Search This Blog

Monday 26 October 2015

Rewind: 1967 Soul Men - Sam & Dave

Sam and Dave's biggest hit and best remembered song, "Soul Man" (R&B #1/Pop #2), was released in August 1967. It was the number #1 song in the US according to Cashbox magazine Pop charts in November 1967. Sam & Dave won the Grammy Award in 1967 for "Best Performance – Rhythm & Blues Group" for "Soul Man", their first gold record. "Soul Man" was voted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999. The song helped popularize the term to describe the emerging music genre "Soul Music" that would be so popular in the late 1960s. According to co-writer Isaac Hayes, the title was inspired by news reports of soul pride that emerged after the 1967 race riots, where stories that painting the word "soul" on your door was a message for looters to bypass your house. Hayes-Porter extrapolated that to "I'm a soul brother, I'm a soul man.". It has been recognized as one of the best or most influential songs of 50 years by the Grammy Hall of Fame, The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Rolling Stone, and R.I.A.A. Songs of the Century. "Soul Man" was used as the soundtrack and title for a 1986 film, a 2008 film Soul Men, a 1997–1998 television series.

The Soul Men LP (October 1967) was Sam & Dave's third Stax LP, reaching #5 on the R&B charts and #68 Pop. Musicologist Rob Bowman called Soul Men "One of the greatest soul music albums of all time." "Don't Knock It" from the LP was released as a single in France, but other songs were not released as U.S. singles due to the long run by "Soul Man" on the Pop charts (15 weeks), by which time "I Thank You/Wrap it Up" was ready for release. "May I Baby", the b-side of "Soul Man", is also regarded as a classic non-hot 100 song on the LP by Whitburn's "Top Pop Singles" Guide, and was a popular live song performed frequently by Sam & Dave.

Soul Men - Sam and Dave
Stax/Atlantic
Produced by Issac Hayes and David Porter
Released 26th October 1967
US Pop Chart #68
US R&B Chart #5




Personnel
    Sam Moore - vocals
    Dave Prater - vocals
    Booker T. & the MG's and the Mar-Key Horns - instrumentation:
        Booker T. Jones - keyboards
        Steve Cropper - guitar
        Donald "Duck" Dunn - bass guitar
        Al Jackson, Jr. - drums
        Charles "Packy" Axton - tenor saxophone
        Don Nix - saxophone
        Wayne Jackson - trombone, trumpet
        Isaac Hayes - organ

Apologies for the Sound Quality on this

No comments:

Blog Archive

Popular Posts