The Wham of that Memphis Man

The Wham of That Memphis Man is a 1964 album by Lonnie Mack.

The Wham of That Memphis Man
Studio album by
Lonnie Mack
Released1964
Recorded1963, Cincinnati, Ohio
GenreRhythm & blues, blues-rock, blue-eyed soul, instrumental rock
Length32:16
LabelFraternity
ProducerHarry Carlson
Lonnie Mack chronology
The Wham of That Memphis Man
(1964)		 Glad I'm in the Band
(1969)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic [1]
Rolling Stone(positive) [2]

This album, Mack's first, was recorded in several sessions beginning in March, 1963 and was released by the small Cincinnati label Fraternity Records in October of that year. It reached only #103 on the charts,[3] but music critic Jimmy Guterman ranked it No. 16 in his book The 100 Best Rock 'n' Roll Records of All Time.[4]

Mack is considered a pioneer of virtuoso rock guitar soloing[5] and a key stylistic forerunner of the Blues-rock[6] and Southern rock[7] guitar genres, for his fast-paced instrumental solos, including his 1963 hit singles, "Memphis" and "Wham!" Both of these recordings are found on this album.

The album also included several Mack vocals, done primarily in the country-esque blues/gospel style for which Mack became well-known. Regarding the vocals on this album, music critic Bill Millar said: "For consistency and depth of feeling — the best blue-eyed soul is defined by Lonnie Mack's ballads and virtually everything the Righteous Brothers recorded...Lonnie Mack wailed a soul ballad as gutsily as any black gospel singer. The anguished inflections which stamped his best songs had a directness which would have been wholly embarrassing in the hands of almost any other white vocalist."[8]

The album has been re-released at least ten times, most recently on the Ace label in 2016.

Track listing
  1. "Wham!" (Lonnie Mack)
  2. "Where There's a Will There's a Way" (Lou Williams)
  3. "Bounce" (Charles Fizer, Walter Ward, Eddie Lewis)
  4. "I'll Keep You Happy" (Hank Ballard)
  5. "Memphis" (Chuck Berry)
  6. "Baby What's Wrong" (Jimmy Reed)
  7. "Down and Out" (Lonnie Mack)
  8. "Satisfied" (Martha Carson)
  9. "Susie-Q" (Dale Hawkins, Stan Lewis, Eleanor Broadwater)
  10. "Why" (Lonnie Mack)
  11. "Down in the Dumps" (Lonnie Mack)

The track listing shows the eleven tracks in the order in which they appeared on the original release.[9] An expanded version of the album, incorporating the original cover art, was released in 1969 by Elektra Records under the title "For Collectors Only". It adds two 1964 tracks ("Farther on Down the Road" and "Chicken Pickin'") to those included on the original release. It begins with "Wham!" as track 1, as on the original, but thereafter the track order differs completely from that of the original 1963 album.

Personnel
  • Lonnie Mack - guitar, vocals
  • Wayne Bullock - bass, keyboards
  • David Byrd - keyboards
  • Truman Fields - keyboards
  • Ron Grayson - drums
  • Don Henry - saxophone
  • Marv Lieberman - saxophone
  • Irv Russotto - saxophone
  • Bill Jones - bass
  • The Charmaines – background vocals
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References
  1. The Wham of that Memphis Man at AllMusic
  2. Dubro, Alec (November 23, 1968). "Records". Rolling Stone. San Francisco: Straight Arrow Publishers, Inc.
  3. Burke & Taylor, Liner Notes to Ace Records (UK) 2016 re-release of the album, as reproduced at https://acerecords.co.uk/the-wham-of-that-memphis-man.
  4. Guterman, The 100 Best Rock 'n' Roll Records of All Time, 1992, Citadel Publishing, p. 34.
  5. (1) "...pioneer of rock guitar soloing...", "Twenty Iconic Guitars", Rolling Stone online at https://www.rollingstone.com/music/pictures/20-iconic-guitars-20120523/lonnie-macks-flying-v-0534574, 05/23/2012; See also, (2) "...pioneering father of blues-rock...", McDevitt, "Unsung Guitar Hero Lonnie Mack", Gibson online at http://www.gibson.com/News-Lifestyle/Features/en-us/Unsung-Guitar-Hero-Lonnie-Mack.aspx, 09/05/2007, ; (3) "...Flying V pioneer influenced entire generation of guitar gods...", Kreps, "Lonnie Mack, Blues-Rock Guitar Great, Dead at 74", Rolling Stone online at https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/lonnie-mack-blues-rock-guitar-great-dead-at-74-20160423, 04/23/2016; (4) Kerzner, "Breaking: Pioneering Guitarist Lonnie Mack Dead at 74", 4/22/2016, at https://www.americanbluesscene.com/2016/04/breaking-pioneering-guitarist-lonnie-mack-dead-at-74/"; and (5) "...trailblazing pioneer of the electric guitar....", Reiser, "Keeping the Blues Alive", April 29, 2016, at https://keepingthebluesalive.org/lonnie-mack-remembering-his-trailblazing-blues-rock-guitar-virtuosity/
  6. (a) "Talkin' Blues: Lonnie Mack and the Birth of Blues-Rock". Guitar World. Retrieved May 18, 2014.; (b) "...Lonnie Mack virtually invented blues-rock...", Guitar Player, "101 Forgotten Greats and Unsung Heroes", 2/1/2007, at http://www.guitarplayer.com/artists/1013/101-forgotten-greats-&-unsung-heroes/16853; (c) 1980s blues-rock guitar virtuoso Stevie Ray Vaughan said: "Lonnie invented a lot of this stuff." Newton, "My First Interview With Stevie Ray Vaughn", on "Ear of Newt" website, 08/26/2015, at https://earofnewt.com/2015/08/26/my-first-interview-with-stevie-ray-vaughan-when-he-sang-me-three-lines-of-an-earl-king-song/; (d) "He became the godfather of the wild and expressive blues-rock solos that became so prevalent in the ‘60s and beyond." Mayhew, "Southern Rock Legend Lonnie Mack Dies at 74", reverb.com online, April 22, 2016 at https://reverb.com/news/southern-rock-legend-lonnie-mack-dies-at-74"; and (e) Reiser, "Lonnie Mack: Remembering His Trailblazing Blues-Rock Guitar Virtuosity", Website: "Keeping the Blues Alive", April 29, 2016, at https://keepingthebluesalive.org/lonnie-mack-remembering-his-trailblazing-blues-rock-guitar-virtuosity/
  7. (1) "I think of him as a prototype of...Southern rock." Music historian Dick Shurman, as quoted in McCardle, "Lonnie Mack, Guitarist and Singer Who Influenced Blues and Rock Acts, Dies at 74", Washington Post, April 25, 2016, at https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/lonnie-mack-guitarist-and-singer-who-influenced-blues-and-rock-acts-dies-at-74/2016/04/25/5c581f3c-0a44-11e6-bfa1-4efa856caf2a_story.html. See also, (2) "Thus, through King Records and local legend Lonnie Mack, Cincinnati has helped shape Southern rock...". Sandmel, "The Allman Brothers Band Live at Ludlow Garage – 1970", at http://www.spectratechltd.com/extrapages/Allman%20Brothers%20-%20Live%20at%20Ludlow%20Garage%20CD%20-%20cover%20&%20notes.pdf Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine; and (3) Mayhew, "Southern Rock Legend Lonnie Mack Dies at 74", reverb.com, April 22, 2016, at https://reverb.com/news/southern-rock-legend-lonnie-mack-dies-at-74
  8. Millar, essay entitled "Colour Me Soul", from "History of Rock", 1983, as preserved at https://www.soul-source.co.uk/articles/soul-articles/blue-eyed-soul-colour-me-soul-r356/
  9. "Discogs: The Wham of That Memphis Man!".
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