Verdelle Smith - Tar & Cement. The Complete Recordings 1965-1967 (2005)

Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Perhaps the closest parallel to Verdelle Smith would be Dionne Warwick: a soul singer by discipline but a dramatic pop singer by any other name. She cut two songs that were later covered by Nancy Sinatra and Scott Walker -- "In My Room" and "Tar and Cement," respectively -- and that gives a good idea of the symphonic melodrama that lies at the core of her work. This is not meek music. It's big, sweeping and grand, with mini pop symphonies that showcased her range and power. All of those songs are collected on Omni's 2013 compilation Tar & Cement: The Complete Recordings: 1965-1967, which has all of her lone LP plus various singles and their B-sides. Smith's appeal lies in how she never quite belonged in either the pop-soul world or in Hollywood pop. She fell through the cracks, a powerful soul singer who essentially recorded mainstream extravaganzas, the kind of records that could've conceivably been hits if given just the right push. Then again, much of what's impressive on the Tar & Cement collection is the form: the contours and grandeur of the productions and how Smith matches their opulence. Melodies are there but they're not insistent, they're understated, which is a bit odd considering how forceful the recordings are. Maybe that's the reason why she wound up cutting standards toward the end of her run, doing a fine enough job with "Toot Toot Tootsie" and "Over the Rainbow," but what's best about Smith is how she never belonged to any world, how she was soulful without being gritty, overblown without being sticky. Tar & Cement is worthwhile listening because of this; within its margins, it's possible to hear the rest of the '60s.