Jackie Wilson - By Special Request… '1961 / 2015

Tracks list

Tracklist:

1. Cry (02:50)
2. My Heart Belongs to Only You (02:48)
3. Stormy Weather (Keeps Rainin' All the Time) (03:18)
4. Tenderly (03:44)
5. Lonely Life (02:28)
6. The Way I Am (02:15)
7. Try a Little Tenderness (04:08)
8. Mood Indigo (03:23)
9. You Belong to My Heart (Solamente Un Vez) (03:04)
10. Indian Love Call (03:27)
11. One More Time (02:41)
12. I'm Comin' on Back to You (02:21)


 MoreWilson would score his first big R&B (and small pop) hit in late 1956
with the brassy, stuttering "Reet Petite," which was co-written by an emerging
Detroit songwriter named Berry Gordy Jr. Gordy would also help write a few other
hits for Jackie in the late '50s, "To Be Loved," "Lonely Teardrops," "That's Why
(I Love You So)," and "I'll Be Satisfied"; they also crossed over to the pop
charts, "Lonely Teardrops" making the Top Ten. Most of these were upbeat,
creatively arranged marriages of pop and R&B that, in retrospect, helped set the
stage both for '60s soul and for Gordy's own huge pop success at Motown. The
early Gordy-Wilson association has led some historians to speculate how much
differently (and better) Jackie's career might have turned out had he been on
Motown's roster instead of the Brunswick label.

Jackie Wilson at the CopaIn the early '60s, Wilson maintained his pop stardom
with regular hit singles that often used horn arrangements and female choruses
that have dated somewhat badly, especially in comparison with the more creative
work by peers such as Charles and Brown from this era. Wilson also sometimes
went into out-and-out operatic pop, as on "Danny Boy" and one of his biggest
hits, "Night" (1960). At the same time, he remained capable of unleashing a
sweaty, up-tempo, gospel-soaked number: "Baby Workout," which fit that
description to a T, was a number five hit for him in 1963. It's true that you
have to be pretty selective in targeting the worthwhile Wilson records from this
era; 1962's At the Copa, for instance, has Jackie trying to combine soul and
all-around entertainment, and not wholly succeeding with either strategy. Yet
some of his early Brunswick material is also fine uptown soul; not quite as
earthy as some of his fans would have liked him to sound, no doubt, but worth
hearing.

Wilson was shot and seriously wounded by a female fan in 1961, though he made a
recovery. His career was more seriously endangered by his inability to keep up
with changing soul and rock trends. Not everything he did in the mid-'60s is
totally dismissible; "No Pity (In the Naked City)," for instance, is something
like West Side Story done uptown soul style. In 1966, his career was briefly
revived when he teamed up with Chicago soul producer Carl Davis, who had been
instrumental in the success of Windy City performers like Gene Chandler, Major
Lance, and Jerry Butler. Davis successfully updated Wilson's sound with
horn-heavy arrangements, getting near the Top Ten with "Whispers," and then
making number six in 1967 with "Higher and Higher." And that was really the
close of Wilson's career as either a significant artist or commercial force,
although he had some minor chart entries through the early '70s.

While playing a Dick Clark oldies show at the Latin Casino in New Jersey in
September 1975, Wilson suffered an on-stage heart attack while singing "Lonely
Teardrops." He lapsed into a coma, suffering major brain damage, and was
hospitalized until his death in early 1984. ~ Richie Unterberger

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