Wilson Pickett
It’s Harder Now (Bullseye Blues/Rounder)
Voice-wise, Wilson Pickett sounds almost as good as he did in the ’60s, when he rolled out “Mustang Sally” and “Land of 1,000 Dances.” But on his first new studio album in a decade, he suffers from a common soul-legend malady. Where younger guitarist Robert Cray, on his recent old-soul album “Take Your Shoes Off,” writes excellent songs and hires top-of-the-line sidemen, Pickett has to contend with mediocrity. Instead of employing his old backup names, he gets guitarist Jon Tiven and keyboardist Sky Williams. The adequate sidepeople stay out of the way, allowing Pickett to whoop his raspy whoop in the harp-spiced “Taxi Love,” leer in “What’s Under That Dress?” and scream in “Stone Crazy World.” Still, where Cray sings like he wishes he could have been there, Pickett sounds too often like “been there, done that.”