Monday, September 10, 2007

Jimmy Hughes!


Jimmy Hughes - Neighbor, Neighbor

Jimmy Hughes' crying tenor is best remembered for his 1964 hit "Steal Away," which would be covered by a great many artists as one of the archetypal "sneaking around" songs. Although Hughes had worked with producer Rick Hall on a prior single, "I'm Qualified," which was released on Jamie and Guyden, "Steal Away" was a major breakthrough for both men, and Hughes would record for the FAME imprint for the next four years before moving on to Volt, where after one minor hit, 1968's "I Like Everything You Do," his career would falter and he would release his final single in 1971. "Neighbor, Neighbor," a 1966 FAME single, is a guitar-driven piece of bluesy soul in which Hughes tells the title character to butt out of his and his woman's affairs. Hughes' vocals are spot-on and the groove really works well.

2 comments:

Brian Phillips said...

Whee! Love this song. Also, there is a great cover of this by the Graham Bond ORGANisation, too.

Also, you would do well to seek out "I Want Justice".

Red Kelly said...

Stepfather:

Our man Bob Wilson was just talking to me about this track... his all time favorite Fame record.

A couple of things he told me that I wasn't aware of -
the song was written by ol' Huey Meaux (how Rick Hall got a hold of it is a mystery to me), and Joe South was on the guitar.

Also, at some point in the early seventies, the whole Sound Stage 7 'Music City Four' were flown to the UK to work on an album by, you guessed it, The Graham Bond Organisation... I imagine Wilson helped out with the song selection!

Keep up the great work!