Lee Moses became a much bigger star years after his death in 1997 than he ever was in life when his 1971 album
Time and Place was belatedly discovered by record collectors and soul mavens, prompting a reissue in 2007. Listening to his work, it's at once hard to imagine how a talent as strong as
Moses could slip so thoroughly through the cracks, and easy to see why he never became a major star. The passion and ferocity in
Moses' music is strong enough to make
Wilson Pickett or
James Brown seem cautious, and though his performances are exciting and powerful,
Moses never sanded off his rough edges. The same gale force impact that appeals to contemporary soul fans would have made
Moses a very tough sell to pop radio in the '60s and '70s (and at more than few R&B stations, for that matter).
Time and Place was a potent exercise in soul and funk, but to hear
Lee Moses at his most raw and fearless, you need to turn to his singles, and
How Much Longer Must I Wait?: Singles & Rarities 1965-1972 collects all of his non-LP sides along with three previously unreleased tracks. The earliest selections, like "My Adorable One" and a frantic instrumental cover of
the Beatles' "Day Tripper," sound like they were recorded fast and on a limited budget, but the interplay between
Moses and the studio band is terrific, and as a singer and guitarist,
Moses is emphatic and always makes his mark. The production gets a bit cleaner on tracks like "If Loving You Is a Crime (I'll Always Be Guilty)" and "I Can't Take No Chances," and he shows a bit more nuance as a singer, but that doesn't stop him from opening the throttle emotionally, revealing no fear of overplaying.
Moses' version of "The Dark End of the Street" veers into a detour in which he declares "Horses like to make love! Cows like to make love! Mosquitos like to make love!" that rivals
Swamp Dogg for sheer expressive eccentricity.
Moses also takes on "Pouring Water on a Drowning Man," which like "Dark End of the Street" was a hit for the troubled soul legend
James Carr, and like
Carr,
Moses was a performer who was willing to aim for the fences in the name of making himself felt. Also like
Carr,
Moses deserved a bigger audience than he attracted when he was active, but anyone who was impressed with
Time and Place should give a listen to
How Much Longer Must I Wait? and discover the rest of the
Lee Moses story. It's a tale well worth hearing. ~ Mark Deming