Johnny Rivers- Realization

Not a concept album, but a song cycle depicting life in southern California in the late '60s, Realization is a fine cycle to catch a ride on. It's also a serious surprise -- when psychedelia reared its head in 1967, the results were frequently disastrous for those performers who'd been specializing in straight-ahead rock & roll, and few had rocked harder or more straight-ahead than Johnny Rivers. Instead of jumping on a bandwagon that had nothing to do with where he was musically, he hijacked the sounds of psychedelic rock -- much as the Temptations did at Motown -- and took it where he was going. Acting as his own producer for the first time, Rivers opened up a slightly gentler side to his work that's equally valid and a lot more interesting, if not quite as exciting as his rock & roll classics. After a few sonic digressions as a lead-in, "Hey Joe" gets going, carrying listeners into Rivers' gorgeous rendition of James Hendricks' "Look to Your Soul." His own achingly beautiful "The Way We Live" follows, and then comes Hendricks' "Summer Rain," which turned into Rivers' last big hit of the 1960s. And then he has the temerity to take "A Whiter Shade of Pale" and make it prettier and harder -- but less spacy -- than the Procol Harum original; from there he plunges into blue-eyed soul on "Brother, Where Are You." The surprises continue right through to the rather delicate, introspective reading of "Positively Fourth Street" at the close, Rivers succeeding in evoking a vast array of thoughts and emotions. For his trouble, helped by the two hits, he was rewarded with a Top Five charting album, and one that has continued to find new admirers across the decades. ~ James Chrispell & Bruce Eder, All Music Guide

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Donald Byrd - Love Byrd

Funky electric groove from Donald Byrd -- a post Mizell effort that's still burning in a crisp groove similar to his classic 70s Blue Note work -- one that's absolutely dripping with keys! Isaac Hayes(R.I.P.) produced this one, and also played a lot of those keyboards on the session with Byrd's 125 St Band -- grooving on acoustic piano and Rhodes, plus vibes and synth. Ronnie Garnett's bass is tight and funky throughout, with William Duckett on guitar, Albert Crawford, Jr on piano, keys & clavinet, Myra Walker on acoustic piano, and some groovy female chorus vocals that's to Isaac's Hot Buttered Soul Unlimited! Tracks include the great mellow "I Love Your Love", plus "I Feel Like Loving You Today", "Butterfly", "Love Has Come Around", and "I'll Always Love You".

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Micheal Franks- Objects Of Desire

First off, it has to be said that you either love, hate, admire or maybe ponder over Michael Franks' voice. What is less debatable is the quality of the music and the rich lyrics to be found on pretty much all his work. Objects of Desire like other Franks albums utilises 'A' list session bands and some varied flavours. There are some great syncopated grooves with mega-tight drumming by Andy Newmark Harvey Mason and others playing off sensitive bass playing from Francisco Centeno, Mark Egan and others. The guitar work from Niki Moroch and Larry Carlron (No Deposit Love has Carlton at his Steely Dan best) is particularly tasteful. If you like Dragonfly Summer/Blue Pacific this one is for you. If you haven't heard Franks before, give it a chance and try not to immediately dismiss his soft voice and let the whole thing blend into your senses.
I've seen other reviewers compare this album to disco music (referring to it's timing being the end of the disco period). I'm not sure what they have blocking their ears. Yes it is syncopated, yes it has slap bass, yes it has a lot of backbeat, but it it not monotonous and the fills and layering are complex and varied. You have to listen below the polished veneer, believe me it is all there.

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Donnie-The Colored Section

What a marvelously audacious introduction The Colored Section is. Emerging from the same Jazz Café-centered alternative Atlanta soul scene that nourished and nurtured fellow hippie-soul singer/songwriters like Joi and India.Arie all the way into the public consciousness, Donnie's first LP is a topical, unapologetically conscientious, and even righteously stinging declaration that, yes, can only be likened to the classic sociopolitical masterworks of spiritual heirs Donny Hathaway and especially Stevie Wonder. Songs like "Cloud 9" and "Wildlife," in fact, may be too indebted to genius-era Wonder -- the former with its wah-wah guitar and warm gusts of squelchy synth vibrato, the latter with its prominent clavinet and crisp harmonica ad-libs -- but are such stunning vintage impersonations that both easily could have slipped somewhere onto Innervisions. No matter from which angle you choose to approach such a statement, it couldn't really be taken as a criticism, nor should it be with The Colored Section. The music is consistently empowered and empowering: gracefully buttery, always deeply moving, and at its core profoundly idealistic. Generous melodies abound, rising from a gospel-derived groundwork, spun around street-tinged jazz rhythms, and enlivened by wonderful touches of humor like the Dixie frills of "Big Black Buck" that underscore an otherwise valuable criticism of consumerist society. And lest Donnie be dismissed as an imitator (a studied, well-versed disciple clearly, yes, but certainly not a clone), he explores a wealth of his own refreshingly original ideas, stretching out with genuine invention (the gorgeous cosmic explorations of "Heaven Sent," the jittery electronic backdrop of "Masterplan") as often as he reaches backwards into retro styles (invigorating bossa nova on "Do You Know?," the romantic, Baroque string arrangement of "Turn Around"). It is as bold and self-assured a debut as soul music has seen since D'Angelo's Brown Sugar. It falls just short of brilliance only because it borrows a few tricks too many from its obvious musical models, but even with its flaws, the album is such a vivid, radiant outpouring of soul-stirring talent and passion that it could fill two hearts. ~ Stanton Swihart, All Music Guide

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Re-Up The Legacy of phyllis hyman

I think Everyone Was Really Waiting For Me To Post This One More Than The Other Phyllis Hyman I Posted....Anyway...There have been numerous attempts at summarizing Phyllis Hyman's career on one disc. Most have been severely flawed, whether it has come down to missing hit singles or poor selection of album cuts. And while Hyman didn't have that many chart hits (at least when compared to several of her contemporaries), there has always been the need for a doubledisc compilation that goes deeper allowing space for all the major singles and album cuts that deserve more attention. The Legacy of Phyllis Hyman fills that void. Although it might be a little too much for the person who just wants the songs heard on the radio, it's the next best thing to having all of her studio albums (all of which are spotty in varying degrees).

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Minnie Riperton-Petals:The Minnie Riperton Collection

Although her 1979 death at 31 still reverberates through pop and R&B, Petals: The Minnie Riperton Collection is one of the first sets to successfully celebrate the joy, sensuality and wonder inherent in Minnie Riperton's music. This two-CD set has 34 tracks spanning the years 1966-1979. Unlike other compilations this culls work from all of her styles, including the cutesy but derivative R&B/pop she recorded under the name Andrea Davis. The collection also includes tracks from her stint with the often ho-hum, rock/R&B group Rotary Connection. The challenging and baroque songs from Riperton's first album, Come to My Garden, are much better. The tracks including the title, "Les Fleur," "Completeness," and "Expecting" are a collaborative effort between Riperton's husband Richard Rudolph and the brilliant Chicago writer/producer Charles Stephney. A few years down the line, she appeared to be an even more confident singer. Tracks like "Take a Little Trip," "Perfect Angel," and "Lovin' You," all from 1974, were all produced by Stevie Wonder in a relaxed and spare style. This set demonstrates other producers like Stewart Levine, Freddie Perren, and Jeremy Lubbock were also inspired to excellence by the style defined by Riperton and Rudolph. The evocative and powerful "Adventures in Paradise," "Inside My Love," and disco-ish "Young, Willing and Able" all have Riperton's sweetness and intelligence prominent in the mix. The later tracks, including the gorgeous {"Memory Lane,"} finds the formula reaching perfection. Her five-and-a-half octave range is on full display here, and Petals: The Minnie Riperton Collection assembles a plethora of definitive songs.

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Michael Franks- Backward Glance

If you haven't cottoned on to Michael Franks by now, it's time you wised up.Anyway, the Franks repertoire is cool, hip and sexy-smart. There's a hypnotic quality to the grooves - they seem familiar and you swear you've heard them somewhere else before. The lyrics are quirky, observational and intelligent - most of all intelligent.

If you've not traveled down the Franks road, then this greatest hits collection is a fair place to start.But there's a danger here. Once sampled, you may find yourself on the right side of a Michael Franks' addiction.Subtle vocals, understated instrumentation, warmth and intimacy...Michael Franks is the quintissential adult contemporary artist: clever enough to win jazz listeners and slick enough to lure pop fans. This wonderfully comprehensive compilation includes popular early work like "Popsicle Toes" and "The Lady Wants to Know" as well as later, radio-friendly fodder like "Your Secret's Safe With Me" and "When I Give My Love to You." Some tunes (notably "The Art of Love" and "Soul Mate") are missed opportunities for commercial success when viewed in hindsight, and the drop-dead gorgeous ballads "Tiger in the Rain" and "Hourglass" are attestments to the strengths of Franks' arrangements, and production, and songwriting prowess. Oddball tunes like "Baseball" and "When Sly Calls" are forgiven in the face of such beauty.

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Roy Ayers- Virgin Ubiquity 2

The genius of Roy Ayers knows no end -- and as this set of unreleased work from the 70s proves, Roy was always working at top form back in the day -- even above and beyond his classic albums from the time! The grooves here are tremendous -- funky, soulful, jazzy, and every bit as wonderful as the work that Roy did for his classic albums on Polydor -- and in a way, the whole set's even tighter and heavier than any of Roy's full LPs, because it's a distillation of his sound from the time, hand-picked from the vaults with an ear towards the kind of timeless grooves that have been a huge influence on many worlds of music for years! You've never heard any of these tunes before, but we can promise you'll love them every bit as much as Roy's tracks on albums like Coffy, Vibrations, Mystic Voyage, and other classics -- and the quality of the set only further pushes our jaw-dropping respect for the man! Titles include "Holiday", "Kwajilori", "I Am Your Mind (part 2)", "Touch Of Class", "Third Time", "Come To Me", "Wide Open", "Funk In The Hole", "Liquid Love", "Tarzan", "Sunshine (demo)", and "I Like The Way You Do It To Me".

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