Customer Reviews

Atco Sessions 1969-72

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This is a treasure trove for Lulu fans. After many years of waiting, Lulu's classic albums NEW ROUTES and MELODY FAIR are released on CD, plus an entire 2nd CD of rare UK & US singles and unreleased songs. Definitely a reason for Lulu fans & music lovers to celebrate the release of this glorious double disc of Lulu's most soulful & artistic recordings. Only a few of these songs have been released on CD, so the long delay of getting this great music on CD has been worth the wait.

NEW ROUTES was recorded in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, and has the legendary musicians who have backed so many great singers accompanying Lulu. The songs and Lulu's vocals are blue eyed soul at it's best. There's no shortage of great material here. Most people will know Lulu's hit OH ME OH MY [ I'M A FOOL FOR YOU BABY ], a truly great recording , later done by Aretha Franklin, who liked it so much , Lulu says in the liner notes, that she did it herself soon after this. Other stellar moments ballad wise are IS THAT YOU LOVE, AFTER ALL [ I LIVE MY LIFE ], MR. BOJANGLES and Eddie Hinton's WHERE'S EDDIE - all reflective songs that have a deep sense of longing that Lulu brings to them. On the upbeat side , Lulu gets gritty and funky on FEELING ALRIGHT , accompanied by these ace musicians and some amazing brass & horns as well. Lulu really lets loose on this stunning track, a song done many other times by many other artists, but sounding very unique here. The arrangement is very different than those of Traffic, Three Dog Night, Mother's Finest, and the 5th Dimension, and it illustrates the work & care that Lulu & the producers & musicians put into making this album. Then there are the upbeat rock oriented tracks like DIRTY OLD MAN and SWEEP AROUND YOUR OWN BACK DOOR, with guitar solos from Duane Allman, The Bee Gees' MARLEY PURT DRIVE with old-time brass horns that give it a New Orleans vibe, and the wonderful PEOPLE IN LOVE, which would have made a great single if another song had been released from this album. Every song on here is amazing .

MELODY FAIR recorded soon after in Miami, Florida is just as great. It has even deeper soul cuts like I DON'T CARE ANYMORE, TO THE OTHER WOMAN [ I'M THE OTHER WOMAN ], and SAVED , Lulu's raved up version of the Lavern Baker classic that Elvis Presley immortalized on his 1968 comeback special. Plus, there is the funky hit single from 1970 HUM A SONG [ FROM YOUR HEART ] with it's Sly & The Family Stone influence, another R&B dance track MOVE TO MY RHYTHM , and more stunning blue eyed soul ballads AFTER THE FEELING IS GONE and TAKE GOOD CARE OF YOURSELF, just to name a few on this great follow-up album.

Disc 2 is loaded with the holy grail : 6 rare singles only A + B sides released on single either in the US or UK only , such as GOT TO BELIEVE IN LOVE, EVERYBODY'S GOT TO CLAP, EVEN IF I COULD CHANGE , IT TAKES A REAL MAN, and more. Plus, there are many unreleased songs from Lulu's short , but productive tenure with Atco from 1969 - 1972. These songs are fresh to discover for the first time. The packaging is wonderful, Lulu is interviewed in the liner notes, and many rare photos. Rhino did a fantastic job. After all these years, they finally opened the vaults on Lulu! The only thing is that this release so far has only been issued in the UK, not through Rhino US at all. Lulu fans & fans of Dusty Springfield, Kiki Dee, Shelby Lynne, Bettye Lavette, and any other female singer would be wise to hear this music. It's Lulu & blue eyed soul at it's best .

This is truly a "collector's" package with rarely-seen photos, memorabilia, and liner notes that feature commentaries by Lulu herself. Nothing beats a CD package that has all the information and goods in it. The Atco Sessions were remarkable in that Lulu recorded her first album in the Fall of 1969 in Alabama with musical legends. All the big players from the later seventies were there, like, Jerry Wexler, Tom Dowd and Arif Mardin. Many of these songs were written by Gary Bonds, Leiber & Stoller, Randy Newman, The Bee Gees and Bacharach/David. This is a collection just as good as "Crayons & Perfume". I must add the song list. I don't know why it was left off!

Disc 1
1. Marley Purt Drive
2. In The Morning
3. People In Love
4. After All (I Live My Life)
5. Feelin' Alright
6. Dirty Old Man
7. Oh Me Oh My (I'm A Fool For You Baby)
8. Is That You Love
9. Mr. Bojangles
10. Where's Eddie
11. Sweep Around Your Own Back Door
12. Good Day Sunshine
13. After The Feeling Is Gone
14. I Don't Care Anymore
15. (Don't Go) Please Stay
16. Melody Fair
17. Take Good Care Of Yourself
18. Vine Street
19. Move To My Rhythm
20. To The Other Woman (I'm The Other Woman)
21. Hum A Song (From Your Heart)
22. Sweet Memories
23. Saved
Disc 2
1. Bury Me Down By The River
2. Got To Believe In Love
3. Jokers Wild
4. Come Down In Time
5. Everybody's Got To Clap
6. Back Home
7. Things Are Getting Better
8. Love Song
9. Goodbye My Love, Goodbye - With The Dixie Flyers
10. It Takes A Real Man (To Bring Out The Woman In Me)
11. You Ain't Wrong You Just Ain't Right
12. Even If I Could Change
13. Hum A Song (From Your Heart) (Session Version)
14. I Don't Care Anymore (Early Mix)
15. Got To Believe In Love (Early Version)
16. Povera Me (Oh Me Oh My)

Of course, there is a lot more music to Lulu than just these four years, but what a fantastic period!

England had a complete explosion of great singers in the wondrous & thrilling musical sixties with one of the finest from that amazing group being the little lady with a big voice Lulu, still in great form to this day, going back then to the top of the charts with mega-hit "TO SIR WITH LOVE" quickly followed with soulful gems like the rough and rhythmic "MORNING DEW" then the mesmerizing tour-de-force anthem "BEST OF BOTH WORLDS", so not surprising by the late sixties rhythm & blues classic label Atlantic Records snatched up the blue-eyed soulful songbird for her first American recording contract. Lulu went on to record tremendous tracks for Atlantic such as chart-topping hit "OH ME OH MY (I'M A FOOL FOR YOU)" plus a number of should have been #1 hits from the classic Atlantic debut Lp "NEW ROUTES" such as the engrossing "PEOPLE IN LOVE" or from the equally great follow up Lp "MELODY FAIR" feature classic performances such as gritty power ballad "AFTER THE FEELING IS GONE" all being stellar examples of blue-eyed soul at its very finest...extraordinary two-disc treasure chest filled with diverse and great performances finally on CD and this stunning collection show sadly American Radio & the Music Industry in general failed miserably to rise to the occasion of a truly great body of work from this magnificent "blue-eye" soulful legendary singer!
Imports such as this winning collection made up of two lost masterpiece Lp's plus rare bonus tracks usually are very limited so get this one fast while it is available! BRAVO to the brilliant production team of JERRY WEXLER, TOM DOWD & ARIF MARDIN, truly dedicated masters who helped wonderfully talented LULU lay down some of the funkiest soulful tracks to ever come out of those great legendary studios!!! Here's to more "NEW ROUTES" from LULU...ENCORE!

Lulu has recorded music in a variety of styles, sometimes having to record music that she would have preferred not to. Even then, Lulu always did her best, but following her string of hits produced by Mickie Most, Lulu was determined to do things her way. Seeking to record R+B music, Lulu signed for Atco records, recording two albums, featured together on the first CD here, plus various other tracks that make up the second CD here. While Lulu enjoyed her time at Atco and the music was absolutely brilliant, the music didn't sell, so Lulu departed Atco. Despite its lack of commercial success, the music here is of a high quality and is arguably the best music that Lulu ever recorded.

Lulu's first Atco album was appropriately titled New routes. At the time, Lulu was married to Maurice Gibb of the Bee Gees and the influence shows in the first two tracks (Marley Purt Drive, In the morning), both covers of Bee Gees songs. I haven't heard the original version of Marley Purt Drive (from the Odessa album), but it's a brilliant song with which to open the album. The only A-side single taken from the album was Oh me oh my (later covered by Aretha Franklin), but the most familiar song may be Mr Bojangles, a Jerry Jeff Walker song that has been covered by plenty of other artists including Neil Diamond, but Lulu`s version is as good as any I`ve heard and may well be the best of the lot.

Lulu's second Atco album, Melody fair, takes its title from another obscure Bee Gees song that, like Marley Purt Drive, originally appeared on their Odessa album. The album contains covers of Good day sunshine (Beatles), Vine Street (Randy Newman), Saved (a Leiber and Stoller song first recorded by La Vern Baker) and Sweet memories (a Mickey Newbury song that has been covered by the Everly brothers, Ray Charles, Vikki Carr and Willie Nelson among others). Like the preceding New routes, this album contains plenty of obscure but wonderful songs that clearly suit Lulu.

The second CD contains some tracks released on singles and several unreleased tracks. I'm not clear as to whether the unreleased tracks were left over tracks from the first two albums or were intended for a potential third album that never materialized, but they are also worth hearing. There are more covers of Bee Gees obscurities as well as covers of Love song and Come down in time (both from the Elton John album, Tumbleweed connection).

It is likely that the public weren't ready for Lulu to record this type of material at the time and that may be why it didn't sell. However, Lulu had a big hit only a year or two later with The man who sold the world, a David Bowie song that if anything was even further removed from her sixties music than the material here. Maybe the public just needed time to adjust. In any event, it's good to see that the quality of Lulu's Atco music is finally, if belatedly, being recognized.

Well, this is a weak review because I have not heard this new compilation, only the two original ATCO albums, which I always loved. I remember a friend teasing me about liking Lulu (whom I presume he only knew from the pop hits To Sir with Love etc) and me saying indignantly, "this features Duane Allman on guitar" -- which the first ATCO disk did indeed, with many very tasty guitar licks from Duane and the other Muscle Shoals sessionmen. This is too expensive for me, I hope Rhino will release a (cheaper) US set.

I had New Routes and Melody Fair both on vinyl years ago. It's good to hear them both again. There's some really good stuff on both discs. There are a few tracks that don't thrill me but overall it's good.

Lulu is a tremendous talent, one of the really underrated performers to come out of Great Britain during the 1960's. Her recording of "Oh Me Oh My (I'm A Fool For You)" is one of those perfect recordings--everything about it is inspired. This collection includes an Italian-language version of the song.

She is a great soul singer. The musicianship on display is superb--we hear the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, Duane Allman and others.

Some of the songs are less than inspired, though. She deserved better. They sound like B-sides...songs you listen to once or twice and never want to listen to again.

The good stuff--"Oh Me Oh My," "Good Day Sunshine" and "I'm The Other Woman" are worth the price of the recording.