Garland Green - The Very Best Of Garland Green (2008)

Chicago-based soul singer Garland Green scored his first and biggest hit in 1969 with "Jealous Kind of Fella," and it set the tone for his future recording career -- Green always seemed to be best served with a dramatic midtempo tune that gave him a chance to show off his strong, pleading voice and implore his woman to give him another chance. Unfortunately, not many of those songs connected on the charts, even though some of them were very good and featured production from the likes of Donny Hathaway, Syl Johnson, and Arif Mardin. The Very Best of Garland Green is the first career-inclusive anthology of Green's recordings, featuring material he cut for six different labels between 1969 and 1983, and if this doesn't quite make a case for him as one of the great lost artists of soul, it does make it clear that Green was more than just another journeyman R&B vocalist. The early tracks on this set are in the polished but emotionally powerful tradition of classic Chicago soul, while the later cuts show off a slicker 1970s feel; the specter of disco rears its head on "Don't Let Love Walk Out on Us" and "You Make Me Feel So Good," and "Nothing Can Take You from Me" puts Green into a more bluesy setting. Green was enough of a pro that he ably rose to the occasion no matter what material was presented to him, and there are a few lost near-classics here, especially "Plain and Simple Girl" and "He Didn't Know (He Just Kept on Talking)," the latter written by Jerry "Swamp Dogg" Williams and Gary "U.S." Bonds. Garland Green is better known in the U.K. among hardcore soul fans than in the United States, and it's a shame, as The Very Best of Garland Green demonstrates that he was a powerful talent, even if he wasn't a frequent visitor to the Billboard charts.~The Very Best of Garland Green Review by Mark Deming