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Billy Price may not
be the most photogenic of performers but his recordings are wonderful--r&b
and blue-eyed soul of the highest order. On this occasion the recognisable
hand of Jerry (Swamp Dogg) Williams in is control. He has produced the
album, written eight of the ten tracks, played piano and keyboards, and
sung background vocals. And what a great job he has done.
An impressive horn
section is prominent throughout, notably on the excellent uptempo opener
"Crack Crack." The slower "Mine All Mine" has guitar
combining with the horns and a baritone sax riffing in the background
while the slow burner "This Magic Hour" builds up, then drops
back. Just listen to the horns again, the nice guitar and organ, and the
beautiful arrangement. In fact these comments could be applied to a number
of the tracks here, including the mid-paced "Indefinitely."
The opening bars of "Pass the Sugar" tell you that this will
be a great track--and it is, in a story about making love in a car, but
not with "the wife." Read between the lines of lyrics such as
"how come the sugar is never this sweet at home?" There are
clever lines elsewhere that probably stem from real-life situations covering
reminiscing with an ex ("I Know It's Your Party") and answers
to the question "What Is Love?" (a slow ballad), with proposals
of what he will do when he finds it. A non-Swamp Dogg song, the funky
"Can I Change My Mind" is the type that Rober Cray might well
perform, and Billy Price does emulate Cray's vocal style. The flute I
could do without however.
I have reviewed Billy
Price before. He is an excellent, authentic soul singer with good material,
great backups and high quality production values. This album sounded good
straight away--on second and subsequent hearings it sounded even better.
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