Wilson Pickett - "In The Midnight Hour" (Atlantic, 1965 - this reissue by Rhino, 1993)

OK it's official, I'm outta my mind! How in the hell i forgot that a couple o' days ago we had the sad celebration of five years without Him? Five years without the baddest motherfucker! Five long years without the man and a half himself! On 19th January 2006, Wilson Pickett had left the building and from since the whole world lives without the toughest of them all... The roughest voice ever in Soul and the sweatiest grooves ever produced for the dance floors, are for good now linked with the Wicked Pickett! Forget any other when it comes for Wilson Pickett! I know I may sound like a blasphemous bastard right now, but that's how i feel. And if i must continue under sacrilege mode, i should add that he was for sure a son of a demon. He took all of his gospel memories and influences and strained them through his big bad lungs creating the very same moment hot blooded and sex driven funky music! Even though i have in my mind a million things to say 'bout him, I'll tell none. I mean, where in the bloody hell should i start and where to finish? Should i talk for the Falcons first? Should i talk for the Atlantic era or the Stax? Should i talk for picking up on a young Duane Allman, or should i talk for the bad behavior on women, his gun carrying, the drug problems and the jail sentence? He was not nicknamed "Wicked" by accident, be sure. I have always liked to provoke and evoke people when I'm having a conversation. In the past I've met many mods and you know, mods like to see themselves (even today) as the Soul knights. The ones that carrying the Soul torch in this age... Pfffff! None of them I've met had a good word for him... Coincidental? I don't think so! OK, don't wanna be malevolent and I'm sure there are many of 'em liking him, but almost all agreed to one thing. Wilson Pickett wasn't that good as Marvin Gaye or Diana Ross for example... Go figure! But i understand. He was too nitty gritty, too filthy and too bastard for a clean cut crowd, right? Don't get me wrong, here. I have nothing against mods, but what I'm typing now are true experiences. They always seemed to like better Northern and he was too Southern!
Anyway, that's probably his first long play for Atlantic. Not sure, but i won't waste time to check on geeky things. I chose it cause it's actually a compilation of singles in an era counting from 1962 to 1965. It contains also the magnificent Falcons (whose member was also Eddie Floyd), the ultra classic "Midnight Hour", the co-penned with Don Covay (another master!) "I'm Gonna Cry" and the first recordings he made with the Stax crew (f*ck the Eric Claptons of this world, Steve Cropper was GOD!). And as the liners points out:
' "Wicked" Pickett: a tall, dark and dangerous lady slayer and the envy of millions of wanna be "man and a halfs" from Cincinnati to Sheffield!" '
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Don't Fight It!