1961
LET'S LIVE * AARON NEVILLE * MINIT 631 * USA
Aaron Neville only ever had one record issued in Britain in the 1960s: Tell It Like It Is and that was in 1965, but he was known to a number of British Soul music fans before that from the LP We Sing The Blues Liberty #3051 (and the earlier, and very rare London issue) or the Liberty E. P. of the same name taken from the album. We Sing The Blues is packed full of goodies by various artists from the Minit label and included two Aaron Neville tracks: Over You and Let's Live, the E. P. featured just Let's Live. The track is superb, it is sung with a pathos that is beyond my abilities to describe, but is, I think, exemplary of the type of suffers' Soul song that points toward a positive interpretation of existence, while, seemingly, to come from a position of suffering and forbearance. The subtle, yet mournful tone of the music hovers throughout at the heart of the song and the lyrics - while upholding an optimistic and encouraging life view - are laced with anxiety and pain . . . . this is one Boss tune.
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