Stunning homage to historical Muscle Shoals Studios recordings by budding Swedish superstar soul roots singer.
A couple of years ago, your humble writer had the great pleasure to review the third album of a budding soul singer from Sweden named Jesper Lindell. Once a very good football player in his early teens, a terrible accident on the pitch ruined his footballing dream. A sympathetic brother, however, bought him an acoustic guitar and the rest, as they say, is history, save for a hiccup around COVID time when Lindell developed a congenital kidney disease, which needed a transplant. Fast forward a while and Lindell is making albums, the third of which, Before The Sun (2024), was a great soul album, much of it written by Lindell himself, that was produced in Brunnsvik in Sweden to a standard that the review at the time (here) suggested “Brunnsvik might become a new Muscle Shoals, and indeed, if this is the quality of production that emanates from this studio, who can say why not?”. The outing of Lindell as a class act found favour with writing colleagues and friends alike.
Well, Lindell either read the review or was already on his way because in Spring 2024 he was recording an album of classic 70s soul songs at the said studio and has given the album the title 3614 Jackson Highway, the formal address of the famed Muscle Shoals Studio. But not only did he record the album there, he once again used his own band and The Brunnsvik Horns, as on the previous album. And if anyone can seriously point up the difference between Lindell’s band and the famed Muscle Shoals session band, they are indeed a musical wiz. Let’s tackle the negatives first – the album is ridiculously short (30 minutes) and only comprises 9 songs (perhaps because they had to cut short studio time due to a delayed flight into Memphis). That’s it! Aside from that the album is as good an interpretation of any of the songs on display as you would wish to hear, including the hoary old chestnut and lead off single, Mentor Williams’ Drift Away – not a song that is easily ruined. Still, this cover is as good as it comes. If you weren’t so well disposed towards Dobie Gray’s version for old sentimental reasons, you might conclude that Lindell’s slightly slower version tops the lot (even the original version by the UK’s Mike Berry!!). Phil Campbell (from Scottish band The Temperance Movement) provides excellent harmony vocals.
While this is an album of soul music, it obtains its americana bona fides from a cover of Willie Nelson’s sad song Pretend I Never Happened, from his 1974 album Phases and Stages, which coincidentally had been recorded at Muscle Shoals with the original Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section – Barry Beckett, Jimmy Johnson, Roger Hawkins, Pete Carr and David Hood. Another country roots contributor is Tony Joe White, whose two songs, I’ve Got a Thing About You and Rainy Night in Georgia are executed to perfection. Let it be said that Lindell’s band of Anton Lindell (bass), Simon Wilhelmsson (drums) Rasmus Fors (organ and horn/string arrangements), Calle Lindvall (piano) and Jimmy Reimers (acoustic guitar) are absolutely fantastic. Jesper Lindell himself plays scorching electric guitar. Rainy Night.. is another well-known classic and this version, leaving off the horns, but with a wonderful group of backing vocalists (brilliant throughout), is lifted to a level almost reaching the original despite more than 50 multi-genre versions available.
The other writer heavily featured is the white soul singer-songwriter Dan Penn; Lindell explains how Penn became a feature on the album “We had a three-day drive from Boston down to Muscle Shoals (where we only had a two day slot at the studios), still chasing songs to record. The closer we got to Alabama, the more I realized that I kept coming back to songs written or co-written by Dan Penn …. the last track (on his 1973 solo album Nobody’s Fool), ‘If Love Was Money,’ felt 100% like something me and my band, Brunnsvik Sounds, could really sink into”. He certainly does that – this track kicks off the album in fine fashion, with a swirling organ solo from Fors, and forceful drumming from Wilhelmsson. And is followed with the slower, horn-driven Penn co-write She Ain’t Gonna Do Right and later the gorgeous Rainbow Road, both from Penn’s Fame Recordings series. Lindell’s electric guitar battles with Fors’ organ and his string arrangements in a dazzling finale.
There’s a slight outlier in the form of Heavy Makes You Happy, a co-write by 60s/70s Brill Building songwriter Jeff Barry (who co-wrote dozens of hits with his wife Ellie Greenwich). This more upbeat track, beautifully sung with co-leads Michaela Holmberg and acoustic guitarist Reimers trading verses with Lindell and the backing chorus chiming in to great effect, was actually a hit for The Staples Singers in 1971. And they also charted with a version of Luther Ingrams’ Respect Yourself which Lindell hits out of the park, including a sizzling electric guitar solo, and fade-out.
So, there you have it, a brilliant but short homage to the Muscle Shoals sounds of the 70s-90s, possibly a sidebar to the progress that Lindell will obviously make when he next records his own songs. Just enjoy these interpretations by probably the best white soul singer east of Chris Stapleton, and remember he is not singing in his first language. Point deducted for brevity!
