Wilson Pickett - Wilson Pickett's Greatest Hits

The Soul Is Still Strong

"Wilson Pickett's Greatest Hits," a compilation album, is unusual among its brethren compilation albums, in that the man really did have lots of greatest hits to compile: not everyone does. But the hits, as backed by the great Muscle Shoals rhythm section Atlantic had put together in the late 1960's, early 1970's, come rolling out here. "Hey Jude," despite all that screaming, better than the Beatles' original for some of us; "In the Midnight Hour;" the immortal, internationally loved "Mustang Sally," "Land of a Thousand Dances," "Funky Broadway," and "Midnight Mover." The man could sing. And, with the backing of the Alabama-based studio band, he can certainly serve as an exemplar of Southern soul music.

As a young man, Pickett demonstrated energy to burn in the creation of his memorable works, and those aggressive horns are with him every inch of the way. I did see him live a few years ago, outdoors one summer lunchtime in Brooklyn, and the man had aged: he was wearing his pants up very high. He was delighted to introduce his daughter, he said she was recently graduated from college, and he leaned on her in more ways than one. It was hot out there in the noontime sun. He could not, of course, reproduce the sound you'll find on this album, but he sure still had the soul for it. March 20, 2008

Blast from the past!

What a trip back in time. My old drinking song...Mustang Sally. Everytime Wilson revs up on that one I get chills up and down my back. Other songs that my mind will not produce for me right now are hot old tunes too. Great for children of the 60's and solid for future generations. If somebody can't shake it up on the dance floor to Mustang Sally they need to check their pulse! January 18, 2008

Classic R&B That Grooves Like Crazy!

Aside from James Brown, "Wilson Pickett's Greatest Hits" is the funkiest CD in my collection (and I've got a LOT of funky CD's.) I'm a bass player and back when I started out I decided I wanted to learn how to really groove, so I decided I'd study the masters of classic R&B. This was the first CD I bought and I still listen to it regularly when I want to reconnect with rhythm. Check out the way Pickett rides Jerry Jemmott's stuttering bassline on "Man And A Half" and see if you can stand still! These are classic cuts that really belong in everyone's music collection and if you dig R&B/Soul/Funk, you definitely need this disc. March 25, 2007

Kick It, Wicked

Start with a heapin' helpin' of Otis Redding, fold in just enough James Brown, then add a soupcon of Little Richard, and you've got something approximating the Wicked One, Wilson Pickett - one of soul music's premier practitioners and standard bearers. Indeed, it would be hard to find an R&B/Soul singer with more raw authority and feeling. This music doesn't encourage you to get down, it commands you.

The hits you absolutely have-to-have are all here, and it's amazing how well they stand up. For a quick clinic in "The British Invasion," check out Everybody Needs Somebody To Love. The Rolling Stones may have gotten mileage from it, but Pickett's version lays the foundation, it's authentic and electrifying. Midnight Hour, Mustang Sally, Land Of 1,000 Dances, Funky Broadway, and many others have all been covered by countless lesser practitioners and frat house bands - hearing the original "reference" versions is an unadulterated thrill.

Like many Greatest Hits CDs, some clunkers flew in under the radar. I could have lived without the cover of Hey Jude, a song that was bad even when the Beatles did it. The appearance of Sugar Sugar is a mystery, the Randy Newman classic, Mama Told Me Not To Come, is equally out of place. These missteps, from later in Wicked's career, do not mar what is truly a superb CD that would be cheap at twice the price.

One song in particular set-me-a-thinkin', (an expression nobody would have ever used where I'm from), A Man And A Half. This song has the endearing braggadocio we all came to love when practiced by Bo Diddley who "wore a cobra snake for a necktie." It contains the memorable line, "Shakespeare wrote poems about me even before I was born." Like Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett exuded an unapologetically powerful and charismatic male energy that is woefully out of fashion now. If you put Babyface and Pickett in the same room, Babyface would most likely die of fright.

Shame on me for skipping past the fantastic back-up bands, especially those funky horns! Required listening. January 11, 2007

Soul for the Soul

This product is an embodiment of soul music punctuated with blues, a combination that brings back pleasant memeories. January 9, 2007

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