When Something Is Wrong With My Baby

When Something Is Wrong with My Baby Review by Stewart Mason

An uncharacteristically pretty ballad from southern soul's loudest shouters, "When Something Is Wrong With My Baby" is a solid change of pace for Sam and Dave. Over a piano part courtesy of co-writer Isaac Hayes and a slow soul arrangement seemingly derived intact from the first half of Otis Redding's "Try A Little Tenderness," Dave Prater and Sam Moore swap lines in the classic soul ballad style. Thankfully, they resist the temptation -- which even claimed the great Redding at times on his ballads -- to over-sell the soul by decorating the long held notes with needless melisma and other ornamentation. The resulting record is one of the most powerful and soulful in the duo's career.