DAN GREER Not With Words LP MEMPHIS MODERN SOUL NM

$

67

RARE MEPHIS SOUL ~ BEALE STREET RECORDS ~ BSR-PR-1218-101 ~ Record is in NM condition, Jacket is in NM condition in original shrink. ~ Dan Greer is one of the unsung heroes of the Memphis soul scene. Not only is Dan a great singer in his own right, but a prolific songwriter and producer best known for his Sound Of Memphis and Hi productions. He has written songs for the Ovations/Barbara Brown/Spencer Wiggins/Carl Sims/Quiet Elegance and others. As a solo artist he recorded for Goldwax, Ode 70, Sound of Memphis, MGM and his own Beale Street label. And it's to the Beale Street label that we go to for this review. By 1982, Dan had moved into the gospel field like many of the older soul artists disillusioned by the mainstream music business. Most of Dan's self-penned gospel songs have strong universal messages, which reach out to everyone. " For The Children" is one of these songs with its message to make the world a safe place for our children and teach them about what is right and wrong. Dan assembled many of his friends, who he had worked with in Memphis, to back the project. Amongst those appearing on the album are the former Hi song-writer Earl Randle; guitarist Michael Toles who worked at Hi and Waylo; the Hi-Rhythm Section in the form of the Hodge Brothers and Howard Grimes; members of Brother's Unlimited; Leon Aldridge, Oscar Smith and Alvin Potts who had worked with Dan on his Sound of Memphis recordings with the Ovations etc plus Fred Jordan and Edgar Matthews who worked on his Wet Paint productions. This track is effused with soul and reflects the depth of Dan who is a very deep and religious person. This came out very strongly when I spoke to him in May 2001. I asked him to sum his career in soul music. He reflected back on his career as though he was in his church preaching to the congregation. His words flowed out as he took me on a journey of an abused soul man; "It would probably be the fact that I was there. "I came I saw I conquered" he laughed as recalled the slogan that adorned the wall of the Royal Recording Studio; a slogan whose origins no one could recall but some thought had been written by one of the founders of Hi, Bill Cantrell. This slogan meant a lot to Dan because it summed up how he felt he had been treated in the business. "We the willing led by the unknowing doing the impossible for the ungrateful. We have done so much for so long with so little we are now qualified to do anything with nothing" Dan continued; "I thought that this was so right on - to what we have meant to this industry" He then painted a picture which swept through black history to touch upon the feelings and depths of soul music which flowed like a river through the consciousness of black Americans. "The music that we share we sung out of our souls on cotton docks, levees, cotton fields. We lifted that bar, toted that bale, and some us got drunk and landed in jail but as the song says "Old Man River just keeps on" - and that's the music, the soul music, this music that God gave us it just keeps on passing on to the next generation, touching people and then we go, that's what it is about." He then continued with the idea of the river flowing on; "Rivers don't cease they just keep on rolling on until the sea - and that's why Hemingway took a little bit from the Bible - Ecclesiastes I believe it is and he said "All the rivers run into the sea and yet the sea is not full" and so that is what I've tried to be ..the river. you know just get on board let's see what's down steam". Besides the mighty river, Dan's has produced some of the finest music Memphis has offered.......THE BUYER WILL PAY $4.00 FOR SHIPPING. PLEASE CHECK OUT MY OTHER AUCTIONS.