Howard Tate: Howard Tate

Highly regarded by soul music cultists, and virtually unknown by anybody else, Howard Tate had some minor success with the Verve label in the late '60s. The singer brought a lot of blues and gospel to his phrasing, but what made him palatable to the modern R&B (and, to a lesser degree, pop) audience was the Northeast soul production of Jerry Ragovoy, who also wrote much of Tate's material. Howard made the R&B Top 20 three times in the late '60s (with "Ain't Nobody Home," "Stop," and "Look at Granny Run Run"). However, he's most famous to rock audiences as the original performer of "Get It While You Can," which became one of Janis Joplin's signature tunes. Howard Tate from 1972 contains gritty, no-frills Southern soul, but Tate never quite achieves the highs on Atlantic he had reached with Verve or Lloyd Price's Turntable label. He put plenty of emotional punch and fire into these numbers, but couldn't elevate them or make them hits.
-- from the All-Music Guide

The Very Great Howard ("Ain’t Nobody Home") Tate’s eponymous Jerry Ragavoy-produced 1972 Atlantic LP includes an awkward and extremely unconvincing take on "Jemima Surrender". This must have been part of someone’s attempt to play to what Otis Redding memorably called "the love crowd" since the same album also has a misguided cover of "Girl from the North Country." The Band and Dylan songs stick out like a couple of ugly sore thumbs on an otherwise classy set of smooth urban soul.
-- "Bumbles", The Band guestbook, May 1999

Howard Tate was released on CD in 2001 (Koch CD-8311). It's a straight reissue -- original cover art and no bonus tracks -- but it has informative new notes by Freddie Patterson that include Tate's "rediscovery" this year. From the notes:

The Band's "Jemima Surrender," like the Dylan song ["Girl of the North Country"], is not an obvious choice for Tate. "When the Band did it, I loved it," said [producer Jerry] Ragovoy, "and I thought I could turn it into something for Howard. And it nearly worked."

Tracks

1. She's a Burglar
2. Eight Days on the Road
3. You Don't Know Nothing About Love
4. When I Was a Young Man
5. Girl of the North Country
6. Where Did My Baby Go
7. Keep Cool (Don't Be a Fool)
8. Jemima Surrender
9. Strugglin'
10. It's Heavy
11. It's Your Move
12. The Bitter End

Howard Tate - Howard Tate - 1972 - Atlantic SD-8303
Compact Disc: Koch CD-8311 (2001)