Shades Of A Genius

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Collier's Chess album is an above-average mid-'60s soul LP, particularly for an artist that never had a big pop hit. Collier's voice is deeper and more gospel-inflected than that of most woman soul singers of the period. She favors slower material than most soul vocalists did as well, as on her most famous recording, "I Had a Talk with My Man Last Night" (included here); Ray Charles stands out as an influence, as three of his songs are covered. She proves capable on swinging medium-tempo belters too, as on the imaginatively arranged version of "My Babe," which sounds here more like gospel-soul than the electric blues tune as popularized by Little Walter. It's quality, varied soul, not simply collector marginalia despite Collier's obscurity. The top-flight Chess soul production--frequent tasteful brass and strings, yet also some earthy numbers with tough bluesy licks--sometimes recalls the sound of Etta James' recordings from the same era. The 1998 British CD reissue expands the program considerably to 22 tracks, although there's an inexcusable absence of annotation explaining the origins of the cuts. ~ Richie Unterberger