Though deep-soul belter Joe Tex is best known for the series of seminal recordings he cut for the Dial label in the mid and late `60s, he had been performing essential R&B since back in the mid-'50s, when he recorded searing proto-soul ballads and raucous R&B for Syd Nathan's King label. GET WAY BACK: THE `50s RECORDINGS, which compiles the best of Tex's King output, is a revelation, since the improvisational, gospel derived style of singing and preaching that would eventually make Tex famous is already in evidence on cuts like "Open the Door" and "Another Man's Woman."
