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Summary: Solid Milton Campbell Collection
Comment: Little Milton Campbell was a popular blues/R&B singer of the 60's and early 70's. This collection shows that he was a talented singer and musician, and while he was more R&B than blues, his songs often had the bluesy feel that one would expect from someone performing on Chess Records.
"We're Gonna Make In," "So Mean To Me," "Man Loves Two,"" Who's Cheating Who?" and "We've Got the Winning Hand" and many of the other cuts on this record are entertaining and harken back to an era when the lines between blues and R&B seemed indistinguishable. This is an excellent collection.
Customer Rating:
Summary: better than expected
Comment: I bought the album for the song grits ain't groceries, however, the rest of the song are also great for the listeners who like 70's rock and blues music and should be added to collection. I like the album
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Summary: Chess Record's R&B Star
Comment: Little Milton was a powerful, expressive singer with a silky baritone, and like Junior Parker and Bobby "Blue" Bland, he traffiked in bluesy r&b. He recorded for three legendary labels (Sun, Chess and Stax), enjoying his greatest success with Chess.
He recorded well into the nineties, and if you like what you hear here, 1990's 'Too Much Pain' comes highly recommended. (Don't miss the recent 'Stax Profiles', either.)
This collection is a generous cross-section of his sixties output for Chess, and it's good 'n greasy. Tracks like "We're Gonna Make It", "Blind Man", "More and More", "Let Me Down Easy", "Grits Ain't Groceries" and "Who's Cheating Who?" are meaty slabs of smoked-to-perfection, barbequed southern soul.
Unfortunately, some poorly-chosen tracks from 1970's 'If Walls Could Talk' close out this disc. Their arrangements are Vegas-style cheese, and Colin Escott notes in his essay that Little Milton's arranger, Billy Davis, left Chess Records in 1968 to join an advertising agency. It shows.
There are better tracks on 'Walls' than "Let's Get Together", "Poor Man's Song" and "Baby, I Love You" (his remake of Guitar Slim's "The Things I Used To Do" and Robert Parker's "Blues Get Off My Shoulder" are two), but no compilation is perfect, is it?
If you can get past the weak ending, forget about the napkins when you place your order. This is so good you'll want to lick your fingers.
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Summary: A good overview of Little Milton's Chess sides
Comment: Little Milton Campbell arguably recorded his grittiest and bluesiest songs for Sun and Bobbin before signing with Chess Records in the early 60s; tough blues and R&B like "If You Love Me", "That Will Never Do", and "Lookin' For My Baby".
But he cut several excellent sides for Chess as well, as is evident on this 16-song compilation, an expanded version of the 1972 LP "Greatest Hits". Campbell's rendition of "Just A Little Bit" is marred by some of the most hideous organ playing I've ever heard on a Chess waxing, and is much lesser than Magic Sam Maghett's recording of the same song, and the horn section really goes overboard on a couple of numbers, but most of what's here is good or even great.
The swinging, melodic numbers "We're Gonna Make It" and "Who's Cheating Who", and the plaintive but gutsy "Let's Get Together" are among the best songs here; swaggering, three-minute, mid-tempo soul stompers performed with power and conviction.
The lesser-known "We Got The Winning Hand" is another highlight, as is the mournful slowie "Let Me Down Easy", Milton's smooth reading of Chuck Willis' "I Feel So Bad (I Shake My Head And Walk Away)", and of course the classic "All Around the World (Grits Ain't Groceries)".
Little Milton's Chess sides weren't really blues at all. There is some classy R&B here, but this is soul music first and foremost. Soul music with a bluesy edge which sets it apart from that of Chess Records' other soul singers, but soul music never the less.
But that's okay. I would have liked a bit more grit, sure, and MCA could easily have fitted another ten songs onto this disc. But what is here is certainly good early Chicago soul, and the late James Milton Campbell was an excellent, expressive singer and a fine guitarist.
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Summary: Little Milton, A great blues singer who sings from his guts
Comment: My favorite songs on this gutsy blues singer's CD are Blind Man, Let's Get Together, and Let Me Down Easy. Listening to Little Milton takes me back to the 60's when we use to have rent parties for a whole weekend, and listen to blues singers while we cooked, partied, and sold food. Also brings back memories of sitting on the back porch at night in the summer, while Little Milton, Bobby Bland, Sam Cooke or some other blues singer from that era played on the record player. Milton's gut-wrenching singing is what I call "soulful blues".
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