Ann Peebles – I Can't Stand The Rain (Pure Pleasure)

The album features the spirited and expressive voice of Ann Pebles, perfectly tuned with strings and horns - produced by Willie Mitchell. It is a collection of songs about the darker side of love, indestructible and disappointing. A beautiful and classic Southern Soul album!

This wonderful album was originally released on the Memphis Hi-Label in 1974 and would have deserved a bigger audience than it did at the time. "I Can't Stand The Rain" met Ann Peebles' great strength, her present and spirited voice surrounded by the sparing, buoyant passion of the rhythm section that was Hi's trademark, and the perfect use of brass and strings by producer Willie Mitchell; singing like an indestructible but disappointed angel about the darker side of love in this impressive song collection. Her best song here is the eccentric but brilliant "I Can't Stand The Rain", an excellent version of Joe Simon's "(You Keep Me) Hangin' On" and perfect interpretations of two songs by Earl Randle, "If We Can't Trust Each Other" and "I'm Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down" Peebles sings his soul out of his body, and with these somehow cheerful-sounding hi-typical grooves in the background, everything really comes together to create a classic album of dark, vibrant and beautiful Southern Souls

Recording: 1973 at the Royal Recording Studios, South Lauderdale, Memphis, Tennessee

Production: Willie Mitchell