RUDY LEWIS, "BABY I DIG LOVE" C/W "I'VE LOVED YOU SO LONG," ATLANTIC 45-6918 (REL. 6/1963)

 

In 1963, Rudy Lewis’ voice was all over the radio. Lead singer of The Drifters, he was the warm, emotional presence that made “Up on the Roof,” “On Broadway” and “Some Kind of Wonderful.” He became The Drifters’ main man in late 1960, when Ben E. King embarked on a solo career. Lewis was no newbie. Born in 1936 in Philadelphia, he performed with gospel group The Clara Ward Singers. They seldom had male vocalists, so Lewis’ inclusion was significant.

Lewis made one solo single for hometown label Red Top Records; it’s super-rare and goes for major bucks. In 1963, Atlantic Records may have sensed another solo star in Lewis, whose voice was ubiquitous but was unknown on his own. Had this single succeeded, Lewis might have become the label’s next solo soul act. Alas, it failed, and within a year, Lewis was dead at 27—his demise suspected to be a drug overdose.

While all of Lewis’ work with The Drifters is easy to find—those singles sold well and were made in volume—his solo outing is scarce and little-known. It garnered scorn from UK historians in the 1970s for what they called “…a mechanical girlie chorus.” As usual, said scholars missed the boat (and the dock, for that matter). “Baby I Dig Love” is a powerful song and performance, with a spot-on arrangement by Garry Sherman.

The electric piano Atlantic purchased for Ray Charles’ studio use, also heard on Richie Barrett’s “Some Other Guy” and other non-Charles tracks of the era, drives an insistent minor chord in an arrangement that taps into the work songs and field hollers that John and Alan Lomax documented on their sociological tours of the Deep South in the 1930s, ‘40s and beyond.

Latin percussion and a forceful bass line dominate the verses, as Lewis and femme background singers (perhaps The Sweet Inspirations?) offer tribal-vibe chants of nya nya, nya nya after his every phrase. It’s primal, hypnotic and haunting. Songwriter Rudy Clark might have written this for James Ray to sing. His version might have had banjos and tubas, so perhaps it’s best that Lewis had at it.

The verses release us from the minor-chord momentum with a catchy burst of major-key excitement; in that moment, we long to be back on that long highway of the E minor chord. There are no stoplights; it goes and goes into the horizon. Those nya nya sounds feel like silhouettes of trees, woods and empty houses that soar past in this cloudless night. It’s an exciting space to inhabit and a record that goes beyond the conventions of The Drifters’ more chart-friendly songs.

Why this recording isn’t a Northern Soul favorite is beyond me. It checks all the boxes required with zeal and leaves the listener changed; the experience is moving and it’s hard to hear just once. I wish there were more recordings like this.

Cash Box put this on their "Best Bets" review page: not quite up to top-of-

the-pops stuff but still intriguing and worthwhile, in their book.

Ahmet Ertegun put his pen name “Nugetre” on “I’ve Been Loving You So Long,” a lighter and more conventional early soul song and performance that suggests Sam Cooke’s contemporary RCA-Victor sides. The Sweet Inspirations don more everyday harmonies—all background coos and chits—and a gaudy electric organ delivers an out-of-place garnish early on.

Lewis sings in a straight soul mode, which he did with great beauty and feeling. It’s not the avant-garde piledriver of the A side, but it’s pleasant, and had his life not taken such a tragic turn, he might have been a major figure in the late 1960s soul movement.

All was well at these April 1963 sessions, which yielded The Drifters' classics “I’ll Take You Home,” “If You Don’t Come Back,” “Rat Race” and their unissued original of “Only in America,” a song Atlantic deemed too controversial to release; its lyrics were toned down and it became a minor chart hit for white group Jay and The Americans.

That month, former Drifter Johnny Moore rejoined the group and tag-teamed lead vocals with Rudy Lewis. Moore’s was a welcome return to the group, and with two powerful lead singers, they seemed destined for prolonged greatness. Lewis’ death, which happened on May 20, 1964. The next day, The Drifters had a scheduled studio session. Though traumatized with grief and shock, Thomas managed to sound jubilant on “Under the Boardwalk,” perhaps The  Drifters’ most-loved recording. On the flip-side ballad “I Don’t Want to Go On Without You,” Thomas let his sadness happen; the result is one of the most affecting soul ballads of an era—a much-covered song that was never better than the original, heartbroken rendition.

Rudy Lewis’ cause of death was a heart seizure; some speculated he had drug abuse issues, but they were neither confirmed or denied. At 27, he joined the likes of Kurt Cobain, Brian Jones and Janis Joplin: game-changing talents whose full potential was left unknown.

Tomorrow: Stately girl-group goodness by The Bouquets, via a stellar 1965 Blue Cat Records single.