It's been a bit quiet here lately. Is there life out there? He - l -
lo!! Please reply - we don't want Yahoo to axe us.....

Anyway, Acre Records (UK) are re-releasing the Arthur Alexander
compilation, with new notes (but the same tracks, by the look of it).
Here's a copy of the blurb put out by Ace:
http://www.acerecord.co.uk/content.php?page_id=59&release=829

"Thirteen years ago, I was an employee of the US-based Country Music
Association, and in Nashville on business. On Sunday 6 June I was out
and about at Nashville's sadly now-defunct Summer Lights music
festival, which occupied several stages spread across several streets
and blocks, approximately between the Western edge of the Cumberland
River and the Ryman Auditorium. I'd noticed that Arthur Alexander was
appearing at one of the smaller stages during the early evening, but
I'd already arranged to meet a work colleague for dinner at roughly
the time that he was due to hit the stage but I had no way of
contacting him to blow said dinner off, "cellphones" still being a
relative rarity in early 90s Music City.

Not to worry, I thought. Arthur's making a comeback, he's just
released a great new album, "Lonely Just Like Me", and doubtless there
will be other opportunities to see him, possibly even back home in the
UK – as he's always been popular with us Brits, he's bound to tour at
some point. But all the while I was still thinking, "hell, no, you
should go, it'll be one of those things you can brag to your mates
about in years to come". Eventually, I decided to head on up to the
stage where Arthur was due to play, with a plan to check out at least
a bit of his 45 minute set before heading off to make my dinner date.

Once Arthur's show began, I couldn't tear myself away. Here was one of
my true soul heroes, appearing in person and singing not ten feet away
from where I was standing – a man whose UK 1960s tour I had not been
able to witness as I was not old enough. Arthur was in wonderful form,
mixing songs from his new album with those Dot, Monument, Sound Stage
7 and Warners classics from 30 years previously. At the end of his
set, he smiled like a man who had just won the lottery and been
promised a lifetime supply of free beer and sex, all at once. So did I
– and the fact that I had just seen the great Arthur Alexander deliver
a stormer of a set more than made up for the ear bashing I got from my
colleague for turning up for dinner almost an hour later than had been
arranged.

The following day, local paper The Tennessean gave Arthur's set the
glowing write-up it fully deserved. A couple of days later, Arthur was
again back in the paper – but sadly, this time in the obituary column.
He had dropped dead from a heart attack. How typical of his luck that
he should do so at a time when his life was in its most upward curve
in decades. He's still mourned by his fans who regret the fact that he
recorded so infrequently, especially in what should have been his
prime years as a singer and songwriter.

Happily, his first label, Dot, did record him in the wake of his
breakthrough hit with what is inarguably the first-ever Southern soul
record, You Better Move On. So much so that Ace was able to license
and released two vinyl albums worth of his Dot sides and to compile
the best of his Dot repertoire, under the wholly-accurate title of THE
GREATEST, as what has now become one of the longest-serving CDs in the
Ace catalogue.

After 19 years, the CD's original packaging looked a bit meagre, and
although Bill Millar's note was still an excellent read, we wanted to
bring the story right up to date. Bill didn't have time to do this for
us, but kindly asked Alexander's biographer Richard Younger to write
fresh notes. Both of them contributed by lending photos and
memorabilia for the package too. Thus it is that October brings a
refurbished "The Greatest" to catalogue, with the same great music
it's always contained but with a sparkling new sleeve and booklet
design that honour Arthur's memory. Even if he'd only written and/or
recorded You Better Move On and A Shot Of Rhythm And Blues, he would
still be among the most important artists of his generation. That his
repertoire also included such essentials as Anna (Go To Him), Go Home
Girl, Soldier Of Love, Where Have You Been (All My Life) and (not
included here) Every Day I Have To Cry Some merely reinforces that
statement of fact.

These recordings are not so much a part of deep soul's foundation as
its corner-stone. If you know them and don't own them, you will need
no persuasion of further purchase. If you don't know them, you really
need to get a shot of Rhythm and Blues, with just a little rock`n'soul
on the side, just for good measure. You may never now get the chance
to see Arthur sing his songs in person, but owning "The Greatest" is
the next best thing to being there.

By Tony Rounce"

Norman