Looking For You ~ The Complete United Artists & Veep Singles

It does not seem to be one of the best researched CDs on the Ace label. The sound quality on some of the tracks is not perfect, and with tracks 5-8, if you listen through headphones,you can hear an odd notch here and there, only faint but noticeable and irritating. I noticed some of the tracks give different stereo separation here, compared to the same tracks on his EMI compilation CD Best Of Garnet Mimms. Those mixes may be the same as on his CD on BGO reissuing two of his sixties albums which I have just ordered. Garnet Mimms was one of the highly underrated Soul singers of the sixties, unheard of in the UK, and only barely successful in the States. He came out with good strong distinctive songs which could be the reason so many much better known artists covered them. His first US hit was Cry Baby which you may know better by Janis Joplin who was just not my cup of tea, and her version of this was just god awful. You might just as well have this original. According to the booklet, the backing vocalists on most of the earlier tracks here were future members of The Sweet Inspiration who I assume would have included Cissy Houston, although her name is not mentioned. But there is little session information in the booklet, as according to what I read elsewhere, sisters Dionne and Dee Dee Warwick and future Sweet Inspiration Estelle Brown provided backing vocals for his first single. When I compared the backing vocals on that to the backing vocals on his second single Baby Don't You Weep, I realized that the backing vocals on his first was not quite in such high register. But the backing vocalists on most of the remaining early tracks here may have been The Sweet Inspiration, as they sounded the same every time, and had very distinctive voices. By then, Dionne Warwick had discontinued as a background vocalist due to the expansion of her own career as a performer, although the Warwick sisters already appeared on a number of early sixties recordings by The Drifters & others, sometimes alongside Cissy Houston. By 1965, due to the changes in the black music industry, he updated his sound a bit, and developed a more contemporary Soul sound, occasionally alongside sixties Soul contemporary Len Barry. By then, he was seemingly using different backing vocalists. Although he had a strong loud voice, when he sang in softer tones, he occasionally slightly resembled Sam Cooke. His songs that were covered by other artists included It Was Easier To Hurt Her, covered over here on albums by Dusty Springfield (under a slightly amended title It Was Easier To Hurt Him), Wayne Fontana and Chris Farlowe who also covered Garnet's Looking For You, Look Away, covered over here by Manfred Mann on their second album Mann Made, Anytime You Want Me covered by The Who on the flip side of the US only release of their second single, but is now available among a heap of bonus tracks on the double CD reissue of their first album My Generation, As Long As I Have You (not the old Elvis Presley album track) which Roger Daltrey has just covered as his latest single, and as the title-track for his new album, and two songs of similar titles Cry Baby & My Baby, both of which were covered by Janis Joplin.. But Garnet did record a few covers himself, two of which are here. One of them was his version of The Jarmels' US early sixties hit A Little Bit Of Soap, which was originally a very ordinary song by a very ordinary group. But Garnet gave it a very soulful reading, making the song sound very effective. Years later, it was covered again but purely for the UK market by Showaddywaddy. The other was his surprisingly soulless cover of a US hit for fellow Soul singer Jerry Butler, For Your Precious love. Furthermore, the slight orchestral arrangement on Garnet's version waters it down even more. Whereas Jerry's original was backed vocally by Curtis Mayfield's then-group The Impressions, with Curtis' distinctive and effective voice noticeable in the background. But you don't get the benefit of that here. This set claims to contain both sides of all of his US released United Artist singles. But there are a couple of flaws. One track As Long As I Have You, his original studio album track version did not appear on any of his US singles, not that I have any objection to it being here as it was such a great track. although his inferior live re-recording of it recorded in the UK, apparently during his UK tour with Jimi Hendrix in 1967, did appear on a UK only single. A further track It Won't Hurt (Half As Much) which appeared on the B side of the second US pressing of his single My Baby and was on it's UK B side is missing. It was written by American songwriter Bert Berns which he originally gave to Van Morrison's group at the time THEM to record as a single which he produced during his spell in the UK, among other tracks of theirs. On his return to the States, he gave it to Garnet Mimms who recorded it in a rather different style. Bert sometimes used the name Bert Russell, and under that name, was previously one of the writers of Twist And Shout. The tracks appear here in the order they were released on original US singles except for the last track, obviously not in recording order, as a couple of his later B sides were tracks from his previous albums, and had an earlier sound than the A sides. There has been another CD by Garnett Mimms on the sometimes shoddy Jasmine label collecting both sides of his earlier singles with The Gainors, most of them with himself on lead. But the sound is shoddy, as they sound dubbed from disc with pops and crackles here and there. Musically, they were not as good. That CD finishes with eight tracks that do not seem to have any Garnet Mimms connection.

Another great release from Ace/Kent records this month (also see Jackie Wilson - NYC 1961 to 66 CDTOP2 1428) this time it's Garnett Mimms on their Kent imprint. Unlike Jackie Wilson, Garnett Mimms is a virtually unknown artist to most casual listeners - hopefully this quality release will convert a few more of the uninitiated. All 14 American singles (A's & B sides) of his United Artist/Veep output from 1963 to 66 are here but not the U.K only tracks. We are treated to up-tempo numbers such as 'Looking for you' a northern soul classic to fantastic heart-breaking ballads such as 'It was easier to hurt her' and 'Cry baby'. Many of the tracks were written by such great names as 'Jerry Ragovoy' and 'Bert Berns'. Overall, it's a feast for the ears for just over 77 minutes - with great sound quality (All tracks bar 2 are in Stereo). The booklet is very good with informative liner notes by Tony Rounce, label shots and some rare photo's. My only niggle is that 'Wanting you' my favourite track is'nt on here - mustn't be greedy. A must for soul fans and casual listeners alike. Recommended 10/10.

Only knew a couple of tracks and made the purchase on that basis...but whoa theres some songs on here that will sure melt ya custard [as we say]...buy it

great early new york soul, the fabulous Ragavoy/Berns composer/producer combination...

Very pleased, it was nice to get these tracks on a CD, good service all round, would use this seller again.

Great album. first garnet Mimms album and not disappointed.

some tracks i didnt know but the cd as a whole is worth it Garnett Mimms at his best ! real soul

An excellent collection of an early soul great