Mistermoonlight
Administrator
Crystal the Monkey Fan Club
"The dreamers ride against the men of action. Oh see the men of action falling back."--Leonard Cohen
Posts: 8,508
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Post by Mistermoonlight on Jul 6, 2012 21:26:31 GMT -5
Most folks know his big hit "When a Man Loves a Woman." A few more know "Take Time to Know Her," but almost everybody in south Louisiana knows a lot more. The one below is my absolute favorite.
But before we get to that . . . I saw him in the early 70s at a club in Hattiesburg, MS that I would later come to work for. My brother came with me, and the show was disappointing. It seemed as if he might have been drunk. We found his car outside and it was filled with garbage, old McDonalds wrappers and such, as would fit someone out working the chitlin' circuit, of which Hattiesburg was very much a part.
Later I moved down to Baton Rouge and did voiceover work for an automobile company's in-house agency. Percy lived in Baton Rouge, and had a deal with the agency where he would do a free concert each year in exchange for a brand new vehicle. I didn't get to meet him, but I did get to hear him perform for a party the agency put on (each year), and he was just great. His is an inimatable voice. And what a beautiful one.
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Post by AntiArbitrator on Jul 6, 2012 22:51:23 GMT -5
Percy Sledge's music is beautiful and he sings effortlessly. I owned many of his records and this thread is reminding me that I need to add his songs to my playlist. The only danger is his songs might make me want to fall in love.  When I saw this thread, the first thought that entered my mind is that he must have died. Please tell me he did not die. |
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Mistermoonlight
Administrator
Crystal the Monkey Fan Club
"The dreamers ride against the men of action. Oh see the men of action falling back."--Leonard Cohen
Posts: 8,508
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Post by Mistermoonlight on Jul 7, 2012 9:45:20 GMT -5
No, he didn't, Anti. In fact he's got a concert date on the 19th of this month in the Houston metro area.
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Post by AntiArbitrator on Jul 7, 2012 16:03:30 GMT -5
 It is wonderful that he is still active. His music has been entertaining me while I download/upload pictures for our games.  I think I found the favorites on one album. If you know some that I should add, please let me know. ![]() ![]() When I read the titles of some of the songs, I had to laugh because I had no idea that was what he was saying. Out of Left Field (I thought he was saying "How I feel...")
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Mistermoonlight
Administrator
Crystal the Monkey Fan Club
"The dreamers ride against the men of action. Oh see the men of action falling back."--Leonard Cohen
Posts: 8,508
|
Post by Mistermoonlight on Jul 7, 2012 22:34:27 GMT -5
The only thing I'd caution you about is listening to the actual tracks themselves to make sure they're the ones you want. Like a lot of other artists, there are tracks out there that are not the ones you'd expect to hear--the hit versions. For some folks, the others are sought after, for other folks not.
The version in the video above of "My Special Prayer" is the 'hit' version, which means that Percy was most likely lip-synching the song, a very standard practice in those days. Here is the hit version of "Out in Left Field" (one of my faves, too), as well as a few others:
How could you not fall in love to this music?
One thing I've always been curious about. In the late 1960s the Bee Gees had already started writing songs with other people in mind (they'd have quite a few hits doing this.) One of them was a song they wrote specifically for Percy Sledge. It was the story of a man on death row (perhaps that's the reason it was culled) called "Gotta Get a Message to You." For whatever reason, Percy decided not to record it, but if you're like me you can't help but think he would have just killed with it. As it was, it became a big hit when the Bee Gees themselves decided to record it. I'd still love to hear Percy's version, though.
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Post by AntiArbitrator on Jul 7, 2012 23:25:02 GMT -5
I appreciate your caution. I was unaware there are different versions of hit tunes from the 60s and 70s. I know current songs often have a re-mix, but they are clearly designated as re-mix. I would be disappointed to not get the hit version. I listened to 5 songs and decided to buy. I was lucky this time. I have compared all of the above songs by alternating the videos and my downloads in 30 second increments. I believe I have the original hits; however, I can tell the music was digitally remastered even though I could not find anything on the site that mentions that. The music is more audible than on the videos, but that is OK with me. I do not see "It Tears Me Up" on my list so I still need to get that one. I also download other people's favorites I see posted to the forum even though I do not always comment. You are, as always, very helpful. |
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Mistermoonlight
Administrator
Crystal the Monkey Fan Club
"The dreamers ride against the men of action. Oh see the men of action falling back."--Leonard Cohen
Posts: 8,508
|
Post by Mistermoonlight on Jul 7, 2012 23:48:28 GMT -5
Digital remastering is often excellent, especially when they take the original source material and just clean it up, without changing the actual mix.
There are a lot of free progams out there that will let you download music files directly from YouTube. However, I'm a bit of a purist and prefer WAV files to MP3 whenever possible. The difference in sound qualitly (and size) from MP3s is amazing to me.
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Post by AntiArbitrator on Jul 8, 2012 11:55:54 GMT -5
Digital remastering is often excellent, especially when they take the original source material and just clean it up, without changing the actual mix. There are a lot of free progams out there that will let you download music files directly from YouTube. However, I'm a bit of a purist and prefer WAV files to MP3 whenever possible. The difference in sound qualitly (and size) from MP3s is amazing to me. I am clueless! Are WAV files the original vinyls? Just taking a guess. **** I became a fan of the BeeGees when I saw Saturday Night Fever. Their version of I Gotta Get A Message sounds nice, but I think Percy Sledge would have sung it in a manner that would be heart rending. I can imagine I would have felt his pain. I do not feel any emotion in the BeeGees' version of the song. |
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Mistermoonlight
Administrator
Crystal the Monkey Fan Club
"The dreamers ride against the men of action. Oh see the men of action falling back."--Leonard Cohen
Posts: 8,508
|
Post by Mistermoonlight on Jul 9, 2012 15:44:19 GMT -5
I agree 1000% per cent. And I've wondered about the question of why Percy did not record the song the Bee Gees wrote for him. I can hear that it was written with his voice in mind from that very first line, "The preacher talked with me and he smiled," especially in the way Robin Gibb goes up briefly on the words 'preacher' and 'smiled' almost making them into three-syllable words. And of course, that wonderful chorus. It was just aching for Percy's voice. And you're right, you would have felt it with Percy doing the song. Imagine my surprise today in finding out he did cover the song, at least once. It's on an out-of-print album that I HAVE to get someday: soulsafari.wordpress.com/2009/11/20/percy-sledge-live-in-south-africa/ In the review they say it was his 'first time' singing the song which leads me to wonder if there were other versions as well that I simply haven't found yet. Oh, and you're right. WAV files are the audio as it was originally recorded. MP3 files can be very good if they are done at 320 kbps, but they are much smaller in size (hence their popularity), however by definition not all of the audio quality is there. I've worked with audio all of my life, and that may be why I notice the difference. Here's a place where you can do a sample test to see if you can tell the two apart. www.noiseaddicts.com/2010/04/sound-test-difference-between-wav-vs-mp3/My suspicion is that a great majority of listeners won't, and that's fine. Just remember to download MP3s at the highest possible rate. There's a huge difference in sound quality between 128 kbps and 320 kbps, and 24 bit is much better than 16 bit. |
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Post by AntiArbitrator on Jul 9, 2012 18:08:21 GMT -5
Thank you for the lesson and all of this information. I listened to the live version and from the first line, I could tell that he was in trouble and needed to get that message out. It's a wonderful song. I hope that you are able to locate that recording. I looked at the download for My Special Prayer and it is listed as: Size 6.3 MB bit rate 256 kbps sample rate 44.100kHz Profile low complexity The above info is from my music library. I went back to the iTunes store and can see no way to determine any of the information before downloading.  |
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Mistermoonlight
Administrator
Crystal the Monkey Fan Club
"The dreamers ride against the men of action. Oh see the men of action falling back."--Leonard Cohen
Posts: 8,508
|
Post by Mistermoonlight on Jul 10, 2012 9:18:52 GMT -5
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Post by AntiArbitrator on Jul 10, 2012 10:06:48 GMT -5
The song is absolutely wonderful. It is quickly becoming a favorite. |
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Post by KyleEl on Jul 10, 2012 14:18:58 GMT -5
Most folks know his big hit "When a Man Loves a Woman." All I can say is I'd rather hear him sing it than Michael Bolton. |
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Mistermoonlight
Administrator
Crystal the Monkey Fan Club
"The dreamers ride against the men of action. Oh see the men of action falling back."--Leonard Cohen
Posts: 8,508
|
Post by Mistermoonlight on Jul 10, 2012 17:57:49 GMT -5
The song is absolutely wonderful. It is quickly becoming a favorite. Thank you for your help in this journey, my friend. After Robin Gibbs's recent death I heard about the fact that this song I'd loved for so long had actually been written with Percy Sledge specifically in mind. Then I read someplace that he'd never recorded it. And you know the rest. We found it. He did record it. I'm listening to Percy's studio version again, and I'm struck at how much it was obviously written for his voice and his alone. Much like Paul Simon wrote the angelic soaring "Bridge Over Troubled Waters" specifically for Art Garfunkel's voice. I know how to do that with writing fiction. I can write in the style of other writers, but someone who can do that with a melody and lyrics is magic to me. The Bee Gees would go on to write numerous songs that were perfect for other artists, such as for Kenny Rogers "Islands In the Stream," "Emotion" by Samantha Sang, and "Grease" by Franki Valli, "If I Can't Have You" by Yvonne Eliman, and that's not even scratching the surface. Supposedly Robin wrote the song after a fight with his wife Dwinna, and after reading the story of a man on death row who had murdered his wife's lover. To be able to take those influences and create art out of it, much less to be able to do it in someone else's voice is just a shining moment in music history to me. And the only sad part is that if Percy hadn't waited so long to record it, it would have been a huge hit for him instead of the Bee Gees. His voice is indeed just perfect for it. |
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I think I found the favorites on one album. If you know some that I should add, please let me know. 
