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Christmas came early for me this year. A friend of mine sent me this incredible package that if you’re a soul and R&B fan, or just a music buff in general, it is indispensable and should be in everybody’s collection. A massive three-CD release of 75 tracks put together in a hard-bound book layout, complete with an 84-page documentation that traces the first 12 years of one of America’s premier recording studio’s 50 year history.
FAME Studios (originally Florence Alabama Music Enterprises) owned and operated by studio wizard Rick Hall, is the heart and soul of all that great music that stemmed from Muscle Shoals for five decades. Their first twelve years saw hit recordings fly one right after the other, and many of the foremost musicians of our time accomplished piecing together music history here. Well-known artists like Otis Redding, Aretha Franklin, Don Covay, Otis Clay, Lou Rawls, Clyde McPhatter, Joe Tex, Lowell Fulson and Irma Thomas are just a sprinkling of the talent recording at FAME. Even The Osmond Brothers laid down pop tracks in Muscle Shoals.
This 75-track collection offers a beautifully rendered history lesson of the music. A lot of the recordings here are by the label’s own stable of artists who used the facilities faithfully like Candi Station, Spencer Wiggins, Arthur Alexander and Clarence Carter and writers Dan Penn and George Jackson. Recognition is always handed out to studios like Motown or Chess, but FAME had just as important releases that branded American music. Singles such as Clarence Carter’s “Patches,” Etta James’ “Tell Mama,” Wilson Pickett’s “Land of 1000 Dances,” Tommy Roe’s “Everybody” and Arthur Conley’s “Sweet Soul Music” helped define soul and R&B. The set also includes some obscure rarities such as an unedited demo of Otis Redding’s “You Left The Water Running” and Clarence Carter’s demo take of “Slip Away.” Twelve tracks altogether are previously unreleased and many have never before been placed on CD..
Truly The FAME Studios Story 1961 – 1973 is a valuable compilation that is essential listening and it’s wonderful to have so much here together in one collection. Highly recommended? Without doubt!
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Various Artists
