Howard Tate;s frist LP is, as they say, all killer no filler.
Howard Tate's first LP is, as they say, all killer no filler.

For as much as the '60s are rightly celebrated for soul music's ascension to the levels of pop sophistication, it took a while for the labels producing hit soul songs to catch up and make hit soul ALBUMS; during the '60s, the single side was STILL was the main catalyst to everyone's fortune, so most albums, especially for the teen market, weren't regarded as THAT important. Generally, on '60s soul LPs, even the BIG labels like Motown and Stax, you'd get the hit, a couple other A and B sides, plus remakes of other soul hits/standards as filler. If pressed, I've argued, there may have been only be about TEN play-start-to-finish soul LPs released in the '60s and in my list of top ten I always give Howard Tate's first LP, Get It While You Can, the nod.

Tate's recording career came about after he was introduced to producer Jerry Ragovoy by singer and friend Garnett Mimms; over the next couple years, with Ragovoy producing, Tate would record the songs that have become his legacy. As for his sound, it's period soul with a finger still stuck in the R&B bag. Meaning, Tate's songs AND voice also have a bit the well-worn Muscle Shoals grit, but Ragovoy's New Jersey production was more refined and slightly less dry. What makes Get It While You Can a solid start-to-finish long player is the songs are all keepers AND, played side to flip-side, it's well paced. The songs all fit well and there is NO FAT. Tate would go on to record two more LPs—Howard Tate's Reaction for Lloyd Price’s Turntable and Howard Tate, also produced by Ragovoy, for Atlantic. Then, in 1972, Tate basically vanished until he was rediscovered in 2001. After his rediscovery, he went on to record three more albums before passing away from leukemia in 2011.

For how great they are, his records aren't currently hard to find, or even expensive. My favorite Tate side is the cool dancer, "Baby, I Love You." The HOOK kills me!

Trainspotters: there were a couple of notable Tate tracks recorded by other groups, like Band Of Gypsys city blues take of "Stop" and Janice Joplin's take on "Get It While You Can." Not bad are the Jimi and Janice versions, but Tate's original sides are hard to beat.

H/T via Trunkworthy - "Howard Tate Gave Us the Bible of Soul in 1966, but Nobody Got It When They Could"