Ah, Memphis, Tennessee, home of Stax and Hi Records that brought us artists like Al Green, Shirley Brown, Syl Johnson, or Ann Peebles in the past. But since its heydays in the 70s, Memphis has become soul music’s sleeping beauty with a Shirley Brown album surfacing only every once in a while or Al Green with his I Can’t Stop and Everything’s OK albums.
But there’s one man on a mission to wake up Memphis and put it back on the map of soul music and that is Angelo Earl, label head of Soulstreet Records and producer of Tim Terry’s debut album The Tim Terry Experiment.
And what a great debut it is. The album starts with three uptempo tracks, On The Dance Floor, I’m Ready and Party, the latter is a funky Prince/P-Funk influenced, er, party-tune with a moving groove and a nice horn section. But the slower tunes are the ones that really show what a fine singer Tim is and how good the songs are that he (co-)wrote. Songs like Imagine That are deeply rooted in classic southern soul with its organ intro, warm instrumentation and soulful background vocals. Still In Love is another great modern soul song that just oozes class.
The most impressive song for my ears is Walter Lee, dedicated to Tim’s late father, Reverend Walter Lee Terry. The song has a great jazzy vibe and Tim delivers one of these rare performances that captures the essence of soul and reminds you why you will always love a great soul song.
It’s hard to top such a song when it’s not the last song on an album. But Tim achieves it with the equally great, lyrically uplifting Everything, which is just his voice and Fender Rhodes and Wurlitzer.
Add to this songs like the soul-funk of Slippin’ or the midtempo winner The One and you have a very impressive debut album. And if this album is an indication of what we can expect from Soulstreet Records in the future, then Memphis will surely once again become a well-known musical city like Atlanta or Philly.

Tracklisting of The Tim Terry Experience: 1. On the Dance Floor/ 2. I’m Ready/ 3. Party/ 4. Get It On/ 5. Imagine That/ 6. Slippin’/ 7. Can’t Get You/ 8. The One/ 9. Still in Love/ 10. Walter Lee/ 11. Everything/
12. Can’t Get You (Sexy Mix) | released 2005 by Soulstreet Records

For more infos visit soulstreetrecords.com and cdbaby.com.

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