‘Plenty Good Lovin”: the lost masterpiece by ‘Soul Man’ Sam Moore
When the legendary soul singer Sam Moore passed away on January 10th, 2025, at the age of 89, all of the stories and tributes to him rightly led with his major contribution as one-half of the incomparable and unconquerable Sam and Dave combo.
Everybody knows—and loves—their Atlantic Records classics, such as ‘Soul Man’, ‘Hold On I’m Comin’’, ‘When Something is Wrong with My Baby’, ‘I Take What I Want’, ‘You Don’t Know Like I Know’ and ‘Soothe Me’, among plenty of others, and of their blistering live act when performing these songs. They were an exciting and explosive pair of showmen who could work a crowd into a frenzy. Such that when they were booked to open for Otis Redding, he was so awed and intimidated by their act—and his audiences’ reaction to them—that he duly instructed his manager Phil Walden not to “ever put me with them motherfuckers again”.
When Sam and Dave split up in 1970, Moore was already unhappy with the duo’s direction and had designs for a solo career. A year later, he recorded some of the finest music he would ever put to tape. But the record, which undoubtedly would have instantly catapulted him to solo stardom, was shelved and nearly never saw the light of day. His greatest solo work was so lost that for 30 years, even Sam Moore forgot that he’d made it!
Recorded in New York, the sessions boasted a staggering roster of talent. King Curtis both produced and played the saxophone for the recordings. Alongside that, Moore had managed to recruit both Betty and Jeanette Wright for backing vocals, as well as The Sweet Inspirations—some of the most sought-after backing singers of all time who had worked with everyone, from Elvis Presley and Otis Redding to Dusty Springfield and Solomon Burke. On the other hand, he had also assembled a cracker band of soul side-men, including Chuck Rainey on bass, Bernard ‘Pretty’ Purdie on drums, and Cornell Dupree and Eric Gale on guitar. He even got Donny Hathaway to play keys, and he got Aretha Franklin. It’s some testament to his talent that even the ‘Queen of Soul’ agreed to take a backseat at the sessions.
With the musicians assembled, they sure were ready to rustle up a Memphis soul stew, and with a line-up like that, it’s no wonder the music sounds as good as it does. The titular opener ‘Plenty Good Lovin’’, which Moore wrote himself, is as joyous, exuberant and heavenly as anything he would ever record since. His vocals are off the charts and among the stars, while those of the backing vocalists reach somewhere even higher. The band takes off, too, conveying tight togetherness and wonderful looseness, as needed, making you want to groove along with them, no matter where they take you.
“Let me show you how I do it,” he yells throughout the song. And with vocals and playing like this, you want him to show you again and again, and that’s precisely what he does. Elsewhere, Moore and his brilliant band of backing musicians take on soul staples like ‘Shop Around’, ‘Get Out My Life, Woman’ and ‘I Can’t Stand It’. There is an insistent edge to everything they did during the album sessions, which leaves the record feeling turbocharged and electrifying. ‘Keep on Sockin’ it to Me’ is a hyperactive funk of soul and blues, with the band playing like a runaway train and Moore expertly keeping up with their rhythm. It’s as dynamic and exciting a soul album as you could ever hope to hear.
Works like these would have been the highlight of so many artists’ careers, yet, for these musicians, it was just another session. And for Moore, it was just another night he didn’t remember. Recorded at the height of his struggles with drug addiction and a deepening dependency on heroin, Moore had no recollection of putting the record together at all. Later on, with the help of his wife Joyce McRae, Moore managed to overcome his addiction and became a fierce anti-drug advocate, going on to work as a volunteer for anti-drug programmes throughout his life.
And while no single explanation has ever been given as to why the album was shelved, one of the biggest factors was the 1971 murder of producer and saxophone player King Curtis.
Most famous for his singles like ‘Soul Twist’, ‘Memphis Soul Stew’, an extraordinary cover of Procol Harum’s ‘A Whiter Shade of Pale’, as well as for his contribution to works by artists as varied as Freddie King, Donny Hathaway, John Lennon and Fats Domino, Curtis was a king of the saxophone. On August 12th, 1971, he was fatally stabbed by a man on the front steps of his West 86th Street home in Manhattan, following an altercation with him for loitering at his door.
In reverence to their star saxophonist, colleague and friend, Atlantic Records closed their offices for a period of mourning. His work with Sam Moore was shelved, and the singles of the title track that had been pressed were either recalled or destroyed. Although a few had already made their way out of the factories and into the world, they have since become the rarest of all Atlantic Records singles. When one of the surviving 45s went up for auction in June 2020, it sold for a staggering £2,215.
With the record shelved and promptly forgotten, Sam and Dave reunited and continued touring throughout the rest of the 1970s. They would continue to have a fractured relationship over the years, with Dave even finding a new Sam to perform with in the 1980s without either the knowledge of his original partner or, initially, even his paying audience.
Plenty Good Lovin’, Sam Moore’s sensational lost album, was rediscovered in 2002 and released on the obscure 2KSounds label to the rave reviews it had so long deserved. In December 2003, Bruce Springsteen booked Moore as a featured artist for his holiday benefit show at the Convention Hall in Asbury Park, introducing the original ‘Soul Man’ to an entirely new generation.
