Lonely Just Like Me: The Final Chapter

Arthur Alexander | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 9, 2007)
• Original Release Date: 2007
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Alternative Distribution Alliance
• ASIN: B000SM7QZW
• Also Available in: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #190,517 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. If It's Really Got To Be This Way

2. Go Home Girl

3. Sally Sue Brown

4. All The Time

5. Lonely Just Like Me

6. Every Day I Have To Cry

7. In The Middle Of It All

8. Genie In The Jug

9. Mr. John

10. Johnny Heartbreak

11. There Is A Road

12. I Believe In Miracles

13. Go Home Girl - (live, live on fresh air)

14. Genie In The Jug - (live on fresh air)

15. You Better Move On - (live on fresh air)

16. Every Day I Have To Cry - (live on fresh air)

17. Solitary Man - (hotel demo)

18. Johnny Heartbreak - (hotel demo)

19. Genie In The Jug - (hotel demo)

20. Lonely Just Like Me - (hotel demo)

See all 21 tracks on this disc

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Admired as a songwriter but overlooked as soul singer, Alabama-born Arthur Alexander was in the early stages of a career revival in 1993 (the year he released Lonely Just Like Me on Nonesuch Records) when he died unexpectedly, aged 53, shortly after a performance. Believed to be the only songwriter whose songs have been covered by the Rolling Stones ("You Better Move On"), the Beatles ("Anna"), Bob Dylan, and Elvis Presley, Alexander abandoned music at age 40 after he grew disillusioned with the music industry after publishing deals yielded little return for him. He worked in Cleveland at a center for disadvantaged kids and drove a bus, which explains the disc's cover art. Musician/producer Ben Vaughn coaxed Alexander to record again and served as producer for Lonely Just Like Me, a warm, understated collection of storytelling tunes, mostly hard-luck tales of upright men struggling to find a niche in an unfair word. This disc includes the entire '93 Nonesuch recording plus an enlightening interview/live performance (tracks 13-20) originally broadcast on NPR's Fresh Air. Here, Alexander's genuineness and sincerity are memorably chronicled, and for Alexander devotees its inclusion makes this recording an especially inviting package. Alexander's voice did not have the broadest range, he rarely used backup vocalists, and he kept his instrumentation (often accented with a subtle country lilt) quite simple. His most endearing quality as a vocalist was the earnestness, clarity, and dignity of his singing, which deepened the poignancy of his songs' prevailing theme of heartbreak. Also included are five lo-fi hotel-room demos, a live version of "Anna," and liner notes from Vaughn. --Terry Wood

Product Description

Fifteen years ago, Arthur Alexander finally made the album that would give him the acclaim he was denied for decades, in spite of being a crucial influence on the two biggest rock groups of all time.

His comeback album, Lonely Just Like Me, was as warm and wounded as a fresh heartbreak, lovingly produced by Ben Vaughn and recorded down South with the musicians who backed Arthur s hits in the 60s and 70s. Upon its release, Arthur was shown all the love an artist could hope for. Entertainment Tonight filmed a full segment. Rolling Stone declared the album stunning in a feature review. NPR s "Fresh Air" broadcast a live-in-studio concert (included in the upcoming disc) and, in an unprecedented move, brought Arthur back two weeks later for a full sit-down interview.

But just as every Arthur Alexander song seemed to end in heartbreak, so did his return to the spotlight. Within days of the album s release, Arthur passed away. In the wake of his death this wonderful album faded into little more than a bittersweet memory shared by everyone he touched.

Now HackTone Records will finally give this album the audience it deserves. Lonely Just Like Me:The Final Chapter tells the full story of Arthur Alexander s triumphant re-emergence. Surrounding the original Elektra/Nonesuch album are never-before-heard demos made in a tiny Cleveland hotel room, Arthur s entire live session for NPR s Fresh Air and even a song from the 1991 Bottom Line concert which landed Arthur his new record deal. Produced with the full participation of everyone involved with the original Elektra/Nonesuch album, this is a loving tribute to a legend s final triumph.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant 1993 country soul comeback masterpiece w/bonus tracks, October 9, 2007

By 

hyperbolium (Earth, USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Lonely Just Like Me: The Final Chapter (Audio CD)

By the time Arthur Alexander cut this comeback release in 1993 he'd been out of the limelight for nearly 15 years. Thirty years earlier he'd authored songs that stoked the imaginations of The Beatles ("Anna"), Rolling Stones ("You Better Move On") and others. Better yet, his southern soul recording of the latter was the first song ever waxed at the legendary Muscle Shoals studio. His seminal early sides were followed by terrific outings for Monument and Warner Brothers throughout the '60s and '70s, but he never garnered the commercial rewards his artistry deserved. By the end of the '70s, feeling unrewarded and ripped off by the publishers and record labels, Alexander retired from music industry to work with disadvantaged children.

Ironically, it was the same music industry, in the form of A&R executive Danny Kahn, that coaxed Alexander back into the studio. Having spied a rare Alexander performance at New York's Bottom Line in 1992 (represented here by a live take of "Anna"), Kahn signed him to the Nonesuch label and dispatched artist Ben Vaughn to produce an album in Nashville. Stars have rarely aligned so well for a comeback effort. Alexander's new songs were as striking as the originals he re-recorded, and his voice, lightly deepened and weathered by age was even more soulful than thirty years earlier. Original accompanists (plus a few younger players) provided brilliant backings for every track, and Vaughn's production removed the original '60s gloss to focus squarely on Alexander's voice and songs.

Vaughn wrote, "If heartbreak had a sound, it was this voice," and Alexander's final LP drove home the point. The early single "Sally Sue Brown" was reworked as an acoustic blues that loaded its signature guitar lick up front. The teary mid-70s "Every Day I Have to Cry Some" was given a bittersweet southern soul treatment of moody horns and a strong backbeat, with Alexander defiant and defeated at the same time. "If It's Really Got to be This Way" is stalwart in the face of loss, "Genie in the Jug" salves romantic pain, and the gospel-styled "All the Time" laments a mortally wounded heart. The album's few lighter notes are the closing "There is a Road," and the faithful "I Believe in Miracles."

Originally released in 1993, the album was well received, and Alexander found himself in demand for interviews and performances. Hacktone's reissue augments the original dozen tracks with four live performances from NPR's "Fresh Air," together with interview segments that find Alexander gracious, happy to be performing, and seemingly at peace with the poor treatment he'd received the first time around. Four recordings captured by Ben Vaughn on a cassette recorder in a hotel room (including a cover of Neil Diamond's "Solitary Man") show Alexander compelling in just about any circumstance.

Sadly, just as Alexander's revival was gaining momentum he was felled by a heart attack only three months after the album's release, passing away days after a concert in Nashville. This musical epitaph deftly tells the final chapter of Alexander's career, from the artistic success of his comeback to the critical and commercial recognition that followed. This is an essential for all those who love southern soul and want to spend some quality time with the sound of heartbreak. [©2007 hyperbolium dot com]

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The whole package, November 5, 2007

By 

Sam I Am - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lonely Just Like Me: The Final Chapter (Audio CD)

In some respects, this album can be considered a "reissue" - but really, it's more than that. It's the stark, simply beauty of Alexander's voice in the hotel room demos included here; the matter-of-fact 'Fresh Air' interview segments where Alexander discusses (with no bitterness) how the record business basically screwed him years and years ago; the heartening way he sings "Anna" at the Bottom Line.

The people who put this album - nay, this PACKAGE - together are true fans of Alexander's and you can feel it whether you're leafing through the scrapbook pages from his life (included in a nook behind the cover art) or whether you're marveling at how haunting Alexander's voice sounds after so many years.

It's easy to see why high-profile musicians (Rolling Stones, Beatles, Dylan, etc.) have always covered Alexander's music - he had a simple gift for songcraft and an honest heart that came through in his music.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful. A great voice, great interview., January 6, 2008

By 

Bill Staley (Santa Monica, CA USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Lonely Just Like Me: The Final Chapter (Audio CD)

Anna and Really Got to be This Way are my favorites. The studio recordings are worth many listenings. The Fresh Air interview is wonderful. He seems like such a nice guy -- in the interviews and as a singer, writer and in his choice of songs by others. The Fresh Air songs are great. The hotel demos are interesting to hear once. I also bought Greatest Hits, which I also recommend. These simple, direct songs stand up well to the test of time. John Lennon and Mick Jagger did not surpass him in their covers.