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Innumerable Brook Benton compilations appeared over the years but his last great run at Reprise/Cotillion remained relatively undocumented prior to Real Gone Music's 2016 set Rainy Night in Georgia: The Complete Reprise & Cotillion Singles A's & B's. Where 2007's The Platinum Collection mined the years of 1967-1972 for 20 highlights, this double-disc set marches through the discography, offering both sides of every single he released during these six years. Clearly, "Rainy Night in Georgia" is the blockbuster here: not only did it reach the Top Five on Billboard's Hot 100 and R&B charts, it's the only one of these singles to crack the R&B Top Ten. A few others came close -- "Nothing Can Take the Place of You" went to 11 in 1969, "Shoes" to 18 in 1971 -- but apart from the song that became a standard most of this material failed to make considerable commercial waves. Of course, "Rainy Night in Georgia" was a big enough hit to overshadow the rest of the music here, but this compilation also shows how the song sat at the intersection of Benton's two styles during this period: the lush adult-oriented MOR of his sides for Reprise and the earthier Southern soul he'd cut for Cotillion. Old pro that he was, Benton could handle both aesthetics without strain, although there are times when he seems a little bit too stuffy to be truly funky on the slow-burning soul that dominates this collection. Which isn't to say he can't ride a groove -- his version of "My Way" is a wonder, a nicely churning groove that undercuts the song's pomposity; "Shoes" is the only other single to achieve this kind of gritty ease -- but he's at home with Joe South's "Don't It Make You Want to Go Home" and the pomp of "Heaven Help Us All," songs written in broad strokes so they sustain the theatricality in Benton's delivery. He also works well with country-soul, partially because a song like "She Even Woke Me Up to Say Goodbye" exists on the spectrum between grit and gloss, but what impresses on these two discs is the elegance of Benton, a singer so skilled he could adapt to any time and setting without seeming out of place.
© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo
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LEE HERSCHBERG, Engineer - Brook Benton, Vocals, MainArtist - Billy Strange, Arranger - Jimmy Bowen, Producer - Ed Thrasher, ArtDirector - Margie Singleton, Composer - Leon Ashley, Composer
© 2017 Rhino Entertainment Company, A Warner Music Group Company. ℗ 1967 Reprise Records
LEE HERSCHBERG, Engineer - Bobby Darin, Composer, Writer - Brook Benton, Vocals, MainArtist - Billy Strange, Arranger - Jimmy Bowen, Producer - Ed Thrasher, ArtDirector
© 2017 Rhino Entertainment Company, A Warner Music Group Company. ℗ 1967 Reprise Records
Jerry Chestnut, Composer, Writer - Brook Benton, MainArtist - Billy Strange, Arranger
© 2017 Rhino Entertainment Company, A Warner Music Group Company. ℗ 1967 Reprise Records
LEE HERSCHBERG, Engineer - Brook Benton, Vocals, MainArtist - Jimmy Bowen, Producer - Billy Hill, Writer - Ed Thrasher, ArtDirector
© 2017 Rhino Entertainment Company, A Warner Music Group Company. ℗ 1967 Reprise Records
W.S. Stevenson, Composer, Writer - Carl Belew, Composer, Writer - Kenny Sowder, Composer, Writer - Brook Benton, MainArtist
© 2017 Rhino Entertainment Company, A Warner Music Group Company. ℗ 1968 Reprise Records
Belford Hendricks, Arranger - WILLIAMS, Composer, Writer - Brook Benton, MainArtist - Barton, Composer, Writer - Jimmy Bowen, Producer
© 2017 Rhino Entertainment Company, A Warner Music Group Company. ℗ 1968 Reprise Records
Jerry Leiber, Writer - Mike Stoller, Writer - Brook Benton, MainArtist
© 2017 Rhino Entertainment Company, A Warner Music Group Company. ℗ 1969 Atlantic Records
Burt Bacharach, Writer - Hal David, Writer - Brook Benton, MainArtist
© 2017 Rhino Entertainment Company, A Warner Music Group Company. ℗ 1969 Atlantic Records
Ronnie Wilkins, Writer - John Hurley, Writer - Brook Benton, MainArtist
© 2017 Rhino Entertainment Company, A Warner Music Group Company. ℗ 1969 Atlantic Records
Jessie Hill, Writer - Brook Benton, MainArtist - Malcom Rebennack, Writer
© 2017 Rhino Entertainment Company, A Warner Music Group Company. ℗ 1969 Atlantic Records
Brook Benton, MainArtist - Patrick Robinson, Writer - Toussaint McCall, Writer
© 2017 Rhino Entertainment Company, A Warner Music Group Company. ℗ 1969 Atlantic Records
Jerry Chestnut, Writer - Brook Benton, MainArtist
© 2017 Rhino Entertainment Company, A Warner Music Group Company. ℗ 1969 Atlantic Records
Tony Joe White, Composer, Writer - Arif Mardin, Producer, Arranger - Cornell Dupree, Guitar - Harold Cowart, Bass Guitar - Brook Benton, Vocals, MainArtist - Billy Carter, Organ - Dave Crawford, Piano - Jimmy O'Rourke, Guitar - Tubby Ziegler, Drums
© 2017 Rhino Entertainment Company, A Warner Music Group Company. ℗ 1970 Atlantic Recording Corporation for the United States and WEA International Inc. for the world outside of the United States.
Brook Benton, Writer, MainArtist - James Shaw, Writer
© 2017 Rhino Entertainment Company, A Warner Music Group Company. ℗ 1970 Atlantic Recording Corporation for the United States and WEA International Inc. for the world outside of the United States.
Jacques Revaud, Writer - Paul Anka, Writer - Brook Benton, Performance, MainArtist - Claude François, Writer - Gilles Thibaut, Writer
© 2017 Rhino Entertainment Company, A Warner Music Group Company. ℗ 1970 Atlantic Recording Corporation for the United States and WEA International Inc. for the world outside of the United States.
Brook Benton, MainArtist - BERT RUSSELL, Writer
© 2017 Rhino Entertainment Company, A Warner Music Group Company. ℗ 1970 Atlantic Recording Corporation for the United States and WEA International Inc. for the world outside of the United States.
DISC 2
South, Writer - Brook Benton, MainArtist
© 2017 Rhino Entertainment Company, A Warner Music Group Company. ℗ 1970 Atlantic Recording Corporation for the United States and WEA International Inc. for the world outside of the United States.
Walter Marks, Writer - Brook Benton, MainArtist
© 2017 Rhino Entertainment Company, A Warner Music Group Company. ℗ 1970 Atlantic Recording Corporation for the United States and WEA International Inc. for the world outside of the United States.
Donald Covay, Composer - Brook Benton, Vocals, MainArtist - George Soule, Composer
© 2017 Rhino Entertainment Company, A Warner Music Group Company. ℗ 1971 Atlantic Recording Corporation for the United States and WEA International Inc. for the world outside of the United States.
Brook Benton, Composer, Writer, MainArtist
© 2017 Rhino Entertainment Company, A Warner Music Group Company. ℗ 1970 Atlantic Recording Corporation for the United States and WEA International Inc. for the world outside of the United States.
Brook Benton, MainArtist - Ron Miller, Writer
© 2017 Rhino Entertainment Company, A Warner Music Group Company. ℗ 1971 Atlantic Records
Brook Benton, MainArtist - Mac Davis, Writer
© 2017 Rhino Entertainment Company, A Warner Music Group Company. ℗ 1975 Atlantic Recording Corporation for the United States and WEA International Inc. for the world outside of the United States.
William Salter, Writer - Brook Benton, MainArtist - Donald Mac, Writer
© 2017 Rhino Entertainment Company, A Warner Music Group Company. ℗ 1971 Atlantic Records
Brook Benton, MainArtist - Benton Brook, Writer
© 2017 Rhino Entertainment Company, A Warner Music Group Company. ℗ 1971 Atlantic Records
Brook Benton, MainArtist - Percy Mayfield, Writer
© 2017 Rhino Entertainment Company, A Warner Music Group Company. ℗ 1971 Atlantic Recording Corporation for the United States and WEA International Inc. for the world outside of the United States.
Doug Gilmore, Writer - Brook Benton, MainArtist - Mickey Newbury, Writer
© 2017 Rhino Entertainment Company, A Warner Music Group Company. ℗ 1972 Atlantic Records
Arif Mardin, Producer - Brook Benton, MainArtist - Dr. Gerald Deas, Composer, Writer - Atlantic Recording Studios, Recorded by
© 2017 Rhino Entertainment Company, A Warner Music Group Company. ℗ 1971 Cotillion Records
Brook Benton, Writer, MainArtist - Dr. Gerald Deas, Writer
© 2017 Rhino Entertainment Company, A Warner Music Group Company. ℗ 1971 Atlantic Recording Company
Brook Benton, MainArtist - Thomas Johnson, Writer
© 2017 Rhino Entertainment Company, A Warner Music Group Company. ℗ 1971 Atlantic Records
Brook Benton, MainArtist - John Murtaugh, Writer - S. Michlin, Writer
© 2017 Rhino Entertainment Company, A Warner Music Group Company. ℗ 1972 Atlantic Records
Brook Benton, MainArtist - Homer Banks, Writer - Donald Davis, Writer - James Lately, Writer
© 2017 Rhino Entertainment Company, A Warner Music Group Company. ℗ 1972 Atlantic Records
Album review
Innumerable Brook Benton compilations appeared over the years but his last great run at Reprise/Cotillion remained relatively undocumented prior to Real Gone Music's 2016 set Rainy Night in Georgia: The Complete Reprise & Cotillion Singles A's & B's. Where 2007's The Platinum Collection mined the years of 1967-1972 for 20 highlights, this double-disc set marches through the discography, offering both sides of every single he released during these six years. Clearly, "Rainy Night in Georgia" is the blockbuster here: not only did it reach the Top Five on Billboard's Hot 100 and R&B charts, it's the only one of these singles to crack the R&B Top Ten. A few others came close -- "Nothing Can Take the Place of You" went to 11 in 1969, "Shoes" to 18 in 1971 -- but apart from the song that became a standard most of this material failed to make considerable commercial waves. Of course, "Rainy Night in Georgia" was a big enough hit to overshadow the rest of the music here, but this compilation also shows how the song sat at the intersection of Benton's two styles during this period: the lush adult-oriented MOR of his sides for Reprise and the earthier Southern soul he'd cut for Cotillion. Old pro that he was, Benton could handle both aesthetics without strain, although there are times when he seems a little bit too stuffy to be truly funky on the slow-burning soul that dominates this collection. Which isn't to say he can't ride a groove -- his version of "My Way" is a wonder, a nicely churning groove that undercuts the song's pomposity; "Shoes" is the only other single to achieve this kind of gritty ease -- but he's at home with Joe South's "Don't It Make You Want to Go Home" and the pomp of "Heaven Help Us All," songs written in broad strokes so they sustain the theatricality in Benton's delivery. He also works well with country-soul, partially because a song like "She Even Woke Me Up to Say Goodbye" exists on the spectrum between grit and gloss, but what impresses on these two discs is the elegance of Benton, a singer so skilled he could adapt to any time and setting without seeming out of place.
© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo
About the album
- 2 disc(s) - 31 track(s)
- Total length: 01:41:46
- Main artists: Brook Benton
- Composer: Various Composers
- Label: Rhino Atlantic
- Genre: Soul/Funk/R&B Soul
© 2017 Rhino Entertainment Company, A Warner Music Group Company. ℗ 2016 Rhino Entertainment Company, A Warner Music Group Company.
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