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Ahaa,
a new Billy, after a wait of four years. "Unknown," you say? Well read
this: Billy Price started his career as the singer for Roy Buchanan, with
whom he made two LPs (Livestock on Polydor is nearly a classic). In '77
he started his Keystone Rhythm Band, working with them until 1990 and
making four LPs. From '90 on it became The Billy Price Band, and with
that group he made the CD Danger Zone in '93, a record full of blues and
R&B interpretations. Maybe it's logical that he's coming with a full soul
CD as a follow-up.
Well,
logic doesn't really have anything to do with it, Billy is without a doubt
a soul singer "pur sang" and it's made very clear on this CD, as with
the years his voice, just like the rest of his anatomy, became a little
older and even more genuine. It seems a little odd, but in these 90s,
when a whole lot of black soul singers surround themselves with computerized
drums, horns, and strings, this white soul man surrounds himself with
real flesh and blood, and this whole lotta meat makes for a backing that
can easily be compared to those classic teams of Stax, Hi, and Muscle
Shoals. Regarding the music itself, there are of course ups and downs,
but that hasn't anything to do with the quality of the interpretations--all
top notch--but more so with the choice of songs. They're all soul classics,
no doubt, but it all depends on different tastes; who's drooling for Southern
soul and who's drooling for Northern soul, also sometimes called uptown
soul? Those who, like myself, are in the first category will find some
songs they won't go for, and vice versa of course. This aside, they're
all done in first-class interpretations, 15 songs (number 16, "A Man Must
Stand for Something," is an original easily as good as the rest), with
3 covers of songs from his friend Otis Clay, with the highlight being
the duet between both gentlemen in "That's How It Is," a magnificent second
after the heart-rending version of Joe Simon's "Your Time to Cry," a great
slab of wet-handkerchief soul. For the rest, you ain't gonna get a list
of the original performers; buy the CD and see for yourself.
"Need
all the money for the coming festivities," you say? Bullshit, just buy
everyone the same: the new Billy Price!
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