the goal of the set’s liner notes, but there’s enough information given to set interested parties on a righteous path toward discovery of more like this. Helpfully, a lot of it is on other Fantastic Voyage collections.<\/p>\n

If your collection already includes albums from the justifiably venerated usual suspects, Good to the Last Drop<\/em> is a way to open up a whole new vein of compelling music. For fans of the genre, it’s essential listening.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

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For whatever reason, some of the most interesting compilations of soul, funk and R&B are coming out of the UK. Keb Darge‘s work in this area is well-known; his comps […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[810],"class_list":["post-228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-review","tag-fantastic-voyage","cat-65-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=228"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10257,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228\/revisions\/10257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}