If we\u2019re completely honest with ourselves, the world was not ready for Lonnie Mack in 1963.<\/p>\n
There had, for sure, been instances of white singers being mistaken for being black, and vice-versa. And there had been guitarists who strove to push the initial limits of what the instrument could do. But Mack was unique: he had a smooth soul voice that could switch to a passionate howl in an instant, and he laid down guitar licks that had speed to them, but also fit the structure of the song perfectly.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s why The Wham Of That Memphis Man<\/i>, Mack\u2019s debut effort, stands out among so many other releases from the Sixties. Quite simply, he didn\u2019t neatly fit into any category that the genre of rock\u2014admittedly still in its toddler years\u2014could offer. Now, over 60 years since its release, it\u2019s an interesting snapshot of the development of the genre to that point. (Side note: this album has been re-released several times over the years on multiple labels; I\u2019m working off the 1987 Alligator release, which was based on the expanded 1969 Elektra re-issue. Where the original album had 11 tracks, this as 13.)<\/p>\n
The album is best known for two instrumentals, \u201cWham!\u201d and \u201cMemphis,\u201d both of which hit the upper echelon of the Billboard<\/i> Hot 100 in 1963. (A third single\u2014the double A-side \u201cBaby, What\u2019s Wrong\u201d and \u201cWhere There\u2019s A Will\u201d\u2014barely made it onto the charts.) These tracks showcase the talents Mack had on guitar, his distorted playing perfectly blending into the rhythm track. There\u2019s good reason these two songs are still revered to this day, and hearing them in their natural environment only makes them that much more powerful.<\/p>\n
The album also showcases Mack\u2019s vocal ability. If you only knew him from his road-scarred efforts such as Strike Like Lightning<\/i>, you\u2019d be missing out on just what a talent he truly had. How \u201cWhere There\u2019s A Will There\u2019s A Way\u201d didn\u2019t become a bigger hit, I honestly will never understand; this is a perfect example of just how powerful a singer Mack was.<\/p>\n
The one flaw on The Wham Of That Memphis Man<\/i> is that, more often than not, Mack has to choose between showcasing his singing or his playing. When he\u2019s able to blend both, as he does on \u201cBaby What\u2019s Wrong,\u201d he hits the peak of his true power. I\u2019d like to have heard more moments like that\u2014and that\u2019s not to say vocal tracks like \u201cI\u2019ll Keep You Happy\u201d and \u201cFarther On Down The Road,\u201d or instrumentals like \u201cSuzie Q\u201d or \u201cBounce\u201d are by any means weaker efforts.<\/p>\n
On the hype sticker for the 1987 reissue, the late Stevie Ray Vaughan\u2014himself responsible for the resurgence of Mack\u2019s career\u2014stated: \u201cIf you play guitar, buy this record! And even if you don\u2019t play guitar, buy this record!\u201d In retrospect, one has to wonder whether we would have had the skills of someone like Vaughan had it not been for Mack and The Wham Of That Memphis Man<\/i>. Buy it for the two known hits; keep it to discover the gems lurking just beneath the surface.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":35063,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[10987],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-46940","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-lonnie-mack","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/46940","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46940"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/46940\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=46940"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=46940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}