Loneliness Of The Long Distance Singer: Roy Lee Johnson Posted by Junior

Roy Lee Johnson And The Villagers: Patch It Up and I Can't Stand This Loneliness From: Roy Lee Johnson And The Villagers [Stax, 1973] Apologies for the break in posting, as always I have my excuses ready. First and foremost was that I got lost in the redesign of the site which is now pretty much there and hopefully suits everyone's tastes. Second on the list was that I had about five solid albums to write about but a quick google revealed my blogging buddies had covered them all in the last three years and, as a general rule, I try not to feature music already covered extensively (I am considering doing a compilation post of all the albums I can't feature sometime soon). Thirdly, I've been home schooling myself on what I consider to be major gaps in my musical knowledge - I know very little about a lot of jazz and folk and have been treating my ears to artists from Coltrane to Sun Ra in an effort to at least get a working knowledge of a lot of the greats I've never fully embraced. I'm not there yet but look forward to reporting back on this in the near future. Anyways, as always, on to the music. Today's post was inspired by a pretty decent documentary I saw the other day on the history of Stax. While unsurprisingly focusing on the stars of the label such as Hayes, The Staples, Taylor, Booker T etc etc it did make me dig into my own collection to look at some of the hidden gems from Stax and the first one that popped up was Roy Lee Johnson's 1973 release Roy Lee Johnson & The Villagers. Released at the beginning of the end of the label's life, the album marked Johnson's debut and swansong for Stax, a hard blow for a musician who had already spent twenty years in the business with varying success (his biggest hit by some way was The Beatles covering his Mr Moonlight song). Taking his musical history and fight for recognition into account you would either expect a bluesy album full of remorse or an album invested with all the energy and belief that had built up over the years. I'm happy to report that it's very much the latter. First up, Patch It Up is from the James Brown school of funk with a rousing percussion/organ/horns section that screams for dance floor play. Not a lot more I can add to it than that, if you like that kind of music, you'll love this. Nuff said. Can't Stand This Loneliness has a slightly more southern take on the funk sound and is probably in many ways the superior of the two tracks I'm featuring. With a great stuttering horn chorus and passionate playing throughout, I'd also be full of happiness were this ever to drop on a dancefloor in my vicinity. The album's not even remotely in print these days but I did see that Andy Smith featured a track by Roy on his Document II so, who knows, maybe one day it'll happen....