Kicking off her
Westbound
stay with a gem,
Denise LaSalle
gave the world a new take on
Southern soul
with this late-nite entree of
Stax-y
grooves and tales of love on the rocks.
Trapped By a Thing Called Love
and her two other
LPs (
On the Loose
and
Here I Am Again
) set the pace for other Dixie divas like
Millie Jackson
Betty Wright
, thanks to the finely gauged originals and heavy dose of swagger they contained. The symphonic
soul
charts of both
Gene "Bowlegs" Miller
Hi
Records arranger
Willie Mitchell
(
Al Green
,
O.V. Wright
) are on display, too, and the fare ranges from a few choice covers (
Barbara Lynn
's
"You'll Miss a Good Thing"
) to now-canonized
R&B
sides like the
LaSalle
-penned title track. Once available on vinyl and as a two-fer disc that also included
is lost in the vaults once again and awaiting a re-release makeover befitting its classic status. ~ Stephen Cook