lew kirton - just arrived
70's soul became a very different groove to its 60's counterpart. lots more syrup in the mix, nudges towards disco and subsequently a lot less interesting to my ears. so when i first span this collection i heard the atypical mush and dropped the cd to the bottom of the pile, thus avoiding all that 'hey baby i can dig it' stereotype, of which there is plenty on offer here. but check again, amongst the usual misogynist gumph there is the odd diamond worthy of more attention. for example, check out the excellent 'nyc' with its funked up vibe, the slighty reggae/disco crossover appeal of 'island girl', the sitar focus of 'time to get with it', and the dreadful (but now in vogue amongst hipsters?) cliched disco groove of 'love secret agent' which rips the james bond theme, straps on a chic style guitar lick during which lew drops some truly cringesome lyrics, thus creating a track which is huge fun.
as should be expected the vocals are gorgeous, all silky and smooth, like a cross between the subsonic love machine noises of barry white (the blueprint for this style of soul music), with a little more gritty vocal reality a la bobby womack. admittedly, lew doesn't have the sheer depth like mr white, he still carries the style well, and indeed sounds rather fine in these flared up surroundings.
extra tracks that were not included on the original album include the stunning 'do what you want to do' where the marriage of strings, backing singers ('you can change, you can change, you can change') is very special and shows that lew definitely had a talent that unfortunately wasn't released fully with the 'basic' album before dropping back onto saucy 'heaven in the afternoon' - let your mind wander and figure out just how he wants to spend his siestas.
so a quick summary of this 1977 re-release : smooth, nice, and full of lurrrve.