NATHANIEL MAYER
I Just Want to be Held
Fat Possum
· Better (much better) late than never.
Considering that Nathaniel Mayer landed on the Billboard Top 40 with his 1962 classic "Village of Love," it’s hard to believe that this is his first full-length record. But, due to record label instability and the trappings of both music and the Detroit streets (namely alcohol and drugs), Mayer has been invisible for decades, known only to crate-digging vinyl collectors.
Luckily, Fat Possum – who surely must have a divining rod that points out gritty, lecherous, old black men with great records left in them – has resurrected Mayer’s career and given us the kind of album we wish James Brown could still make. Classic funk, soul, and R and B – it’s all perfectly resurrected here and delivered with a salacious wit Motown couldn’t have gotten away with in their heyday. At age 61, Mayer has set the bar for recordings of this ilk in 2005.
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