Qualified Northern Soul!

Carl Hall - You're So Qualified

Rather than do a "Tuesday Is Blues Day" thing this week, I'll make one of my rarer forays into Northern Soul with this great thing by Carl Hall. Hall started out singing gospel with the Raymond Raspberry Singers and then branched out into secular work, both as a soul singer and as a theatrical performer (he was in the stage production of The Wiz). Although he only had a handful of singles, mostly on Capitol and Loma, they were of top-notch quality. Hall's raspy, high voice was emotion-filled, as demonstrated on the deep soul classic "You Don't Know Nothing About Love" and the funky "The Dam Busted" (both penned by Jerry Ragovoy, who also produced the tunes for Loma). Today's selection was a Mercury single that has proven quite popular among the Northern Soul crowd and fetches prices commensurate with its success. Over a brassy groove, Hall wails his baby's praises with ample support from the background chorus.