Willie (www.willieclayton.com) had two album releases on Malaco in 2008 and both of them are of high standard, especially in terms of vocal prowess. The latter one is titled Soul & Blues (MCD 7534; www.malaco.com), and it’s produced – besides Willie himself – by Vick Allen, Donell “Showcase” Taylor and Mike Snoddy. Willie wrote or co-wrote seven songs out of the ten on display, and on five tracks on top of the programming there’s a horn section, arranged by Harrison Calloway. On those tracks you can hear live guitar and organ, too.
The repertoire consists of familiar ingredients in Willie’s case. There’s one “Tyrone-inspired” dancer called Another Man’s Gain, one mid-tempo song with a memorable chorus titled Strong Love and, for some reason, one more version of I Can’t Stand the Rain. Besides three slow blues tracks (Triple Diamond Slot Machine, All Day Blues and Do What I Gotta Do – bluesoul actually), there’s one Isley Brothers type of a bedroom ballad named Body Talk.
George Jackson wrote the impressive opener, I Feel a Cheatin’ Coming On, which is a distant cousin to Cheating in the Next Room. Sweet Thing is Willie’s own soul ballad, but the highlight and absolute delight is It Hurts So Much, a highly emotional deep soul ballad. Once again I gladly stay in Willie’s corner.
As seen in Deep #1/2009 (January 2009) Soul Express
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