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Sweet Soul Music by Peter Guralnick
Sweet Soul Music by Peter Guralnick












He was one of so many who was never recorded properly in his own milieu. In answer to the Desert Island Disc question (what’s the one record you would take with you to that mythical desert island, assuming all obstacles of technology could be overcome and records still existed?), I’ve always said that I would gladly give away all my records, CDs, recorded music, just to see Howlin’ Wolf shatter reality one more time. Here are just a few, a very few, live recordings that suggest some of that untrammeled freedom. So little of this music has been recorded the way it actually sounds – in the clubs, on-stage, with an audience that is as much a part of the experience as the performer him or herself. It’s the unexpectedness, the spontaneity of the moment that makes it different (same as jazz), whatever expression that hypnotic moment may take.

Sweet Soul Music by Peter Guralnick

Often the live versions of familiar songs are slower, more drawn-out, they deepen the emotional resonance of lyrics you thought you knew by heart – but not always.

Sweet Soul Music by Peter Guralnick

With the soul and gospel shows it’s more of the incantatory nature of the experience – I don’t know of anything that can equal the wildness and out-of-control control of a groove that draws you in even as it keeps you at a tantalizing remove. From the first time I saw Lightnin’ Hopkins when I was sixteen years old to catching James Brown and Solomon Burke in person (not to mention Howlin’ Wolf and Jerry Lee Lewis) when I wasn’t much older, I’ve never found anything to match it. Many record producers and engineers see it as an illusion – it looks better than it sounds – but for me it’s the essence of all music. (Now, that might be the start of a future great-live-soul-videos list!) For those of you without Spotify, we’ve included the youtube versions here, too. Okayplayer used youtube audios, with one alternative Ray Charles video performance thrown in for good measure.

Sweet Soul Music by Peter Guralnick

It was intended as a list of some favorite soul tracks released on live albums (kind of an abbreviated soundtrack to the new enhanced eBook edition of Sweet Soul Music).














Sweet Soul Music by Peter Guralnick