Great googa mooga—I just learned you can’t judge a book by it’s lack of a cover. I was given a review copy of this CD sans a cover or PR material, and after listening to it several times, I assumed this was assembled from lost master tapes stored in the Stax vaults for over three decades. However, a brief Internet search revealed that in fact these are brand new recordings, and are they ever good. Some of the tracks have an updated Memphis sound, while some even sound like an Allman Brothers-influenced band playing with soulful front man.

Floyd starts to share the love on the first track, “Till My Back Ain’t Got No Bone,” a slow burner with a hypnotic Shelby County groove. The love continues on the reflective “Since You’ve Been Gone,” a vintage ballad Floyd really nails. Floyd cuts loose in classic Stax style on “You Don’t Know What You Mean to Me,” and he breaths new life in the cover of the Falcons’ (Floyd’s first group from Detroit) gospel-charged hit, “You’re So Fine.” Still, the soul ballads are the most attractive elements of Eddie Loves You, and the closer here is the fine “Consider Me.”

Unfortunately, my vocabulary doesn’t contain enough superlatives to properly put Eddie Loves You in perspective. This is an unexpected, but high recommended comeback CD from one of the important pioneers of Memphis soul.