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Sam Moore
Overnight Sensational
(Rhino)
First Appeared in The Music Box, October 2006, Volume 13, #10
Written by John Metzger
Sam Moore, who was part of the legendary soul duo Sam & Dave, has been trying
to supercharge his solo career for more than 36 years. Although Overnight
Sensational, his bid for a comeback, might get the job done, it’s hardly
worthy of his legacy. In what has become a customary method of obtaining
mainstream attention, Moore not only tabbed a high-profile person to produce his
new effort, but he also surrounded himself with an array of special guests. In
this case, Randy Jackson, the notable session musician who squandered his
credentials by joining the panel of judges on American Idol, was enlisted
to sculpt the affair. The all-star supporting cast runs the gamut from the
dependably appropriate (Bruce Springsteen, Billy Preston, Steve Winwood, and
Sting) to the puzzling (Wynonna, Travis Tritt, Vince Gill, and Paul Rodgers) to
the insane (Jon Bon Jovi, Mariah Carey, and Fantasia).
Unfortunately, making matters worse is the material that was chosen for Moore
to cover. Granted, it was partner Dave Prater who, along with Isaac Hayes,
penned the original fare for Sam & Dave, but certainly Jackson could have dug a
little deeper to find better songs than those that were written by Seals and
Crofts, Paul Carrack, and Diane Warren (whose Blame It on the Rain became
a #1 hit for Milli Vanilli). Indeed, there are so many problems with
Overnight Sensational’s construction that the primary reason for putting
together such a blockbuster collection — so that Moore could return to the
spotlight — too often becomes obscured by the glossy haze that envelops its
arrangements.
Surprisingly, Overnight Sensational isn’t a total failure, and
throughout the set, Moore’s still-golden voice provides the album’s few bright
spots — even when the music itself lacks a pulse. He brings a fire and brimstone
fervor to Better to Have and Not Need; he suitably fills None of Us
Are Free with a sense of poignancy; and despite Carey’s incessant wailing,
he finds the majestic yearning in It’s Only Make Believe. Faring better
is his duet with Bekka Bramlett on Don’t Play That Song (You Lied),
which, while not breaking new ground, at least has the emotional drive of
Moore’s classic material.
The problem remains, however, that Jackson has spent so much time
manufacturing pseudo celebrities out of flash-in-the-pan, wannabe pop stars like
Clay Aiken, Kelly Clarkson, and Fantasia (who, not coincidentally, is paired
with Moore on Blame It on the Rain) that he’s forgotten that there are
real vocalists who deserve better than to be framed by generic, lifeless
arrangements. Outside the palpable chemistry that Moore shares with Bramlett,
the bulk of the album feels forced to fit within the predetermined framework of
some marketing guru’s concept of what a hit record ought to be. As a result,
Jackson effectively has turned Overnight Sensational into an American
Idol-style audition that precisely highlights everything that is wrong with
the music industry.  ½
Overnight Sensational is available from Amazon.com.
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Ratings
1 Star: Pitiful
2 Stars: Listenable
3 Stars: Respectable
4 Stars: Excellent
5 Stars: Can't Live Without It!!
Copyright © 2006 The Music Box
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