Let the Best Man Win: The Fame Recordings, Vol. 2

Liner Note Author: Dean Rudland.
This is the second volume of previously unissued late-'60s recordings by George Jackson, who had some success as a staff songwriter for the FAME studio at Muscle Shoals, as well as issuing some releases of his own. Of these 24 tracks, all but three were written or co-written by Jackson; he also sings a couple O.B. McClinton compositions, and one co-authored by Spooner Oldham and Dan Penn. Some might feel it's going too far to issue a second volume of unreleased material by someone who was a songwriter foremost and an artist second, and admittedly by its very nature this will appeal mostly to Southern soul specialists. That doesn't mean it's bad, though. In fact, it's pretty good if you like the FAME sound of the period, and is at least the equal of its predecessor (Don't Count Me Out: The Fame Recordings, Vol. 1), if you go for this sort of thing. Perhaps unburdened by the pressure of having to summon a performance that would get on the radio (at least some of these were meant as demos for prospective artists), Jackson sings in an unaffected, slightly high range that avoids the strain heard on some of the more deliberately intense and emotive Southern soul records of the era. The songs are not killer, but amble along with a nice relaxed funky Muscle Shoals groove. A few of these did find a bigger audience through interpretations released at the time, and here you can hear Jackson himself doing "I'm Just a Prisoner" (recorded by Candi Staton), "Mini Skirt Minnie," and "Save Me" (the last two of which were included on Wilson Pickett's Hey Jude album). Occasionally you can tell some of these are demos, but it's seldom that unfinalized production values become a distraction (usually in the drumming department, with "I Lived Through a Losing Battle" let down by some really sloppy stickwork). ~ Richie Unterberger