Lookin' Back (Re-Recorded Version)

There is a certain weary, desperate edge to Joe Simon's voice that makes every song he sings feel like a plea for personal redemption, and no singer better bridges the thematic connections between soul and country than this man, who managed to bring Memphis to Nashville, then trucked both off to Philadelphia. Lookin' Back collects his biggest hits from the 1960s with some earlier sides and some later disco-era tracks to form a decent introduction to this underrated singer. Highlights include the early hit "Nine Pound Steel," the perfect merging of both soul and country concerns (and they really hardly differ) on "(You Keep Me) Hangin' On," the definitive version of Harlan Howard's "The Chokin' Kind," and the ominous and gorgeous "Drowning in the Sea of Love," which was produced in Philadelphia by Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff. Even the excursion into disco found here, "Get Down, Get Down (Get on the Floor)," is as much country gospel as it is an urban dance track. Throughout Simon sounds sad, weary, desperate, beaten up by love, yet resolute and oddly hopeful, like the man you meet at the bar who has been through hell but is sure brighter days are coming, even if there is little evidence for it. The Rhino anthology Music in My Bones is still probably the place to start with Simon, but Lookin' Back makes a competent substitute.