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I'm not going to claim the other great Memphis label is the equal of Stax-Volt. But I'll swear on a stack of barbecued ribs that Hi Times: The Hi Records R&B Years will give you more bang per disc than any of Stax's monster singles compendiums. True, 14 of the 66 tracks on this three-CD set are by Al Green, which may prove irritating when the supernal soul man gets his Rock & Roll Hall of Fame box. But over house producer Willie Mitchell's fat, sweet, jazz-inflected bottom, mortal singers like Ann Peebles Syl Johnson, Otis Clay, and O.V. Wright recorded music that deserved far better than the bottom of the black music charts. And now, finally, you can give them their propers.
Cute and shiny, its long nails red, Sleeper's Smart (Arista) is girlpop at its lustiest. When Louise Wener says Delicious, you hope her love bites don't draw too much blood. But you'll probably risk it.
Playboy, Apr. 1995
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Mar. 1995 | May 1995 |  |