ARTIST: Sonny Knight & the Lakers                         

TITLE: I’m Still Here

YEAR RELEASED: 2014

CHART ACTION: None

SINGLES: Hey Girl

OTHER SONGS YOU MAY KNOW: Obscure, so no. Yet powerful.

LINEUP: Sonny Knight, Blair Krivenek, Bryan Highill, Calvin Knight, Casey O’Brien, Cole Pulice, Eric Foss, Sam Harvey-Carlson, Tony Beaderstadt

WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT: Old school soul man (formerly of Haze) and a group of soul-drenched revivalist get together and burn it up.

SOME WORDS, PHRASES AND CLAUSES ABOUT THIS RECORD: It’s been a trend that old-school obscure soul singers find sympathetic current bands and release albums that just cook. That’s the case with this from Sonny Knight and the Lakers.

This Sonny Knight was in Haze, and had gigged without much traction in the 60’s, but when he got together with the Lakers in the 2010’s, it was magic. The horns and arrangements by the band fit in with Sonny Knight’s hard-soul voice that has power and some surprising finesse.

All in all, this is a damn fine soul record that sounded like it could have been made in 1968, if not for the better production values. Quite a find!

NOTES & MINUTIAE: Vietnam was the main reason for Knight to stall out in the 60’s

IS THERE A DELUXE VERSION: No.

 GRADE: A: It’ll burn up your digital memory!