Caught Up / Still Caught Up
The 1974Caught Upwas Millie Jackson's breakthrough, a soul opera about infidelity with Jackson playing the "other woman" on one side-long suite, punctuated with an extended, down-and-dirty rap, and the wronged wife on the other. With theMuscle Shoalsrhythm section's rippling pulse and slick, protodisco orchestrations backing up Jackson's histrionic but sensitive readings of a string of cheating-song covers (plus some originals that advance the plot), this was as high-concept as '70s soul got, and it's kept its savage emotional force even as its style dates it. This reissue couples it with the 1975 sequelStill Caught Up, which forces the narrative a little (it ends with the mistress going insane and being hauled away!) but spawned the hit "Leftovers."--Douglas Wolk