line up 1 (19)

- Dick Errington -- tenor sax

- Chas Hodges (RIP 2018) -- bass

- Nicky Hopkins (RIP 1994) -- keyboards

- Chris Lamb -- trumpet

- Carlo Little (RIP 2005) -- drums, percussion

- Bob Mather -- baritone sax

- Brian O'Shay -- trombone

- Dave Wendells -- lead guitar

- Bandana (Carlo Little)

- The Jeff Beck Group (Nicky Hopkins)

- Cliff Bennett & The Rebel Rousers (Chas Hodges, Nicky Hopkins

  and  Dave Wendells)

- Black Claw (Chas Hodges)

- Ritchie Blackmore Orchestra (Chas Hodges)

- Caravan (Nicky Hopkins)

- Carlo Little Allstars (Carlo Little)

- Casey Jones And His Engineers (Carlo Little) 

- Chas And Dave (Chas Hodges)

- Chas & His Band (Chas Hodges)

- Neil Christian & The Crusaders  (Nicky Hopkins and Carlo Little)

- The Circle  (Carlo Little)

- Cyril Davies And His Rhythm And Blues All Stars (Nicky Hopkins

   and Carlo Little) 

- Florida Sun  (Carlo Little)

- Flower Pot Men  (Carlo Little) 

- The Jerry Garcia Band (Nicky Hopkins)

- Green Bullfrog (Chas Hodges)

- Heavy Jelly  (Carlo Little)

- Heads Hands & Feet (Chas Hodges)

- Heinz And The Wild Boys (Chas Hodges)

- Nick Hopkins (solo efforts)

- The Nicky Hopkins Caravana (Nicky Hopkins)

- House Band (Chas Hodges)

- Hurricane  (Carlo Little and Dave Wendells)

- The Immediate All-Stars   (Nicky Hopkins and Carlo Little)

- Jo Jo Gunne (Dave Wendells

- Lord Sutch And Heavy Friends (Nicky Hopkins and Carlo Little)

- Lulu and the Luvers (Dave Wendells

- Night  (Nicky Hopkins)

- Oily Rags (Chas Hodges)

- The Outlaws (Chas Hodges)

- Quicksilver Messenger Service (Nicky Hopkins)

- Screaming Lord Sutch And The Savages  (Carlo Litt

- The Regents  (Carlo Little)

- The Frankie Reid Band  (Carlo Little and Dave Wendells)

- Raven (Nicky Hopkins)

- Rockers (Chas Hodges)

- Rockleodeon  (Carlo Little)

- The Senate (Bob Matther)

- The Sessions  (Nicky Hopkins and Chas Hodges)

- Les Space Travellers (Dick Errington)

- Sweet Thursday (Nicky Hopkins)

- Terry and the Pirates (Nicky Hopkins)

- The Universals (Carlo Little and Chris Lambe)

- Dave Wendells (solo efforts)

- Roy Young Band (Dave Wendells

Genre: soul

Rating: 2 stars **

Title:  Soul Sounds

Company: Columbia/EMI
Catalog: SMC 74 372

Year: 1967

Country/State: Germany

Grade (cover/record): VG+/VG+

Comments: German pressing

Available: 1

Catalog ID: --

Price: $40.00

This is one of those albums where there just seem to be any biographical information out there.  That means everything that follows is speculation.

I'm guessing 1967's "Soul Sounds" reflects the European version of an exploitation album.  In this case Columbia/EMI grabbing a bunch of starving studio musicians, having them quickly and anonymously churn out a collection of popular soul covers.  The eight sessions players have an amazing track record in terms of bands they've played with.  By my quick count, separately and in various combinations, they've recorded with at least 46 entities. Technically I guess you can argue there weren't all soul covers since the track listing included a Donovan cover ('Sunshine Superstar') and the Nicky Hopkins'-penned title track.  Kudos to Columbia for at least listing the players and even providing short liner notes that credited their performances:

"Take Phil Upchurch Comb\o's 'You Can't Sit Down' plus King Curtis' 'Jump Back', add many of the biggest selling soul instrumentals and you have not only a great party album but also excitement!  Starting with 'Last Night' right through the last bar of 'Night Train' The Soul Sounds (led by the driving beat of Carlo Little) never let the excitement drop.  Dick Errington on tenor sax along with organist Nicky Hopkins can be heard playing solos on most tracks.  Listen to Dick's sympathetic solo on 'When Something Is Wrong with My Baby' and Nicky on the rousing 'I Feel Good'.  If soul music is your bag and dancing your relaxation this album will being you hours of enjoyment."

Produced by Derek Lawrence (best known for his coming work with Deep Purple, Wishful Ash and other hard rock bands), these twelve instrumentals were all quite polished, seldom straying from the original arrangements. That said, this was music as a product similar to toothpaste of detergent.  Complete anonymous and devoid of much "soul" it was music you put on in the background while you socialized with friends, or cleaned out your bathtub.  Comparing these to the "hits" was a losing proposition.  Why would you want to hear the instrumental version of 'How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) ' when you could just as easily listen to Marvin Gaye's classic version?   And that was the issue time after time with these classic soul tunes. Don Covay's 'See Saw', Sam & Dave's 'When Something Is Wrong With My Baby', James Brown's 'I Feel Good' ...  no matter how good the instrumental tracks, I missed the vocals.   That left the lesser known tunes to provide occasional moments of interest.  Sounding like something from Vince Guardi, 'Soul Soup' was a decent dance floor mover.  Best of the lot was the lone original; the Hopkins-penned title track.  Nah, it wasn't anything special but at least it rocked and it was a tune you'd never heard before.   Yeah, it's a mid-'60s musical timepiece and nothing that's essential for most folks.

"Soul Sounds" track listing:
(side 1)

1.) Jump Back (instrumental) (Rufus Thomas) - 1:48 rating: ** stars

Showcasing Mather's sax, the first of two Rufus Thomas covers wasn't bad.  Funky in a cocktail party way.

2.) See Saw (instrumental) (Don Covay) - 3:48 rating: ** stars

Their instrumental cover of Don Covat's classic 'See Saw' placed the spotlight on Nicky Hopkin's organ.  Kind of a Jack Smith soul-jazz vibe on this one, though you can easily picture grandma and grandpa shaking it on their purple living room shag carpet.

3.) You Can't Sit Down (instrumental) (Phil Upchurch - Cornell Muldrow - Dee Clark) - 4:03 rating: ** stars

The cover of The Bim Bam Boos' 'You Can't Sit Down' was the album's jazziest tune.  This was gave drummer Carlo Little and sax player  Dick Errington shots at the spotlight.

4.) How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) (instrumental (Brian Holland - Lamont Doer - Eddie Holland) - 2:26 rating: ** stars

Well, they had good taste in their cover material, but a quickie instrumental cover simply had zero chance of improving on the Marvin Gaye original.

5.) Soul Soup (instrumental) (Smith) - 3:30 rating: *** stars

Perhaps it was Hopkins' rollicking keyboards, but the instrumental 'Soul Soup' always reminded me of something you might hear on a Vince Guaraldi soundtrack for the Peanuts.  

6.) Sunshine Superman (instrumental) (Donovan Leitch) - 3:00 rating: ** starss

Opening up with Chas Hodges pounding bass, their Donovan cover again focused the spotlight on Hopkins' organ fills. Yeah, I missed Donovan's hippy vocals ...

(side 2)
1.) Last Night (instrumental) (The Mar-Kays) - 2:49 rating: *** stars

Opening up with Chas Hodges pounding bass, their Donovan cover again foc

The original is a great tune and these guys do it credit by staying very close to the original.  Focus on Bob Mather's baritone sax.

2.) When Something Is Wrong With My Baby (Davdi Porter - Isaac Hayes) - 3:28 rating: ** stars

Nnother Stax classic that just seemed lost without the original Sam & Dave vocals.

3.) I Feel Good (James Brown) - 2:11 rating: ** stars

Read the above comment and replace "Sam & Dave" with "James Brown".   Nah the horns and Hopkins organ fills just couldn't compensate for Brown being missing in action.

4.) Philly Dog (Rufus Thomas) - 2:25 rating: *** stars

Rufus Thomas didn't have much a voice so the absence of vocals wasn't as noticeable on their cover of 'Philly Dog.'

5.) Soul Survival (Nicky Hopkins) - 3:29 rating: **** stars

I'm guessing it took Hopkins about ten minutes to churn out the title track.  It's far from anything great, but as the album's lone original and a track I'd never heard before I thought it generated quite a bit of energy and stood as the album highlight.

6.) Night Train (Jimmy Forrest - Lewis Simpkins - Oscar Washington) - 3:02 rating: *** stars

Yeah, this version sounded like a remake of The Batman theme.

© Scott R. Blackerby