Baby Huey, born James Ramey, was neither living nor a legend when his one-and-only album was released in 1971. Already dead at age 26 from the accumulated stresses that drugs and alcohol had imposed on his hulking 180kg frame, the Chicago-based soul singer had missed his opportunity to develop the professional standing that could have placed him alongside other giants of the genre.
The Baby Huey Story: The Living Legend was released posthumously on Curtis Mayfield's Curtom Records, initially failing to make much of an impression in a climate rich with powerhouse soul and funk acts. But over time the freakish quality of this eight-track release has raised it to collectable status among aficionados, who prize it as much for the finely honed chops of Ramey's backing band The Babysitters as they do the big man's explosive vocal performance.
The album is a curious mix of Mayfield covers, instrumentals and Ramey originals, and certainly not in the form it might have been if Ramey had survived to complete the sessions. It nevertheless possesses a tangible spirit of confidence and experimentation born of the countless club gigs and parties that the band had under its belt.
Psychedelic funk is embraced in all its tripped-out glory, with echoing shadows over Ramey's vocals, and overt lyrical references to the substances that fuelled the party.
Ramey amalgamates James Brown's urgent pleading with Otis Redding's scuffed-edged soul and Sly Stone's lugubrious croon. When he releases one of his vase-cracking shrieks, he anticipates the much tamer squeal later taken up by Prince.
Although already showing signs of wear and tear, it is the voice of a gifted singer who draws passion and energy from the impossibly funky unit behind him.
Album highlights are the blistering opener Listen To Me, a soulful take on Mayfield song Hard Times and a not-to-be-missed 10-minute reading of Sam Cooke's A Change Is Gonna Come.
