PERCY SLEDGE: THE KING OF COUNTRY SOUL
Rhino Handmade Presents The First Comprehensive Collection Of Sledge’s
Atlantic Recordings On Four Discs Spanning 1966-74 With Over 100 Songs
Spotlighting Studio And Live Recordings, Rare And Unreleased Tracks
Rhino.com Pre-Order Begins November 26, Ships December 14
LOS ANGELES – The aching sincerity in Percy Sledge’s voice on the #1 smash “When A Man Loves A Woman” made him an instant star in 1966. The singer spent the next eight years with Atlantic Records, refining his mix of country and soul in studios around Muscle Shoals, Alabama, not far from where Sledge was born in 1940.
A day after Sledge’s 70th birthday, Rhino Handmade will exclusively unveil the first comprehensive collection of the singer’s recordings for Atlantic. This four-disc set spans 1966-74 with 104 songs, including both studio and live recordings as well as several rare and unreleased tracks.
Shipping on December 14 from Rhino Handmade, the set is presented in a clothbound hardcover book filled with rare photos and a new essay by Barney Hoskyns. PERCY SLEDGE: THE ATLANTIC RECORDINGS is available for pre-order on November 26 exclusively at www.rhino.com for a suggested list price of $79.98.
The music, arranged mostly in chronological order, offers a richly detailed portrait of the King of Country Soul’s career following the massive success of “When A Man Loves A Woman.” In fact, the song is featured twice, opening the collection with the well-known studio version and closing it with an alternate take recorded during the same session.
The first three discs capture Sledge’s meteoric rise, drawing from his singles and four studio albums—When A Man Loves A Woman, Warm And Tender Soul (1966), The Percy Sledge Way (1967), and Take Time To Know Her (1968)—which feature stellar playing by some of Muscle Shoals’ most talented studio aces.
Among the tracks featured are the singer’s Top Ten R&B hits: “It Tears Me Up,” “Warm And Tender Love,” and “It’s All Wrong But It’s Alright”; plus standouts: “Out Of Left Field,” “Cover Me,” “Take Time To Know Her,” “Sudden Stop,” “You’re All Around Me,” and “True Love Travels On A Gravel Road.”
The collection gathers a number of rare recordings as well, including several songs released exclusively overseas on albums like Wanted (1969, South Africa), My Special Prayer (1970, Netherlands), The Golden Voice Of Soul (1974, Germany), and a Christmas single from 1969 that was released only in the Netherlands and featured “Silent Night” b/w “Christmas Wish.”
For the set, Rhino Handmade uncovers five unreleased songs, including “Time,” “What I Don’t Know Won’t Hurt Me,” “Same Old Loverman,” “You Can Always Get It Where You Got It,” and the Dan Penn and Bobby Emmons song “Love Is A Job.”
The collection wraps up with five performances recorded live in 1970 when Sledge traveled to South Africa, where he played to hysterical sold-out crowds for 17 straight weeks. Recorded at Johannesburg’s Empire Theatre, the performances featured here are: “Cover Me,” “Knock On Wood,” “Any Day Now,” “Come Softly To Me,” and “Heart Of A Child.”
PERCY SLEDGE: THE ATLANTIC RECORDINGS
Track Listing
Disc One
1. “When A Man Loves A Woman”
2. “Love Me Like You Mean It”
3. “You Fooled Me”
4. “You’re Pouring Water On A Drowning Man”
5. “Love Me All The Way”
6. “Thief In The Night”
7. “Put A Little Lovin’ On Me”
8. “My Adorable One”
9. “Love Makes The World Go Round”
10. “When She Touches Me (Nothing Else Matters)”
11. “Success”
12. “It Tears Me Up”
13. “Warm And Tender Love”
14. “Sugar Puddin’”
15. “You’ve Got That Something Wonderful”
16. “I Love Everything About You”
17. “So Much Love”
18. “A Sweet Woman Like You”
19. “Love Me Tender”
20. “Heart Of A Child”
21. “You’ve Really Got A Hold On Me”
22. “I Stand Accused”
23. “Try A Little Tenderness”
24. “With Every Beat Of My Heart”
25. “That’s How Strong My Love Is”
26. “Oh How Happy”
27. “I’m Hanging Up My Heart For You”
28. “Little Girl”
Disc Two
1. “Behind Every Great Man There’s A Woman”
2. “It Can’t Be Stopped”
3. “Baby, Help Me”
4. “Out Of Left Field”
5. “You Send Me”
6. “Drown In My Own Tears”
7. “I Had A Talk With My Woman”
8. “What Am I Living For”
9. “You Don’t Miss Your Water”
10. “Tell It Like It Is”
11. “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long (To Stop Now)”
12. “Pledging My Love”
13. “My Special Prayer”
14. “The Dark End Of The Street”
15. “Just Out Of Reach (Of My Two Open Arms)” – Album Version
16. “High Cost Of Leaving”
17. “It’s All Wrong But It’s Alright” – Stereo Version
18. “Hard To Believe”
19. “Just Out Of Reach (Of My Two Open Arms)” – Single Version
20. “Cover Me”
21. “Take Time To Know Her”
22. “It’s All Wrong But It’s Alright” – Single Version
23. “Feed The Flame”
24. “Sudden Stop” – Stereo Version
25. “Come Softly To Me”
26. “Spooky”
27. “Between These Arms” – Stereo Version
Disc Three
1. “Sudden Stop” – Single Version
2. “Between These Arms” – Single Version
3. “You’re All Around Me”
4. “Self Preservation”
5. “Wanted”
6. “Bless Your Little Sweet Soul”
7. “Any Day Now”
8. “The Angels Listened In”
9. “Standing On The Mountain”
10. “Keep Your Arms Around Me”
11. “Kind Woman”
12. “Woman Of The Night”
13. “Push Mr. Pride Aside” – Single Version
14. “Baby, Baby, Baby”
15. “True Love Travels On A Gravel Road”
16. “Faithful And True”
17. “Too Many Rivers To Cross”
18. “Set Me Free”
19. “Cotton Mill Man”
20. “Love’s Where Life Begins”
21. “Let It Be Me”
22. “Blow Out The Sun”
23. “I’ve Gotta Get A Message To You”
24. “Stop The World Tonight”
25. “Help Me Make It Through The Night”
Disc Four
1. “Love Is A Job”*
2. “Push Mr. Pride Aside”
3. “That’s The Way I Want To Live My Life”
4. “Life’s Little Ups And Downs”
5. “What I Don’t Know Won’t Hurt Me”*
6. “I Found A Love”
7. “Time”*
8. “Everything You’ll Ever Need”
9. “Sunday Brother”
10. “Rainbow Road”
11. “Here I Am”
12. “Same Old Loverman”*
13. “You Can Always Get It Where You Got It”*
14. “Sunshine”
15. “Unchanging Love”
16. Introduction – Live, 1970
17. “Cover Me” – Live, 1970
18. “Knock On Wood” – Live, 1970
19. “Any Day Now” – Live, 1970
20. “Come Softly To Me” – Live, 1970
21. “Heart Of A Child” – Live, 1970
22. “Silent Night”
23. “Christmas Wish”
24. “When A Man Loves A Woman” – Alternate Take
* Previously Unreleased