Born in Detroit, Michigan, Bettye Lavette put out her first record in 1962 at the age of 16. She's toured with Clyde McPhatter, Ben E. King, Barbary Lynn, and Otis Redding, and she's had hits like 1965's "let Me Down Easy" and 1969's He Made A Woman Out Of Me." Lavette's gift as a soul singer is often held in the same regard as those of household names like Aretha Franklin and Otis Redding, and her electric style, which has elements of blues, rock & roll, funk, gospel, and country music, has received more widespread attention starting in 2005, when she released I've Got My Own Hell to Raise on ANTI-. The 1972 Muscle Shoals Sessions contains records she cut after signing with Atlantic/Atco in the same year. Originally to be titled as Child of the seventies, the Muscle Shoals Sound house band consisting of Barry Beckett, Jimmy Johnson, David Hood, and Roger Hawkins backs up the tracks, with most of them presented on vinyl for the first time, some 46 years after being recorded. The album is individually numbered and limited to one pressing, and it comes housed in a single pocket, tip-on Stoughton sleeve w/ new artwork and liner notes. Includes two bonus singles, "Heart of Gold" and "You'll Wake Up Wiser."

• 180g vinyl
• UV laminated Stoughton tip-on jacket
• individually numbered
• music label: Run Out Groove 2018

reviewed by rei kwondo 10/18