The Exciting Wilson Pickett

Infobox Album
Name = The Exciting Wilson Pickett
Type = studio
Artist = Wilson Pickett


Released = 1966
Recorded = May 12, 1965–May 8, 1966
Memphis, Tennessee and
Muscle Shoals, Alabama
Genre = R&B/Soul
Length =
Label = Atlantic
8129
Producer =
Reviews =
*Allmusic Rating|4.5|5 [http://wc03.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:a9fpxqr5ldje~T1 link]
Last album = "In the Midnight Hour"
(1965)
This album = "The Exciting Wilson Pickett"
(1966)
Next album = "The Wicked Pickett"
(1966)

"The Exciting Wilson Pickett", released in 1966, was the second album by R&B and soul singer Wilson Pickett. The album charted at #3 on Billboard's "black albums" chart and #21 on their chart of "pop albums". According to All Music, this second album firmly established Picket's "stature as a major '60s soul man".allmusicguide |id=10:a9fpxqr5ldje~T1 |label=The Exciting Wilson Pickett] The album launched four major hits for Pickett, but All Music emphasizes that the non-hit cuts, "of nearly an equal level", will be of more interest to collectors.

Originally released on the Atlantic label, the album has been re-issued on CD by Rhino, Collectables and Warner Bros. Records. In 2007, a new LP edition was released by the label 4 Men with Beards.

Hit singles

"The Exciting Wilson Pickett" launched four crossover hit singles. "In the Midnight Hour" reached #1 on the "Black Singles" chart and #21 on the "Pop Singles" chart. "Land of a Thousand Dances" reached #1 and #6 respectively. "Ninety-nine and a Half (Won't Do)" reached #13 and #53. "634-5789 (Soulsville, U.S.A.)", a song which Pickett had not on first hearing liked, reached #1 and #13. [allmusicguide |id=33:jpfoxvlhldde |label=634-5789 (Soulsville, U.S.A.)]

Pickett later redid the song "Land of a Thousand Dances", originally a hit in 1963 for New Orleans-based composer Chris Kenner, for the soundtrack of "The Great Outdoors", a 1988 film starring Dan Aykroyd and John Candy. [allmusicguide | id=33:gpfoxvlhldde |label=Land of 1000 Dances]

Track listing

#"Land of a Thousand Dances" (Chris Kenner) – 2:28
#"Something You Got" (Kenner) – 2:58
#"6345-789 (Soulsville, U.S.A.)" (Steve Cropper, Eddie Floyd) – 3:00
#"Barefootin'" (Robert Parker) – 2:22
#"Mercy Mercy" (Don Covay, Ronald Dean Miller) – 2:30
#"You're So Fine" (Lance Finney, Willie Schofield, Bob West) – 2:38
#"In the Midnight Hour" (Cropper, Wilson Pickett) – 2:36
#"Ninety-nine and a Half (Won't Do)" (Cropper, Floyd, Pickett) – 2:44
#"Danger Zone" (Cropper, Pickett) – 2:12
#"I'm Drifting" (Homer Banks, Pickett, David Porter) – 2:54
#"It's All Over" (Cropper, Pickett) – 2:21
#"She's So Good to Me" (Bobby Womack) – 2:17

Personnel

Performance

*Charles Packy Axton – tenor sax
*Charles Chalmers – tenor sax
*Tommy Cogbill – bass
*Steve Cropper – guitar
*Donald "Duck" Dunn – bass
*Joe Hall – piano
*Roger Hawkins – drums
*Isaac Hayes – piano
*Al Jackson, Jr. – drums
*Wayne Jackson – trumpet
*Jimmy Johnson – guitar
*Andrew Love – tenor sax
*Gene Miller – trumpet
*Chips Moman – guitar
*Floyd Newman – baritone sax
*Spooner Oldham – piano
*Wilson Pickett – vocals

Production

*Haig Adishian – cover design
*Steve Cropper – supervisor
*Tom Dowd – engineer, supervisor
*A. Scott Galloway – liner notes
*Rick Hall – engineer, supervisor
*Dan Hersch – digital remastering
*Bill Inglot – digital remastering
*John Peck
*Bob Rolontz – liner notes
*Nick Samardge – photography
*Jim Stewart – engineer, supervisor
*Jerry Wexler – supervisor

References