Pickett had been signed to Atlantic for about a year when he cut this now-standard little soul howler. He’d been paired with various producers in New York to no avail. Atlantic vice president Jerry Wexler booked time at Stax studio in Memphis and flew his unrealized young talent down there. According to Wexler’s account in his autobiography Rhythm and the Blues, he introduced Pickett to house guitarist Steve Cropper, got them a bottle of whiskey and a room and told them to compose. This tune resulted. The first take didn’t gel rhythmically, so Wexler came out of the control booth doing the jerk, a popular dance of the day, to illustrate how the beat needed to be accented. The horns are mighty, and Pickett never sounded more frenzied.
22.) The Train Kept A-Rollin’ – Tiny Bradshaw Orchestra (1951)
Bradshaw came out of that Cab Calloway / Louis Jordan vein of black music. It involved a generous portion of humor, sexual innuendo and stage antics. Yet Bradshaw was respected throughout the business for running a tight, polished band. From the wigged-out lyrics about a cross-country seduction to the jubilant train-whistle sax riff of Red Prysock and Rufus Gore to the solid beat, this King side is one of jump music’s finest moments.
23.) Hound Dog – Big Mama Thornton (1952)
This historic tune resulted from two young white L.A. songwriters (transplanted from the east coast) named Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller checking out a Johnny Otis rehearsal and seeing Willie Mae Thornton in action. They were so awestruck by this scarred, hefty shouter, they headed for the nearest piano and then headed back to see Otis and Thornton. Her hardcore vocal delivery and Pete Lewis’ snaky guitar bounce off the hoodoo-flavored rhythm section like they were riding a two-legged stallion.
24.) Blue Velvet – The Moonglows (1956)
This tune had been done by The Clovers in 1955 and Tony Bennett in 1951 and would be done again by Bobby Vinton in 1962, but never like this. Bobby Lester’s deep, warm lead vocal, the group’s jazz harmonies, and the lilting flute line make this arrangement unique even by Moonglows leader Harvey Fuqua’s standards.
25.) Stubborn Kind Of Fellow – Marvin Gaye (1962)
Gaye was a Motown session drummer with aspirations for a Sinatra-style crooning career at the time of his first solo hit. Staff producer Mickey Stevenson had promised his secretary, Martha Reeves, that he’d get a background-vocal gig for her and her two singing friends and, when the regular girl group couldn’t make this session, Reeves was on the phone in an instant. The Vandellas make a memorable debut, the beat is solidly foursquare and, of course, Gaye shows the pipes that made him an r&b legend.
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