JACKIE EDWARDS - I Feel So Bad (Castle CD)
The first CD retrospective of the Jamaican singer's 60's Island records sides.
Jackie Edwards career (cut short by his death in 1992) was a checkered one. There was a plethora of MOR crooner garbage, a few early 70's rocksteady/reggae records for Trojan , then his collectable material for Chris Blackwell's Island records label. Some of the latter are quite collectable. However to most of us Edwards is better known as the man behind the authoring of a few classics by The Spencer Davis Group such as "Keep On Running" and "Somebody Help Me".
I Feel So Bad compiles assorted Island cuts from 1960's. The title cut is his most popular (and collectable) due to those record anorak Northern Soul sorts. Regardless of whether that's a barometer of taste (my jury's still out on that), it's a great record. Most of the material resembles Sam Cooke in his more upbeat/soulful moments (ie the "Nightbeat" LP) in both delivery and production. "I Don't Know" and "Tell Me Right Now" easily fit this category. This is a plus in the case of these two cuts, but it does tend to bog down several other numbers. But redemption for this set is more than compensated with the inclusion of his version of Tim Hardin's "How Can We Hang On To A Dream" and his original "In A Dream" (covered by Island labelmates The V.I.P.S). Then of course there's the brilliance of "Keep On Running" (which though lacking the punch of the S.D.G version, is more than acceptable!) and "Somebody Help Me" (who's arrangement was closely copied when covered by U.S. soul artist Billy Prince on Brunswick). Both of these cuts are easily my favorites on the disc in terms of both Edward's voice and the driving backing arrangement. Of equal note are the Motown-ish "Ooh Ooh" (with the annoying/untalented Mille Small ), "Oh Mary" (with musical backing by Island's hammond n horns specialists Wynder K Frog ) and "L-O-V-E" (covered by Simon Dupree And The Big Sound ). The disc closes with an over the top 1971 45 for the short lived Horse label "I Must Go Back" full of fuzz guitar, horns, percussion and hammond. If you're a 60s soul fan or a trainspotting British 60's r&b acoloyte I would advise you to investigate this disc. There is also a further Edward's CD release "This Is My Story" on Trojan worth checking out (sadly minus his excellent take on John Holt's ace "Ali Baba").
[Published 4 January 2007]
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