Sweet Inspiration - The Songs of Dan Penn & Spooner Oldham

Product Review

Our continually-growing 'songwriter series' goes south of the Mason-Dixon line with a long-overdue salute to two gentlemen whose names are synonymous with Southern Soul - but whose work, as this collection reveals, also extends into the realms of country, pop and Southern Rock.

Many great writers emerged out of the Muscle Shoals music scene of the 1960s but few of them made quite the impact on popular music of Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham. Prolific together and apart, the two men are responsible for innumerable Hall-Of-Fame classics.

Sweet Inspiration gathers up two dozen of their finest co-creations and demonstrates that they are fully deserving of the kind of accolades that they have always received from soul fans and that, in recent years, they have been afforded by a much broader spectrum of music lovers and music writers.

It's astonishing to think that most of these songs were written on a period of not much more than two years, and that both men were also collaborating with other Shoals writers during the same time-frame.

A future follow-up volume will showcase Dan's collaborations with others. For now, though, we invite you to enjoy the songs of Penn and Oldham as rendered by names as famous as Charlie Rich, Percy Sledge and Etta James and as obscure as Art Freeman and Jeanne Newman.

Title Tracks for Sweet Inspiration - The Songs of Dan Penn & Spooner Oldham

1. OUT OF LEFT FIELD - Percy Sledge
2. I'M YOUR PUPPET - Dionne Warwick
3. SWEET INSPIRATION - The Sweet Inspirations
4. A WOMAN LEFT LONELY - Charlie Rich
5. I WORSHIP THE GROUND YOU WALK ON - Etta James
6. I'M LIVING GOOD (VERSION 2) - The Ovations
7. TAKE ME (JUST AS I AM) - Solomon Burke
8. CRY LIKE A BABY - Arthur Alexander
9. IT TEARS ME UP - Jeanne Newman
10. SLIPPIN' AROUND - Art Freeman
11. I MET HER IN CHURCH - Tony Borders
12. ARE YOU NEVER COMING HOME - Sandy Posey
13. LET IT HAPPEN (ALTERNATE TAKE) - James Carr
14. EVERYTHING I AM - The Box Tops
15. FEED THE FLAME - Ted Taylor
16. WATCHING THE TRAINS GO BY - Tony Joe White
17. IN THE SAME OLD WAY - Arthur Conley
18. DENVER - Ronnie Milsap
19. DREAMER - Patti LaBelle & The Bluebelles
20. GOOD THINGS DON'T COME EASY - Irma Thomas
21. I NEED SOMEONE - The Wallace Brothers
22. HE AIN'T GONNA DO RIGHT - Barbara Lynn
23. WISH YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO GO - Tommy Roe
24. LET'S DO IT OVER - Joe Simon

Customer Reviews

Average Customer Review

(3 customer reviews)

30 of 31 people found the following review helpful

"...I'm Yours...To Have And To Hold...", February 15, 2011

Mark Barry, Reckless Records, London (UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sweet Inspiration - The Songs of Dan Penn & Spooner Oldham (Audio CD)

You know you're in the presence of a great compilation when the compilers put Dionne Warwick and Charlie Rich on a 'soul' CD - clever choices and class acts. And this latest issue in Ace's 'Songwriters' series is a real class act - a bit of a masterpiece frankly. But to the details first...

Released Monday 31 January 2011 in the UK (15 February 2011 in the USA), Ace Records CDCHD 1284 breaks down as follows (66:52 minutes):

1. Out Of Left Field by PERCY SLEDGE (1967, Atlantic 2396)
2. I'm Your Puppet by DIONNE WARWICK (1968, Scepter 12352)
3. Sweet Inspiration by THE SWEET INSPIRATIONS (1968, Atlantic 2476)
4. A Woman Left Lonely by CHARLIE RICH (1971, Epic 10745)
5. I Good Things Don't Worship The Ground You Walk On by ETTA JAMES (1968, Cadet 5606)
6. I'm Living Good by THE OVATIONS (1969, Goldwax 342)
7. Take Me (Just As I Am) by SOLOMON BURKE (1967, Atlantic 2416)
8. Cry Like A Baby by ARTHUR ALEXANDER (1969, Sound Stage 7...Read more

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

A Blast from the Past, October 10, 2011

Douglas Kaiura "D.T.K." (Hamilton, Ontario) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)

This review is from: Sweet Inspiration - The Songs of Dan Penn & Spooner Oldham (Audio CD)

Sweet Inspiration
The songs of Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham, loved these 2 guys from the early days of soul, when I found their names backing Aretha on her first albums. These songs are the best tracks found anywhere and include a great variety of soul and country singers. Percy Sledge, out of left field, Dionne Warwick, I'm Your puppet, Charlie Rich and Jeanne Newman singing the heck out of the songs. Great names such as James Carr, The Box Tops, Tony Jo White and arthur Conley are also present in this anthology. 24 songs, great artists, great variety, wonderful backing tracks. This collection belongs in everyone's music library.

Sweet Memories, May 12, 2012

Donald E. Gilliland (Bangkok, Thailand) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)

This review is from: Sweet Inspiration - The Songs of Dan Penn & Spooner Oldham (Audio CD)

Sure, you know these songs. At least you do if you're over the age of forty and weren't raised in an Amish commune. Even if the title doesn't ring a bell, once you listen to the song, you'll have one of those "Oh, yeah!" moments. These are songs so delicious that they melt in your ears. Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham rank as one of the finest songwriting duos of the rock and soul era. From Muscle Shoals to Memphis, these guys are musical royalty. The songs they wrote are so well crafted that they could be covered by soul, blues, country, pop, or rock acts, and always sound like they were written especially for that artist. Many diverse examples of the duo's songwriting craft can be found on this 24-track compilation. It focuses on the duo's late 1960s output, with artists such as Percy Sledge, Dionne Warwick, Charlie Rich, Etta James, Solomon Burke, the Box Tops, Tony Joe White, Ronnie Milsap, Patti LaBelle, Irma Thomas, Tommy Roe, and Joe Simon performing a sumptuous bunch of songs...Read more