
Southern Roots (1973)
Meat Man / When A Man Loves A Woman / Hold On I´m Coming / Just A Little Bit / Born To Be A Loser / Haunted House / Blueberry Hill / The Revolutionary Man / Big Blue Diamonds / That Old Bourbon Street Church
After the London experiment Mercury decided to try the same again in Memphis, this time with modern soul luminaries. The results were again mixed though, mostly due to a few very unsuitable songs for Jerry. Meat Man, Just A Little Bit, Born To Be A loser, Big Blue Diamonds & That Old Burbon Street Church are all very worthwhile, but When A Man Loves A Woman & Blueberry Hill are embarassing & The Revolutionary Man has the most annoying backing vocals I've ever heard on a JLL recording (with the possible exception of the 1979 Elektra cut of Rockin' Jerry Lee!). 3 out of 5
Outtakes: Honey Hush / All Over Hell & Half Of Georgia / I Sure Miss Those Good Old Times / Cry / Raining In My Heart / Margie / Silver Threads Among The Gold / Take Your Time
All of the above outtakes (plus a faster Hold On I'm Coming, a longer edit of Haunted House as well as several rehearsals & re-mixes) were finally issued by Bear Family in 1987. Most of these are vastly superior to most of the songs on the original album (& in particular Cry, Raining In My Heart & Margie), & could've greatly enhanced a very patchy album.
This is from an excellent blog by Peter Checksfield. See the whole blog at http://themargatemusicman.blogspot.com/ ... years.html