Lifetime: A Retrospective Of Soul, Blues & Gospel 1956-99 [Box]

Performer: Johnnie Taylor
Artist: Steve Cropper; Isaac Hayes; Booker T. Jones; Bernie Worrell; Bootsy Collins; The Memphis Horns
Distributor: Ryko Distribution

Notes: Personnel includes: Johnnie Taylor (vocals, guitar); The Highway Q.C.s, The Soul Stirrers (vocals); Steve Cropper, Raymond Jackson, Don Davis, Eddie Hinton, Jimmy Johnson, Bobby Manuel, Dino Zimmerman, Will Macfarlane (guitar); Booker T. Jones (piano, organ); Isaac Hayes (piano); Frederick Knight (keyboards, programming); Bernie Worrell, Marvell Thomas, Barry Beckett, Rudy Robinson, Carson Whitsett, Clayton Ivey, Butch Bonner, (keyboards); Duck Dunn, Bootsy Collins, David Hood, Ray Griffin (bass); Al Jackson, Jr., Roger Hawkins, James Robertson (drums); The Dramatics, Thelma Hopkins (background vocals); The Memphis Horns. Producers include: Sam Cooke, Don Davis, Steve Cropper, Calvin Carter, Al Jackson, Jr. Compilation producer: Lee Hildebrand. Recorded between 1956 and 1999. Includes liner notes by Lee Hildebrand, Don Davis, Wolf Stephenson and Al Bell. Digitally remastered by Joe Tarantino (Fantasy Studios, Berkeley, California). From his days singing gospel for the Highway Q.C.'s and as Sam Cooke's replacement in the Soul Stirrers, to his bluesy 1996 regional hit "Last Two Dollars," Johnnie Taylor covered an amazing breadth of musical ground. The 3-CD box set LIFETIME presents all sides of Taylor: spiritual singer, blues wailer, and soul superstar. Included are early cuts with the aforementioned Highway Q.C.'s ("I Dreamed That Heaven Was Like This") and the Soul Stirrers ("Out on a Hill," "Until Then"), along with Taylor's first forays into secular music, including his initial recordings for Stax (Merle Travis' "Sixteen Tons," Sam and Dave's "You Don't Know Like I Know"), and his short-lived stint on Cooke's SAR label ("Rome Wasn't Built in a Day"). Also included are the Arkansas native's greatest Stax successes, notably "I Believe in You (You Believe in Me)," and "Who's Making Love." Taylor's '70s material is drawn from his time with Columbia and features his biggest hit, the chart-topping "Disco Lady," which also became the first platinum-certified single. By the mid-'80s Taylor was recording for Southern soul label Malaco, represented here by tracks including the prophetic "Soul Heaven," recorded a few months before his death.

Mojo (Publisher) (2/01, p.89) - "...The Philosopher of Soul...The finest of his songs...tell woebegone tales from the hypotenuse of the triangle of love, the emotional geometry in which Taylor specialized....He [has] a powerful feeling ..."

Johnnie Taylor first achieved notoriety when he joined Sam Cooke's former group, the Soul Stirrers, in 1957. Taylor's blues-based R&B records of the '60s, like his biggest hit, "Who's Makin' Love?," featured an irresistible beat and Taylor's gruff, emphatic vocals. While he never achieved the fame of Otis Redding or Wilson Pickett, Taylor stuck around long enough to enjoy a second surge in popularity with the lusty hit "Disco Lady" in 1976.

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