ARCHIE BELL IS HERE TO HELP
Houston legend is hoping his music can help provide some relief for an aching city.
There was talk about canceling Archie Bell’s album release show this Saturday, one week after Hurricane Harvey put much of our city underwater. But then the conversation pivoted.
Pete Gordon, owner of the Continental Club, said the venue was dry. And he thought maybe a free show by one of Houston’s bestknown musical ambassadors might play some small part in beginning the city’s recovery.
Nearly 50 years ago, Archie Bell and the Drells went into Jones Town Studio in Houston and recorded “Tighten Up,” which in 1968 would become a No. 1 pop single.
The song arose from an instrumental piece by the TSU Toronadoes and incorporated a phrase that Bell frequently used. Its playful funkiness was a tonic during a tumultuous era. And its intro was decidedly Houston-centric: “Hi everybody, I’m Archie Bell of the Drells, of Houston, Texas,” Bell spoke/sang. “We don’t only sing, but we dance just as good as we walk. In Houston, we just started a new dance called the Tighten Up. This is the music we tighten up with.”
It was a tonic then and could serve as one now.
Bell, meanwhile, has quietly slipped back into view. He’s been a regular performer on the oldies circuit, but he hasn’t released any new music since “I Never Had It So Good.” That was in 1981.
Ten years ago, Bell talked of several albums he had in the works: a blues recording, a gospel album and a holiday album. But nothing surfaced until this year. Andy Bradley — a Houston-based producer and engineer — interviewed Bell for his book “House of Hits,” a history of the storied SugarHill Recording Studio.
“Just talking and working together, I guess I pulled him out of retirement,” Bradley says.
“There’s Gonna Be a
Showdown Again” is the first new music Bell has released in 35 years.
Bradley took a lighthanded approach to making the record.
“Archie’s not going to learn a bunch of new songs at 72,” he says. “So it gave us an opportunity to go back and look at some of the cooler (music) he’s done over the years and find some treasures.”
Bradley surrounded Bell with some of Houston’s top players, instrumentalists he’s worked with for years, including bassist Keith Vivens, drummer Tyson Sheth and pianist Paul English. The recording is also among the last featuring guitarist Kenny Cordray, who died earlier this year.
Like much of Bell’s previous work, the album is rooted in R&B and soul, but there’s a country thread that runs through it, befitting a guy who split his youth between Houston and Henderson. His old friends Roy Head and Mickey Gilley both show up for guest vocal spots.
The title track is a rerecording of an R&B hit Bell made in late 1968.
“Instead of shooting or killing, it was about a showdown on the dance floor. I got 10 notches on my shoes, I can’t lose. We weren’t into fighting, we were into partying,” Bell told me years ago. “It was a showdown with your feet.”
If the new album has a defining theme, it’s getting people to dance: “Let’s Groove,” “Tighten Up at the Disco,” “We Got ’Em Dancin’.”
Bell’s music often urged people to take a break from their struggles. Should his show still go off Saturday, Bell’s 73rd birthday, there will be a lot of struggle in his city. Then and now, his songs serve as an invite to get away, three minutes at a time.
“They said it sounded like we were having a house party,” he said of “Tighten Up.” “It seemed live, loose. It seemed like something you could do. Something you wanted to join.”