Rainy Night in Georgia

With her mix of blues, soul, and rock, plus the just tangible presence of her native Mississippi gospel background, Zora Young can be a powerful performer when the material is there. On the best cuts from Tore Up from the Floor Up, her third album and second for Delmark, she shows a kind of hard-earned wisdom and an assurance in her vocals that rises well above mere shouting, and tracks like the moody, dynamic "Toxic" and the romping title tune (both of which are Young originals) show her to be a solid songwriter as well. She also turns in fine readings on a pair of covers, turning atmospheric on Muddy Waters' "Two Trains Running" and giving B.B. King's "I'm Gonna Do the Same Thing They Did to Me" a saucy, determined sheen…

A cover of a well-known song often serves as a good introduction to a lesser-known artist, and that is no less true of the opening cut on Vance Gilbert's new album, Angels Castles Covers. "Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing" opens an album that's mostly filled with pop and R&B covers, delivered in Gilbert's soulful, smooth vocal style and backed by light accompaniment. Indeed, one might think of Gilbert's approach as soul lite, an approach that's easy on the ears and that commingles easily on cuts like "Rainy Night in Georgia," "I'm So Tired of Being Alone," and "Save the Last Dance for Me." The most daunting thing here is that it's inevitable, since these songs are so well-known that they'll be compared to the originals.

Randy (born Veronica Crawford) is a brilliant American soul singer who had a UK top five hit (Street life) as un-credited vocalist with the Crusaders in 1973, then had two UK top five hits (One day I'll fly away, Almaz) in the eighties as a solo singer. Randy never achieved this level of success in her homeland. Apart from those three major hits, Randy had two other UK top twenty hits (You might need somebody, Rainy night in Georgia) and several minor hits, three of which (Imagine, Secret combination, One hello) are included here. Most of the songs here are originals but, with her outstanding voice, Randy is a great interpreter of other people's songs, as this collection shows. This collection truly is the very best of Randy Crawford, one of the finest soul singers there has ever been.