Throughout the golden age of Soul music, there were very few artists as suave and sophisticated as Lou Rawls. Very few performers could embrace the worlds of Gospel, Pop, Soul, Blues and Jazz with the ease of Mr Rawls and be lauded for his contributions to each of these genres in equal measure. This is the most comprehensive overview of his secular career yet attempted and only a handful of titles failed to be located for this 2CD set. We begin with his first Pop recordings and have ignored the Gospel recordings that began his career when he was a member of The Pilgrim Travellers. Jasmine end their look at his early career with the now very rare reunion album he made with The Pilgrim Travelers in 1962. Most of the 45s are making their CD debut here. Fully detailed liner notes tell the whole history of the late superstar.
W**S
Better than expected
I was pleasantly surprised at how good this collections of songs was as I expected songs from so far back and at the beginning of his career to be a bit light on substance but such was not the case, very enjoyable.
S**N
RAWLS HAD THE VOICE!
This set collects Rawls earliest recordings beginning in 1959, in both mono and stereo sound. Included are his first recordings from'59 and the early '60s. The booklet has an informative essay on Rawls and his music included here. Beginning with "Love, Love, Love" from 1959 and "Kiddio" from 1960, these early tracks show Rawls even at this stage as a great vocalist. There's an unissued track, "Once In A Lifetime Love", from 1960 from the Candix label. Also here is a song that would not get airplay today--"Waterboy"--which has Rawls' voice sounding very much like a stereotypical black man from that era. There is some question if it really is Rawls, but the voice (to my ears) is pretty unmistakeable. This tune was released under the name Russ Regan & The Rowdies Also here is Rawls accompanying Sam Cooke on "Bring It On Home To Me" from 1962. The first 19 tracks are most of Rawls' early work, minus a few singles that apparently couldn't be found.There's six tracks taken from the LP "Black And Blue" that were issued on an EP for jukeboxes only which show Rawls in good vocal form. Disc 2 begins with the album Rawls recorded with Les McCann, "Stormy Monday" (worth 5 "stars" on it's own), which is perhaps his best album. It's hard to beat Rawls with a small sympathetic rhythm section with McCann's piano, which I'm sure Rawls fans already own. The last eleven tracks are from the time when Rawls once again sang gospel music (some of which are very good), with The Pilgrim Travelers in 1962. If you like Rawls' gospel side (and who doesn't?) this too is some good music.This set and his album "Lou Rawls Live" together make for some great listening. This 2 CD set of his early sides is something fans should check out if they want Rawls' early stuff in one nice, neat package with decent sound.
A**6
Sounds great
Good packaging - sounds great. No issues.
A**R
Five Stars
good music
G**R
VERY VERY EARLY LOU RAWLS
I liked that this gave me a look/see into Lou Rawls early career, but was disappointed that it did not include some of his later releases where his unique talent really shines.
S**L
Cool and smooth
Lou's too cool !
K**Y
Four Stars
Very early cuts unknown and not his best style but the rest in jazz style was great.
A**.
Four Stars
Good.
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