Saturday, May 26, 2007

Benny Johnson Visions Of Paradise

Soul Brother Records have an excellent track record in issuing rare soul albums and keep up the tradition with Benny Johnson's hard to find classic.

Here is what Dusty Groove think of the album:
A sublime bit of indie soul from the early 70s -- the one and only album by vocalist Benny Johnson, recorded with some totally great backings from funk legend Julius Brockington and his United Chair combo! For the session, Brockington chose a warm, organ-drenched sound that's a fair bit like some of the best work coming out of Hi Records at the same time -- although without as much of a southern soul approach overall. Johnson's vocals have a beautifully crackling sort of quality -- one that's honest and human, but still smooth enough to fit the mode of the music here -- a bit like Al Green, but a little more east coast overall. The set's got some excellent mellow soul numbers that are worth the price of admission alone -- tracks that slide out beautifully with a really gentle sound, and bubble up with a tremendous amount of soul. But there's also some fuller, more upbeat tunes too -- groovers that have made the album a favorite overseas for years! Titles include "Visions Of Paradise", "Stop Me", "Give It Up", "Second To None", "Won't You Stay", "It's Yours Baby", "Please Come Back", and "I Just Got To Know".

I cannot argue with the above and have been hammering "Absolutely, Positively Baby" - one of the best albums of the early 70's.

No comments:

Post a Comment