Walter Jackson

Though this 2007 CD compilation includes the entirety of Walter Jackson's 1967 album Speak Her Name, it's not simply a straight reissue of that LP, as it also includes eight additional 1965-1968 tracks from singles, as well as two previously unissued outtakes. Combined with Kent's two previous CD compilations of Jackson's OKeh recordings, it completes the label's multi-volume retrospective of every surviving 1960s master by Jackson on the affiliated Columbia, OKeh, and Epic labels. Although it includes a few medium to small R&B hits ("It's an Uphill Climb to the Bottom," "After You There Can Be Nothing," "A Corner in the Sun," and "Speak Her Name"), and largely sticks to the orchestrated pop-soul format in which Jackson specialized, it's not as impressive as the best of his earliest work. Few soul singers with any chart success were as ornately produced as Jackson was, and for that kind of approach to work, the songs have to be really good. Despite material from noted composers like Clint Ballard, Barry Mann, Cynthia Weil, Burt Bacharach, and Hal David, the tunes are more OK than special. Whether coincidentally or not, two songs that appeared on 1967 singles ("My Ship Is Coming In" and "Everything Under the Sun") were also done around the same time by the Walker Brothers, almost leaving the impression that Jackson was taking a crack at these for the more R&B-oriented market. The tracks on this compilation are never less than respectable, however, and do include some above-average items. Foremost among these are the ghetto life portrait "No Butterflies" (with its memorable lyric about "furry little rodents playing with the children"), set to sweet, soaring orchestration and female backup harmonies; a fine version of Randy Newman's "Just One Smile," which is one of the previously unreleased tracks; a cover of Bacharach-David's "The Look of Love"; a confident self-penned attempt at jazz-blues, "Ad Lib"; and, if only for its oddity, the suicide song "The Bed," co-written by future country music star Eddie Rabbitt. ~ Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide