Lee Moses
' 1971 LP on
Maple Records
called
Time and Place
has long been the Holy Grail for
R&B
and
soul
collectors, and one listen to this Atlanta musician's scratchy and funky guitar playing and his raspy and throat shedding
deep soul
singing style should be enough to convince anyone that he was indeed a great lost
treasure.
Moses
, who died unsung in Atlanta in 1997, recorded a handful of singles for the
Musicor
,
Dynamo
Gates
imprints in the late '60s and early '70s as well as that sole LP, and
Castle Music
has finally put all of it together in what is essentially a complete recorded works package. It's easy to hear what all the fuss is about. This guy was the real deal, playing and singing with an uncommon passion and tracks here like the powerfully emotional
"I'm Sad About It,"
the funky and name-checking tour de force
"Got That Will,"
and the stunning
ballad
"My Adorable One"
(there are two versions of this song included here, and both are gems) should have been huge radio hits in a fair and equitable world. Also impressive are the instrumental versions of
"Reach Out I'll Be There"
"Day Tripper"
which were originally released as a doubled-sided single by
in 1967, both cuts exhibiting an engagingly ragged and soulful exuberance that still sounds fresh and vital forty-odd years later and show
to be a finely nuanced and undeniably funky guitarist. But it is
' searing vocals that will garner most of the attention, which is as it should be. Taken as a whole, this edition of
sounds like a secular gospel meeting with
' singing passing for a fired-up preacher's impassioned sermon as he shouts, growls and purrs through the ins and outs and the ups and downs of love as convincingly as any
singer one can name. That
never had so much as a regional hit seems criminal and his death in 1997 in complete obscurity is an incalculable tragedy. Big thanks go out to
for bringing these remarkable lost treasures of
back into the world. [
was also released with bonus tracks.] ~ Steve Leggett