MOG

Margie Joseph is something of a cult favorite in soul circles. Her gospel-bred vocals powered seven albums for Volt, Atlantic, Cotillion and Atco in the 1970s, and though she launched a few R&B chart hits, she never broke through to the lasting acclaim of contemporaries like Aretha Franklin, Gladys Knight or Carla Thomas. Her first two albums, cut for the Stax subsidiary Volt, were issued as a two-fer in 1999, but the rest of her ‘70s catalog is only now seeing domestic reissue (and significantly undercutting the price of last year’s Japanese reissues at the same time). This eponymous volume from 1973 represents her Atlantic debut, bringing together the Southern roots of her birth with stylistic elements she developed in Muscle Shoals and Memphis, and wrapped in the Northern inflections of Atlantic’s brilliant 1970s soul machine.

With Arif Mardin producing and an A-list New York band behind her, Joseph dug into a set of songs that included one original and some novel covers. Chief among the surprises were a trio of Nashville-originated tunes, including Dolly Parton’s "Touch Your Woman" and Dottie West’s "I’m Only a Woman." Joseph takes a more commanding tone on the former than the desperate longing of the original, accompanied by a snappy drum line and punchy horn chart. The latter moves in the opposite direction, slowing the tempo, reducing the accompaniment to electric piano, and transforming the original’s hint of stridency into a more pained appeal. Also drawn from Nashville is Kenny O’Dell’s "Let’s Go Somewhere and Love," providing a woman’s perspective on adult intimacies similar to O’Dell’s 1973 smash with Charlie Rich, "Behind Closed Doors." Bobby Patterson’s "How Do You Spell Love" offers the sassy call-and-response "How do you spell love?" "M-O-N-E-Y," with Joseph and her backing singers matching up to the funky bottom end and full horn section.

In addition to Parton’s then-current hit, Joseph covered the then-recent Al Green single, "Let’s Stay Together," and though her version just missed the R&B top-40, its superb vocal, arching from barely contained excitement to soulful wailing, is laid atop an imaginative arrangement of organ, piano, bass, strings and sharp drumming from Bernard "Pretty" Purdie. If you’d never heard the original, you’d think this was the hit. Joseph reaches back to 1969 for "Turn Around and Love You," sung more anxious and fearful than Rita Coolidge’s original single. She reaches back a few years earlier to Etta James for "I’d Rather Go Blind," and lets a slight girlishness in her voice convey the confused emotions of a wronged lover. Her version of Brook Benton’s "I’ll Take Care of You" takes its cue from Bobby "Blue" Bland’s late ‘50s version, a slow blues-crawl with plenty of room for Joseph’s emotive wail. Joseph even covers herself, remaking the ballad "Make Me Believe You’ll Stay" from her debut album on Volt.

The album’s originals are just as good as the covers, starting with the opener, "I Been Down," which moves back and forth between funk and jazz, providing Joseph room to stretch her vocals on the latter. Joseph’s co-write with producer Mardin, "I’m So Glad I’m Your Woman" is sweet mid-tempo soul, and the funky "You Better Know It" leans on Joseph’s gospel roots for an Aretha-styled sound, augmented by superb bass and horns. This is a surprisingly little known album from the heart of ‘70s soul, filled with excellent song selections, a crackerjack band that hangs perfectly between funk and jazz, and vocal performances that are both emotionally and technically adept. Fans of ‘70s soul singers should get to know Joseph, and those who already know her work should be overjoyed to have her original albums back in print. [©2008 redtunictroll at hotmail dot com]