Oldham, Spooner – Pot Luck - New LP

First solo set (and only one from the 1970s) from songwriter and session keyboard Spooner Oldman who wrote many classic soul sides and offered his organ playing on so many great sides and albums recorded in Muscle Shoals and Memphis.  (Ed Cobb is credited as producer; Cobb wrote "Tainted Love" for Gloria Jones, and "worked as either a music producer or a sound engineer for such artists as The Standells, Steely Dan, Pink Floyd, and Fleetwood Mac.").  It might not be an essential album from the 1970s, but it certainly deserved a repress (first pressing since original 1972 release), both fits into this setting and remains its own thing.  Side one focuses on laidback numbers...you can almost hear the creak of the porch swing and feel the warm southern winds of summer...  The flipside notches up the proceedings, the side nearly filled with a medley, opening with soul drenched in his organ for "When A Man Loves A Woman" / "I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Love You), (two songs he played a part in creating), launching into bluegrass with "Kentucky Grass" (Oldham, Emory Gordy Jr.), followed by the Box Tops hit "Cry Like A Baby" (written for them by Oldham), kicking it up for a version of "Respect," going into New Orleans Dixeland for "The New World," and closing with the only vocal cut of the medley "My Friend."  The medley is followed by "Will The Circle Be Unbroken" to end the side.  .  -- winch 

Spooner Oldham Biography by Steve Kurutz: As an integral part of the Memphis/Muscle Shoals studio bands of the late '60s, organist Spooner Oldham made a definite mark on the sound of soul music. Starting as a piano player in high school bands, when Oldham graduated and began studying at the University of North Alabama, he quickly found himself skipping classes in favor of hanging around Rick Hall's FAME studios in nearby Florence, Al. After adding the ghostly organ sound on Percy Sledge's runaway hit "When a Man Loves a Woman," Oldham became a member of Rick Hall's ace studio band alongside guitarist Jimmy Johnson, bassist Junior Lowe and drummer Roger Hawkins. Together the unit played on landmark albums by Wilson Pickett and Aretha Franklin among others. Defecting to Memphis in 1967, Oldham teamed up with singer Dan Penn at Chips Moman's American Studios, and the duo developed into one of the best songwriting partnerships in music. Together the two wrote hits for Aretha Franklin ("Do Right Woman") and the Box Tops ("Cry Like a Baby") among others as well as having their songs appear as album cuts on artists such as Janis Joplin ("A Woman Left Lonely"). After the trailblazing days of southern soul came to an end, Oldham took his considerable talents elsewhere, adding piano and organ to such acts as Neil Young, Bob Dylan, and the Everly Brothers. He remains a respected figure among music aficionados not only for his tasteful keyboard playing, but for his songwriting as well.

  

 

 

A1 The Lord Loves A Rolling Stone Written-By – Dan Penn, Dewey Lindon Oldham* A2 1980 (Keep On Smiling) Written-By – Karen Oldham, Dewey Lindon Oldham* A3 Life's Package Of Puzzles Written-By – Dewey Lindon Oldham* A4 Julie Brown's Forest Written-By – Dan Penn, Dewey Lindon Oldham* A5 Easy Listening Written-By – Freddy Weller, Dewey Lindon Oldham* Profile (Medley) B1 When A Man Loves A Woman Written-By – Calvin Lewis, Andrew Wright (4) B2 I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Love You) Written-By – Ronny Shannon* B3 Kentucky Grass Written-By – Dewey Lindon Oldham*, Emory Gordy Jr.* B4 Cry Like A Baby Written-By – Dewey Lindon Oldham*, Dan Penn B5 Respect Written-By – Otis Redding B6 The New World Arranged By – Dewey Lindon Oldham*, Dan Penn B7 My Friend Written-By – Dewey Lindon Oldham*, Donnie Fritts B8 Will The Circle Be Unbroken Arranged By – Dewey Lindon Oldham* Written-By – Traditional