Get It While You Can - The Complete Legendary Verve Sessions

Because Verve was a jazz label that didn’t quite know how to market a soul record, it took well over two decades for Howard Tate’s 1966 debut album to gain momentum. And when it did, Get It While You Can achieved a cult following so big it pulled Tate out of reclusion, thrusting him back into music. But it was his original chemistry with producer/arranger/songwriter Jerry Ragovoy that made this album so loved that it prompted Janis Joplin to cover the emotionally urgent title track and James Gang to record a 12-minute version of the album’s hard-grooving power-soul standout “Stop.” Check out the infectiously catchy opener, “Ain’t Nobody Home” (where Tate’s dynamic inflections soar higher than his pompadour), or the slow-burning strut of “Look at Granny Run Run.” The 2004 reissue boasts a forehead-slapping 19 extra tracks, including single edits and some cleaned-up mono mixes so you can listen to these songs very near to how they were originally meant to be heard. Notable bonus tracks include the danceable “Night Owl” and “Give Me Some Courage.”