Syl Johnson - Take Me To The River (Hi 2285)

Take Me To The River

Here's Syl Johnson's biggest hit, which hit #7 R&B in April of 1975. I love the combination of his blistering Chicago harp wailing over the rolling Memphis beat laid down by Hi Rhythm at the absolute peak of their powers. Look out!

Like we were saying on the other side, Mabon 'Teenie' Hodges co-wrote this one with Reverend Al for the groundbreaking Al Green Explores Your Mind album in 1974. After Hi refused to release any singles from that record (making it one of the highest selling R&B LPs ever up to that point), they cut this version on Johnson and it just took off...

The real deal, yo!

Oscar Toney, Jr. - For Your Precious Love (Bell 672)

For Your Precious Love

Here's Oscar's deep soul masterpiece, recorded in one take down in Memphis in 1967.

As I was saying on the other side, Papa Don Schroeder overdubbed the strings and background vocals on West 47th Street in Manhattan. It doesn't get much better than this, y'all.