had the barbara hall version for a long time and think its fantastic but last night for the first time I heard the version by ben e king.

wow can't believe I missed that brilliant record.

other example for me would be

johnnie mae matthews "I have no choice"

I only heard the black nasty LP version for the first time last year and that also blew me away.

thats the great thing about soul music its such a huge topic and you never know it all. There is lways great new music to discover regardless of how much you think you know.

had the barbara hall version for a long time and think its fantastic but last night for the first time I heard the version by ben e king.

wow can't believe I missed that brilliant record.

other example for me would be

johnnie mae matthews "I have no choice"

I only heard the black nasty LP version for the first time last year and that also blew me away.

thats the great thing about soul music its such a huge topic and you never know it all. There is lways great new music to discover regardless of how much you think you know.

Ben E. Kings's cut is superb. Both the Hall and the King are just great pieces of soul music. I probably give King the edge as I tend to prefer male vocals, but like i say they're both great.

Ah, Johnnie Mae Matthews. In the euphoria of first hearing it I thought it was the best thing I'd ever heard. Listening to new (to me) tracks regularly the best thing I've ever heard seems to change week by week but Johnnie Mae Matthews is still there around the top.

A fantastic piece of Detroit magic. The rawness of her vocal coupled with the gentle oooooohs & aaaaaahs in the background just do it for me. Sublime!

The other cuts are good, both the Black Nasty and the supposedly Audrey Matthews (actually Sharon McMahon) but for me nowhere near in the same class as JMM.

Edited February 19, 201114 yr by Dave Turner

Delicates (Pulsar) version of 'You say you loved me', fab right from the intro and even though I'm a detroity fan, dare I say it better than Dee Edwards...

Delicates (Pulsar) version of 'You say you loved me', fab right from the intro and even though I'm a detroity fan, dare I say it better than Dee Edwards...

better check that one out as I love the dee edwards version.

Delicates (Pulsar) version of 'You say you loved me', fab right from the intro and even though I'm a detroity fan, dare I say it better than Dee Edwards...

Bobby Sanders also re-used the backing track of The Delicates for 'Nothing From Nothing' - recorded by French Coffey (Pick-A-Hit) and Little Anthony (Pure Gold). My personal favourite though is the Delicates which seems to be getting quite hard to come by. The French Coffey version sells for a fair bit but the Little Anthony is still reasonable.

had the barbara hall version for a long time and think its fantastic but last night for the first time I heard the version by ben e king.

wow can't believe I missed that brilliant record.

other example for me would be

johnnie mae matthews "I have no choice"

I only heard the black nasty LP version for the first time last year and that also blew me away.

thats the great thing about soul music its such a huge topic and you never know it all. There is lways great new music to discover regardless of how much you think you know.

Funny you should mention this track I was playing both versions myself the other day - both are superb. I think Ben e King has done a lot of credible cover versions, there is also a great verison of Lou Courtney's 'what do you want me to do' on Ben's 'Supernatural' LP and there's also 'Bet you didn't know that' from his 'I had a love' album which outshines the original by Frederick Knight.

Hearing another (decent) take on a record is what makes record collecting so enjoyable.

Best, Dave.

Pity the fool both the Carl Sims and the Barbara Brown versions are fantastic

"Please don't leave me"

Maxine Brown & Ray Gant & the Arabian Knights

Both absolute class and very different (sort of).

With regard to "I have no choice" I did it the other way round to Dylan, had the Black Nasty long before I was aware of JMM. Again both great.

Barbara Hall rules on both sides. Lloyd Price did a very good version of "You brought it on yourself" and if the Barbara Hall didn't exist I would say a great track.

There are several versions of Lou Courtney's "I don't need nobody else" which I think Ben E King had a stab at but it's been a hard week!

Regards Alan

Ben E King has had a few mentions for doing great covers. I first heard "No Place To Hide" by Betty Everette, unissued I think? but then saw a realease on Sherry Hill records (was it early 90's?) then I remember flipping over Ben E King's "Cry No More" and there it was... a version of Betty's "No Place To Hide". Both outstanding versions to me. ...steve

betty everett - no place to hide - sherry hill

ben e king - no place to hide - atco