Willie Walker & The Butanes
Memphisapolis

Some early reviews...

Candi Staton did it last issue and now it’s the turn of Willie Walker & the Butanes to offer up a slice of absolutely timeless soul music to gladden the heart. Butanes’ leader and guitarist, Curtis Obeda, has followed up on their relationship cemented over many years now in Minneapolis and delivered the songwriting goods throughout, all an equal match to Willie’s last ‘Star Pick’ outing, ‘Right Where I Belong’. This is real no frills soul, drenched in horns and devoid of any rock guitars and a joy from start to finish. In the liners, Obeda sums it up when he says: “Willie Walker has lived in Minneapolis for over forty years but it’s still Memphis you hear when he sings” and it transpires that some of the songs here were written with other artists in mind but it’s hard to think they could belong now to anyone but Willie... ‘Real Love’ might have been written with thoughts of Al Green recording it - and it certainly has the sound of his Hi heyday - but it’s Willie’s now, just as the punchy ‘Just Wait Til I Got Home’ needed no Wilson Pickett nor the ‘Thanks For Being There’ no Tyrone Davis, despite a slowed-down ‘Can I Change My Mind’ riff going on in the background. Curt also had Bettye LaVette in his sights for the gritty ‘I’ll Get To You’ but she would have had to hark back to her Silver Fox days and it fits into the mould here just perfectly. There’s a nice tale told about the femme-supported, upbeat toe-tapper, ‘Sweet (Yeah, Yeah, Yeah)’ too as the ‘yeahs’ that Willie sings were originally intended to be filled with extra lyrics - hell, the result was so good, the extra lyrics were ditched! There’s more upbeat stuff by way of ‘The Last Time’, the meaty strutter, ‘Opposites Attract’ and the slightly bluesy feeling opener, ‘What’s It Take’, while those who want their soul downtempo and deep will thrill to the Goldwax-era Willie style of ‘Cry, Cry, Cry’. More ballads come by way of the dual-tracked Joe Tex country-styled ‘I Won’t Be Lonely’ and the dead slow ‘The Dream For Me’, boasting guitar, drums and a hint of piano. ‘Exactly Like Me’ takes things back to mid-pace, with its philosophical lyrics and ‘My Baby Drives Me Crazy’ is laden with vintage Stax horn riffs. 2006 or 1966, this is what soul music is all about for me and I rather suspect you too

David Cole - In The Basement magazine (UK)

 

Willie Walker’s One On One CD ‘Right Where I Belong’ garnered him CD Of The Month in B&R 198, and ‘Memphisapolis’ has to be in the running for my pick of 2006. Born in Mississippi, reared in Memphis and now resident in Minneapolis (which I guess explains the CD title!), Willie is once backed again by the excellent Butanes, led by guitarist/ songwriter/ arranger/ producer Curtis Obeda (and I believe he went out for the pies and Bovril at half time!) ‘Memphisapolis’ contains thirteen original Obeda songs; featuring three horns, two female background singers, Hammond organ and rhythm section.
Yes indeed, I never thought that soul records of this quality were being cut nowadays, I though the magic touch had been lost somewhere back in the 1960s along with Beatle wigs, black and white television and real leather footballs with laces. It contains elements of all the great Memphis studios, and summons up the spirit of Otis Redding, Al Green and all those other giants who recorded in the Bluff City in the heyday of real soul music.
With a horn arrangement straight out of the Stax studio, proceedings open with a gritty number titled ‘What’s it Take’. ‘I Won’t Be Lonely’ and ‘The Dream For Me’ are pure country soul and ‘Real Love’ is one of the best Al Green songs that Al never recorded (not to be confused with the song of the same title on Al’s new ‘Everything’s OK’ album).
Obeda penned ‘The Last Time’ 25 years ago, it was extensively rewritten over the years and Walker’s bluesy rendition just hits the right spot. The poignant ‘Exactly Like Me’ reminds me a lot of the songs that came out of the civil rights movement of the 1960s. Another bluesy number is the Pickett-tinged ‘Just Wait Til I Get Home’. ‘Opposites Attract’ is another Stax tinged number; if it doesn’t become a classic there is no justice!
‘I’ll Get To You’ was originally penned for Bettye Lavette but appears to have been rejected by Miss Lavette; well her loss is Willie Walker’s gain. With a punchy brass arrangement, driving rhythm guitar figure and Hammond fills, Willie’s pleading vocal treatment takes us to the river via the pulpit. The closer ‘Thanks For Being There’ was cut at the end of a session and utilises a syncopated beat which Obeda intended to take back to the studio to redo, however it didn’t happen, just as well Curtis, it’s mighty fine the way it is.
If you like your soul ‘real’ (i.e. how it used to be recorded in the good old days), sung by an artist with a mellow, (sometimes gospel tinged, sometimes blues drenched) voice then you will have to have this plastic pill. A sure fire winner for Messrs Walker and Obeda, www.thebutanes.com is the place to go.

Phil Wight - Blues & Rhythm magazine (UK)
http://eskbank.blogspot.com/

 

For all the fans and critics bemoaning Soul music’s reliance on machines these days I present you with a pacifier. 100% organic, natural Deep Soul music (and original songs to boot!). We’re talking Hammond organ, a horn section, rhythm section with a pulse and an authentic O.V. Wright-styled Soul shouter. Actually, Soul aficionados already know about Willie Walker & The Butanes. Their 2004 LP “Right Where I Belong” made waves on both sides of the Atlantic. Blues Critic Online placed it in the Top 10 Soul Blues CDs of said year. Well, nothing’s changed as Willie, songwriter Curtis Obeda and the Butanes (John Lindberg, Virgil Nelson, Robb Stupka) are back with an equally gritty slab of raw, sweaty aural pleasure.

It must be noted first that all 13 tunes are originals- so there’s no godzillionth cover of “Respect Yourself” or “Mustang Sally” here- just some new relatives penned by Obeda. Wasting no time “Memphisapolis” commences with a vintage Stax-kissed groove on “What’s It Take”, which even quotes “In The Midnight Hour” (musically) following the chorus. You wonder who’s the star here- Walker’s throaty rasp or the tidal wave of horns (Jim Greenwell-sax, Michael B. Nelson-trombone, Brad Shermock-trumpet). Like a lot of Obeda’s compositions the song is more groove than melody. Many of the songs aren’t immediate but slyly burrow their way into your heart on repeated listens. Not so for “My Baby Drives Me Crazy”, “Opposites Attract” and “Thanks For Being There”; a trio of easily accessible Memphis movers replete with female backups and riffing horns. Some of the cuts here were originally intended for others: “Real Love” for Al Green; “I’ll Get To You” for Bettye LaVette; “Thanks For Being There” for Tyrone Davis but those shoes are now filled by Walker just fine thank you.

The gem of the set is “Exactly Like You”, a midpaced 50s-styled ballad about brotherhood that bear hugs your soul. “What’s it gonna take for you to see/You’re exactly like me...we’re both men but we’re living different lives”. It’s a stunner. The Deep Soul “Cry Cry Cry” (not the Bobby Bland song) isn’t far behind. The liners say this song was the first Walker and Obeda demoed together. “Real Love” has a definite Al Green/Willie Mitchell/Hi Records thang going for it with Walker delivering a more mellifluous vocal than usual. The man’s a rarity these days- singing Soul with a pitch and pain the greats like Pickett, Redding, Clay, Cooke & Wright used to do. Walker’s career does stretch back to those same 1960s with the famed Goldwax and Checker labels. Only a handful of 45s were issued and there hasn’t been much since. His profile was augmented a tad when his “There Goes My Used To Be” appeared on the excellent compilation, “The Goldwax Story”. Surely there were many who found it hard to believe a voice like his would be under-recorded (although I hear there’s mucho unreleased Walker out there somewhere). Fortunately Obeda and his Butanes had the wisdom to back Walker and he couldn’t ask for a more dedicated bunch. Take a listen to the Butanes get down, get funky and get loose on the last half of “The Last Time” to know what I mean. They may live in Minneapolis but their hearts reside in Memphis and there you have “Memphisapolis”.

Dylann DeAnna - Bluescritic website (US)
www.bluescritic.com