Day 262: Wilson Pickett - The Exciting Wilson Pickett

I’ve heard some Wilson Pickett but not nearly enough, and I’m in a mood to explore some music history today. I feel nice and neutral, don’t need music to change or accompany my mood, don’t need it to soundtrack anything, today is one of those days where I just want to listen to something good.

Album cover courtesy of Atlantic Records

Soul pioneer Wilson Pickett was born in Prattville, Alabama in 1941. He got his start singing in church, but when he moved to Detroit with his father as a teenager, he joined some vocal groups. Most notably, he was a part of the Falcons, who had a hit in 1959 with “You’re So Fine”, which was co-written and sang by him. He got a solo record deal on the back of that song.

The Exciting Wilson Pickett was released in 1966 has his third solo album. It was also the first album that he recorded in Muscle Shoals, Alabama at Fame Studios after ending his relationship with Stax Studios in Memphis. The album contains a mixture of songs recorded at both of the studios, but he spent the next two years recording in Muscle Shoals.

The album does live up to the name, his signature screaming and powerful raspy voice is electrifying. I enjoy the power that he has behind it. Songs like “Mercy, Mercy” and “Land of 1000 dances” are great, the rest are at the very least good. That being said, will I ever reach for this album again? Honestly, probably not.

It’s a perfectly enjoyable record, just not something that changed my life. But I will probably listen to some of his hits here and there. The Exciting Wilson Pickett is a nice and reasonable 7.5/10, nothing crazy but enjoyable nontheless. He looks like a cracking live performer though, the recording doesn’t do him justice.