Chuck Jackson

It sometimes seems as if nearly every major soul star of the 1960s got paired up with a singer of the opposite gender for a duets album, and Chuck Jackson was no exception. Jackson cut two LPs with his Wand Records labelmate Maxine Brown, and both of them are featured on this two-fer reissue from Kent. The pairing seemed to bring out the best in both artists -- Brown, one of the more underrated soul divas of the 1960s, delivers a set of committed and passionate performances on these tracks, and Jackson responds with equally strong vocals that rank with his best work. Saying Something was the superior album, and was built around a set of love duets that found Chuck & Maxine sounding like real-life lovebirds as they traded lines and verses on a superior collection of tunes. Hold On, We're Coming toned down the romance in favor of filling the dancefloor, and boasts a handful of truly frantic numbers, including uptempo covers of "Shake a Tail Feather" and "C.C. Rider," as well as a version of "Tennessee Waltz" that must be heard to be believed. Kent's reissue of these LPs plays with their sequence just a bit, eliminating the duplication of three tracks that appeared on both albums as well as placing "The Real Thing" at the end of the set to make it less obvious that it shares the same melody and backing track as "Baby Take Me," and ultimately the disc plays better as a result. Four cuts from Jackson's final recording session for Wand are included as a bonus, adding to the quality of this package, which is a real value for vintage soul mavens. ~ Mark Deming, All Music Guide