Customer Reviews

Town I Live in (Reis)

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There is soul and there is REAL soul. This is REAL soul at its best. Long out of print 60's recordings by the late McKinley Mitchell have finally been made available by RPM records of Europe. These recordings were originally recorded by One-derful Records in Chicago, produced and arranged and conducted Monk Higgins, Milt Bland and Willie Henderson. McKinley Mitchell was a real shouter who had an uncanny yet profound delivery of a song. When he sings 'The Town I Live In', he is virtually testifying. His vocal dynamics were exceptional. He was a wonderful performer too, as I can give testimony to having seen and worked with him in person. "Uncle Willie", "Never Gonna Let You Break My Heart", "Tell It Like It Is", and about 20 more songs are all in this package. The remastering is very good, though monaural and not stereo and fun to dance to or to groove out on. This is solid soul music Chicago style and this little collection is essential to any REAL soul music collector.

I have been looking for this CD for a long time.. I finally found it..This CD is very hard to get, I have the song "The Town I Live In" on a 45 vinyl record.. still plays good, I am a collector of vinyl records, and have many oldies but goodies on 45 and albums. Mckinley was a great singer, thank you so much for having this CD! I will enjoy hearing it in my car for a long time!!

This is one of those artists I thought would never be released on cd- there are several others that I thought would never see the light of day and they did- Larry Darnell,Gene Allison, and now the early recordings of McKinley Mitchell. I'm still waiting for a cd collection of L.C.Cooke's recordings and a Annie Laurie greatest hits cd. McKinley Mitchell recorded one of the greatest Soul songs of the entire 60's in 1962. The original 'The Town I Live In" is far superior to the later Malaco remake and any other remakes. This classic piece of Soul made it to #8 on the R&B charts and stayed on the charts for 9 weeks in 1962. There's even a follow up to the Town I live In on this cd called "I'm So Glad" where you hear his baby has finally come home. "I Found An Angel","I Wonder Do You", and "Darling That's What You Said" should have all been bigger hits in the early 60's. McKinley was simply one of the finest Soul singers of the 60's and deserved to have been a bigger star. Get this Soulful cd in your collection pronto and McKinley I hope you greet me when I walk through the pearly gates one day along with Sam,Otis,Wilson,Jesse,Jackie,Betty,Dinah,Lou,Brook,and Little Willie John all standing by your side.