Pete Wingfield

Bloodstone: Natural High

Review by Pete Wingfield, Let It Rock, April 1973

May I shout in your ear? The word is Bloodstone: no, not Bloodrock, Terry Knight's horror, nor my kind employer, the British Mr. Blunstone, but ...

Albert Collins: Ice Pickin' (Sonet)

Review by Pete Wingfield, Melody Maker, March 1979

IN THE game of guitar-hero one-upmanship during the blues boom days of the mid-late Sixties, Albert Collins' was the name to zap 'em with. Through ...

Bootsy Collins: Bootsy's Rubber Band: This Boot Is Made For Fonk-n (Warners)

Review by Pete Wingfield, Melody Maker, July 1979

THE WORLD'S zaniest bass-player is back, whatever the truth of reports about a nervous breakdown; or, as he tells us himself: "I dug the concern ...

Don Covay

Profile by Pete Wingfield, Let It Rock, March 1975

BEHIND THE front line of acknowledged soul stars, the Stevies, Arethas, Al Greens of the day, has always lurked a second league of creative talent; ...

Earth Wind and Fire: Earth, Wind & Fire: Wembley Arena, London

Live Review by Pete Wingfield, Melody Maker, March 1979

PITY THE poor reviewer covering a show of the astonishing calibre of Earth, Wind & Fire's weekend extravaganza at the Empire Pool. ...

Aretha Franklin: Greatest Hits – on Atlantic and Columbia

Review by Pete Wingfield, Cream, December 1971

ON ATLANTIC: Greatest Hits illustrates the power that fourteen condensed, concise, definitive musical statements can exert – particularly in the soul/R&B field, totally geared until ...

Isaac Hayes: Chronicle/For The Sake Of Love

Review by Pete Wingfield, Melody Maker, November 1978

IT'S MY CONTENTION that, whatever bizarre circumstances caused the flurry of lawsuits circulating round Isaac Hayes prior to the demise of Stax Records, and the ...

Jacksons, The: The Jacksons: Destiny

Review by Pete Wingfield, Melody Maker, December 1978

THIS IS AN important album for the Jacksons – now five again, with a small letter at least, Jermaine's defection having been balanced by lil' ...

Etta James: Peaches

Review by Pete Wingfield, Cream, December 1971

THIS DOUBLE ALBUM set of Etta James' hits from Chess seems uncharacteristically enlightened, despite a commercially suicidal price-tag (£3.99, enough to make even ardent soul ...

B.B. King: BB King: The Las Vegas Tax Deductible Blues

Interview by Pete Wingfield, Melody Maker, October 1978

PETE WINGFIELD played with B.B.King seven years ago, on one of the guitarist's less celebrated albums. They met up again last week – only this ...

Patti LaBelle: It's Alright With Me (Epic)

Review by Pete Wingfield, Melody Maker, June 1979

I GUESS it's all of eighteen years since I first heard 'Down The Aisle' by Patti Labelle and the Bluebelles – and when I put ...

Lloyd Price, Dr. John: Ace Records: Dealing Aces Vols. 1 and 2

Review by Pete Wingfield, Melody Maker, January 1979

THESE TWO volumes, together with the indispensable Huey "Piano" Smith and the Clowns collection in the same series (Ace CH 9) represent the first time ...

Smokey Robinson: A Quiet Storm

Review by Pete Wingfield, Let It Rock, September 1975

COULD THIS BE Smokey's What's Going On – the album to elevate him, like Marvin Gaye, from a singles-orientated soul veteran to an across-the-board contemporary ...

Valerie Simpson

Report by Pete Wingfield, Let It Rock, March 1973

THE NAMES Ashford and Simpson should ring a bell with anybody that reads the small print on Motown records: Nicholas and Valerie have chalked up ...

Sly & The Family Stone: Sly Stone: Small Talk

Review by Pete Wingfield, Let It Rock, November 1974

BY SLY'S SLUGGISH standards, it's not that long since the last album, Fresh; maybe married life has given him a creative surge. ...

Steve Cropper, Albert King, Booker T & The MGs, Emotions, The, Pop Staples: Stacks of Stax: Stax Releases

Review by Pete Wingfield, Melody Maker, May 1979

Steve Cropper/Pop Staples/Albert King: Jammed Together (Stax 3009) Booker T & The MGs: Time Is Tight — The Best Of… (Stax STX 3007) The Emotions: ...

Billy Stewart: Billy Stewart's Golden Decade (Chess)

Review by Pete Wingfield, Let It Rock, December 1972

'BRRRRRRRR-RP.. CHUP. CHUP.. CHUP-CHUP.... HEH!' With the soul scatting that became his trademark, 'Summertime' begins a belated tribute to the original contribution of Billy 'Fat ...

Joe Tex

Profile by Pete Wingfield, Let It Rock, October 1972

I’VE NEVER met Joe Tex, never met anybody who has; never seen or heard an interview with him, never read a feature on him — ...

Timmy Thomas: Breaking the rules: Timmy Thomas

Report and Interview by Pete Wingfield, Let It Rock, May 1973

IN THE American record business, like any other, it’s the biggies with the bread that rule the roost. But every so often, an obscure record ...

Allen Toussaint: Toussaint: Life, Love And Faith

Review by Pete Wingfield, Let It Rock, October 1972

To put this album in its proper perspective I’d need to rhapsodize at length over New Orleans R&B and the neglected talents of Allen Toussaint, ...

Tower of Power: Tower Of Power: Bump City

Review by Pete Wingfield, Let It Rock, October 1972

ANYBODY OUT THERE listen to rock on A.F.N. at all? – well, if you do, you'll know Tower of Power: Tony Pigg, an FM D-J ...

Narada Michael Walden: Awakening (Atlantic)

Review by Pete Wingfield, Melody Maker, May 1979

SERENE MR WALDEN, Sri Chinmoy disciple and erstwhile drummer with the all-clad-in-white Mahavishnu Orchestra, surely knows which side his cosmic bread is buttered. Seems like ...

Bobby Womack: Roads Of Life (Arista)

Review by Pete Wingfield, Melody Maker, May 1979

THE FORTUNES of gravel-voiced soul vet Bobby Womack have taken a dip of late. ...

Ace Records: The Ace Story Vol. 1/Vol.2

Review by Pete Wingfield, Melody Maker, January 1979

THESE TWO VOLUMES, together with the indispensable Huey 'Piano' Smith and the Clowns collection in the same series (Ace CH 9) represent the first time ...

Gamble-Huff, Thom Bell and the Philly Groove

Overview by Pete Wingfield, Let It Rock, January 1973

On a balmy night in the late summer of ’67, while the world was wearing flowers in its hair, I was sinking into my seat, ...

Soul Foundations: Twenty Essential Soul Records

Guide by Pete Wingfield, Let It Rock, October 1973

OH LORD – I'M GONNA GET SHOT down for this. ...

Wolfman Jack: What’s Happenin’, Jack?!

Interview by Pete Wingfield, Let It Rock, January 1974

WAS HE BLACK? Was he white? Was he young? Was he old? Was he human? Until the seventies he was just a disembodied croak, howling ...