Louis Jordan's Classic Late Night/After Hours Record
David Gasten | Denver CO USA | 12/04/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)
"The original liner notes bill "Man, We're Wailin'" (Mercury Records, 1958) as:
"Louis Jordan And His Brilliant Tympany 5 In A Typical Late, Late, Late Night Club Performance."
You pretty much can't ask for a more apt and succinct description of this album. The size of the band is cut down significantly from the previous Mercury LP "Somebody Up There Digs Me" (1957), with the entire horn section replaced by a Hammond-style organ. The organ and smaller band give the album a definite "after hours" mood that has its jumping moments (e.g. "Saturday Night Fish Fry" and the instrumentals "The Slop" and "The Jamf"), but definitely gravitates toward smoky, sexy late-night music. In that regard, you could say it's the closest LJ came to making a bachelor pad album.
"I've Found My Peace of Mind" has a gospel tinge to it, and "I Got My Mo-jo Working" and "A Man Ain't a Man" swing gently and are great for the cool-down part of a swing dance. "I Never Had a Chance" and the instrumentals "The Nearness of You" and "I Hadn't Anyone `Till You" are all classic end-of-the-night slow dance tracks that make you want to grab a girl that you really like and gaze lovingly and caringly into her eyes as the two of you hold each other and sway softly back and forth. Yes, the vibe is quite different from the hard-rocking Somebody Up There Digs Me, even though the rockin' portions of the album jump with the best of `em. But everybody I know that post pubescent loves slow music of some kind, and this atmospheric LP transcends time, space, and age range in its appeal to the night-owl and romantic in all of us.
"Man, We're Wailin'" is to my knowledge the LJ collection that features lady vocalist Dorothy Smith the most prominently. Dorothy provides prominent backing vocals on several of the tracks, and even takes over on lead vocals on their unique rendition of "Route 66". I have no idea what became of Dorothy Smith or who else she sang for but she did a great job on the material she sings here and on the 1955/1956 "X"/Vik collection "Rock 'n Roll Call" (namely on "Texas Stew").
"Man, We're Wailin'" has received pretty odd digital reissue treatment. It has to date only appeared in its entirety in digital on this warm and vibrant-sounding Japanese CD remaster from 2005, which comes in 60's-influenced packaging, with the front and back covers of the original Mercury LP reproduced in the CD booklet. Rev-Ola's 2008 release "Rock Doc! Louis Jordan on Mercury 1956-57" contains everything on the album except for the classic "I Never Had the Chance", which is a real tragedy because as mentioned this song is absolutely great. The music from "Man, We're Wailin" was also released in its entirety on the LP-only Bear Family album "Rockin' and Jivin' Vol. 2" from the 1980's. Frankly, the omission of "I Never Had the Chance" from the Rev-Ola disc, along with nine other odd tracks from the Mercury period which are only available in said LP series and nowhere else, is a good reason for Bear Family to get on the ball and reissue the two "Rockin' and Jivin'" LP's on CD. But regardless, I couldn't be happier that "Man, We're Wailin'" is available in a version as nice as the 2005 Universal Japan remaster, and would recommend it to any serious LJ fan even though it is a little on the pricey side."
Track Listings (12) - Disc #1