Wow, it sure doesn't feel like it's been that long. I just got the box set and I have to say I am very impressed with how deep his catalog is. It's really a shame that his time at the top was relatively brief but like most of his contemporaries he was really sidelined by disco.

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I swear to God I often think dude was categorized the wrong way. Don't get me wrong, he is one of the greatest soul artists of all time. But to me his energy and style seem more rock and roll than anything. He was almost like a punk rocker. Raw and wicked. I remembered when I first got the news of his death, I was all for a good hour. One of the best. R.I.P.

Prince played some footage of Wilson last night at the Garden on the Big Screen

Timmy84 said:

I swear to God I often think dude was categorized the wrong way. Don't get me wrong, he is one of the greatest soul artists of all time. But to me his energy and style seem more rock and roll than anything. He was almost like a punk rocker. Raw and wicked. I remembered when I first got the news of his death, I was all for a good hour. One of the best. R.I.P.

I never though about it that way but I see your point. With the right material and players behind him he could have gone in a hard rock/hard funk direction in the early '70s. He really seemed a bit lost after he left Atlantic and I'm sure if the opportunity had presented itself he would have been up for trying a more "rock" style of music.

rialb said:

Timmy84 said:

I swear to God I often think dude was categorized the wrong way. Don't get me wrong, he is one of the greatest soul artists of all time. But to me his energy and style seem more rock and roll than anything. He was almost like a punk rocker. Raw and wicked. I remembered when I first got the news of his death, I was all for a good hour. One of the best. R.I.P.

I never though about it that way but I see your point. With the right material and players behind him he could have gone in a hard rock/hard funk direction in the early '70s. He really seemed a bit lost after he left Atlantic and I'm sure if the opportunity had presented itself he would have been up for trying a more "rock" style of music.

Hence he was already doing rock covers by that point I could definitely see it.

banks said:

Prince played some footage of Wilson last night at the Garden on the Big Screen

I was just about to say that. I didn't realize it was today 5 years ago that Wilson Pickett passed. He is a legend, no doubt about it.

purplecam said:

banks said:

Prince played some footage of Wilson last night at the Garden on the Big Screen

I was just about to say that. I didn't realize it was today 5 years ago that Wilson Pickett passed. He is a legend, no doubt about it.

I wonder if Prince was influenced by Wilson's scream? Everyone from that era is kind of in James Brown's shadow but Wilson had a mighty powerful scream on him too.

rialb said:

purplecam said:

I was just about to say that. I didn't realize it was today 5 years ago that Wilson Pickett passed. He is a legend, no doubt about it.

I wonder if Prince was influenced by Wilson's scream? Everyone from that era is kind of in James Brown's shadow but Wilson had a mighty powerful scream on him too.

I believe it was both. Remember though Little Richard could scream just as wild too.

It's a little strange that there haven't been any archival live releases of Wilson. On the Man and a Half double disc compilation there are a couple of live tracks and they sound pretty good to my ears.

rialb said:

It's a little strange that there haven't been any archival live releases of Wilson. On the Man and a Half double disc compilation there are a couple of live tracks and they sound pretty good to my ears.

I'm quite surprised too because from all accounts, Wilson was possibly one of the greatest live performers of all time and he didn't even have to DANCE! His energy was limitless.