Betty Harris Lost Soul Queen

Personnel: Betty Harris (vocals).
Betty Harris' solid 1960s work with New Orleans songwriter and producer Allen Toussaint certainly deserved more audience and attention than it got at the time, and this fine compilation is the proof of that. Songs like "I Don't Want to Hear It," "Sometime," "Nearer to You" (which was a Top 40 R&B hit), and the stone-driving, funky "There's a Break in the Road" all show a solid soul singer working with top-notch material and the production by Toussaint is appropriately spooky, atmospheric, and dripping with New Orleans soulfulness. Also included here is Harris' pre-Toussaint cover of Solomon Burke's "Cry to Me," which she recorded in 1963 for Jubilee Records, and her version is definitive, no easy accomplishment when you're up against a singer as good as Burke. WestSide's 1998 anthology, Soul Perfection Plus, has everything here plus a few more additional tracks, but Lost Soul Queen has the essential stuff, and either collection will get you there. ~ Steve Leggett

• Format: CD
• Genre: Pop