Althea Spencer

Only a couple of 45s from the obscure Althea Spencer but both have their moments. The initial release featured a strong country soul version of a Willie Nelson ballad You Left Me A Long Long Time Ago with flip being a good enough funk outing.

But the bluesy Bitter Tears from the second disc is an absolute beauty. You gotta love that fine blues guitar intro and the perfect minor keyed chords over which Althea sounds suitably despondent accompanied by some delicious horn phrases and some desperately questioning background vocalists. One of the best blues ballads out there. The other side was a meandering ballad “Make Me” that couldn’t match up sadly.

AV Int was a tiny label from San Antonio, TX which released a handful of 45s in the early 70s but nothing else I’ve heard from them can hold a candle to Ms Spencer’s tracks unfortunately.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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