Midnight Son

My last review was of Fenton Robinson’s “Somebody Loan Me A Dime” and keeping in that vein we take a look at another great record from the 1970’s. If subtlety and taste were the hallmarks of Fenton’s style, Seals’ took a more raw, hard hitting approach. His self titled debut was as raw as an open wound while his 1976 follow-up, “Midnight Son”, was considerably more polished and ranks as one of the 1970’s great blues albums.

Seals’ 1973 debut was a rough, tough no-nonsense affair, not far removed from his Arkansas roots. It was an auspicious opening shot, a ferocious blast of raw boned blues featuring some fine originals like “Our Love Is like a Cancer” and “Cotton Picking Blues.” Cut three years later,”Midnight Son” was a powerful leap forward and set the stage for a string of exceptional records.

“Midnight Son” is a more focused, more polished effort that still retains all of Seals’ raw power with the key addition of a terrific horn section. As the notes make clear: “All of the horn arrangements were worked out between Son and the horn players, and were an integral part of Son’s concept for this album, not an overdubbed afterthought.” “I Believe” opens with just Seals’ searing guitar line before the surging horns kick in, ratcheting up Seals’ ominous reading of the Ray Charles number to an incredible intensity. “No, No Baby” is a funky, swaggering plea to his baby with the horns taking a more subdued role. The horns return front and center on the swinging “Four Full Seasons Of Love” that gallops along like a runaway train and displays a healthy dose of Seals’ sweet, stinging guitar work. I alway felt this song should have become a standard but I don’t know of anyone who’s covered it. “Telephone Angel” is a smoldering mid-tempo number once again featuring incredible interplay between guitar and horns while the closer, “Going Back Home”, shows Seals’ at his most soulful and thoughtful.

“Midnight Son” is where Seals really hit his stride and in my opinion was his finest moment. The album set up a superb run of top shelf records including “Live And Burning” (1978), “Chicago Fire” (1980) and “Bad Axe” (1984).

Four Full Seasons of Love (MP3)