AMG Review of Soul Shots, Vol. 6: Blue-Eyed Soul

Richie Unterberger
All Music Guide

There weren't a great deal of white performers who sang and wrote soul with authentic conviction -- most knew better than to try -- but there were a few who not only pulled it off, but did it well, sometimes even crossing over into the black audience. This LP has many of the more notable blue-eyed soul performers: The Rascals, Tony Joe White, Roy Head, Bill Deal, the Soul Survivors -- as well as interesting obscurities in the style by the likes of Bob Kuban and Dean Parrish, and cuts in a blue-eyed soul vein by performers not strictly associated with the style, like P.J. Proby, Billy Joe Royal, Lonnie Mack, and Wayne Cochran. It's missing major blue-eyed soulsters like The Righteous Brothers, John Fred, the Box Tops, but those performers have good anthologies of their own.