Tuesday's Twosome # 13

In August 1967, one of the most famous soul tunes of all time, »Soul Man«, hit the ears of the world. It was not even to be the first #1 hit for Sam & Dave, after the success of »Hold On! I'm A Comin'« in 1966 ...

From Stax LP # 725, back cover

In October 1967, then, their first Stax LP was out, entitled Soul Men after their recent hit. In great contrast to what happened usually this LP was no collection of more or less successful 45s plus some fillers. Apart from »Soul Man« and »May I Baby« (both on Stax # 231), the remain- ing ten songs on this album were never ever released separately. Businesswise, this was not too much of a good idea, because LPs still sold badly in those days (notwithstanding the fact that the LP entered the Top Selling R&B LP charts in mid-November and was to remain there until Feb. '68). On the artistic side, however, Sam & Dave's LP (together with others as well) have become known as very well produced (LP 725 by Isaac Hayes & David Porter) and consistently featuring above-average material which, in any case, was found only on the big vinyl.

There might be somebody out there who hasn't heard the LPs of Sam & Dave, or at least not this one, or at least this one not in its entirety, or this one not in the mono version, or who doesn't remember it well, or whose vinyl collection was stored too near the heating, or whose record player fell recently from the balcony, or whose HD refuses proper service, or somebody who just likes to listen again ... so for those unfortunate people here are two songs from this LP: »I'm With You« and »The Good Runs The Bad Way«. The first song was actually first recorded by the 5 Royales in 1960 (and is correctly credited to one of their members, Lowman - »Loman« on back cover and label of Stax LP 725 - Pauling). The second tune is a Sam & Dave original and was penned by Andrew Love & Wayne Jackson of the Memphis Horns. It has a very James-Brownish feeling to it ... great stuff!

Sam & Dave: »I'm With You« / »The Good Runs The Bad Way« from the Stax LP # 725 (1967, mono):

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For the record: Both songs were recorded in Memphis in August 1967.