Freddie North: "Cuss The Wind"

A deep soul treasure for the ages, and another LP where the ever-ubiquitous Jerry Williams Jr., AKA Swamp Dogg, can be found among the liner credits.  I have another record by North entitled “Friend,” but it does not manage to scale the hyperbolic heights achieved on this masterpiece.  Released on the small, Nashville-based Nashboro label, Freddie North engages in some serious and even slightly disturbing introspection with these songs.  Foremost among them is the DIY-sounding funk of “Love To Hate,” which discusses how various emotions can turn quickly into their opposite.  Also worth checking out is the cover of David Ruffin’s Motown staple “My Whole World Has Ended,” as North subverts the original by slowing it’s ‘60’s pop-soul feel to a crawl, slow-burning and deliberating on the depressed lyrics until finally building to an enormous crescendo, complete with a funk-gospel-rock breakdown, handclaps and background singers all joining in a cacophony of rhythmic sadness and confusion.  Then there is Freddie’s rendition of the Southern soul standard “Rainy Night In Georgia,” perhaps the definitive version in that, once again, North foregoes some of the tune’s inherent melodrama and instead focuses on a pacing, carefully-executed portrait of tension and release, letting the dynamics of the band and his warm, near-crooning voice do the work.  For anyone who identifies themselves as a fan of Southern soul, this is an essential item to add to the want list, though it is exceedingly hard to find and to my knowledge has not been re-released in the digital age.