The Best Of PERCY SLEDGE

Original released on LP Atlantic ATC 9160

(SOUTH AFRICA, Fébruary 1969)

This is the rare and original South African edition of "The Best of Percy Sledge", with another sleeve and containing two more songs ("What Am I Living For" and "Success") than the US and UK versions. Back in the first months of 1969, it was the LP that introduced me to the mellow voice of Percy Sledge. I only knew then the '66 classic "When A Man Loves a Woman" but all the other great songs presented here made Percy Sledge one of the greatest soul singers of all time: "Warm and Tender Love", "Take Time To Know Her", "Cover Me", "The Dark End of the Street", "My Special Prayer" or "You'll All Around Me" represents the cream of the cream, the very best songs he has performed, with his sad and soulful voice. 50 years after, all this tunes (recorded between 1966 and 1968) are still the perfect vehicle to showcase the wonderful talent of this great r&b crooner.

"My Special Prayer" By PERCY SLEDGE

"The Dark End Of The Street" By PERCY SLEDGE

PERCY SLEDGE THIRD ALBUM

Original released on LP Atlantic SD 8146

(US, July 1967)

While Percy Sledge didn't have an especially large number of hits, he possessed one of the most identifiable styles of any singer from the golden era of soul, sounding a pure note of deep Southern heartbreak every time he opened his mouth. On the 1967 album "The Percy Sledge Way", he performed 11 songs made famous by other R&B stars, and while he doesn't steal any of them away from the singers who first made them hits, there's no arguing that he puts a unique stamp on every one of them. While "You Send Me" and "Tell It Like It Is" may have sounded respectively romantic and coolly defiant in the hands of Sam Cooke and Aaron Neville, here Sledge transforms them into the plaintive cries of a man who knows he's about to lose his lover, and the gloomy undertow of numbers like "Drown in My Own Tears," "Just Out of Reach (Of My Two Open Arms)," and "The Dark End of the Street" becomes palpable when Sledge covers them. And while Sledge can't outsing the likes of Otis Redding, Solomon Burke, or James Carr, part of the magic of this album is he doesn't really try - he simply turns each number into a Percy Sledge song, finding a rich vein of hurt and longing in every lyric as producers Quin Ivy and Marlin Greene and the session band (anchored by the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section) give him the simple but dramatically resonant accompaniment he needs. Hardly a typical album of covers, "The Percy Sledge Way" features a great singer gently reshaping a handful of classic songs, and the results are perfect for a late night, either alone or with someone you hope will stick around. (Mark Deming in AllMusic)

PERCY SLEDGE 2ND ALBUM

Original released on LP Atlantic 8132 (mono)

(US, October 1966)

Percy Sledge's sophomore effort, "Warm & Tender Soul", is rarely mentioned in the same breath as its predecessor, "When a Man Loves a Woman", but it should be. Despite the absence of a blockbuster crossover hit, the record still spawned a pair of R&B Top Ten entries ("It Tears Me Up" and the title cut) and further refined the singer's rough-hewn yet strangely sophisticated approach to bottomlessly deep soul. Produced by Quinn Ivy, and boasting several songs from the superlative songwriter Dan Penn, "Warm & Tender Soul" proves Sledge a singer of uncommon range and depth, articulating emotional truths that go far beyond mere words. (Jason Ankeny in AllMusic)

PERCY SLEDGE DEBUT ALBUM

Original released on LP Atlantic 8125 (mono)

(US, May 1966)

The charismatic Alabama-bred soulman's first album was naturally built around the peerless and classic "When a Man Loves a Woman", the first Southern Soul track that became a No. 1 Pop hit. It remains among the most beloved, anthemic explanations of love's impact and travails ever written or performed. Had Sledge never made another song, he would still deserve kudos just for that one. But he continued to score with more simple, heartfelt, unsophisticated stories about disappointment, pain, rejection, and perseverance. So, what about the rest of the LP? One knows that "When a Man Loves a Woman" is a hard act to follow, and the rare heights achieved by that particular tune is not attained elsewhere, here. That's not to say the remainder is subpar, 'filler' or by-the-numbers soul. Quite the contrary. "My Adorable One", another quintessential Sledge-belter, has a charm all its own. The delicate vocal amidst the raw grit of the Muscle Shoals backing band is amazing. Covered by numerous performers since, Sledge's spin still is the definitive version. Percy righteously gets down on the pumped-up, blazing beater "Put a Little Lovin' on Me" and the hard socking thumper "You're Pouring Water on a Drowning Man" (also recorded by James Carr) demonstrating the man was at much at ease with more up-tempo material.

Nonetheless, Sledge soars on those delicous country-soul dirges, producing a sound uniquely nurtured by the fertile ground of upper-Alabama; the waltzy "Love Me All the Way" and especially "When She Touches Me (Nothing Else Matters)" are perfect vehicles for Sledge's gruffy pipes, the latter immersed in Spooner Oldham's incessant Hammond. Soul songwriter Dan Penn (who also co-wrote "The Dark End of the Street" for James Carr and was a prolific session guitarist around the FAME studios in Muscle Shoals) delivers two tailor-made, low-down ballads with "You Fooled Me" - featuring great piano work and subdued horns - and the philosophical "Success" - where the brassy goodness is more upfront. "Thief in the Night" is a nice, rumblin' slab of stompin' soul which finds the middleground between the slow and more fastpaced tunes here. Percy goes all the way, though, on the slightly bossa-nova romp "Love Me Like You Mean It", probably the hardest tune on the LP. For good measure, a great if slightly 'poppy' version of "Love Makes the World Go Round" rounds out Percy's second brilliant full-lenght album. (in RateYourMusic)