"Rhythm Country and Blues" came out right in the middle of what was than a big trend, tribute albums - where pop stars celebrated songs by one particular artist - and to me it appeared like just another hodgepodge collection, until I glanced at the amazing list of performers. It was basically a Who's who of top stars in country and soul duetting on some serious classics of both genres. No doubt, the album was inspired by previously similar titled charity tribute to Cole Porter but this time the concept was different, to point at the grand emotions that country and soul share - they might have been on the opposite sides of the tracks, but basically its all about blood, sweat and tears.
Even with the knowledge how the studio recordings work and that duet partners not necessarily share the microphone, its hard to be cynical with such glowing selection of classics like "Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing", "When Something Is Wrong With My Baby" or "Rainy Night in Georgia" - particularly when artists invited are heavy hitters like Al Green, Aaron Neville or Patti Labelle. Like on majority of such albums, the pleasure is of hearing various artists giving special individual touch to familiar material - I dare anybody not to purr with pleasure upon hearing "I Fall to Pieces" in such magical version. Sure, there is a healthy dose of melisma, upstaging and showing off, but this was to be expected - each artist here is known for distinctive style and for every mishmash, there is a winner like "Since I Fell for You" where Natalie Cole and Reba McEntire sounds such natural partners that it makes you wonder why nobody came to this idea earlier. Shoulder to shoulder, country twang and gospel drenched soul work surprisingly well and in my opinion this is by far superior to any similar album released at the time. On personal note, unknowing to me, this was the time when my interest in current pop music started to gradually ebb away and hit charts will no longer influenced my purchases and selections.
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