The 40 Essential Albums of 1967

Macon-born and Philadelphia-raised, Howard Tate never went Top Ten even on the soul charts but is remembered along with James Carr as the great lost soul man. "Ain't Nobody Home" became a B.B. King perennial, "Look at Granny Run Run" was the best thing to happen to senior sex till Levitra, and "Get It While You Can" was taken up as a showstopper by none other than Janis Joplin. The album didn't chart at all. But Tate had a supernal falsetto shriek to complement his rough howl, and writer-producer Jerry Ragovoy knew how to milk them both -- among other things, by adding two blues standards to his own sharp songs, which even for a guy who retired on "Piece of My Heart" got pretty peaky here.