5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Southern Fried Soul at it's Hottest!, February 16, 2004
This review is from: The Complete Ann Peebles on Hi Records, Vol. 2 (Audio CD)
This and Vol 1 covers EVERYTHING that Ann ever recorded. To put it quite simply, Ann Peebles is the best of the southern style soul singers. This is as much down to the awesome music (provided by the same backing band that Al Green used) of the Hi Records house band as it is to the lady herself.
There is enough funk on here to please fans of James Brown, enough soul to please fans of 60's Aretha Franklin.
She doesnt quite hit the heights that those 2 reached, perhaps, but Ann is her own woman.
The music is consistently stuck in a soul/funk/ style, but that is part of the appeal.
Ann stayed pretty faithfully to the Hi Records formula and that was not a bad thing. There are a few hints at disco-ish grooves on her second to last album, but some of her strongest soul material on here comes from the awesome 'Handwriting Is On The Wall' album. Despite the fact that it actually came out in 78, it was considered to be retro even then, sounding much rawer and soulful than most music from this time.
Yes the last 2 or 3 singles she did were awful, but there are less than 5/6 weak tracks here. It is as solid as volume 1 and together with that double CD, amount to some of my favourite soul music.
Other people who are recommended if you like this; Ann Sexton, Candi Staton 'Fame Years', Denise La Salle, Betty Wright, Millie Jackson, Betty(e) Lavette.... there are many more, but none better!
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