Review: The Exciting Wilson Pickett

Wilson Pickett - The Exciting Wilson Pickett 

Rating: 9/10 (Classic)

Track Listing (highlights are bolded):

1. "Land of 1000 Dances"

2. "Something You Got"

3. "634-5789 (Soulsville, U.S.A.)"

4. "Barefootin'"

5. "Mercy Mercy"

6. "You're So Fine"

7. "In the Midnight Hour"

8. "Ninety-nine and a Half (Won't Do)"

9. "Danger Zone"

10. "I'm Drifting"

11. "It's All Over"

12. "She's So Good to Me"

Review:

I think often big labels, with their top-of-the-line backing musicians, have a way of showing the difference between a decent and a great R&B singer. Most mediocre singers get easily drowned out by the backing players. After all, the Atlantic and Stax teams had some of the tightest ensembles of the era, and if you cannot wrangle control of your band, they will undoubtedly steal the show. A great singer, on the other hand, doesn't merely follow their backing band: they make them sound like a part of their being. Yes, they have to add in all kinds of shattering vocal peaks and tricks to ensure dominance, but with a lot of these great singers, you almost forget about the backing band as their playing organically infuses with the vocals in your memory.

In this regard, Wilson Pickett absolutely qualifies in the latter category. The record has some serious backing talent (Cropper, Hayes, among others), but it takes Pickett to turn this record into one of the great soul records of the era. Pickett has a relentless grit to his voice, yet it is never unbearable or harsh. At heart, Pickett is just a friendly gentleman who gets a bit "nervous when you're in your seat." He has more of the soul of a gritty rocker than a smooth R&B singer: he can be polite and sweet talk the ladies, but he prefers to whip everyone into a soulful frenzy. Pickett will beat the ever-loving shit out of every groove with his voice to make it as tough as possible, and his session players are more than happy to comply.

This charming combination and approach, as you can expect, can lead to some explosively entertaining music. "Exciting" was the correct epithet for this stallion of a record: Pickett starts the record at the breakneck speed of "Land of 1000 Dances," and it doesn't let go for a single second. Even if every person probably has "Dances" and "Midnight Hour" memorized, don't be fooled into thinking it is a couple of hits in a sea of filler: the record is scarily consistent with not a single moment to catch your breath. Perhaps this approach is a bit limiting: hardly anyone can do what Pickett does so effectively, but it is hard to express a very wide emotional palette in this style. Can't imagine him making a song like "I've Been Loving You Too Long" or "Can't Nobody Love You," right?

But honestly, that is about the only flaw of this material, and who really cares when Pickett is such a  powerhouse? Even if the "naa-na-na-na-naa" call-and-response-section is the most iconic part of the "Land Of 1000 Dances," it is really the intro that sells the song to me. The horn sections zooming past as the bass propels it forward, it's a song executed to perfection. Yet, Pickett is still the star of the show here, delivering each and every intro verse like a clean punch and using the lyrics as whipping devices. The song's build-up is so invigorating that when that chorus comes on, it just feels so cathartic and natural, no matter how stupid it is. No wonder no one dared to make a serious cover of the song after this version, how can anyone compete with this?

"In The Midnight Hour" is almost as good though (it was also on his previous album, but can't hurt to have a great song twice, right?). The closest thing to "sentimental" that Pickett would get to in his style, and with that tight beat, it's clear why this was one of his biggest songs. Yet, a lot of the song's greatness is also in the way Pickett chose to sing the song. He focused heavily on the aspect of waiting until the midnight hour in the performance, making the song sound like a guy whose impatience makes him restless and itching to see his girl. The song doesn't have much of genuine desperation, but it compensates for this with the excitement that I'm sure audiences found extremely relatable. And it really is a marvelous vocal performance, just hear the way he belts that chorus out!

The greatness doesn't stop here though: the other two hits are equally enjoyable: the classic "634-5789" is gloriously anthemic of the spirit of early R&B, and "Ninety-nine and One-half" builds a murky groove where Pickett gives his most aggressive, tense performance on the record (good on the public for making this slightly less commercial song a hit). The deep cuts are equally kickass. "Barefootin" absolutely annihilates the original, made into a sweaty monster of a groove. "Something You Got" (with a nice country-tinged guitar riff) and "Danger Zone" demonstrate just how much Pickett can make even the most straightforward of soul songs rip by his varied and passionate vocal performances. His cover of "Mercy Mercy" may have not surpassed the original, but there should be room in your life for this grittier, rousing version too.

Having the tight-as-fuck "She's So Good To Me" and the ebullient "You're So Fine" close each side fits the nature of this record well: it's some of the most energetic soul music you'll find, but there is enough heart and soul in this stuff to make this stuff hit deep. A true thunderstorm of a record, it remains one of the definitive soul albums of the 60s. Highly recommend it to everyone, especially rock fans trying to get into soul/R&B.