Although many Deep Soul groove enthusiasts have been long hipped to the goodness of singer and multi-instrumentalist Lee Moses, the Atlanta native continues to be somewhat overlooked today. This makes the fresh reissue of his sole LP a very welcome occurrence; shorn of an earlier release’s addendum of Moses’ numerous singles, the trim package is fueled by Southern verve, a noteworthy range of influence and crack musicianship throughout, and its reputation as a cult classic is secure. Time and Place is out on vinyl, compact disc, and digital August 26 through the Light in the Attic subsidiary Future Days Recordings.
Had the breaks fallen his way, Lee Moses could’ve easily been a big commercial deal; listening to this LP and the handful of 45s that surrounded it reveal a major talent. By Time and Place’s 1971 release on the Maple imprint his artistic personality was well-acquainted with distinctiveness, and given time for further development he might’ve flourished.
Sure, the gist of the paragraph above lands suspiciously close to the breathless hyperbole employed by record dealers and writers dishing out the promo text for a ceaseless stream of reissues, but rest assured that Moses, who unfortunately passed in 1997 before the upsurge of collector interest in his work took hold, is the real deal.
A fair percentage of retroactive discoveries and repackaged obscurities spotlight musicians who either expanded upon or downright copied the success of their immediate predecessors (but please understand the artists being copied were certainly not above this sort of exchange themselves), and evidence of borrowing is easily found on Time and Place; the difference is in what Moses additionally brought to the turntable.
For starters, in a milieu dominated by singers and backing bands he was a highly adept vocalist-guitarist. According to Sarah Sweeney’s liner notes for this release, Gladys Knight wanted him as the guitarist for the Pips, an offer Moses declined as he desired greater prominence. However, he did turn in a fair amount of session work after hooking up with Atlanta record man Johnny Brantley.
Both Moses and fellow Atlanta-based singer-guitarist Hermon Hitson entered the producer’s sphere, with Hitson introducing Moses and the relentless and frankly suspect mover-and-shaker Brantley (he was involved with the notorious payola DJ Alan “Moondog” Freed) to a pre-stardom Jimi Hendrix. In tandem with Brantley, Moses established the Lee John label and served up his initial version of Joe Simon’s “My Adorable One.”
Alternating between Atlanta and New York, Moses also cut sides for Musicor and its sub-label Dynamo on the way to waxing the Brantley-produced Time and Place for the Maple label, though its title track first appeared on a ’70 single through the small NYC enterprise Front Page; upbeat and spiked with Southern-styled horn charts, it opens the album with Moses in grittily warm voice.
“Time and Place” should easily satisfy fans of Stax and Hi, but the use of hand percussion helps transcend mere imitative status. It’s followed by “Got That Will,” a self-affirmation number which in namechecking a bunch of soul-infused musicians as models for personal success roughly follows the template laid down by Arthur Conley’s smash “Sweet Soul Music.” But Moses has a broader rollcall; mingled with Aretha Franklin, Dionne Warwick, and Hendrix are B.B. King, Sly & the Family Stone, the Allman Brothers, and uh, Blood Sweat & Tears.
The music matches the stylistic breath without going overboard (or sounding anything like Blood Sweat & Tears, thankfully), the main ingredient being a bit of judiciously applied wah pedal. So far, so south of the Mason-Dixon, but “What You Don’t Want Me to Be” adds femme backing vox, a bit of vibes, and a general air of sophistication as Moses belts it out with fervor.
This leads to the first of the disc’s notable covers, “California Dreamin’” arguably the best of the bunch as Moses’ rough but loving treatment of the Mamas & the Papas chestnut gets the edge on Bobby Womack’s 1968 version of the tune and Baby Huey’s ’71 instrumental reading, mainly due to raw intensity as his vocals are preferable to the flute in Huey’s take.
Moses was highly adept at covers, with his ’67 single pairing the Four Tops’ “Reach Out (I’ll Be There) and the Beatles’ “Day Tripper” a highlight of a sadly truncated career (after Brantley’s shadiness became apparent he returned home and never got so close to stardom again). Likewise, Time and Place’s extended excursion into “Hey Joe” dices up substantial mustard; although the song didn’t originate with Hendrix, that’s the version Moses uses as an incessantly rhythmic platform for a bout of impressive guitar wrangling.
Between “California Dreamin’” and “Hey Joe” sits “Every Boy and Girl,” its churchy ardor achieved through sheer emotionalism and the savvy use of organ. It contrasts pretty sharply with the urbane framework of “Free at Last,” its horns and the tempo almost Philly-like; it’s those tough rhythms that provide the LP with consistent focus.
The brightly-hued “Would You Give Up Everything” opens with sweet funky guitar pedal as Moses does an effective job of swinging between new developments and classic moves, closing with a second run-through of “My Adorable One.” As it unwinds, one can easily grasp why Time and Place is so esteemed by heavy-duty Soul fans. Some might quibble over the missing singles, but shouldn’t; they’re not hard to hear and would make a swell vinyl companion to Future Days’ very worthy repress.
GRADED ON A CURVE:
A-
