Fifty-odd years on, the I Can’t Stand the Rain album still sounds like the most compact statement of what Hi Records did better than anyone else in the early 1970s: ten songs, barely 27 minutes, not a wasted bar. Ann Peebles had already cut three LPs for Willie Mitchell by the time she made it, but this is the one where the singer, the songs and the studio arrived at the same place at the same time. If you know only the title track, the rest of the record is a very good reason to buy a copy.
Where the I Can’t Stand the Rain album came from
Peebles was born in Kinloch, Missouri, in 1947 and grew up singing in her father’s church choir before working the St. Louis club circuit with Oliver Sain’s revue. In 1968, on a visit to Memphis, she sat in with the trumpeter Gene “Bowlegs” Miller, who introduced her to Mitchell. He offered her a contract almost on the spot. A run of R&B hits followed: “Part Time Love” reached No. 7 on the R&B chart in 1970, “I Pity the Fool” made No. 18 and “Breaking Up Somebody’s Home” No. 13 in 1972, a song Albert King would take onto the Hot 100 the following year.
By 1973 she was writing with Don Bryant, Hi’s resident songwriter and soon to be her husband (they married in 1974). That partnership is the backbone of the record: seven of the ten songs carry Peebles’ name, most of them alongside Bryant’s. It is worth reading our history of Hi Records for the wider picture of how Mitchell built the label around Al Green, Syl Johnson, O.V. Wright and Peebles in the same few years.
Release details for collectors
- Original US LP: Hi XSHL 32079, released early 1974, recorded in 1973.
- UK LP: London SHU 8468, 1974.
- Title single: Hi 45-2248, released July 1973, backed with “I’ve Been There Before”; in Britain it came out on London HLU 10428.
- Producer: Willie Mitchell, at Royal Recording Studios on South Lauderdale Street, Memphis.
The Discogs master listing runs to more than 50 versions, including a 1982 Motown reissue, a 1999 UK CD on Hi (HILO 165) and the Fat Possum CD (2009) and LP (2012). An original Hi stereo pressing in decent shape is not an expensive record, which makes it one of the easier entries on any list of essential Memphis soul LPs.
The sound: Royal Studios and the Hi Rhythm Section
Royal was a converted cinema, and Mitchell’s room had a particular dryness that suited the way he recorded drums: close, damped, almost like a cardboard box being tapped. Howard Grimes is the drummer here, and his lazy, behind-the-beat feel is half of the album’s personality. Around him sit the three Hodges brothers, Teenie on guitar, Leroy on bass and Charles on Hammond organ, with Archie Turner on piano. Horns come from Wayne Jackson and Andrew Love of the Memphis Horns, with Jack Hale, Ed Logan and James Mitchell. The Memphis Strings add colour, and the backing vocals are by Charles Chalmers with Donna and Sandra Rhodes.
That is essentially the same team that made Al Green’s run of records, and the comparison is useful. Green’s albums float; Peebles’ sit lower and harder. Her voice is grainier, she leans on the beat rather than gliding over it, and Mitchell mixes her slightly more forward so the band frames her rather than cushioning her. Where Stax in the mid-1960s, as heard on Otis Blue, was all punch and push, Hi in 1973 is restraint: organ held in reserve, horns used as punctuation, bass lines that rarely move more than they need to.
Track by track: the songs that matter
“I Can’t Stand the Rain”
The story is well documented. Peebles, Bryant and the DJ Bernie Miller were due at a concert when it started pouring; she said the line that became the title, and the three of them wrote the song that night and, by Bryant’s own account, forgot about the concert. In the studio Mitchell used an electric timbale, a new toy at Royal in 1973, for the falling-raindrop figure that opens the track. According to Charles Hodges, Grimes played the low part and Teenie Hodges the high part as an overdub. It reached No. 6 on the R&B chart and No. 38 on the Hot 100, and No. 41 in the UK in April 1974. John Lennon is reported to have called it “the best song ever”, Ian Dury picked it on Desert Island Discs, and Missy Elliott built “The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)” on it in 1997.
“I’m Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down”
Earl Randle’s song had been a single in January 1973, ahead of the album, and it is the record’s other great performance. Peebles plays a woman who has stopped asking nicely. The band locks into a mid-tempo grind, Teenie Hodges’ guitar answers every line, and the horns arrive like a slammed door. Paul Young had a go at it a decade later; nobody improves on this.
“Do I Need You” and “Until You Came Into My Life”
These are the songs that show why the I Can’t Stand the Rain album works as an album rather than a single plus filler. “Do I Need You” is a Bryant and Peebles ballad sung with real ambivalence, not the usual devotion, and “Until You Came Into My Life” is warm without being soft. Both run under three and a half minutes, as everything here does.
“If We Can’t Trust Each Other” and “One Way Street”
Randle’s second contribution is a slow, sour look at a relationship going wrong, and Peebles sings it with the patience of someone who has seen the ending already. “One Way Street” closes the record on a lean, bluesy note. If you like the way James Carr handled heartbreak, as we discussed in our You Got My Mind Messed Up review, this is the same emotional territory from the other side of the argument.
The weaker moments on the I Can’t Stand the Rain album are relative. “(You Keep Me) Hanging On”, the Ira Allen and Buddy Mize song rather than the Supremes hit, is pleasant but lightweight, and “A Love Vibration” leans a little on its groove. Neither breaks the spell.
Why the I Can’t Stand the Rain album still matters
Commercially the I Can’t Stand the Rain album was modest. It reached No. 25 on the Billboard soul albums chart and only No. 155 on the Billboard 200, though that was her best showing on the pop album chart. Robert Christgau gave it a B+ in his Record Guide. Its reputation has grown steadily since: Rolling Stone placed the title song at No. 197 in its 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, and in 2024 included the LP in its list of the best albums of 1974.
The deeper reason it lasts is that it shows a different model of soul singing from the gospel-shout tradition. Peebles rarely raises her voice. The menace in “Playhouse” and the weariness in “If We Can’t Trust Each Other” come from phrasing and timing, not volume. For anyone who has worked through the big Southern soul records and wants something that rewards close listening, the I Can’t Stand the Rain album is the logical next step, and it pairs well with the singles in our essential deep soul 45s guide.
Covers came thick and fast. Eruption turned the title track into a disco hit in 1978 (No. 5 in the UK), Tina Turner recorded it for Private Dancer in 1984, and Humble Pie, Lowell George, Graham Central Station and Seal all had a go. Every version borrows the raindrop figure. None of them improves on Grimes’ and Teenie Hodges’ timbales.
Verdict
This is not the most famous Memphis soul LP and it was never meant to be a grand statement. It is better than that: a tight, perfectly judged record by a singer who knew exactly how much to give, backed by a band at the height of its powers. If you are buying one Ann Peebles record, it is the I Can’t Stand the Rain album. If you are buying a second, start with the Hi singles collections and work outward.
Questions readers ask about this record
Who played on the I Can’t Stand the Rain album?
The Hi Rhythm Section: Howard Grimes on drums, Teenie Hodges on guitar, Leroy Hodges on bass, Charles Hodges on organ and Archie Turner on piano, with horns from Wayne Jackson, Andrew Love, Jack Hale, Ed Logan and James Mitchell. Willie Mitchell produced.
What makes the raindrop sound at the start of the song?
An electric timbale, which Royal Studios had just acquired in 1973. Howard Grimes played the low part and Teenie Hodges overdubbed the high part.
Which pressing should I buy?
An original US Hi LP (XSHL 32079) or the UK London issue (SHU 8468) is the most authentic option and not costly. The Fat Possum LP from 2012 (FPH1138-1) is a sensible modern alternative if you cannot find a clean original.