FORGOTTEN MUSIC #65: ATLANTIC SOUL LEGENDS (20-CD BOX SET)

ATLANTIC SOUL BOXSET
I found this bargain by accident as I was browsing AMAZON. This box set of 20 CDs was going for $39.90! That’s about $2 per disc! I was a big fan of Soul music back in the 1960s and actually owned the vinyl versions of some of these albums. I played Under the Boardwalk by The Drifters until I wore out the grooves! In the Midnight Hour by Wilson Pickett was a big favorite of mine! And I even made a tape of Booker T & The M.Gs so I could listen to Green Onions in my Dad’s car. If you’re a fan of Soul music, this box set delivers hours of listening pleasure. Great music at a great price!
ALBUM LIST:
1. RAY CHARLES – What’d I Say (1959)
2. BOOKER T & THE M.G.s – Green Onions (1962)
3. BEN E. KING – Don’t Play That Song! (1962)
4. SOLOMON BURKE – If You Need Me (1963)
5. RUFUS THOMAS – Walking The Dog (1964)
6. THE DRIFTERS – Under The Boardwalk (1964)
7. DON COVAY and THE GOODTIMERS – Mercy! (1964)
8. OTIS REDDING – Otis Blue: Otis Redding Sings Soul (1965)
9. WILSON PICKETT – In The Midnight Hour (1965)
10. PERCY SLEDGE – When A Man Loves A Woman (1966)
11. SAM & DAVE – Hold On, I’m Coming (1966)
12. BAR-KAYS – Soul Finger (1967)
13. EDDIE FLOYD – Knock On Wood (1967)
14. ARTHUR CONLEY – Sweet Soul Music (1967)
15. WILLIAM BELL – The Soul Of A Bell (1967)
16. ARETHA FRANKLIN – Lady Soul (1968)
17. DONNY HATHAWAY – Everything Is Everything (1970)
18. CLARENCE WHEELER & THE ENFORCERS – Doin’ What We Wanna (1970)
19. HOWARD TATE – Howard Tate (1972)
20. SAM DEES – The Show Must Go On (1975)

37 thoughts on “FORGOTTEN MUSIC #65: ATLANTIC SOUL LEGENDS (20-CD BOX SET)

  1. Deb

    Wow–what a great selection! Wilson Pickett used to say that the difference between Motown and other “soul” labels (Atlantic, Stax, etc.) was that on the non-Motown records you could “really hear the cornbread.” And this group of records is a cornbread smorgasbord!

    And I love your comment about listening to your mixtape in your Dad’s car. Back in 1970, my best friends (they were sisters) and I would spend hours in their older brother’s car listening to his 8-track tape collection.

    Reply
    1. george Post author

      Deb, when gas was 25 cents a gallon, my friends and I would “cruise” around our community in our parents cars for hours. And, of course, we would play our music loud, whether it was on the radio or the tape deck. Some of the songs on these albums made great cruising music back in the late Sixties.

      Reply
  2. Wolf Böhrendt

    Thanks, George, for bringing up wonderful memories!

    Those were the days – Atlantic – founded by a young Turkish guy: Ahmed Ertegün!
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmet_Ertegun
    When I was 17 years old in 1970, I had money enough to buy my first record (7 inches single):

    What’d I say part 1 and 2 …

    Many people thought I was crazy, some even said: How can you listen to that “negro music”?

    PS and a bit OT:

    Atlantic started with Jazz, which I and my friends also liked – one day we had a kind of party after school where people danced. And I gave to the disc jockey the record of “Take Five” that I had bought and then watched those other teenagers trying to dance to that rhythm …

    Reply
    1. george Post author

      Wolf, Atlantic Records developed into a powerful record company with a string of hit records and wonderful artists. This set is just the tip of the iceberg of great music they produced.

      Reply
    1. george Post author

      Deb, thanks for the link! The (Young) Rascals–or what’s left of them–just played at one of our casinos. Love “I’ve Been Lonely Too Long”! And, I love cornbread!

      Reply
  3. Wolf Böhrendt

    There were so many great artists with Atlantic, it’s hard to single out a favourite – Booker T and his Green Onions come to my mind:

    Of course, as I was a teenager I just reacted with my heart (and my feet …) to all that stuff that was played on the American Forces Network radio. After 1962 at the university I found more people with similar interests – it was good, no longer feeling an outsider because of my music intersts!

    And the best thing:

    You didn’t have to buy all those records yourself – could copy them to tape (later to cassette) from your friends’ disks. So I had a little tape reel recorder running on my car’s battery – was really proud, had spend a lot of money on it, earned by working during summer holidays!

    A bit OT:

    Afaik with those 8-track devices you couldn’t record yourself, just play cassettes you bought, is that true?

    Reply
    1. george Post author

      Wolf, I recorded plenty of great music on 8-track tapes. Later, I recorded songs to cassettes (but they broke a lot). And, I went through a phase when I recorded music to CDs. Now, I have Sirius/XM Radio with an astonishing amount of music available.

      Reply
  4. steve oerkfitz

    Lot of good stuff there. Never liked Donny Hathaway other than that a really good collection. Must admit I have never heard of Same Dees, Clarence Wheeler or Howard Tate.

    Reply
  5. Jeff Meyerson

    Well, Booker T. was part of the Memphis sound at Stax, with Al Jackson, Jr., Steve Cropper & Duck Dunn. It amazed me when I discovered that Booker T. Jones was still a teenager when they did “Green Onions” in 1962. I also loved their “Time is Tight” from the movie UPTIGHT (1968), the black remake of John Ford’s THE INFORMER, directed by Jules Dassin.

    I have a lot of these things, on Motown and Stax collections, as well as Atlantic. I loved seeing Jerry Wexler (Ertugen’s partner at Atlantic) in MUSCLE SHOALS being shocked (as I was) to realize their great band was a bunch of white guys. But then, Booker T. & the MG’s were an integrated group too.

    Reply
  6. Jeff Meyerson

    Of course, I also have individual CDs by The Drifters, Ray Charles, Aretha, and the great Otis Redding, who was only 26 when he died.

    I loved the Wilson Pickett section of MUSCLE SHOALS too, by the way, and Aretha looked so young then!

    Reply
    1. george Post author

      Jeff, I have no idea where the MUSCLE SHOALS documentary film came from. Aretha looked great and Wilson Pickett gave some eloquent quotes for the movie.

      Reply
  7. maggie mason

    my favorites on that list would be aretha, sam & dave and eddie floyd.

    While going thru the vinyl, I found a box full of 45’s. few in paper covers, sigh. remember the inserts put in them to play on stereos?

    Reply
  8. Jeff Meyerson

    I just pulled out an Atlantic Ultimate ’60s Soul Smashes! CD, with Sam & Dave (Soul Man), Aretha (Respect), Percy Sledge (When a Man Loves a Woman), The Drifters (On Broadway), Barbara Lewis (Baby, I’m Yours – a song I always really liked, along with her Hello Stranger; we went to oldies concerts twice because she was scheduled but she canceled both times), The Capitols (Cool Jerk), Eddie Floyd (Knock on Wood), Clarence Carter (Slip Away), The Mar-Keys (Last Night), Wilson Pickett (Land of 1,000 Dances), Joe Tex (Hold On to What You’ve Got), Otis Redding (Try a Little Tenderness), King Curtis (Memphis Soul Stew), and Carla Thomas (B-A-B-Y).

    Great collection!

    I used to have a vinyl 3-record set of the Atlantic 25th Anniversary, where Jerry Wexler did the liner notes. I’ll have to check if Amazon has a CD.

    Reply
    1. Wolf Böhrendt

      How I wished these guys would have come over to Europe for concerts! Not many of them did, mainly to England, so we had to rely on the records. Later of course the British groups revived that type of music, not only Rock and Soul but also Blues – yes, those days were great!

      Thanks again, everybody, for those memories!

      Reply
  9. Jeff Meyerson

    Just checked. It was 2 records, not 3. They only have the vinyl. It is THE SOUL YEARS: ATLANTIC RECORDS 25th ANNIVERSARY LP.

    Reply
    1. Wolf Böhrendt

      Jeff, I envy you!

      Never managed to see him live, though he made a big impression already with his Woodstock performance (got that on blurray of course) and his “Mad dogs and Englishmen” is another LP-set I played often enough.

      Wiki has some fascinating info on this tour and the album – my favourite however is “Bird on a wire”.

      PS (and very OT):

      But we managed to get to one of Johnny Winter’s last performances in the small University Town of Tübingen!

      Reply
    1. Wolf Böhrendt

      Just remembered that I saw the Albino Winter brothers more than 40 years ago in the Roundhouse in London – another famous venture, with a light show and lots of smoke (including some Canabis …) – those were the days!

      They both had long blond hair in those days -whiter and even longer than mine! 🙂

      Reply

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