Still On the Move

Still on the Move is a somewhat revised and expanded version of the 1992 Ace CD compilation Lonnie on the Move, which was itself a slightly revised reissue of a mid-'70s double-LP compilation album of 1960s Fraternity recordings. It's "somewhat revised" because it actually eliminates two tracks from Lonnie on the Move, "Soul Express" and "Jam and Butter." That's because those are actually different titles for the same recording, and also because that recording appears under its proper name, "The Freeze," on another Mack anthology on Ace, Memphis Wham! Still on the Move also adds a bunch of tracks that haven't been included on reissue comps before, among them sides from rare mid-'60s Fraternity singles and five previously unreleased alternate takes. Determining what previously appeared where is a complicated enough exercise to make you wish, actually, that you didn't even know about those other compilations. What's important is that, when combined with the other two Mack Ace CD anthologies, From Nashville to Memphis and Memphis Wham!, Still on the Move provides all the 1960s Mack Fraternity recordings you could possibly want. What's more important is that this is very good rock-R&B-country-soul, not quite as good as his best 1960s Fraternity stuff (as heard on the Memphis Wham! comp), but not far off that mark. His idiosyncratic vibrato guitar is consistently excellent, and the material (whether instrumental or vocal) is frankly much more varied and interesting than those of many other artists from the time who were working the same territory. "Wildwood Flower" sounds like a more even-tempered Link Wray, "Snow on the Mountain" is a first-class overlooked blue-eyed soul cooker from 1967, and the overdone "Money" gets a very cool minor-keyed interpretation. His singing is good enough to make you wish that he'd sung more often, and indeed some cuts, like "I Found a Love," sound suspiciously like they were meant to have lead vocals but never got overdubbed with them, as they have full backup vocal choruses. On the other hand, instrumental workouts like "Stand By Me" bring a fresh interpretation to such standards that wouldn't have been possible if they'd included vocals.