For a certain type of collector, vintage record label stock advertising sleeves can inspire a search for albums it can take years to locate. One prime example is Atlantic/Atco and its associated labels, which maintained company sleeves well into the 1970s; examples from the mid- to late-'60s picture many fascinating looking covers for records rarely glimpsed in the bins. Some of these albums are justifiably obscure, others now well-regarded classics that audiences just missed the first time around. A disc that's somewhere in the middle of those two extremes has been on my want list for many years, until this week: New Orleans R&B singer Chris Kenner's Land of 1000 Dances LP.
I've always been somewhat curious how this album even came to be. Kenner's original version of the title song was a low pop chart entry in Billboard during 1963 ... but for the New Orleans independent Instant, not Atlantic. It also seems like it would have made more sense to title the disc after Kenner's 1961 breakthrough, the Billboard No. 2 pop smash "I Like it Like That."
However, one I got my hands on the LP, it turns out it was issued in 1966, long after either chart entry. I would have guessed Atlantic made the deal to piggy back on the incendiary cover of "Land of 1000 Dances" by Wilson Pickett that summer. However, Kenner's LP was apparently out before Pickett's single, as the LP is reviewed in the May 14, 1966, issue of Billboard. So, perhaps Atlantic making the Kenner deal led to Pickett's recording it around the same time.
The album itself contains six of Kenner's first seven Instant singles, omitting "Let Me Show You How (to Twist)"/"Johnny Little." The song was just a re-write of "I Like it Like That," so skipping it was a solid move by Atlantic. Kenner wrote everything here, with help from Fats Domino on a couple tracks -- including Kenner's third R&B standard, "Something You Got." Any LP with that song and Kenner's two hits makes for a soul music cornerstone, no matter what else is on the disc.
Thankfully, Kenner's other tracks are also solid New Orleans R&B, many held down by the piano playing of Allen Toussaint. One thing I will say, however: I wouldn't be surprised if much, if not all, of this album is just dubbed from the 45s. "That's My Girl," for example, was taken from a pretty beat up copy! (Atlantic 8117, 1966)
