Wilson Pickett | Al Green | heart attack | The Definitive Collection

Dl Music

by American Way Staff

For fans of: Al Green, Otis Redding

The passing of Wilson Pickett from a heart attack this past January quieted one of R&B's most essential voices at the age of 65. Although there's no real shortage of Pickett hit sets out there, Rhino's new two-disc The Definitive Collection is a timely tribute to the irrepressible grit 'n' gravel-voiced legend. Replacing the label's now-out-of-print 1992 comp A Man and a Half: The Best of Wilson Pickett, this new set doesn't dig quite as deep, but the 30 tracks here neatly capture all the high points of the Wicked One's career - from his earliest days with gospel vocal group the Falcons ("I Found a Love") to his early singles ("It's Too Late") to the peerless sides recorded in Memphis with the Stax label crew ("In the Midnight Hour"), and later with Alabama's Fame studio sessioneers ("Mustang Sally"). All newly remastered, the songs' sound quality (one of the major complaints with A Man and a Half) is genuinely impressive, adding a new luster to a set of tunes - among them "Land of a Thousand Dances," "634-5789 (Soulsville U.S.A.)," and "Don't Fight It" - that Pickett turned into soul standards. - B.B.