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- Artist: Titus Turner
- Rating:
- Release Date: September 20, 2005
- Type: Compilation (best of)
- Genre: Blues
Review
A native of Atlanta, GA, Titus Turner was only 16 years old when he made his first recording, billed as Mr. T & His Band. For his precocious debut on Aladdin Records, Turner emulated Billy Eckstine's suavity and even injected a bit of his own stylized whistling into Duke Ellington's "I'm Just a Lucky So and So." His Regal recordings from March 1951 are much more substantial and therefore begin to impart a glimpse of where this remarkable man was headed. His first session for OKeh Records took place on October 16, 1951, with the Howard Biggs orchestra, including real jazz musicians like trumpeter Buck Clayton, tenor saxophonist Joe Thomas, and baritone saxophonist Pinky Williams. Two sides cut with Danny Kessler's orchestra on April 23, 1952, are stunningly powerful. After a teeth-grinding guitar intro, the singer describes how he's "Got So Much Trouble" in no uncertain terms: "My father's dead and gone, my mother's makin' time, my brother's in Korea and I'm almost out my mind." The flip side, "Please Baby," which obviously caused an irreversible chemical reaction inside of James Brown, develops almost painfully as Turner contorts his voice to suit the mood. Things grow strange as "My Plea" has weird reverb imposed with the setting so far off center that his voice sings back over itself like a John Giorno poetry reading. The effect becomes somewhat psychotropic when even the saxophone gets caught up in the sound loops. On "Big Mary," the Leroy Kirkland Orchestra shifted into a Delta rhumba rhythm, a mode that Turner obviously preferred. This fascinating slice of the Titus Turner chronology closes with a series of tunes recorded in January 1954, gradually mutating from a sensitive treatment of "Over the Rainbow" through a smooth crooning exercise called "Hello Stranger" through "My Lonely Room," a neurotic study in heartache containing the threat "I'm goin' to the doctor, without a doubt, I'm gonna have my heart cut out" and culminating in a rocking tribute to a satisfyingly "Devilish Woman." These passionately rendered recordings form a valuable basis for Titus Turner's better-known career as a composer of songs made famous byTracks
| Track Title | Composers | Performers | Time |
| I'm Just a Lucky So and So | Titus Turner | (2:58) | |
| Where Are You? | Titus Turner | (2:37) | |
| Stop Trying to Make a Fool of Me | Titus Turner | Titus Turner | (3:05) |
| Let's Forget the Whole Thing | Titus Turner | Titus Turner | (2:36) |
| It's Too Late Now | Titus Turner | Titus Turner, |
(2:35) |
| Don't Take Everybody to Be Your Friend | Titus Turner | (2:43) | |
| What'cha Gonna Do for Me | Titus Turner, |
(2:21) | |
| Same Old Feeling | Titus Turner, |
(2:54) | |
| Got So Much Trouble | Titus Turner | Titus Turner | (2:53) |
| Please Baby | Titus Turner | Titus Turner | (3:03) |
| Be Sure You Know | Titus Turner | (2:36) | |
| Jambalaya | Titus Turner | (1:59) | |
| My Plea | Titus Turner | (2:37) | |
| Christmas Morning | Titus Turner | Titus Turner, |
(2:42) |
| Big Mary's | Titus Turner | (2:12) | |
| Livin' in Misery | Titus Turner | Titus Turner, |
(2:21) |
| Over the Rainbow | E.Y. "Yip" Harburg, Harold Arlen | (2:33) | |
| Hello, Stranger | Titus Turner, |
(2:55) | |
| My Lonely Room | Titus Turner | (2:53) | |
| Devilish Women | Titus Turner | (2:13) |
