146.198.222.163: /* Personnel */ Fixed typo

2024-10-24T15:22:42Z

Personnel: Fixed typo

New page

{{use mdy dates|date=May 2021}}
{{Infobox album
| name = Somebody Loan Me a Dime
| type = studio
| artist = [[Fenton Robinson]]
| cover = Somebody Loan Me a Dime.jpg
| alt =
| released = 1974
| recorded =
| studio =
| genre = [[Blues]]
| length = 42:37
| label = [[Alligator Records|Alligator]]
| producer = [[Bruce Iglauer]]
| prev_title = Monday Morning Boogie and Blues
| prev_year = 1972
| next_title = I Hear Some Blues Downstairs
| next_year = 1977
}}

'''''Somebody Loan Me a Dime''''' is a 1974 studio album by [[blues]] [[singing|singer]] and [[guitar]]ist [[Fenton Robinson]], his debut under the [[Alligator Records]] imprint. Blending together some elements of [[jazz]] with [[Chicago blues]] and [[Texas blues]], the album was largely critically well received and is regarded as important within his discography. Among the album's tracks is a re-recording of his 1967 [[signature song]], "Somebody Loan Me a Dime". It has been reissued multiple times in the United States and Japan, including with bonus tracks.

==Critical reception==
{{Album ratings
|rev1 = [[AllMusic]]
|rev1score = {{Rating|5|5}}<ref name="AMG">{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/somebody-loan-me-a-dime-mw0000308342|title=Somebody Loan Me a Dime - Fenton Robinson | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic|access-date=20 May 2021|website=[[AllMusic]]}}</ref>
|rev2 = ''[[Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies|Christgau's Record Guide]]''
|rev2Score = B+<ref name="CG">{{cite book|last=Christgau|first=Robert|author-link=Robert Christgau|year=1981|title=[[Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies]]|publisher=[[Ticknor & Fields]]|isbn=089919026X|chapter=Consumer Guide '70s: R|chapter-url=https://www.robertchristgau.com/get_chap.php?k=R&bk=70|access-date=March 12, 2019}}</ref>
|rev3 = ''[[The Penguin Guide to Blues Recordings]]''
|rev3score = {{Rating|4|4}}<ref name="Penguin">{{cite book |last1=Russell |first1=Tony |last2=Smith |first2=Chris |title=[[The Penguin Guide to Blues Recordings]] |year=2006 |edition=|publisher=[[Penguin Books|Penguin]] |isbn=978-0-140-51384-4|page=550}}</ref>
}}
The album overall received good reception by critics and is described by the 1993 ''The Big Book of Blues'' as "essential listening."<ref>{{cite book | last = Santelli | first = Robert | title = The Big Book of Blues: A Biographical Encyclopedia | publisher = Penguin | year = 1993 | page = [https://archive.org/details/bigbookofbluesbi00robe/page/345 345] | isbn = 0-14-015939-8 | url = https://archive.org/details/bigbookofbluesbi00robe/page/345 }}</ref><ref name=blues/><ref>{{cite book | last = Cochran | first = Robert | title = Our Own Sweet Sounds: A Celebration of Popular Music in Arkansas | publisher = University of Arkansas Press | year = 2005 | isbn = 1-55728-793-7 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=TRFe-4vC76AC&dq=%22Somebody+Loan+Me+a+Dime%22+Robinson&pg=PA58 | page = 58}}</ref> [[AllMusic]] in its review characterized the album as "one of the most subtly satisfying electric blues albums of the '70s".<ref name="AMG"/> New York based [[WGMC]] blue radio host Jeff Harris describes the album as "one of the era’s true masterpieces", Robinson's "pinnacle".<ref name=Harris>{{cite web | last = Harris | first= Jeff | title = Fenton Robinson: Somebody Loan Me A Dime | work = Big Road Blues | url = http://sundayblues.org/archives/39 | date = 2007-08-07 | access-date = 2008-10-25}}</ref>

''[[Village Voice]]'' [[Robert Christgau]] offers some dissent; though he graded the album a B+ overall, indicated that Robinson's voice (though well utilized) lacked power, his songs lacked hooks (aside from "Gotta Wake Up") and his music was "stylish and thoughtful" but restrained.<ref name="CG"/> AllMusic's Bill Dahl, by contrast, praised Robinson for the power of several composition and focused particularly on his voice, a "deep, rich baritone [that] sounds more like a magic carpet than a piece of barbed wire," indicating that Robinson "speaks in jazz-inflected tongues, full of complex surprises."<ref name=AMG/> Harris, too, pays particular attention to Robinson's voice, which he describes as "a thing of beauty, a deep, rich baritone that glides along and is a perfect counterpoint to his elegant guitar work."<ref name=Harris/>

==Music==
The album includes a new recording of "Somebody Loan Me a Dime", that Robinson had originally released in 1967 for the Palos label.<ref name="Dahl"/> The song is regarded as Robinson's signature piece and his best-known number. In 1969, [[Boz Scaggs]] popularized the song with rock audiences, when he recorded it with [[Duane Allman]] on lead guitar for his [[Boz Scaggs (album)|second album]]. Although Scaggs is listed as the songwriter on the original album,<ref name="Dahl">{{cite web|last=Dahl|first=Bill|url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/fenton-robinson-mn0000794441/biography|title=Fenton Robinson Biography|work=[[AllMusic]]|access-date=May 28, 2019}}</ref> later reissues credit Robinson.<ref>{{cite AV media notes|title=[[Boz Scaggs (album)|Box Scaggs]]|type=[[liner notes]]|others=[[Boz Scaggs]]|publisher=[[Atlantic Records]]|year=1978}}</ref> The title song serves as the background music during the opening scenes of the movie ''[[The Blues Brothers (film)#Other songs in the film|The Blues Brothers]]'', a movie responsible for revitalizing [[Aretha Franklin|Aretha Franklin's]] career.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.blackhistory.com/cgi-bin/blog.cgi?blog_id=62063&cid=52&reading=1 |title=Archived copy |access-date=January 15, 2010 |archive-date=September 13, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080913085650/http://blackhistory.com/cgi-bin/blog.cgi?cid=52&reading=1&blog_id=62063 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Jeff Harris identifies as among Robinson's influences on the album [[B.B. King]] and [[T-Bone Walker]], "but with a strong jazzy inflection and plenty of grit".<ref name=Harris/> All About Jazz, concurring with those influences, places the musician on "the smoother side" of the genre of [[Chicago blues]] with some elements of [[Texas blues]].<ref>{{cite web | title = Fenton Robinson | work = All About Jazz | url = http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/musician.php?id=10754 | date = 2007-11-10 | access-date=2008-10-25}}</ref>

==Release history==
The album was Robinson's debut for the [[Alligator Records]] label, the first of three for the label.<ref name=blues>{{cite book | last = Tomko | first = Gene | chapter = Robinson, Fenton | chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=sOKZKESWys0C&dq=%22Somebody+Loan+Me+a+Dime%22+Robinson&pg=PA278 | title = Encyclopedia of the Blues: A - J | editor = Edward M. Komara | publisher = Routledge | year = 2006 | isbn = 0-415-92699-8 | page = 835}}</ref> (For his second, ''I Hear Some Blues Downstairs'', Robinson was nominated for a [[Grammy Award]].<ref name=blues/>) Prior to his contract with Alligator, Robinson had encountered difficulties finding a studio home for his music.<ref>{{cite book | last = McHugh | first = Rich |author2=J. P. Anderson |author3=Chris Barsanti |author4=Mark Ellwood | title = Chicago | publisher = Rough Guides | year = 2003 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=f_nIQuG8iPMC&dq=%22Somebody+Loan+Me+a+Dime%22+Robinson&pg=PA255 | page = 255 | isbn = 1-85828-755-3}}</ref> The album has been subsequently reissued a number of times by Alligator in the U.S. and internationally by Japanese labels [[Pony Canyon]] and [[P-Vine]]. The 2001 P-Vine re-issue includes two bonus tracks: "I Hear Some Blues Downstairs" (4:16) and "As the Years Go Passing By" (4:49).<ref>{{AllMusic|class=album|id=r1003367|label=Somebody Loan Me a Dime (Japanese Bonus Tracks)}}</ref>

==Track listing==
''Except where otherwise noted, all tracks composed by Fenton Robinson''
#"Somebody Loan Me a Dime" – 2:54
#"The Getaway" – 4:17
#"Directly from My Heart to You" ([[Little Richard]]) – 4:17
#"Going to Chicago" (Traditional) – 3:46
#"You Say You're Leaving" ([[Big Joe Williams]]) – 3:15
#"Checking on My Woman" – 3:23
#"You Don't Know What Love Is" – 3:50
#"I've Changed" – 4:23
#"Country Girl" ([[Rudy Toombs]]) – 4:55
#"Gotta Wake Up" – 4:25
#"[[Texas Flood (song)|Texas Flood]]" (Larry Davis, [[Don Robey]], Joseph Wade Scott) – 4:12

==Personnel==
*[[Fenton Robinson]] – guitar, vocals
*Dave Baldwin – tenor saxophone
*Cornelius Boyson – bass guitar
*Elmer Brown – trumpet
*Tony Gooden – drums
*[[Bill Heid]] – keyboards
*Norval D. Hodges – trumpet
*Bill McFarland – trombone
*[[Mighty Joe Young (musician)|Mighty Joe Young]] – guitar
*[[Bruce Iglauer]] – [[record producer]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Fenton Robinson albums]]
[[Category:1974 albums]]
[[Category:Albums produced by Bruce Iglauer]]
[[Category:Alligator Records albums]]
[[Category:P-Vine Records albums]]

Somebody Loan Me a Dime - Revision history

146.198.222.163: /* Personnel */ Fixed typo