Home Entertainment : Alexander Is Gold at End of CD ‘Rainbow’

Arthur Alexander won a place in pop trivia history in the ‘60s by having songs that he recorded also recorded by both the Beatles (“Anna”) and the Rolling Stones (“You Better Move On”).

But there was too much intimacy and character in Alexander’s own vocals to have his recordings remain in the shadows of pop.

That’s why “Rainbow Road: The Warner Bros. Recordings” is such a welcome arrival.

The album from Warner Archives doesn’t include Alexander’s celebrated early-’60s work that caught the ear of the young British rockers, but the 15-song package still serves as a marvelous showcase for the country and R&B; instincts that served the Alabama native so well.

“Rainbow Road” consists of all of the tracks from Alexander’s much admired 1972 Warner Bros. album plus four selections that were released only as singles. The material ranges from Alexander originals to remakes of Billy Swan’s “Lover Please,” which had been a hit a decade earlier for Clyde McPhatter, and Dennis Linde’s “Burning Love,” which would later become a hit for Elvis Presley.

Among the highlights of the retrospective package: the seductive longing of “It Hurts to Want It So Bad,” the Drifters-like romantic tension of “Go Home Girl” and the soulful regret of “They’ll Do It Everytime.”

Alexander was born in Florence, Ala., in 1940, the son of a blues guitarist. He joined a local R&B; group, the Heartstrings, while still in his teens, but the group was short-lived and Alexander worked as a bellhop in the Florence area.

His musical dreams were encouraged by a group of young music-biz hopefuls from the region, including songwriters Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham as well as producers Rick Hall and Billy Sherrill.

It was Hall who went into an area studio with Alexander in 1961 and recorded “You Better Move On.” Released by Dot Records, the record became a Top 30 hit in the United States.

But Alexander’s work on Dot was inconsistent, and his career was pretty much a shambles by the end of the ‘60s. The 1972 Warner Bros. album, with its nicely tailored material and arrangements, should have revitalized his career, but the music didn’t find an audience.

Things looked up again briefly in 1975 when Alexander’s version of “Every Day I Have to Cry Some” on Buddah Records broke into the Top 50. But it didn’t generate any momentum and within two years he moved with his family to Cleveland where he drove a social services bus for years.

Alexander’s final reach for the stardom he deserved occurred in 1993 when he recorded a final album for Elektra Records’ American Explorer series. The project lured him out of seclusion, according to Daniel Cooper’s liner notes.

But he became gravely ill the day after a Nashville concert and died last June 9.

The music in “Rainbow Road” isn’t the complete musical story of Alexander, but it demonstrates the depth of his talent and the rewards of discovering it--even at this late date.