Reviewed by Tony Cummings

Devotees of '60s soul music will certainly recognise the name Mitty Collier. In 1964 she charted with "I Had A Talk With My Man", a song which was in fact a rewrite of an old James Cleveland gospel song "I Had A Talk With My God". Back in the '60s such wholesale borrowing of the black church tradition was quite common in R&B circles. Mitty's magnificent soulful voice clearly displayed her church origins and throughout the '60s the singer made superb soul music as this compilation clearly demonstrates. The A sides of all 15 of Mitty's singles for Chess are presented here alongside the best of her B sides and whether she was singing attention grabbing songs like "Gotta Get Away From It All", a song addressed to an abusive spouse, or "No Faith, No Love", another gospel song rewrite, the rich vibrancy of her vocals coupled to punchy uptown soul arrangements ensured real consistency in her music. Today Mitty is a pastor of a church in Chicago but her lengthy flirtation with R&B is still well worth listening to.

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