The beautiful sound and soul of Van McCoy is unmatched!
Although best known to the listening public at large for his lone headlining hit, the disco blockbuster “The Hustle,” Van McCoy in fact enjoyed a long and remarkably prolific career behind the scenes as a songwriter and producer, piling up a series of soul hits prior to his premature death at the age of just 39.
He has approximately 700 song copyrights to his credit, and is also noted for producing songs for such recording artists as Gladys Knight & the Pips, The Stylistics, Aretha Franklin, Brenda & the Tabulations, David Ruffin, Peaches & Herb, Lesley Gore and Stacy Lattisaw.
Love Is the Answer captures Van McCoy in transition from the lush soul that defines the majority of his career to the sophisticated dance music on which his mainstream recognition rests. While not a seismic shift in conceptual approach, the album nevertheless captures a producer and arranger still grappling with the emerging disco formula, relying on the comfort and safety of classic Motown hits as he updates his sound for the evolving demands of the dancefloor.
McCoy expands the basic template of familiar material like “You Are the Sunshine of My Life“, “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” and “Touch Me in the Morning” with heaving swells of strings and horns, proving more sure-footed with the arrangement requirements of disco than its rhythmic concerns. Indeed, tepid percussion dooms Love Is the Answer, a failure that sheds new light on the formal elegance of his breakthrough hit “The Hustle” arguably the most old-school disco blockbuster of its time.
1. Love Is The Answer - 3:20
2. Touch Me In The Morning - 3:51
3. Back Stabbers - 3:14
4. Proud Mary - 3:40
5. You Are The Sunshine Of My Life - 3:27
6. African Symphony - 2:59
7. Ain’t No Mountain High Enough - 3:55
8. Boogie Down - 3:20
9. A Rainy Night In Georgia - 4:32
10. Funky Feet - 3:16
0 reacties:
Een reactie posten