homer banks - hooked by love (the best of)
having never heard of homer i dropped this disc into the player and instantly felt at ease with the world. classic uptempo soul, sits alongside the more moody bluesy vibes of the era to make a wonderful album. homer was predominantly known for his writing of several southern soul standards (i cant stand up (for falling down), and 'if loving you is wrong i dont want to be right'), however the man was also responsible for cutting tracks on his own for various classic labels of the day (minit and stax), all while continuing with his daytime job in the stax record shop.
this 20 track compilation puts together a whole host of these tracks and as is often the case the backing arrangements are simple, tight, funky, and downright excellent with their rolling pianos, pumped up horns, backing singers, and the central factor of homers vocals. there are well known covers 'a lot of love' and a lot of rare unreleased gems, how on earth can you resist this stuff. i know i can't.