Ann Peebles: The Handwriting Is On The Wall - 1979

You may be thinking I am becoming obsessed with Ann Peebles, the amount of reviews I have been doing of her albums recently. It is simply that her albums are all so damn good that I have grown slightly addicted to their robust, Southern soul grooves. I've been listening to her every evening for about two weeks now.

This album, from 1979, is the last in her series of excellent releases on the Hi records label. After 1977's slightly lighter, vaguely disco-influenced If This Is Heaven we return here to a punchier, more raw-sounding, typically Hi sound, no doubt to the relief of some long-time fans. Overall, it is the best-sounding of all her albums, production-wise.

Sex is high up on the list of lyric subjects on this album, making for a raunchy listen. Ann, now a most experienced lover, is summoning up her inner Millie Jackson, it would seem. On the opener, Old Man With Young Ideas, Ann extols the virtues of having an experienced lover who is twice her age. Good for her. Us old men can still do the business! Well, sort of. Anyway, the track is backed by a lovely, warm bass, drum and brass backing and is in possession of top quality sound. 

Bip Bam Thank You Mam is a funky, soulful grinder referring to a lover who can't last as long as the one in the previous song. He can't be bothered to last more than a minute, despite his continual boasts. Ann is right to express her disappointment in song. The Handwriting Is On The Wall is a brooding, slow crawler of deep soul, enhanced by a killer guitar solo half way through. 

I Didn't Take Your Man utilises that popular seventies soul Shirley Brown/Millie Jackson spoken phone call vocal opening as Ann informs a woman that she didn't take her man - she gave him to her due to her continual mistreating of him. Ann knew how to treat him better, naturally. The song is packed full of soul and has an infectious, singalong chorus. I love it. Archetypal Ann Peebles/seventies female vocal soul. In a similar vein is You've Got The Papers (I've Got The Man) - "you're the one who walked down the aisle with him, but I'm the one who satisfies him" - here, Ann is more than happy to be "the other woman". Once more the backbeat is a chunky, cookin' one.

Lookin' For A Lovin' features some attractive, introductory saxophone, along with some rock guitar and an appealling, slightly disco/funk-ish cymbal groove. Lyrically, it's about lust, pure and simple. I have to say this is one hell of a sexy album, one for dim the lights play, for sure. You're More than I Can Stand is pure Memphis soul Heaven, harking back to the previous ten or eleven years of some of the best soul music you will ever hear. Glorious stuff. 

Industrial strength soul straight from the Memphis factory is heard on the muscular Livin' In' Lovin' Out. If I Can't See You is perhaps the album's only distinctly 1979-sounding numer, being light, poppy and daytime radio-ish. No problem, Ann's voice makes anything sound great and it is a most attractive song anyway. Again, I love it. Actually, I tell a lie about 1979-sounding songs, because the closer, Let Your Love Light Shine, is a prime cut of powerful, upbeat disco funk straight from the era. However, when Ann dabbled in disco it always came out soully and this is no exception. Check out the mid-song blaring saxophone, by the way. Great track. Great album.

After this album's release, Ann retired from the music business to concentrate on raising her family. Apart from a bit of recording in the nineties, releasing a few albums, she has preferred to keep it that way. Fair play. What a legacy she has left us with. Thank you, Ann.

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