Reaching Out - Chess Records At Fame Studios

アラバマ州マッスルショールズから数々のソウル名作を生み出したリック・ホール主宰フェイム・スタジオ。ジミー・ヒューズ「Steal Away」、パーシー・スレッジ「男が女を愛する時」のフェイム産ヒットに目を付けたアトランティックがアリサ・フランクリンやウィルソン・ピケットをFAMEで吹き込ませ大成功を収めるなか、フェイム作品のリースを請け負っていたシカゴの名門チェスも自社アーティストをマッスルショールズに送り込むようになった。
本コンピはフェイムで録音したチェス契約アーティストを完全網羅したもの。代表格はやはり本作5曲収録のローラ・リーと、大傑作フェイム産チェス盤アルバム『Tell Mama』もあるエタ・ジェイムズ。他にもアーマ・トーマス、ボビー・ムーア&ザ・リズム・エイシズ、リー・ヴェブスターらの名品がずらり。モーリス&マック、ミッティ・コリアの未発表曲には驚き!
ブックレットには詳細なライナーノーツはもちろん、アーティストの未公開写真や45盤レーベル、アルバム・ジャケットの写真をたっぷり掲載。『Hall Of FAME』シリーズなどでフェイム音源の整理・発掘・リイシューに命を懸けるACEらしい丹念な仕事ぶりに脱帽です!

Chess Records called Chicago home but the label often looked elsewhere for singers and singles. Usually, this amounted to some variation on direct licensing -- independent record producers or studio owners would send sides to Chess, hoping for release -- but between 1967 and 1969, Chess sent a number of its artists down to FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals in Alabama. This wasn't a burst of inspiration on the label's part. Chess was following the path of Atlantic, who had considerable success recording Wilson Pickett and Percy Sledge at FAME, but once Atlantic's Jerry Wexler fell out with FAME's Rick Hall, the Alabama studio had space for Chess artists and the Chicago label was willing. Irma Thomas and Maurice & Mac came first, later followed by Etta James and Laura Lee, along with a handful of acts not so well known. Ace's 2015 compilation Reaching Out: Chess Records at Fame Studios collects 24 tracks from this time -- most were released at the time, but there are three cuts seeing their first-ever release here -- and they're all unified by that exceptional, tight Muscle Shoals groove. Merely by placing their artists down south, Chess managed to give their acts a grittier appeal. This doesn't feel as sleek as the soul cut up north and, happily, it's a sound that suits all the singers, whether it's the powerhouses of James and Thomas or Maurice & Mac's sly Sam & Dave moves. Most of the surprises arrive in the obscurities, such as Lee Webber's funky rendition of the Beatles' "Good Day Sunshine" or Bobby Moore's moody and impassioned "I Wanna Be Your Man," but the fact that Reaching Out more than satisfies is pleasure enough. The fact that it sheds light onto this often-unexplored connection between Chess and FAME makes it historically important in addition to being sheer entertainment. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine