Search - Charlie Earland :: Charlie's Greatest Hits

Not His Best

Gary W. Rice | Fenton, Michigan United States | 02/22/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I fully realize that Charles Earland recorded with a variety of labels. Given that as well as it being financially unlikely to get much of a return for all the labels involved, we might not ever see what I would call "Charles Earland's Greatest Hits". Yet, with my collection of his music, this is what I would recommend you compile for his best sounds.



First of all, I would select the "Black Talk" and "More Today than Yesterday" cuts from the Black Talk album. I would include a Charles Earland cut from Willis Jackson's Bar Wars album called "It's All Right With Me". From Slammin and Jammin', there would be "Organyk Groove" and the unique "When Johnny Comes Marching Home"; from The Almighty Burner, I would have "Europa"; and from Front Burner, I would include "I Will Always Love Her".



From his last album, If Only For One Night, "Smoke" would be there; From Third Degree Burn, "Don't Be Mean, Arlene"; and, finally, my favorite cut, from his Intensity album, "Happy Cause I'm Coming Home".



Other cuts that I enjoy (maybe a second greatest hits album) would be "Letha" from Black Drops; "Killer Joe" from Cooking with the Mighty Burner; "Put It Where You Want It" from Blowing the Blues Away; "Third Degree Burn" from that album; "My Blues is Funky" and "Keep the Faith" from If Only For One Night; "Organic Blues" from Organomically Correct; and, finally, the last 4 minutes of "Muriley" from his Anthology.



If you like B-3 organ jazz music, there is, in my humble opinion, no one better than Charles Earland. Jimmy Smith, Jimmy McGriff, Joey DeFrancesco, Charles Kynard, Groove Holmes and others have had their moments but there is no one who could carry a great groove like Charles Earland. God Bless Him and may he rest in peace as you enjoy his great legacy of music."