One of P.P. Arnold's early sides for Immediate Records was titled "Am I Still Dreaming?"  The song, which the artist born Patricia Ann Cole in Los Angeles wrote at the encouragement of none other than Mick Jagger, is one of the 57 songs on 3 CDs assembled by Edsel Records on the dream of a box set appropriately entitled Soul Survivor: A Life in Song.  The collection, compiled by the singer and Michael Mulligan, traces the onetime Ikette's career from her signing to Andrew Loog Oldham's label through subsequent collaborations with Barry Gibb, Cat Stevens, Eric Clapton, Rod Stewart, Peter Frampton, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Andy Gibb, Roger Waters, Steve Howe, and numerous others.  It adds up to an impressive look at a vocalist with heart and soul to spare.

Jude Rogers quotes P.P. in his liner notes: "I'm a black American singer, but my soul is different from the black American sound because my roots lie in being produced by British producers.  My sound is more pop.  It's more power."  The pop tag, though, is only part of the picture, as Arnold sang with deep soul and worked with some of rock's finest.  Mick Jagger helmed the songs that open this set, including the haunting, percussive "Though It Hurts Me Badly."  Cat Stevens gifted Arnold with "The First Cut Is the Deepest," resulting in the first recording of the oft-covered ballad.  At Immediate, Steve Marriott and Ronnie Lane of Small Faces wrote songs for her and she more than held her own opposite future not-Small Face Rod Stewart on "Come Home Baby," a bluesy, brassy Mann and Weil tune.  These varied songs careened from orchestral pop to R&B to rock and soul, with Arnold's expressive, clarion voice as the constant.  While Immediate offered her the opportunity to write, too, she also brought her throaty, church-honed pipes to familiar covers including Chip Taylor's "Angel of the Morning," The Beach Boys' "God Only Knows" (with PP singing harmonies and competing with Tony Meehan's overdone chart), a hip spin through The Beatles' "Eleanor Rigby," and a sensitive reading of Tim Hardin's "It'll Never Happen Again" (this time aided by Meehan's lovely, languid orchestration).

Perhaps because she was so difficult to pigeonhole, labels had a difficult time selling the versatile vocalist.  Polydor issued just two singles from P.P., instead shelving many of her post-Immediate recordings for the label which didn't see release until a 2017 compilation.  One of those, "A Likely Piece of Work" b/w "May the Winds Blow," was written by the team of producer-manager Jack Good and Wrecking Crew bassist Ray Pohlman.  P.P. had starred opposite P.J. Proby in their West End production Catch My Soul, a musical version of Othello; its cast album is still unavailable on CD.

Soul Survivor reprises some of the once-lost Polydor sides, too, including Eric Clapton's funky productions of Traffic's "Medicated Goo" and the Stones' "You Can't Always Get What You Want" and a couple of Blood, Sweat & Tears covers helmed by Barry Gibb, then going through a rough patch with his brothers.  One of Barry's productions heard here, his and Maurice Gibb's gospel-inspired "Bury Me Down by the River," did get a Polydor single release.  Her rendition predated the Bee Gees' own, and in a rare instance for one of their recordings, P.P. was invited to sing background vocals.  Barry later co-produced P.P.'s sweet and smooth duet with his kid brother Andy on Carole King and Gerry Goffin's "Will You Love Me Tomorrow," a highlight of this box.

Soul Survivor jumps from the early '70s to the early '80s, largely because Arnold stayed out of the spotlight during that decade.  Though she contributed background vocals to numerous albums during that period, she also moved to Los Angeles and suffered personal tragedy when her daughter perished in an automobile accident.  P.P. retreated from public view, returning to England in 1982 and embarking on a new chapter of her career.  She returned to the London stage in such productions as Andrew Lloyd Webber's Starlight Express (playing "Belle the Sleeping Car," reprised here) and Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty's Once on This Island (represented by the uplifting "The Human Heart").  Younger artists also began to champion Arnold.  Though her 1983 hit single version of The Staple Singers' "Respect Yourself" with The Kane Gang isn't here (likely due to licensing restrictions), the set boasts the film soundtrack theme "Electric Dreams" (co-written by Boy George and produced by Don Was) and a clutch of shimmering, electro-flecked tracks from 1985 with the band Loose Ends, produced by Philly soul maestro Dexter Wansel.  '80s collaborations with The Beatmasters (the club floor-fillers "Burn It Up" and "Make Me Feel") and Pressure Point (the brassy "Leave Right Now") reveal an artist in her vocal prime, contrasting her earthy vocals with increasingly contemporary, synthesized soundscapes.

Arnold continued to find new collaborators in the '90s and beyond, including The Blockheads' Chaz Jankel.  Their exquisite "Salobreña" (so named for a seaside town in Costa del Sol, Spain where the singer lived) and lithe "Take Me to the Top" (a slice of modern neo-soul with a tinge of Jose Feliciano's "Light My Fire" for good measure) find the vocalist in revitalized form.  P.P. backed Roger Waters on tour for almost a decade, singing "Perfect Sense Pt. I" (from 1992's Amused to Death) each night.  The track demonstrates her versatility in any setting.

Her friendship with Paul Weller and his bandmate Steve Cradock led to a number of latter-day triumphs including "'It's a Beautiful Thing" with Ocean Colour Scene, the lightly Latin, uptown soul-styled "Baby Blue," a brass-flecked rendition of Mike Nesmith's Stone Poneys hit "Different Drum," and P.P.'s recording of Weller's "When I Was Part of Your Picture."  Other recordings from this period were made with Yes' Steve Howe (Bob Dylan and Danny O'Keefe's "Well, Well, Well") and "Angel of the Morning" songwriter Chip Taylor ("Temptation"); Howe had played with Arnold even before he joined his famous band.  Five selections on CD 3 have been culled from P.P.'s joint album with The Blow Monkeys' Dr. Robert, among them the moody "Five in the Afternoon," slick and smooth "I See Something," and slow-burning "Stay Now." Most recently, Soul Survivor showcases a pair of poignant Sandy Denny covers from a 2012 tribute concert and the autobiographical 2023 track (co-written with Patrick Mascal and Mark Taylor) which gives both this box and Arnold's memoir its title.

The slipcased package contains a 20-page booklet with Jude Rogers' liner notes, plenty of photos and memorabilia images, and full credits.  The three discs are housed in slots within an oversized six-panel digipak, and Phil Kinrade has nicely remastered all audio. The story of Soul Survivor is one of an artist who's weathered both personal tragedies and the changing tides of music, but has thrived by staying true to herself and her voice.  Indeed, it's a beautiful thing.

Soul Survivor: A Life in Song is available now from Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada.  As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases.