Search - P.P. Arnold :: First Cut

Obscure sixties soul singer

Peter Durward Harris | Leicester England | 01/17/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"PP began her professional career as an Ikette, backing Ike and Tina Turner. They supported the Rolling Stones on a UK tour in 1966, during which time PP quit the Ikettes and went solo. This compilation contains her sixties music. Originally released with 23 tracks, this revised edition contains 28 tracks including all original 23, though the running order is completely different.PP had her first and biggest hit with First cut is the deepest, a Cat Stevens song that just failed to make the UK top ten. Her other UK hits were Angel of the morning (yes, that song) and If you think you're groovy. PP was encouraged to write her own songs and several good ones are included here, although none of them are well-known.
The collection includes covers of songs written by the Beatles (Eleanor Rigby, Yesterday), the Beach boys (God only knows), the Rolling Stones (As tears go by - a hit for Marianne Faithfull) and the Bee Gees (To love somebody - a UK hit for Nina Simone).PP had a style somewhere between Dionne Warwick and Aretha Franklin. She should have been more successful than she was, but such is life. If you are a discerning fan of sixties soul music, give PP a chance."

I fell in love when I heard her voice!

Lawrence Jones | Michigan | 01/09/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I saw a clip of P.P. Arnold's version of "The First Cut is the Deepest" on Youtube and I had to hear more. She has as much soul in her voice as early Aretha, though a little less polished.



Lots of cover songs here, but P.P. does her own thing with them. In most cases that's good, but I didn't think "Eleanor Rigby" suited her.



My favorite cut is #5, "The Time Has Come." It just hits me.



All that, and she was cute as a button in the 60s! (And if you go to her website today, she still looks good.)"

One of the finest cds ever

Timothy J. Searle | England | 08/27/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"One of the finest cds ever by one of the finest vocalists, containing not only her best known material but all the other tracks I rate just as high, especially " The time has come" has got to be one of the most fantastic vocal performces ever recorded.

Tim Searle,"