Search - Fontella Bass :: Very Best of

May Be Too Much of a Good Thing for Some

Stephanie DePue | Carolina Beach, NC USA | 12/12/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

""The Very Best of Fontella Bass" is a British Chess release, remastering 1965's "The New Look," the only album the artist made for the Chicago-based company during her almost three-year tenure there, from 1965-'68, which, of course, represents the period of her greatest success. For Bass is best known for 1965's "Rescue Me," a sophisticated mixture of Motown-influenced soul and impassioned gospel refrain, with a huge beat that powered it to the top of the United States R & B charts, and into the pop Top five; it also reached the number 11 spot in the United Kingdom. Mind you, "The New Look" was housed in an attention-grabbing sleeve - Bass is casually dressed, in boots, topped with a jaunty cap, cracking a whip. "Rescue Me," of course, is a great song, still frequently heard on radio, and used in television commercials, although, as Bass may, for better or worse, be classified as a "one hit wonder," not that many people know she sang it. I bow to no one in my respect of and admiration for Aretha Franklin, but most people today think the latter artist sang "Rescue Me;" then again, most people today think Franklin sang "Band of Gold," that other enduring hit by another one hit wonder, Freda Payne.



Several years ago, I saw Fontella Bass perform, at a fundraiser for a school in Greenwich Village, New York. You couldn't call her young, or slim, anymore, but she still had a powerful set of lungs, and delivered a spine-tingling version of her signature song, as well as some rollicking gospel. The current album gives us her signature tune, of course, with 24 additional tracks. I like her covers of several well-known songs. We get Maxine Brown's "Oh No, Not My Baby," by Gerry Goffin and Carole King; the Righteous Brothers' "You've Lost That Loving Feeling," by Barry Mann, Phil Spector, and Cynthia Weill; Carla Thomas's self-written "Gee Whiz," and Barbara George's self-written "I Know." We also get the Lieber-Stoller hit "I'm A Woman;" and the Motown Vandallas' hit "Come and Get These Memories," penned by Holland-Dozier-Holland. "Since I Fell for You" and "Soul of a Man" are outstanding. Then we've got three duets with Bobby McClure. Actually, with 25 tracks, the album may be too much of a good thing for all but the most devoted fans of this artist who is not Aretha Franklin.

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Under-rated sixties R+B singer

Peter Durward Harris | Leicester England | 05/26/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Fontella Bass ensured at least a footnote in the history of popular music with her classic international hit Rescue me. It was an American top five pop hit and number one R+B hit that just missed the British top ten. Fontella never before or since came close to emulating that success; the nearest she got was with Recovery, a top twenty American hit that made the British top thirty. Both of this hits are included here, of course, but what of the other 23 tracks? There isn't anything else here to match Rescue me, but there`s plenty of great music nevertheless..



The last three tracks here are duets with Bobby McClure, including the top five R+B hit Don't mess up a good thing. The preceding tracks include some original songs that I've never heard before, most notably The soul of a man. There are also several covers of pop and R+B songs including Oh no not my baby (originally recorded by Maxine Brown who had an international hit with it, but Manfred Mann had a huge British hit with it), Gee whiz (Carla Thomas), You've lost that loving feeling (Righteous brothers), Come and get these memories (Martha Reeves and the Vandellas) and I know (Barbara George)..Between them, the hits, covers, duets and obscure originals demonstrate that Fontella was a hugely talented singer capable of singing a diverse range of material.



The music here was recorded between 1965 and 1968 for Checker, a subsidiary of Chess records. It seems that Fontella eventually became disillusioned with the mainstream music business, as so many talented singers do, but she recorded plenty of great music back then despite whatever misgivings she had about the material that she was required to record. Fontella continued her musical career in her own way, recording solo and with others on her own terms.



Encouraged by the quality of the music here and with the clues provided in the liner notes, I hope one day to explore Fontella's later music, but this compilation covers her most commercially successful period. Meanwhile, I heartily recommend this compilation to anybody who enjoys sixties soul music and who doesn't limit themselves to just the hits."