I Can't Stand the Rain
Ann Peebles

You go into a music store and find a CD with no label. It costs 50 cents. You think: Why not? You buy it. Promptly forget about it. But one night when you're bored, you fling it on --- and lo and behold, it's a masterpiece.

“I Can't Stand the Rain,” the 1973 release by Ann Peebles, is like that. Cultists rave about this album; John Lennon adored the title song. But the public never really caught on to Ann Peebles --- as I write, this CD is ranked 363,272 on Amazon --- and although she's released a half dozen more albums in the three decades since “I Can't Stand the Rain,” she remains pretty much unknown.

Here's the shorthand that will make you sit up and take notice: “the female Al Green.” She was signed by Hi Records (of Memphis ) shortly before Green. The great Willie Mitchell, who would supervise all of Green's hits, was her producer. And he used the same band that would back Green.

You can understand why Mitchell signed the tiny --- "99 pounds of natural born goodness, 99 pounds of soul" --- 20-year-old singer from St. Louis . She had what is, for soul music, a classical background. Her father was a minister, her mother was a singer; from early childhood, Peebles sang in her father's church choir, as well as with the Peebles Choir, a family-centered gospel group founded by her grandfather. And then, in her teens, she performed on the St. Louis club circuit; she knew early how to overlay the passion of gospel onto songs of love and loss.

You've heard many of these ten songs; they get covered a lot, especially the title track, “I'm Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down” and “One Way Street.” But the songs you've never heard are just as strong --- there's not a weak cut on the CD.

Amazon is currently selling this CD for as little as $7.99 --- the equivalent of 50 cents. You have nothing to lose…and an instant favorite to gain. Butler 's advice: Supplies are limited, do not tarry.

--- by Jesse Kornbluth, for HeadButler.com

To buy "I Can't Stand the Rain" from Amazon.com, click here.

Copyright 2004 by Head Butler Inc.