Category: Soul

Joe Cocker front cover 0

Joe Cocker – Joe Cocker

Self-titled albums are fairly common. They’re usually a debut album, or a solo artist’s break from their original band. Some bands have used them to signal a new direction or some self-ascribed gravitas. Some...

Mad Dogs Front Cover 1

Joe Cocker – Mad Dogs & Englishmen

Last time I alluded to a period around 2008 or so when I was stuck in a very tough situation, feeling nostalgic for the 70s, and open to some new experiences — somehow that...

Joe Cocker! front cover 0

Joe Cocker – Joe Cocker!

Despite the fact that this album came out in 1969, and despite the fact that I got into music just a little after Joe Cocker’s heyday, and right about at his commercial peak, I...

Mr. Soul front cover 0

Sam Cooke — Mr. Soul

Another acquisition from the recent Forever Changes pop-up here in Phoenixville (currently the first Saturday of the month at Steel City Coffeehouse). Despite the fact that I have any number of Sam Cooke songs...

The Real Ray Charles – Front Cover 0

Ray Charles — The Real Ray Charles

This was one of the first records I bought when I started getting vinyl fever again. In the years before moving here, I had somewhat thinned my vinyl collection, ditching a bunch of stuff...

The Sensational Ray Charles front cover 2

Ray Charles — The Sensational Ray Charles

Not a lot to say about this one. I picked it up maybe three years ago here at Deep Groove in Phoenixville. On Coronet Records, it’s a compilation album from 1965 — but it’s...

Ray Charles In Person 0

Ray Charles – In Person

This is one I picked up just a couple of years ago, at Deep Groove Records here in Phoenixville. I’ll be honest — given naming conventions of the ’50s and ’60s, I didn’t necessarily...

Yes Indeed! cover 0

Ray Charles – Yes Indeed!

This was another Ray album I only picked up recently. Man, these old Atlantic pressings sound sweet, even . . . holy cow, 60 years later. It was only his third studio album, and...