Soul Directions

This 1968 album, the third of four that Conley released on Atlantic Records, was recorded at Memphis’s storied American Studios with the legendary Tom Dowd behind the mixing desk. And it sounds like it. The set’s crown is the forever-danceable “Funky Street”: a briny blast of hard funk and R&B about Atlanta’s famed Auburn Avenue. (The song was Conley’s second-biggest hit, peaking at No. 14 on the American pop charts. His 1967 trailblazer, “Sweet Soul Music,” peaked at No. 2.) Godhead songwriting duo Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham contributed both the midtempo album opener, “You Really Know How to Hurt a Guy” (which should’ve been huge for Conley), and the weepy-great “This Love of Mine.” Otis Redding produced two here before he died: Conley’s swivel-hipped “Hear Say,” and Redding’s own “Love Comes and Goes.” Conley’s tenderhearted farewell to Redding (“Otis Sleep On”) is neither soppy nor mawkish, and it's aged very well—a testament to Conley’s skills as a soul singer and songwriter.