Recent recordings from William Bell and Lee Fields perhaps suggest a soul revival. For many the timeless music never disappeared but this new generation of digital listeners didn’t grow up listening to greats such as Sam Cooke, James Brown, Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding, Eddie Floyd and so many others, including some who were overlooked. Howard “Youngblood” Bomar was one of them. Amends have been made. Now we have a 16-track collection that features his 1960s 45 soul sides and previously unreleased later-period recordings, including a cover of Prince’s “Purple Rain.”
The first eight tracks are a mix of familiar favorites and unique originals while the last eight are reworked or unreleased tracks. The horns and snappy danceable beat of the opening “Set Down Fo I Fall Down” will remind me of Joe Tex. The title track appears twice, first in the original organ-drenched James Brown-influenced style, while the “modern” version glides as smooth as butter in more of a swelling orchestrated arrangement with background vocalists, a major upgrade over the original. His original hit “I’m Gonna Love You,” certainly owes to James Brown as well. “Best of Luck to You” is horns and strings slathered farewell to a lost love, that echoes strains of Otis Redding, clearly one of Bomar’s strongest vocals on the disc.
“I’ll Be There,” features backgrounds and a burning tenor sax solo that segues into an uncredited duet version of The Everly Brothers’ 1955 classic “Let It Be Me,” to the eminently recognizable, punchy horns and B3-supported surging, take on Junior Walker’s monstrous hit “Shotgun.” He transforms the Smokey Robinson/Bobby Rogers-penned ballad “What Love Has Joined Together” into a mid-tempo swinger, with a sound that still retains a Motown sheen. He brings grit and funk to the infectiously danceable “She’s a 911.” He brings another orchestrated arrangement to “Purple Rain,” digging deep to draw out the emotive aspects of the song, distinctively demonstrating a maturity that wasn’t present in the early hits of the ‘60s. Nonetheless, the repetitive choruses of the backgrounds become tiresome. He would have benefitted from a shorter version.
The last five are unreleased tracks, the first of which “Down Home Georgia Girl” has a bit of dare we say disco flavor while the delayed back beat “Crazy Bout You Baby” begins in spoken testifying style before Bomar goes into a Al Green-like croon. The funky “Something Beautiful” is infused with Latin percussion to fortify the percolating rhythms that bring out a hard-edged grit in Bomar’s vocals rarely heard until this point while he delivers the late-night R&B romantic vibe in “I’d Like To Be” and the closing “Just Let Me Love You.”
As we traverse through Bomar’s early and later periods, we hear just about every style of soul music. It’s difficult to ascertain one distinctive style for the gifted singer and that may explain why he stayed under the radar for so long. Nonetheless, it’s a worthwhile career perspective for one who surely embraced the essence of the soul.
