So-far none of the records profiled in “Records at Random” posts have been quite as random as this one. Though I usually grab a stack of vinyl from my collection and write up whatever I happen to have, the records aren’t unfamiliar to me. Whether they wound up in my regular listening rotation over the years or not, I’d at least listened to them a couple of times, if not many more. Not-so Frederick Knight’s 1973 Stax Records debut I’ve Been Lonely For So Long. Though I’m pretty sure I remember when and where I bought it, I don’t think I’ve ever sat down and listened to it in it’s entirety. So today’s post really is an experiment in randomness, for you and me both.
My first surprise when putting needle to groove is the title track, one of the most decidedly “Southern” sounding Southern-Soul compositions Stax ever released. What I mean is that it doesn’t employ the typical “Memphis sound” at all, adopting a twangy, down-home quality tantamount to Country instead. But Country with a slick, soulful, falsetto vocal. And even though a couple tracks show traces of the Memphis sound, the album never really falls into a signature Stax-style groove. This is likely due in-large-part to the fact that Knight recorded the album on his own with a crew of session musicians in Birmingham, Alabama, not the Memphis stronghold of the label with their sessioners.
The sound of some cuts, notably uptempo, fuzz-guitar-laden numbers such as “Pick’um Up, Put’um Down,” and “Your Love’s All Over Me,” lean towards the Psychadelic Soul and grimy Funk usually associated with bands from the Midwest and Northeast. The latter even incorporates a “freaky” voice-over from the lecherous “Love Monster,” which calls to mind similar vocal gimmicks employed by Parliament, Kool & the Gang, Ohio Players, and Jimmy Castor, amongst others. These joints definitely fall on the funkier side of the Soul spectrum, and happen to be some of my favorite tracks on the album.
Other songs have a little bit of a Philly flavor to them. Ballads like “This Is My Song of Love To You,” and “Now That I’ve Found You” (which is also tinged with that Country influence I mentioned, as well as some slick Doo-Wop-style harmonies) for example bear some likeness to the Sweet-Soul of groups like the Delfonics and Stylistics. While tracks like “I Let My Chance Go By,” and especially “Take Me On Home Witcha,” share an appreciable kinship with the proto-Disco of The Trammps‘ early records. An interesting note considering Knight would go on to pen and produce “Ring My Bell” for Anita Ward, one of the biggest hits of the Disco era.
Knight’s voice, which is versatile in a way that a lot of singers weren’t and aren’t, is really the star of the album. And the musicianship, arrangements and production, showcasing Soul at a time when it was growing and changing in ways that would impact music for years to come, bears mention as well. It’s really just a stellar LP, and I really wish I’d “discovered” it before now.
-El Keter
