Texas share billing with keyboardist
Spooner Oldham on
The Muscle Shoals Sessions, an album cut at
Oldham's old '60s stomping grounds: Alabama's FAME Recording Studios.
Oldham was part of the brigade that gave records made at FAME a deep, soulful feeling, one that
Texas pointedly doesn't attempt to re-create on their own voyage to the American South. There are no horns heard on
The Muscle Shoals Sessions, no gutbucket rhythms or funky guitars. Often, the album feels like a duet album between vocalist
Sharleen Spiteri and
Oldham; the keyboardist plays the sweet changes, accentuating the chords with fleet but not fancy runs, as
Spiteri sings with cautious passion. Apart from the cover of
the Drifters' "Save the Last Dance for Me" and "Would I Lie to You," a 1992 nugget by
Charles & Eddie, the album is devoted to
Texas' greatest hits, which all sound supple in these spare arrangements. While the energy may be reserved, that doesn't mean the record is cautious: witness "Black Eyed Boy," which is effectively stripped of its Motown bounce yet still sounds compelling when delivered with
Oldham's wailing organ and empathetic electric piano. Such moments give
The Muscle Shoals Sessions a pulse that is felt when the record shifts into slower gear, making it feel warm, intimate, and engaging. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
![Moondance [Remastered]](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/0081227963637_p0_v3_s90x140.jpg "Moondance [Remastered]")
