Wendy Rene – Give You What I Got
I have no excuse, no excuse whatsoever, for not having written anything until now about this fantastic collection put together by the folks at Light In The Attic. Many people had been raving about it since February, I just was too busy at the time to fully dig in and appreciate all of the goodness that was contained within. Wendy Rene was a soul singer from the Memphis area who released a series of sides with Stax and Volt in the mid-sixties, either by herself or with her family group The Drapels. Astute fans may recognize her song “After Laughter Comes Tears,” because of it’s prominent use as a sample in several songs, most notably, “Tearz” from Wu-Tang. Rene gave us so much more than that grand tune, as this collection more than attests to. In particular, “Give You What I Got” has skyrocketed into my personal list of favorite deep soul songs, with that classic gritty Stax backing and guitar work that just has to come from Steve Cropper, to those wonderful back-up vocals giving you “More, More, More, More…Ba-by,” and Rene’s emotion filled lead vocal, it’s just about as close to perfect as perfect can be.