What made the music welled up from Muscle Shoals of Alabama definitively known to the world ? This was the smash in 1966 When a Man Loves a Woman, which had been so aired on TV commercials that I guess a large amount of people in Japan have heard it once or more. We have told here and there the episode that the song concept Percy Sledge brought first was processed by various folks for several months and it finally enjoyed the benifit of enormous sensation. After the moderate hits of Arthur Alexander and Jimmy Hughes, Rick Hall earned his living by lending his studios for recordings of Joe Tex or Tommy Roe , Fame studios had just began to roll out. Meanwhile, Quin Ivy, a radio DJ who offered some lyrics for Rick, had his own studio for the purpose of picking up small jobs like producing jingles which Rick didn't take. Poor as its equipments were, Rick introduced guitarist Marlin Greene to him and allowed him to use Rick's studio musicians who were still killing time. Recorded at Quin's studio, When a Man Loves a Woman begins impressingly with the swaying organ of Spooner Oldham, and Percy's passionate voice gives us a shock like something stabbing into our chest. Strictly speaking, in the technical point of view Percy missed some tones and horns also did. But what is called wonderful is the whole soul of the song including such faults. "The Very Best " cut from Rhino contains the hit version and the one re-recorded by Jerry Wexler of Atlantic. The latter has fine horns and never reduces the intensity of Percy's vocal. Good work. However, I can say that what is excellent in technique and what is staying in mind are not always the same. This is my impression when I compared them.
For the general public the story of Percy Sledge ends here, however, it never be that he has nothing but it. Born and bred in Leighton near Muscle Shoals and being a cousin of Jimmy Hughes, he was doing only some gospels in church and chorus works in high school and not so concentrated on music. After being a high school baseball player and a hospital orderly, he began singing as a member of a local group called the Esquires Combo. When a Man Loves a Woman had him leap into a star, and gave impetus to his first-released album "When a Man Loves a Woman". Many soul albums of those days had photos of a white female on the sleeve and fillers of covers. So did his. Among the readings of My Adorable One of the future country soul star Joe Simon or James Carr's Pouring Water on a Drowinig Man or the real one-hit wonder Deon Jackson's Love Makes the World Go Round, there are some up-tempos and ballads like You Fooled Me or Success written by Dan Penn who kept writing for Percy.
Inevitably he has so strong persuasion of ballad that he is not so groovy as Otis Redding or Wilson Pickett in up-tempos. That's why he had many ballad hits. On "The Very Best", he sends us pretty deliveries on ballad hits like his sweet falsetto of Warm and Tender Love or his elemental pleading It Tears Me up. "Take Time to Know Her", he appears on its sleeve, includes more smoldering ballads like the title tune or Sudden Stop, Cover Me, Out of Left Field and less up-tempos, while there is an unexpected rendition of Spooky, the group called Classics IV's tune. On his best "It Tears Me Up", you can hear his readings of James Carr's Dark End of the Street or Elvis's Love Me Tender or Otis's Try a Little Tenderness or Solomon Burke's I'm Hanging up My Heart for You or Ray Charles's Drown in My Own Tears. It is so interesting when you compare them with originals (though Otis tune also has the original). Many Japanese singers are so hard to be speedy or groovy on their native lyrics that there seem to be many ballads for the purpose of sending easy impression, but I cannot help it that their repertoire is often limited to their favorites or better efforts. As for Percy Sledge, his first hit is so strongly impressing.
Quin Ivy, who had wanted to produce other singers, ended up with Percy's mate as a manager and producer. After leaving Atlantic he moved to Capricorn, owned by Phil Walden, the ex-manager of Otis Redding, released "I'll be Your Everything" in '75. Although there is a tune under the influence of disco creeping into the era, he mainly plays the game of southern soul ballads such as the title tune or Behind Closed Doors of Charlie Rich's fame. The sound is rather clean with Philly soul-like strings and chorus, however, this fine album never loses the country flavor of southern soul. His '94 tune You Got Away with Love appeared on "The Very Best" has modern rhythms but is loyal to southern soul. After dance tunes got the center of the world, their clumsy steps are found when you see Percy had once been in retirement. Despite it, Percy Sledge will be told and heard as far as there is his masterpiece he found first, while so many gifted singers couldn't dig out any gold mine. (2008/11/27)