Ted Taylor - The Ever Wonderful Ted Taylor: Okeh Uptown Soul 1962-1966 (2006)

Tracklist

01. Don't Lie
02. Pretending Love
03. Time Has A Way
04. You Must Have Been Meant For Me
05. I'll Release You
06. Can't Take No More
07. Be Ever Wonderful
08. That's Life I Guess
09. You Give Me Nothing To Go On
10. Him Instead Of Me
11. I'll Make It Up To You
12. It Ain't Like That No More
13. So Hard
14. Need You Home
15. Somebody's Always Trying (Album Version)
16. Top Of The World
17. If It Wasn't For You
18. Don't Deceive Me (Please Let Me Go)
19. I Love You, Yes I Do
20. I'm So Satisfied
21. (Love Is LIke A) Ramblin' Rose
22. Stay Away From My Baby
23. Walking Out Of your Life
24. Daddy's Baby
25. Mercy Have Pity

Ted Taylor recorded for several labels other than OKeh in his long career, so this 25-song compilation is a survey of just one part of his work in particular, and not a best-of. Even though his biggest commercial successes came later, however, this period did see some of his finest work, and most of his OKeh output is contained on this worthy anthology, Ever Wonderful: Okeh Uptown Soul 1962-1966. Taylor's 1962-1966 sides occupy an idiosyncratic niche in early soul music, as his sound wasn't quite as modern as the most innovative soul being made in the era, but was certainly more modern than the '50s R&B and gospel to which it owed obvious debts. Certainly he was one of the more skilled high-voiced male soul singers, and some of this sounds rather like the Miracles' early work. It's not as good as early Smokey Robinson, or some other major soul singers to whom he has some similarities, such as Jackie Wilson. It's a little like very early Motown, though with more pretensions toward slick "uptown" production values. Too, it seesaws between some quite earthy, bluesy selections and others that border on orchestrated pop. But that doesn't take away from the basic enjoyability of this collection, with about half the material written by Taylor himself.

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