Linda Jones - Marmite Soul?

[Wrongcrowd]

You know how some things can nag away at you...things that you can't leave alone.

 

This thread is one of them for me, and it's because I can't see how anyone that says they're into soul music could ever think that Linda Jones voice was anything less than the essence of pure soul music. 

 

The text below has been copied from a guy's blog; this guy had never heard anything by her before, and was so moved that he put his listening experience into words..... 

 

Raising Her Voice a Little Higher: The Pain of Linda Jones

 

CDs with warning labels are nothing new, as one can find the "Explicit Lyrics" sticker on albums by artists as different as gangsta rapper Snoop Dogg and the early blues diva Bessie Smith.

But a good decade or so ago I pulled a CD from a "marked down to next to nothing" bin that had a warning label of kind that I had never before encountered:

The music contained herein exudes an intensity rarely evident in popular stylings, and even infrequent within the "deep soul" idiom, and if you are not that familiar with Linda's output, I would genuinely recommend that you sample this CD in smaller doses.

I had never heard of Ms Jones at that point, but how could I not put down my 2 bucks and change for a CD that came with that kind of caveat?

Linda was signed to Loma records in the 1960s, but never achieved the kind of success that her stable mates Lorraine Ellison or Ike and Tina Turner were blessed with. The excellent double CD "The Best Of Loma Records: The Rise And Fall Of A 1960's Soul Label" contains no less than five songs by Linda, including her almost-hit "Hypnotized". She later signed to Sylvia Robinson's Turbo Records in the early 70s, and unfortunately most of the recordings from that era sound somewhat distorted whenever the technical equipment of the era was outdone by Linda's unique vocal range (which was basically all the time).

The first thing that will hit you - hard - about Linda Jones is that she never held back. Her rare joyous songs are ecstatic jubilations, while the majority of her tunes convey a sadness and drama that make you fear Linda has already put the razor blade next to her bath tub. Linda was a bit like Patti Labelle in so far that she did not seem to know any moderation, though her voice is very different from Ms Patti's.

If you compare Linda's recording of "I can't Make it Alone" with Dusty Springfield's version, you can't help but notice how much more Linda "got" the lyric. As incomparable and talented as Dusty was, as brilliantly produced as the "Dusty in Memphis" album is, I doubt you'll ever be able to enjoy Dusty's understated reading of the song again once you have sampled Linda's agonized, driven masterpiece interpretation of the King/Goffin composition. When she yells "Help me!" you just want to reach through your speakers and hold on to her for her own, dear life.

Linda suffered from health problems, including diabetes, and died at the very young age of 28. The pain in her voice was clearly driven by pain in her life, and maybe she explains her singing style best herself in her spoken, rambling ad libs in the middle of her knock-you-to-your socks cover of Jerry Butler's early hit, For Your Precious Love. If this version of the song sounds remotely familiar to you, that is probably due to the cloned version that Truth Hurts recorded for the soundtrack of the Will Smith movie Ali a few years ago. Personally, I would have preferred if they'd remastered Linda's recording to use it on the soundtrack to introduce more people to this forgotten diva. Anyway, here is what Linda said in that song, and if you click on the clip below, lord have mercy, you can hear her explain herself better than I ever could.

You know something ladies? And especially you ladies, I'd like to speak to you.

Cause you know something, ladies? If you got a man, I don't care what kind of man you got he'll want you to get down on your knees sometimes and kind of crawl a little.

But you know what? I got a man that's somewhere out there that I don't mind crawling to.

Sometimes I wake up in the midnight hour with tears rolling down my face.

And when I look around for my man, I can't find him.

Hell, I fall a little lower, look a little higher

Kind of pray to the Lord.

Because I always believed the Lord can help me if nobody else could

Well sometimes I think he don't even hear me!

So I have to fall a little lower on my knees, look a little higher,

Kind of raise my voice a little higher

And this is what I sing when I call to my man

And I especially want you ladies to listen to me

Because maybe you can try this

It might help you once in a while

This is what you sing...

[Kev Cane]

 

You know how some things can nag away at you...things that you can't leave alone.

 

This thread is one of them for me, and it's because I can't see how anyone that says they're into soul music could ever think that Linda Jones voice was anything less than the essence of pure soul music. 

 

The text below has been copied from a guy's blog; this guy had never heard anything by her before, and was so moved that he put his listening experience into words..... 

 

Raising Her Voice a Little Higher: The Pain of Linda Jones

 

CDs with warning labels are nothing new, as one can find the "Explicit Lyrics" sticker on albums by artists as different as gangsta rapper Snoop Dogg and the early blues diva Bessie Smith.

But a good decade or so ago I pulled a CD from a "marked down to next to nothing" bin that had a warning label of kind that I had never before encountered:

The music contained herein exudes an intensity rarely evident in popular stylings, and even infrequent within the "deep soul" idiom, and if you are not that familiar with Linda's output, I would genuinely recommend that you sample this CD in smaller doses.

I had never heard of Ms Jones at that point, but how could I not put down my 2 bucks and change for a CD that came with that kind of caveat?

Linda was signed to Loma records in the 1960s, but never achieved the kind of success that her stable mates Lorraine Ellison or Ike and Tina Turner were blessed with. The excellent double CD "The Best Of Loma Records: The Rise And Fall Of A 1960's Soul Label" contains no less than five songs by Linda, including her almost-hit "Hypnotized". She later signed to Sylvia Robinson's Turbo Records in the early 70s, and unfortunately most of the recordings from that era sound somewhat distorted whenever the technical equipment of the era was outdone by Linda's unique vocal range (which was basically all the time).

The first thing that will hit you - hard - about Linda Jones is that she never held back. Her rare joyous songs are ecstatic jubilations, while the majority of her tunes convey a sadness and drama that make you fear Linda has already put the razor blade next to her bath tub. Linda was a bit like Patti Labelle in so far that she did not seem to know any moderation, though her voice is very different from Ms Patti's.

If you compare Linda's recording of "I can't Make it Alone" with Dusty Springfield's version, you can't help but notice how much more Linda "got" the lyric. As incomparable and talented as Dusty was, as brilliantly produced as the "Dusty in Memphis" album is, I doubt you'll ever be able to enjoy Dusty's understated reading of the song again once you have sampled Linda's agonized, driven masterpiece interpretation of the King/Goffin composition. When she yells "Help me!" you just want to reach through your speakers and hold on to her for her own, dear life.

Linda suffered from health problems, including diabetes, and died at the very young age of 28. The pain in her voice was clearly driven by pain in her life, and maybe she explains her singing style best herself in her spoken, rambling ad libs in the middle of her knock-you-to-your socks cover of Jerry Butler's early hit, For Your Precious Love. If this version of the song sounds remotely familiar to you, that is probably due to the cloned version that Truth Hurts recorded for the soundtrack of the Will Smith movie Ali a few years ago. Personally, I would have preferred if they'd remastered Linda's recording to use it on the soundtrack to introduce more people to this forgotten diva. Anyway, here is what Linda said in that song, and if you click on the clip below, lord have mercy, you can hear her explain herself better than I ever could.

You know something ladies? And especially you ladies, I'd like to speak to you.

Cause you know something, ladies? If you got a man, I don't care what kind of man you got he'll want you to get down on your knees sometimes and kind of crawl a little.

But you know what? I got a man that's somewhere out there that I don't mind crawling to.

Sometimes I wake up in the midnight hour with tears rolling down my face.

And when I look around for my man, I can't find him.

Hell, I fall a little lower, look a little higher

Kind of pray to the Lord.

Because I always believed the Lord can help me if nobody else could

Well sometimes I think he don't even hear me!

So I have to fall a little lower on my knees, look a little higher,

Kind of raise my voice a little higher

And this is what I sing when I call to my man

And I especially want you ladies to listen to me

Because maybe you can try this

It might help you once in a while

This is what you sing...

 

With you all the way Cliff, nagged away at me to, its hard enough reading the lyrics never mind listening to her without welling up. Great post

 

Kev

[Mal C]

So there is not one single marmite loving soul fan on here, not a big surprise...

Can the guy who started this thread pls amend his initial post, and rename it ' the wonderful talent of Linda Jones' and we can stay the course with more of the above...

Mal.c

[boba]

I think the thread title was just intentionally controversial / provocative. Don't understand why anyone is getting upset, the original post was pro-Linda Jones.

[Mal C]

Nobody is upset.... We all love Linda Jones....!!!

M

[Kev John]

Love Marmite 

 

Love Linda Jones 

 

atb Kev 

[Premium Stuff]

I think the thread title was just intentionally controversial / provocative. Don't understand why anyone is getting upset, the original post was pro-Linda Jones.

 

Da da! Well spotted Bob my good man

 

Linda was a fabulous - no - a stunning singer

 

But check this vocal and be stunned too (I hope) 

 

Cheers

 

Richard

 

Edited May 17, 2013 by Premium Stuff

[Agentsmith]

if linda had been alive when memorex did that glass advert, she would have shattered it all day long, such is the crystal clear clarity of her vocal range, a totally faultless voice, aretha and tobi lark aside, she had both their arrows in her armery. deprived of fame, fortune and a golden future at such a young age, her stock has continued to rise as each year passes and more people come to appreciate the work of linda jones. can we possibly imagine just how she would  have taken the scene by storm had modern medicine been available back then?...we can but speculate...marmite??...sorry, absolutely NO CONTEST!....there are legends....and then there's LINDA JONES.

 

SCEPTICS....GET YOUR HEADS STRAIGHT!!

[Premium Stuff]

if linda had been alive when memorex did that glass advert, she would have shattered it all day long, such is the crystal clear clarity of her vocal range, a totally faultless voice, aretha and tobi lark aside, she had both their arrows in her armery. deprived of fame, fortune and a golden future at such a young age, her stock has continued to rise as each year passes and more people come to appreciate the work of linda jones. can we possibly imagine just how she would  have taken the scene by storm had modern medicine been available back then?...we can but speculate...marmite??...sorry, absolutely NO CONTEST!....there are legends....and then there's LINDA JONES.

 

SCEPTICS....GET YOUR HEADS STRAIGHT!!

 

I admire your passion and eloquence 

 

 

 

 

 

Your Tobi Lark reference got me thinking - one of my favourites - and titled Toby on the rare original 

 

 

 

Cheers

 

Richard

[Agentsmith]

I admire your passion and eloquence 

 

 

 

 

 

Your Tobi Lark reference got me thinking - one of my favourites - and titled Toby on the rare original 

 

 

 

Cheers

 

Richard

TUNE!!

[Mark Jones]

If asked the throwaway question best female and male vocalist my quick throwaway answer is always.

 

male: Jackie Wilson (by a running mile...then Marvin and Garland Green)

female: Linda Jones followed closely by a different Diva Tammi (Montgomery) Terrell.

 

The longer version is another thread!

[Guest]

Linda Jones Day - a three part Youtube set from her daughter when her mother was being honoured back in 2008

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VA1loQ3zajY

Edited July 31, 2013 by Flynny

[Davenpete]

I realise that this thread is primarilly about her 'soulfullness' rather than merely the big sounds, but anyway... I got pig sick of the two well known jobbies - Just Can't Live and My Heart - flogged a white demo of IJK for £20 and gave MHNB away - I like I'm so glad i found you - though she does lay it on a bit thick - but Your Love Hit Me Like TNT - now I adore that, such a headbanger stomper and what a set of pipes on her, wasn't she supposed to have been about 16 when she did it?

Dx

 

Edited July 31, 2013 by DaveNPete

[Tezza]

Aretha, Shirley Brown, Laura Lee, Gladys Knight, Linda Jones, she's up there for me with the other legends I have mentioned

 

Kev

Thought you said you were out of any further conversation ! 

True though mate, so very true !!

[Eddie Hubbard]

 

 

The greatest femme Soul singer ever , her style was truly abandoned , totally unique ..I adore her 

[Guest Paul]

When I was about fifteen I was lucky to hear some Linda Jones Turbo albums via an older friend Alex Lang (originally from Nottingham) and I'll always remember it because she was so different to anyone I'd heard before.

 

Obviously she had plenty of raw talent and technique but it was the INTENSITY that knocked me out.

 

I later realised that you're more likely to feel a personal kind of attachment to anyone who sings with such deep conviction, especially on sad songs, because it seems so real and intimate that you believe the singer has actually experienced the loneliness or heartbreak or whatever.

You only expect to hear that degree of passion in real gospel music.

 

My only frustration is that some of the All Platinum tracks sounded badly mixed or mastered and most of the pressings were poor, probably made with worn out stampers and / or using low grades of recycled vinyl.

 

I wish they'd spent a few more dollars.

 

Paul