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After
two albums with Roy Buchanan and five albums of his own, Pittsburgh's
Billy Price has finally recorded the album he always wanted with The
Soul Collection (Green Dolphin GD41297). This tastefully recorded
set of 16 tunes pays homage to the artists who, "through some combination
of fate, lost opportunity, and bad luck remained in the second line behind
James, Aretha, Otis, Sam, and Al," according to Billy's self-penned liner
notes.
To
hard soul devotees like me and Price, these "second line" artists are
innumerable. No one album could ever reveal the depth of awe and inspiration
that a teen-aged Billy Pollak imbibed in his hometown of Fair Lawn, N.J.
in the 1960s. Among the tunes by better-known names are James Carr's fateful
ballad "Let It Happen," O.V. Wright's bluesy shuffle "Gonna Forget About
You," and Eddie Hinton's existential, gospel-infused ballad "Dangerous
Highway" (a tune all modern minstrels can identify with).
However,
the paramount influence on The Soul Collection is that of Price's good
friend and mentor, Otis Clay. There are three tunes from the Otis Clay
songbook: the deep ballad "That's How It Is" (a feverish duet with O.C.
himself), the shuffle-bump "I Didn't Know the Meaning of Pain," and the
sweet release of "I Die a Little Each Day." The basic sound on Soul Collection
owes more to Hi Records and the sweet Chicago soul of Tyrone Davis (during
his Brunswick/Dakar days) than to Stax/Volt and Goldwax, although traces
of those Memphis giants can be heard as well in the shimmering guitar
work of Don Garvin and the cryin' horns that are a major presence throughout.
After
25 years of singing soul and blues to appreciative audiences on the East
Coast, Price earned the right to record an album that defines his very
soul and he has done it with class and craft from first song to last on
The Soul Collection. Initially inspired to sing soul by the music
of Otis Redding (Price was a member of the official Otis Redding Fan Club
in the 60s), his dreams became a reality while he was a student at Penn
State. In 1971, Price found himself in his adopted Steel City home turf
singing with a local band called The Rhythm Kings. During his stint with
the Rhythm Kings, Pittsburgher Jay Reich brought Price to the attention
of guitar god Roy Buchanan, who was based in the Washington, D.C. area.
Buchanan had recently been
"discovered" by the national audience due to a PBS documentary
that elevated him from his undeserved "best kept secret" status.
Never a singer, Buchanan signed Price on and he sang on two of Buchanan's
Polydor albums, That's What I'm Here For and the critically acclaimed
Livestock, which produced the mid-70s FM hit, a fiery cover of
Tyrone Davis' "Can I Change My Mind?"
Settling
back in Pittsburgh in the mid-70s, Price put together The Keystone Rhythm
Band and toured incessantly throughout the mid-Atlantic region from 1978
until their demise in 1990. Price and KRB recorded several singles and
four sparkling albums, two on Pittsburgh's Green Dolphin label, Is
It Over? and They Found Me Guilty, and two on the Antenna label
out of Philadelphia, Live! and Free at Last. During their
12-year run, several renowned musicians played in KRB, most notably jazz
saxophonist Kenny Blake and former James Brown and Prince saxophonist
Eric Leeds.
When
the band finally hit rock bottom with the disappointing sales of what
they thought would be their breakthrough album, Free at Last, Price
and KRB called it quits much to the chagrin of their many loyal fans in
Pennsylvania, Maryland, and New Jersey. After a brief hiatus, Price was
back singing around Pittsburgh. But he was no longer singing his beloved
soul music, which can take an incalculable toll on the vocal cords. For
five years he performed jump blues, which in his own words were "in
the style of Roomful of Blues." This yielded one album, Danger
Zone, on the tiny Pittsburgh jazz label Corona. Danger Zone's
inspiration came from the music of Percy Mayfield, T-Bone Walker, Roy
Milton, Big Joe Turner, et al.
As
Price now had a regular job and a growing family, he played weekends in
the Pittsburgh area and rarely left western Pennsylvania for a gig. By
1995 he was back doing what he does best: genuine soul music--satisfying
salubrious, and scintillating as ever. With an exciting new album under
his belt, Price and his new band are venturing out of Pittsburgh with
a wee bit more regularity these days. Even though he enjoyed equal billing
and cult status with many roots music bands during his glory days with
KRB, he never compromised his sound for the fickle and frustrating major
label moguls and thus never go the "big break" he rightfully
deserved. Always the loyal soul crusader, Price keeps the soul banner
flying high in performance and on record as evidenced by The Soul Collection.
Through
my work with the Bucks County Blues Society, Price became one of the most
beloved BCBS artists of all time. He performed for BCBS in 1979 (his Philadelphia
area debut), in 1980, 1981, 1982, 1984, 1993, and most recently in the
spring of 1997 to promote The Soul Collection. Naturally, I consider
him a friend (he played two sets at my wedding reception in 1982), but
he is also an alter ego. We both love the same music and both come from
similar urban backgrounds where music was always in the air. If I could
sing like Price, I guess I'd be touring up and down the "Dangerous
Highway" as well. In my next life, if I can't come back as a Shakespearean
actor, please let me be a soul singer supreme!
The
Keystone State has a rich and varied history of blue-eyed soul, which
includes my personal favorites The Magnificent Men (from York, Pa., they
were the first white group to gain major acceptance at The Apollo) and
the Philly-based Soul Survivors (originally from New York, their immortal
"Expressway to Your Heart" from 1967 still has them active locally
30 years later). Even Temple University students Hall & Oates started
singing sweet soul in Philly before their eventual stardom. And yours
truly was booted out of his garage band, The Iron Gate, for demanding
more soul and blues tunes in our limited repertoire of British Invasion
covers. I too, like Price, became a devotee of soul after purchasing Otis
Redding's "Respect" in 1965 and have championed it in many ways
for the last 30 years through my writing, radio shows, and productions
with the Bucks County Blues Society. With soul, the deeper you go, the
better it feels!
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