Bobby Moore & The Rhythm Aces - Searching For My Love (1966/2021)

Bobby Moore's sole album for the Chess label was paced by "Searching for My Love," the fine soul ballad that made the R&B Top Ten and the pop Top Thirty in 1966 (though it was sung by Chico Jenkins, not by saxophonist/bandleader Moore). Nothing else on the LP comes close to its quality, and though it's OK overall, it definitely has its share of filler, including some stock soul instrumentals. Better are the vocal ballads, which have the smoochy organ/sax/guitar sound of much grassroots romantic soul of the period. Though it's fairly Southern in feel (having been recorded in Muscle Shoals), it's not quite as churchy or down-home as much of the "deep soul" from the region; it's a bit more pop in slant, though it's passionate enough. There's the occasional above average tune, like the nonsensical rap in the novelty dance number "The Hamburger Song" and the pensive "When I Get This Feeling." But overall it's quite an average 1966 soul album, neither too good nor at all bad. All 12 of its songs are on the 24-track compilation Go Ahead and Burn, which also includes all of the songs from Moore & the Rhythm Aces' four non-LP 1966-1970 singles, along with four cuts (two from 1968 and two from 1970) that had only appeared previously on a Japanese LP.