South of the Snooty Fox

Sterling Harrison | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 21, 2007)
• Original Release Date: 2007
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Alternative Distribution Alliance
• ASIN: B000SM7R4W
• Also Available in: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #189,793 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Tonight, about the time you re fluffing up your pillow and shutting off the light, there s a party going on. People are kicking back for a good time in a club across the tracks. They re dressed up to get down, dancing to the kind of knees-on-the-floor soul music that most of us thought disappeared decades ago.

South Of The Snooty Fox is your invitation to the party, led by Sterling Mr. Entertainment Harrison, one of the finest singers to ever strut across a stage. Like many of the singers playing the chitlin circuit, Sterling s resumé goes back as far as soul music itself. He s shared the stage with Otis Redding, James Brown, and Millie Jackson. He s released singles and albums scattered back to the 60s for labels like Smash, Motown and Atlantic.

Still, he s never recorded an album that truly did his immense talent justice. Until now.

Produced by Steve Berlin of Los Lobos, Sterling tears through songs from Bobby Blue Bland, Bobby Womack, Otis Redding, Johnnie Taylor and O.V. Wright, making each one his own from the start. It s everything that s happening on the other side of town, and you re invited to listen in.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I wish he was around to feel the love...., August 21, 2007

By 

monkeybuddha (Los Angeles, CA.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: South of the Snooty Fox (Audio CD)

Imagine my surprise when Amazon recommended a soul CD by a man who is barely a footnote among soul collectors. He had a handful of singles in the 60's that change hands for less than they should and had a bad major label record in the 80's when major labels had no idea what to do with real soul men. How much geri curl can one head hold? They were gonna find out. Sterling and his career disappeared and no one much noticed or cared. If you don't know what the Snooty Fox is, it's an L.A. thang. Local soul fans would head down to South L.A. and take in a dinner (God Bless you Allen Larman), with a soul revue. Sterling could imitate anyone, it was truly amazing. Some guys with more money than sense decided to lay their money down and decided to see if Sterling could sound like himself. Sterling had the sack to put his career in the hands of some guys who loved the music and loved his voice and knew that the world didn't need another bad Malaco wannabe record. Make no mistake, this is a producer's record. Sterling would not have heard or picked most of these songs. He trusted that a couple of hipsters could hear something he had long stopped listening for. These guys saw something in this guy. So it was with great trepidation that I put this in the player. It works. Period. Sterling and band commit. And there is a feeling of excitement and wonderment both from a man who had long been spit out by an ugly business and a band that cared enough to find that one thing that makes a good record; a groove. These guys find it and keep it in the pocket. One thing is worth mentioning. This record was recorded BEFORE the "let me find an old soul act and stick them in an analogue studio" craze (Solomon Burke, Mavis Staples, Howard Tate etc., and therefore didn't have the benefit from knowing that anyone still cared except some guys that wanted to hear some soul music that made them feel like soul music used to. Back when you people still played their ax and got fined for not paying attention to the charts or for chewing gum or staring at someone's junk in the trunk. Buy this record. You'll be surprised. I was. I'm tough. I have trouble listening to anybody after 1974. Then go find his 60's singles. Then go find a reason to pass the Snooty Fox on a Friday or Saturday night. After all, what's REALLY the difference between a double and triple bypass?

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Buy This record !, August 21, 2007

By 

Jeff Jones (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: South of the Snooty Fox (Audio CD)

If you dig Bobby Blue Bland, O.V. Wright, Arthur Alexander or any authentic R&B / Soul singer, you owe it to yourself to buy this record. It was made with love, produced by Los Lobos' Steve Berlin and the brilliant comedy writer Eddie Gorodetsky. They put their own sweat and money on the line to find and help Sterling Harrison make this album. Sterling was a R&B singer in the LA black club scene who unfortunatley died before he could see the release of this fine record.
I'm telling you, if you love genuine R&B and Soul Music, you have to own this record. You will not be disappointed, I promise you.

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the absolute best but most underexposed Southern Soul and Blues singers of all time., February 5, 2012

By 

Justo Roteta (Los Angeles, California United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: South of the Snooty Fox (Audio CD)

It's incredibly ironic that this masterpiece of a Soul CD did not get released until this superb but extremely underrated singer's death. In many ways, the Soul-Blues songs interpreted by Mr. Harrison on this CD have far more in common with the music that Otis Redding, Little Milton, Johnnie Taylor and Eddie Floyd recorded for Stax during the 1960s and '70s than with anything released by the major labels during the past three decades or so. When you listen to this CD, it should convince you of just how great a Soul singer Sterling Harrison was and it may also leave you wondering about what heights he might have (artistically) scaled if the record industry's policies were different and Urban radio's movers and shakers were not as fickle as they are. Kudos to Steve Berlin and Eddie Gorodetsky for recording and producing this CD and to Sterling Harrison for his truly dynamic and electrifying performances. For those of you who don't know, The Snooty Fox is a famous motel (which boasts huge mirrors on both the walls and ceilings of its rooms!) in the South-Central area of Los Angeles. Enjoy!