My Prescription

Bobby Womack made one of the definitive Southern soul albums with 1969’s My Prescription. Produced by Chips Moman and recorded at his venerable American Sound Studio in Memphis, Womack’s album stands alongside other Moman-produced classics by Joe Tex and Wilson Pickett. Womack wrote Pickett’s hit ballad “I’m in Love,” which was high on the charts at the time My Prescription was released. Womack’s album delivers soul in that same vein: tough, horn-driven rhythms tempered by the singer’s urbanity. “More Than I Can Stand” is a perfect example of this crucial balance. Womack has all the drive and grit of Pickett or Joe Tex, but his songwriting allows for a more poignant, dreamy quality. While Womack’s originals stand out against the rest, he also turns in a lusty version of Smokey Robinson’s “Don’t Look Back.” Of special note is “I’m Gonna Forget About You,” a little-known song written by Sam Cooke, Womack’s mentor. Womack revives the song for 1969, offering not just a tribute to his fallen elder but a vision of what Cooke might have sounded like had he lived to see the glory days of Memphis soul music.