Following the digital reissue of two 1976
Willie Hutch albums a few weeks ago ("Concert In Blues" and "Color Her Sunshine") Motown/Universal reissue another gem, "Ode To My Lady", from 1975. It was first reissued on CD by London's Soul Brother
Records in 2011 but we believe this is the first digital release of the
album.
Only two singles materialised from the album with "Love Power" being his highest charting single reaching #41 Hot 100 and #8 R&B (his only solo top 10 career hit) and the other, "Party Down", containing his modern soul gem, "Just Another Day", on the B side.
Apart from "Just Another Day", the real diamond on the album is hands
down the best performance of a classic song "The Way We Were" made famous by Barbara Streisand in 1974 (via title track of the
movie she starred in with Robert Redford) and then Gladys Knight &
The Pips. Many others such as Freda Payne, The Dells, The Manhattans,
21st Century and so many more have all covered the song faithfully in
the MOR style but Hutch's version ups the tempo and changes the
arrangement and is sung in his distinctive soulful style. A SS favourite
for far too many years to remember and, if it's a new one on you then,
you're in for a real treat.
Other highlights (and there are several) include the powerful deep soul ballad "Since I Found You", the mid-tempo "Talk To Me" (B side to "Love Power") and "(I'm Gonna) Hold On", a superb modern soul dancer that we don't recall ever hearing 'played out' but no doubt someone will tell us that Jack The Lad played it in the back room at Itchy Bottom Working Man's Club in 1977! The instrumental title track is no slouch either and very much in his earlier Blaxploitation movie theme mode of Foxy Brown and The Mack!
Click on image below for link to where you can buy from.
| Rating: | 9 |
| Explicit: | N |
| Genre/Style: | Modern Soul |
| Format: | Album / Reissue |
| Media: | Digital |
| Label: | Motown/Universal |
| Cat No: | None |
| Date: | 13/04/2024 |
| Price: | £9.90 |
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Beautiful analysis of this album. But honestly Willie Hutch didn't do anything mediocre. A great man !!!
ReplyDeleteYves