This master was truly lost, found under the box spring of the late
Eddie Hinton's mattress, the sum total of a series of sessions recorded in the summers of 1969 and 1970 in Nashville and London by
Jim Coleman and the late, great
Eddie Hinton. It's an unlikely pairing,
Coleman who gave up music decades ago to practice internal medicine, was a pop songwriter looking for a way to get his songs placed on other people's records, and
Eddie Hinton, the Muscle Shoals session guitarist who played with everyone from
Otis Redding and
Wilson Pickett to
the Staple Singers and
Percy Sledge, and who was as great a writer and producer as anyone the South ever produced. Despite the fact that these songs are layered in the various ambiences of the times,
Hinton's grease and grit and tough, uncompromising soul come shining through even this rough mix.
Hinton wanted to record an album of
Coleman's songs for his new production company, and he arranged the sessions himself. The Muscle Shoals rhythm section (
Barry Beckett,
Roger Hawkins, and
David Hood) was employed, along with
King Curtis on soprano sax;
Conway Twitty's pedal steel player,
John Hughey; and guitarist
Tippy Armstrong (
Duane Allman was slated to be the original lead guitarist, but took to forming
the Allman Brothers Band instead), in addition to
Hinton. The string section of the
London Symphony Orchestra is also present.
Coleman's songs are good if not fine, but
Hinton's production sets them apart clearly. While his treatments of them are lush and multi-layered, they are never excessive. Listeners familiar with
Chris Bell's
I Am the Cosmos album will feel right at home with this sound, texture, color, and atmospherics. The difference is that
Hinton infused everything with a trace of gritty soul. On his own songs -- "Where You Come From," a co-write with
Coleman, and "Got Down Last Night" --
Hinton's voice digs deep into the groove and shoves hard-edged R&B up against the more twee psychedelic elements for jarring effect as the strings loop in and out. On "Where You Come From," think of
Savoy Brown's "Train to Nowhere" via
Sgt. Pepper's less elaborate treatments; on "Got Down Last Night," a long string intro gives way to a bluesy
Hinton acoustic guitar run that trots out a sleepy but sprightly vocal, reminding one of
Paul McCartney's vocal on "Rocky Raccoon." This album is far more than a curiosity piece; it is a timeless production dream filled out with excellent songwriting and brilliant arrangement, all steeped indelibly with
Eddie Hinton's mark.