Lifetime [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). Personnel: Johnnie Taylor (guitar); Leroy Crume (vocals, guitar); Charles Richardson, Quanda Brooks, R.B. Robinson, Jesse J. Farley, Lee Richardson, Paul Foster, Richard Gibbs, Spencer Taylor (vocals); Jimmy Johnson , Don Davis , Eddie Hinton, Arthur Armstrong, Bobby Jackson, Leroy Hadley, Raymond Jackson , Steve Cropper, Tommy Tedesco , Will McFarlane, Bobby Manuel, Dino Zimmerman (guitar); Brian Gum, John Frantz, Tim Mika, Bennett Randman, Linda Geidel, Bob McNally, Mickey Davis, Peggy Plucker, Janet Dressler, Claudette Hampton (strings); Sybil Cheesman (flute); Joe Arnold, Edgar Redmond, Andrew Love (saxophone); John Anderson , Wayne Jackson (trumpet); John Ewing (trombone); Gary Armstrong, Harrison Calloway, Dennis Soule, Jim Horn, Ben Cauley, Vinnie Ciesielski, Charles Rose, Harvey Thompson, Ronnie Eades (horns); Booker T. Jones III, Isaac Hayes (piano, organ); Frederick Knight (keyboards, programming, background vocals); Clayton Ivey, Rudy Robinson, Marvell Thomas, Barry Beckett, Bernie Worrell, Carson Whitsett (keyboards); Johnny Soul, Roger Clark (drums, percussion); Earl Palmer , Al Jackson, Jr., Roger Hawkins, James Robertson (drums); Jack Ashford (tambourine); Vickie Lancaster (percussion); Sonya Washington, Angela Walls, LaTonya Youngblood, Leonard Williams, Thomisene Anderson, Catherine Henderson (background vocals). Liner Note Author: Lee Hildebrand. Arranger: Rene Hall. 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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