Customer Reviews

Midnight Hour

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The "Midnight Hour" album put Wilson Pickett's rough, edgy, urgent soul voice right out front in the soul sounds of the mid 60's. His "from the heart" voice matched James Brown and Otis Redding in intensity and depth. Listen to "I Found A Love" for that deep feeling he was so filled with. Pickett died January 19, 2006 leaving the soul scene missing one of the icons of the 60's breakout soul sounds.

ONE OF WILSON PICKETT'S EARLIER ALBUMS. HAD SONGS THAT HIS OTHER ALBUMS DIDN'T HAVE. WE LIKE A LARGE VARIETY OF MUSIC AND THIS WAS A MUST HAVE.

"Wicked" Wilson Pickett's debut, IN THE MIDNIGHT HOUR, is actually singles recorded between 1961-1965, these tracks compiled together make up the first record for the gritty singer's first time out. The Pickett is backed up here by the Stax band regulars and Steve Cropper plays out his distinctive lead guitar throughout in which helped develop the incredible sound of Otis Redding. You can hear this sound with the rhythm arrangements on the song, "For Better Or Worse", the album starts with, "In The Midnight Hour", then Wilson sings, "I Found A Love", "the wicked" flat out wails on this one, almost worth the price of admission alone. Nine of the twelve songs on here are written or co-written by Pickett and Cropper. In The Midnight Hour - is an early glimpse of this great artist, who with no doubt left a mark in the heart of hardcore soul, the only problem with this compilation is some of the material is weak, and the idea of doing a duet on your first record doesn't set right with me, (one song) the artist should do the whole show on the first time out, also the fact of a thrown together compilation on a debut album is to me "unorthodox", unless you're the Beatles after your tenth album, the audio is excellent on this collectibles cd, which is surprising, there is a slight problem (remastering) on the audio with Wilson Pickett's third cd - "the wicked". The Midnight Hour - 3 1/2 stars.)

Wilson Pickett was the truth when it came to singing. gut bucket and direct brand of soul singing he did and this album displays his chops and how much harmony and soul he truly had. the band was tight and his gospel runs, with R&B grooves and pop melodys is a strong mix, however his voice alone makes it snap,rattle and boogie.