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| Hobby Forum Index » Music - Reviews » CD Review: Eddie Floyd "Eddie Loves You So" (Stax)... |
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 Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2008 5:14 pm |
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Eddie Floyd "Eddie Loves You So" (Stax)
Floyd is best remembered for his 1967 hit single, "Knock on Wood," co-
written with legendary Stax guitarist Steve Cropper. The like-titled
album is a superb entry in the Stax catalog, featuring Floyd's soul
shouts against the solid rhythm and punchy horns of the house band.
Floyd landed additional singles on the R&B charts throughout the
remainder of the 1960s, and crossed over to the pop chart again with
an upbeat 1968 cover of Sam Cooke's "Bring It on Home to Me." But as
"Knock on Wood" developed into an oldies radio icon, Floyd's parallel
success as a songwriter became obscured. His early years at Stax
provided opportunities to write for Carla Thomas, William Bell and
Wilson Picket (including the latter's smash "634-5789 (Soulsville,
USA)"), and in rejoining the resurrected Stax label as a recording
artist, he takes the opportunity to re-cut a number of titles
originally penned for others.
Though Floyd's no longer the soul-shouting powerhouse of his early
years, there is still considerable charm in his voice, often warbling
soulfully in the vein of the recently passed Chris Gaffney. His
material shows how unfairly his songwriting skills were overshadowed
by his hit singles. The burnish in Floyd's voice is beautifully suited
for the longing sadness of "Since You Been Gone," a late '50s demo
tune by the Falcons that was never finished. Producers Michael Dinallo
and Ducky Carlisle wrap Floyd's pained vocal in superb rolling tom-
toms, bass, dripping lap steel, and loose call-and-response backing
vocals. The Falcons' hit "You're So Fine" is also reworked here,
hanging on to its essential doo-wop stroll even as the arrangement is
amped up with electric guitars (including some misplaced slide work),
piano and roadhouse drums.
"You Don't Know What You Mean to Me" retains the buoyant horn-lined
sound of Sam & Dave's original, and several other tunes are given an
even greater Stax treatment than in their original productions.
Dorothy Moore's "I Don't Want To Be With Nobody But You" is shorn of
its string-lined drama and given low bass and Cropper-like guitar for
Floyd's quiet, soulful vocal, while "I Will Always Have Faith in You"
is bumped up from Carla Thomas' pained gospel-tinged original into a
hopeful mid-tempo number. Two earlier Floyd ballads, the pre-Stax
"Never Get Enough of Your Love" and the Stax-era "Consider Me" provide
opportunities for wonderfully emotional vocals, and a pair of new
songs, the soulful "Close to You" and the straight blues "Head to Toe"
show the ink in Floyd's pen still flowing gainfully.
Floyd's return to Stax, both physically in recording for the
resuscitated label, and metaphysically in the arrangements and choice
of material, is a winner. He doesn't sing with the strength of forty
years ago, but he does sing with the same heart and soul. And with his
producers crafting a contemporary sound that doesn't sacrifice the
essential elements of the Stax heritage, the results wed retro emotion
with modern sonics. This won't replace "Knock on Wood," but it's a
treat to hear Floyd imaginatively reinterpreting his own songwriting.
[(c)2008 redtunictroll at hotmail dot com] |
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