Percy Sledge
The Atlantic Recordings (Rhino Handmade)Tough act to follow, “When a Man Loves a Woman.” Atlantic Records’ Jerry Wexler knew its worth immediately: “When I heard it, I called Ahmet [Ertegun] in Europe and told him I’d found a single that was going to pay for our whole summer,” the late label head famously recalls in the liner notes to these Atlantic Recordings. Percy Sledge’s 1966 smash also kicked open the floodgates to Muscle Shoals Sound Studios, Wexler next dispatching Wilson Pickett and Aretha Franklin to the Alabama getaway. Following up 2010’s red-hot Wilson Pickett chestnut, Funky Midnight Mover: The Atlantic Studio Recordings (1962-1978), Rhino Handmade’s newest Hall of Fame soul collection houses four discs in crimson velvet. Cannily sequenced, it lives, dies, and sighs upon the great music industry conundrum: a second act. Three more tracks from the same Feb. 17, 1966, session that spawned Sledge’s opening signature song follow it, “Love Me Like You Mean It” as spry and horn-y as its predecessor is slow burning. Off When a Man Loves a Woman, “Put a Little Lovin’ on Me” rides a stabbing arrangement whose over/under (trumpet/baritone sax) tames a mustang rhythm. Sledge’s phosphorus “It Tears Me Up” will likewise shred hearts. By the following year, 1967, naked rewrites (“Behind Every Great Man There’s a Woman”) of Sledge’s No. 1 breakthrough aren’t sticking to the studio glass any more than seminal standards – “You Send Me,” “You Don’t Miss Your Water,” “Tell It Like It Is,” “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long (To Stop Now).” The windfall, fortunately, is Western: “High Cost of Leaving,” on which Sledge’s luxuriating ache sounds like he’s got a not-so-little pinch between the cheek and gum. Take Time To Know Her (1968) subsequently finds its post-“When a Man Love a Woman” mojo overtly C&W, though the rewrites continue (“Sudden Stop”) and even anticipate George Jones’ “He Stopped Loving Her Today” (“Take Time To Know Her”). A new flutter on the Fleetwoods’ “Come Softly to Me” and perfect matchup with “Spooky” lead to disc three’s dozen Atlantic singles by the Alabaman pompadour, including covers of Buffalo Springfield (“Kind Woman”), Jimmy Cliff (“Too Many Rivers To Cross”), the Bee Gees (“I’ve Gotta Get a Message to You”), and Kris Kristofferson (“Help Me Make It Through the Night”). Unreleased tidbits and live licks seal the singer’s Atlantic tenure, ’66-’70. Now 69, Percy Sledge remains No. 1 whenever lovers steam up the night.
This article appears in March 11 • 2011.
