{"id":26305,"date":"2023-10-19T05:30:54","date_gmt":"2023-10-19T09:30:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=26305"},"modified":"2023-10-16T14:02:45","modified_gmt":"2023-10-16T18:02:45","slug":"album-review-jackie-wilson-higher-and-higher","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2023\/10\/19\/album-review-jackie-wilson-higher-and-higher\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Review: Jackie Wilson — Higher and Higher"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"A giant in the world of r&b and soul, Jackie Wilson\u2019s career got a big break when Johnny Otis (father of Shuggie) discovered him in the early 1950s. Wilson passed through the ranks of several notable groups, often coming and going before those acts achieved their biggest fame. By the end of the decade, he signed a deal with Decca, and was assigned to its subsidiary label Brunswick. Between and 1958 1969, Wilson would release some 21 albums; the first to chart was 1963\u2019s Baby <\/i>W<\/i>orkout<\/i>; he\u2019d have to wait a few more years to appear on the charts again, with 1966\u2019s Whispers<\/i>, a #15 hit on the r&b charts, with more measured success on the pop album charts (#108). But the momentum was there: 1967\u2019s Higher and Higher<\/i> placed on both charts (r&b #28, pop #163).<\/p>\n

But album chart placements don\u2019t tell the full story: every one of Wilson\u2019s \u201850s era singles made it into the Top 20 on the r&b charts, and six of those nine placed on the pop Top 40. His singles charted six times in 1960, ten times in \u201861, sixi n 1962\u2026 on and on. Every one of the man\u2019s singles placed on both the pop and r&b singles charts in the years 1957-69. He did reasonably well in the first half of the \u201870s, too. So Jackie Wilson is best thought of as a singles artist, and what<\/i> a singles artist.<\/p>\n

But here we are in 2023 with a new vinyl reissue of one of those albums. Higher and Higher<\/i> takes its title from one of Wilson\u2019s biggest smashes. Backed by the Funk Brothers, Wilson delivered a soul-strirring and lively vocal performance in a single take on July 6, 1967. In some ways, the song is of a piece with Motown tunes of the period, though it also hints at \u201870s soul.<\/p>\n

The spirited take of \u201cHigher and Higher\u201d stands in star contrast to the syrupy string balladry of \u201cI Don\u2019t Need You Around. \u201cFar better \u2013 and more in keeping with the title track\u2019s vibe \u2013 is \u201cI\u2019ve Lost You,\u201d which was also released as a single (with modest success). \u201cThose Heartaches\u201d splits the difference, serving up balladry but with an arrangement that serves the song. It, too, sounds a bit ahead of its time.<\/p>\n

As its title suggests, \u201cSoulville\u201d is a grittier, horn-fueled number than suggests that the infleunce of Memphis-based Stax was percolating northward. Also superb is \u201cOpen the Door to Your Heart,\u201d with thrilling brass and strings (plus a driving if under-mixed bass line, probably from James Jamerson). Released as the single\u2019s b-side, \u201cI\u2019m the One to Do It\u201d is solid as well, with hints of Otis Redding, but with a string arrangement Redding wouldn\u2019t likely have gone for. The backing vocals are ace, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou Can Count On Me\u201d sounds like a single, too. But it wasn\u2019t released as one. The strings soar. And Wilson shows his gospel roots on \u201cI Need your Loving\u201d a rousing number that finds him edging to Ray Charles\u2019 territory. \u201cSomebody Up There Likes You\u201d features more guitar that you\u2019ll find on this primarily strings-and-brass record, The song may have influenced Tyrone Davis\u2019 brilliant \u201cTurn Back the Hands of Time,\u201d released two years later and sounding quite similar. The record wraps with the comparatively undistinguished \u201cWhen Will Our Day Come.\u201d The backing vocals and strings are nice enough, but the tune feels like a relic form an earlier time.<\/p>\n

At a shade over 30 minutes, Higher and Higher<\/i> is brief (as were most pop, r&b and soul releases of the era), and it only includes one hit. But the rest of the record is far above filler status, and as deep cuts go, Higher and Higher<\/i> features more than its share. Recommended, especially in the form of the new Org Music reissue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A giant in the world of r&b and soul, Jackie Wilson\u2019s career got a big break when Johnny Otis (father of Shuggie) discovered him in the early 1950s. Wilson passed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26306,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[60,64,69,73],"tags":[4442,3580],"class_list":["post-26305","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rb","category-reissue","category-soul","category-vinyl","tag-jackie-wilson","tag-org-music","cat-60-id","cat-64-id","cat-69-id","cat-73-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26305","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=26305"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26305\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26307,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26305\/revisions\/26307"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26306"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}