Search - Lou Rawls :: Anthology

Jazz Singer to Pop Icon...."The Smooth One" all the way...

C. Law | Las Vegas, NV USA | 09/30/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a good cross-section anthology of one of the greatest singers of our time! Tracks 5-through-10 of the first disc were from the very first Lou Rawls album I ever heard (and played to "death" on my phono), which Capitol released as "Lou Rawls Live." This is the beginnings, the earthier Lou, the jazz singer and fantastic storyteller (Check out "The Street Corner Hustler's Blues" and "Tobacco Road"). He will absolutely CAPTIVATE you with his style of selling lyrics and telling stories set to music. The intensity of emotion in these tracks is much higher than the later stuff, too! For these tracks alone, the price of the album is CHEAP! Then track the evolution into pop and Lou's subsequent commercial success, all the while still the smooth, debonaire crooner, but underneath it all, a blues singer at heart. This is great stuff. When Lou Rawls sings, all the musicians in the room are nodding and saying, "Yeah!" A definite addition to your "must-have" basic jazz collection. (Enough has already been said about the later music, in the Grammy Awards write-ups and all over the Pop-Music press...it's also very good in its genre).Whether you knew Lou Rawls before "You'll Never Find..." or not, you owe it to yourself to listen to the early, young Mr. Rawls, too...you'll also be saying, "Yeah! ""

A Great Collection

Kris S. Thompson | Yardville, NJ | 09/01/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Wow, what can I say about the Lou Rawls Anthology. Part jazz, part blues, part soul and all cool. I really liked this whole collection and loved his interpretation of alot of standards that have been made famous by such people as Frank Sinatra himself. This is voice that is rarely duplicated or heard from today's crop of new singers."

LOU RAWLS" ANTHOLOGY -- FIRST CLASS COLLECTION

C. A. Moore | Memphis, TN USA | 04/18/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The passage of time has made it easy to forget just how big of a star Lou Rawls was back in the 1960s and 1970s. These days, he's probably better known as the host and spokesman of the annual United Negro College Fund (UNCF) telethon, or the voice of Garfield the Cat. But this ANTHOLOGY puts the spotlight on the most important aspect of Lou Rawls' career and that's his mellow and smooth voice and his way with a popular song.

In the 1960s, he was signed to Capitol Records. In fact, he was the label's most important and consistent black male vocalist, next to Nat "King" Cole. This 33 song ANTHOLOGY traces Rawls' maturation as a blues, jazz, soul and pop stylist and brings together many of his biggest hits and musical career highlights from his association with Capitol Records.

One of the most interesting and historically significant tracks io this collection is "What Makes the Ending So Sad," an early composition created for Lou by his friend and former mentor Sam Cooke. the song finds rawls working out of a soul bag that pays more than a few nods to Cooke. The track went unreleased until it was dug out of the vaults for this collection. It's not known whether capitol or rawls suggested he begin reocrding modern blues and jazz tunes, but he was successful with songs like Tobacco Road" and "Stormy Monday Blues," which is included here from a live Lou Rawls album from 1966.

ANTHOLOGY includes about five tracks from LOU RAWLS LIVE, a landmark album, again from 1966, that really helped Rawls cross over to pop audiences and firmly cemented his reputation as a jazz and blues stylist par excellence with his devoted jazz and blues following. That same year, Rawls had his first major hit single with "Love IS A Hurtin Thing," a blues that sold well with pop fans and was a No. 1 record on the nation's soul charts. The follow-up single "You Can Bring Me All of Your Heartaches" is also here, as well as "Dead End Street," a funky soul romper arranged by H.B Barnum that earned rawls his first Grammy. The bass line on this tune is well worth the price of the entire CD. It's that soulful and funky.

Rawls also popularized, the monologue on records. these consisted of colorful stories that he told to set up a tune. Many of them are included on the ANTHOLOGY as they were first heard on soem of Rawls' albums more than 35 years ago.

This collection finds Rawls at his soulful best, his deep rich baritone used most effectively on a variety of tunes including blues and jazz and standards.

The only drawback with this set is that it's not comprehensive and only tells a portion of the Lou Rawls story. It does not include any of the hits he recorded in the 1970s for Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff's Philadelphia International Records, nor does it feature "A Natural Man" a hit recorded for MGM Records from the early Seventies. But it's still worthwhile and if you want a more complete picture of Lou Rawls' artistry, I suggest you buy it along with some of the other collections on the market like LOVE SONGS, ALL THINGS IN TIME, etc."