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Soul Is My Music: The Best of Bobby Patterson

Bobby Patterson (R&B)
2 discs

0. DISC 1:
1. Then You'll Know - (previously unreleased)
2. Rainin' in My Heart - (previously unreleased, demo)
3. I'm a Slave to You - (previously unreleased, demo)
4. Nobody But You - (previously unreleased, demo)
5. You Just Got to Understand
6. Till You Give In
7. If I Didn't Have You
8. What's Your Problem Baby
9. Long Ago
10. Let Them Talk
11. Soul Is Our Music
12. I'm Leroy, I'll Take Her
13. Sock Some Lovin' at Me
14. Broadway Ain't Funny No More
15. I Met My Match
16. Good Ol' Days, The
17. Don't Be So Mean
18. Sweet Taste of Lovin'
19. Busy, Busy Bee
20. Trial of Mary Maguire - (previously unreleased, first version)
0. DISC 2:
1. T.C.B. or T.Y.A.
2. What a Wonderful Night for Love
3. My Thing Is Your Thing (Come Get It)
4. Keeping It in the Family
5. My Baby's Coming Back to Me
6. Guess Who?
7. Trial of Mary Maguire
8. Knock Out Power of Love, The
9. If a Man Ever Loved a Woman (Baby I Love You)
10. You Taught Me How to Love
11. I'm in Love With You
12. Married Lady
13. If I Didn't Know Better - (previously unreleased)
14. I Do - (previously unreleased)
15. Mama's Got a New Bag Too - (previously unreleased)
16. You Can Tell I'm in Love - (previously unreleased)
17. Till You Give In - (previously unreleased)
18. Busy, Busy Bee - (previously unreleased, alternate take)
19. How Funky Can You Get
20. Turn Back the Hands of Time
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Additional Info

Manufacturer Part Number (MPN): 11105
Credits

Producer
Engineer
Personnel includes: Bobby Patterson (vocals); Andrew "Junior Boy" Jones (guitar); Bobby Simpson (saxophone); Bill Thomas (trumpet); Tim McNeeley (keyboards); Michael Fugett (bass); Ronnie Brewster (drums).
Producers: Bobby Patterson, Chips Moman, Dan Penn.
Recorded between 1965 & 1970. Includes liner notes by Bill Dahl.
Photographers: Steve Besch; Clark Besch; Bill Dahl; Bobby Patterson .
Unknown Contributor Roles: Steve Besch; Clark Besch.
You would have thought that Ace's 29-track 1990s CD compilation Taking Care of Business was the last word on Bobby Patterson's 1965-1970 work for the Jetstar and Abnak labels. But no, here comes this two-CD, 40-song comp that goes the extra mile, adding nine previously unreleased tracks (including a few alternate versions of songs that came out on singles) and both sides of the instrumental single by Patterson's band, the Mustangs. The liner notes are far more thorough as well, with plenty of quotes from Patterson. The music remains, however, pleasant and good-natured journeyman soul, heavily echoing several soul trends from Motown to Stax without staking a strong claim for Patterson as a notable individual voice in his own right. The echoes of specific performers like Marvin Gaye, the Temptations, and Percy Sledge are there to hear too. Indeed, a few of these were "answer" songs of sorts -- "I'm Leroy, I'll Take Her" for Joe Tex's "Skinny Legs and All," "Soul Is Our Music" for Arthur Conley's "Sweet Soul Music," "Broadway Ain't Funky No More" for Wilson Pickett's "Funky Broadway," and the previously unissued "Mama's Got a New Bag Too" for James Brown's "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag." The previously unreleased stuff (including a four-song October 1965 demo) is of a similar fair-and-not-great level as the singles, the best cut being the original "Then You'll Know," which is Southern soul with a bit of a pop sting. His best moment was "If I Didn't Have You," which is more Southern pop-soul though in a moodier vein, while "Long Ago" was a notable obscure early Dan Penn composition (co-written with Buddy Killen). ~ Richie Unterberger
Critic Reviews

Living Blues (6/03, pp.105-6) - "...His fusions of early-'60s pop R&B, soul, blues, and the like were a forerunner to the soul-blues that began hitting for Malaco in the '80s....Patterson's the kind of artist who gives journeymen a good name..."