Classic Masters in Bloomington, MN

For the brief period of 1969-1971, as both songwriter and singer,
Joe South
had the market cornered on a distinctive brand of
country-soul
exemplified by his signature hit,
"Games People Play."
He had been kicking around the music business for more than a decade by then, having scored minor hits with
the Big Bopper
's
"The Purple People Eater Meets the Witch Doctor"
in 1958 and
"You're the Reason"
in 1961, written
the Tams
' 1962 Top 20
R&B
hit
"Untie Me,"
and worked as a Nashville session musician. Between 1965 and 1967, he wrote and produced five
pop
chart records for
Billy Joe Royal
, including
"Down in the Boondocks,"
"I Knew You When,"
and
"Hush."
Deep Purple
remade
"Hush"
for a Top Five hit in 1968. By then,
South
had secured a recording contract with
Capitol
, and beginning with
"Games People Play"
he scored six chart entries through 1971, among them
"Walk a Mile in My Shoes,"
which
Elvis Presley
performed, and
"Birds of a Feather,"
the Raiders
remade for a Top 40 hit. Meanwhile,
Lynn Anderson
turned
"Rose Garden"
into a gold-selling Top Five
hit and
country
chart-topper. Then, following his brother's suicide, he gave it all up and lived on his royalties. (An attempted comeback a few years later failed.) This midline-priced best-of includes all of his
hits as well as versions of many of his compositions that were hits for others. His work remains impressive; the songs themselves have simple, compelling melodies and lyrics and he sings them with conviction. The quality belies the small size of his catalog. ~ William Ruhlmann