Check Me Out If You Don't Know Me By Now
People Records
PE 6605
Produced by James Brown
1974 Polydor Incorporated
1975 Polydor Incorporated

SIDE ONE

1. A Foggy Day
2. To Each His Own
3. Put it on the Line
4. Mr. Big Stuff
5. How Long Can I Keep it Up

SIDE TWO

1. Baby Don't Do it
2. Backstabbers
3. Rock Me Again & Again & Again (6 times)
4. Try a Little Tenderness
5. If You Don't Know Me by Now

"Check Me Out..." is not as good as "Think (about it)". Not by far. It does contain one of Lyns strongest numbers, "Rock Me Againa & Again & Again (6 times). The take on Jean Knights soul classic is fun and funkier than the original, but not astonishing. The album does however contain a lot of recordings that are hard to find anywhere else. The uneven feel of the album may be explained by the fact that the album contains songs recorded throughout most of Lyns stint with the James Brown revue. There are also a few different versions available of this album (see below).

Different versions

It seems like there are at least three different versions of this album around. The original version is the one listed above. The other two are (I think) Japanese versions of the album.

The CD version (P-Vine/Polydor PCD-1360) contains eight bonus tracks, and runs like this:

1. Me and My Baby Got A Good Thing Going
2. I'll Never Let You Break My Heart Again
3. Take Me Just As I Am
4. People Make The World A Better Place
5. We Want To Parrty, Parrty, Parrty
6. Don't Make Me Over
7. Give It Up Or Turn It Loose
8. You Can't Love Me If You Don't Respect Me
9. A Foggy Day
10. To Each His Own
11. Put It On The Line
12. Mr. Big Stuff
13. How Long Can I Keep It Up
14. Baby Don't Do It
15. Backstabbers
16. Rock Me Again & Again & Again & Again & Again & Again
17. Try A Little Tenderness
18. If You Don't Know Me By Now

I would love to lay my hands on this beauty. The eight extra songs really spices up the mix and are telling placed at the beginning of the running order (the first eight songs are the bonus tracks). At least half of them are among my top ten favourite Lyn Collins songs and have been featured on numerous compilations. One or two of them are unfamiliar to me. Do I want it? Hell yeah!

The Japanese vinyl version (P-Vine PLP-7710) runs like this:

SIDE ONE

1. A Foggy Day
2. To Each His Own
3. Put It On The Line
4. Mr. Big Stuff
5. How Long Can I Keep It Up
6. Oh,Uncle Sammy

SIDE TWO

1. Baby Don't Do It
2. Backstabbers
3. Rock Me Again & Again & Again & Again & Again & Again
4. Try A Little Tenderness
5. If You Don't Know Me By Now
6. Mama Feel Good

At the end of each side is a bonus track not featured on the original release. Neither one is included on the eight track bonus version presented above. "Oh, Uncle Sammy" is a song I've never heard. "Mama Feelgood" is yet another of my top ten favourites and one of Lyns signature songs.

"Check Me Out..." has also been released in the UK in 1988 by Urban, using the same track listing as the original US release.