Mr. Excitement

I'm back with the Niles PL classic R&B album playlist.

Previously I had the deep and unequivocal enjoyment of hearing Ray Charles, The Birth of Soul , Fats Domino, Walking to New Orleans, and Etta James, At Last. Today's performer, Jackie Wilson, presents me with a problem. I'm not that crazy about him. I can recognize that he was an early and distinctive voice in the development of rock and roll. His vocal power and quality is simply amazing, at times operatic. He is said to have been an electrifying stage presence, the godfather of the godfather of soul, James Brown. This should add up to pure enjoyment, but the problem is the sentimentality, the dripping strings, and overall cheesiness of many of his arrangements. As Allmusic puts it, "...there is a consensus...among critics that Wilson was ... an underachiever in the studio, due to the sometimes inappropriately pop-based material and arrangements that he used." He misses.

But when Jackie Wilson is good, he rocks. Here he is singing, very soulfully, Higher and Higher.



Here, in contrast, is To Be Loved, an arrangement dangerously dipped in schmaltz (but you can tell what a great voice he has):

Wilson is listed at # 68 on the 2004 Rolling Stone list of greatest artists and his 1992 album, Mr. Excitement, is listed as # 235 of the 500 greatest albums of all time. Problem is, Mr. Excitement is out of print and unavailable in its entirety through our library system. The partial version I was able to hear had way too many egregious numbers such as the most dramatic and cheesiest Danny Boy you've ever heard. Fortunately better albums are available to borrow such as The Ultimate Jackie Wilson and The Very Best of Jackie Wilson. He is worth checking out.

Next time, I'll let you in on his short and tragic life story.