Earl Gaines - Lovin' Blues: The Stairday King Years 1967-1973 (1999) [CD Rip]

The years covered on WestSide's 1999 compilation Lovin' Blues: The Starday-King Years 1967-1973 are not necessarily among Earl Gaines' best-known or most-celebrated sides. The singles he cut in the late '50s and early '60s, primarily for Excello, form the core of his legacy, but this music is high-grade Southern soul all the same. It's in a similar vein as the Excello recordings, but it's clear that this is post-Stax material with the punchy horns and gritty rhythm section. The first part of the compilation is devoted to the 1969 album Lovin' Blues, which is a tight, passionate, unheralded minor gem of soul-blues, and then the rest of the compilation is devoted to singles and unreleased tracks. Some of this material is a little generic and faceless, while others are simply serviceable covers of R&B standards like "Sixty Minute Man," but it's all listenable and its completeness is certainly a boon to collectors. But the real reason to get this compilation (once you've already absorbed the Excello recordings, that is) is that Lovin' Blues is a fine Southern soul-blues record, worth seeking out by aficionados. ~Stephen Thomas Erlewine