Rainy Night in Georgia: The Complete Reprise & Cotillion Singles A's & B's (2-CD Set)

He’s one of the all-time great soul balladeers, with 58 pop and 38 R&B hits to his credit, and his beautiful baritone is one of the most recognizable voices in all of pop and soul music, but Brook Benton has never had any kind of collection devoted to his last great body of work, the Jimmy Bowen-produced sides he recorded for Reprise and the Arif Mardin-produced material he recorded for Cotillion during the late ‘60s and early ‘70s. Now, in true Real Gone fashion, we’ve put together a two-CD package that includes the A and B-side of every single side Benton recorded for the two labels, all but one (see below) in their original mono single mixes and, after an exhaustive vault search, all but three from original tape sources. These 31 sides display a staggering stylistic versatility ranging from R&B takes on pop standards like “My Way” (yes, that song can be funky, and it’s here in a rare stereo single mix!), “I Gotta Be Me,” and “The Glory of Love,” to gospel songs like “If You Think God Is Dead,” topical tunes like “Heaven Help Us All” and “A Black Child Can’t Smile,” and, of course, some Southern-dipped soul like the #1 R&B hit “Rainy Night in Georgia” and the seven single sides he recorded with the Dixie Flyers, including the hits “Shoes” and “Don’t It Make You Want to Go Home.” Remastered by Mike Milchner at SonicVision and annotated by Gene Sculatti, Rainy Night in Georgia—The Complete Reprise & Cotillion Singles A’s & B’s is a major soul find and deserves a place on the shelf right next to Brook’s classic Mercury material.