Memphis Wham!

by

Lonnie Mack

Edit

Back in 1963 when Eric Clapton was learning to play the guitar and Joe Cocker's voice was still changing. Lonnie Mack and his band created the standard for blues-rock music with recording of The Wham of That Memphis Man.

This album got lost in the British invasion when it was first released in 1964. While the English bands were taking their names from blues songs and attempting to play the blues, this album was the real thing. Lonnie and this band nailed the sound that Leon Russell, Joe Cocker, Delaney & Bonnie, ect... would use years later, with songs like I'll Keep You Happy, Satisfied, and Baby What's Wrong. The music sounds as fresh today as it did back then, due to spontaneous sound and the musicians enjoying themselves. Listen to Where There's a Will There's a Way and notice Lonnie doesn't know all the lyrics and improvises with soulful singing. So soulful the song was even got a lot of airplay on black radio stations until they discovered he was white. I'm sure there wasn't a very many retakes on these recordings, where the feel is lost with each retake. Even though they might have been improvising at times, this band was tight, just listening to Wham and Why, still amazes me.

Elektra records did a marketing blunder in the early 70's when they reissued this with the lame title For Collectors Only. Elektra continued to impress me when they missed the opportunity to reissue it when Stevie Ray Vaugh was raving about the album in interviews. Thanks to Ace's excellent release we get not only the legendary release of The Wham of That Memphis Man plus 13 additional killer tracks, like Farther on Up The Road, Chicken Pickin', Say Something Nice To Me, Oh, I Apologize, ect...

Lonnie Mack has earned the right to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame with the recording of The Wham of That Memphis Man.