Lost Soul Queen

RELEASE
October 11, 2005
LABEL
Aim Records
GENRES
Rhythm & Blues, Deep Soul, Soul, Early R&B, New Orleans R&B

Album Review

Betty Harris' solid 1960s work with New Orleans songwriter and producer Allen Toussaint certainly deserved more audience and attention than it got at the time, and this fine compilation is the proof of that. Songs like "I Don't Want to Hear It," "Sometime," "Nearer to You" (which was a Top 40 R&B hit), and the stone-driving, funky "There's a Break in the Road" all show a solid soul singer working with top-notch material and the production by Toussaint is appropriately spooky, atmospheric, and dripping with New Orleans soulfulness. Also included here is Harris' pre-Toussaint cover of Solomon Burke's "Cry to Me," which she recorded in 1963 for Jubilee Records, and her version is definitive, no easy accomplishment when you're up against a singer as good as Burke. WestSide's 1998 anthology, Soul Perfection Plus, has everything here plus a few more additional tracks, but Lost Soul Queen has the essential stuff, and either collection will get you there.
Steve Leggett, Rovi

Track Listing

  1. Cry to Me
  2. I Don't Want to Hear It
  3. The Trouble with My Lover
  4. Nearer to You
  5. I'm Evil Tonight
  6. What Did I Do Wrong
  7. I'm Gonna Get You
  8. Mean Man
  9. Hook Line and Sinker
  10. Twelve Red Roses
  11. Lonely Hearts
  12. Ride Your Pony
  13. I Can't Last Much Longer
  14. I'll Be a Liar
  15. Sometime
  16. All I Want Is You
  17. What a Sad Feeling
  18. Bad Luck
  19. Break in the Road
  20. Take Care of Your Love [*]
  21. Love Lots of Lovin' [*]