"Diamond In the Rough" foi o segundo álbum de Syl Johnson pela Hi Records de Willie Mitchell. Se você gostou do som suave e sedoso da soul soul de Memphis que Mitchell criou para Al Green e outros, então as chances eram boas de que você iria gostar desta coleção. Dito isso, este não foi um grande afastamento do álbum anterior. Cercado pela nata dos músicos de sessões do Hi, como o álbum anterior, este conjunto pesado de baladas tornou muito difícil ignorar a semelhança de Johnson com Al Green. Veja bem, ser comparado a Green não era a pior coisa que poderia acontecer com você, mas para ser justo com Johnson, um pouco de diferenciação provavelmente não teria prejudicado sua carreira. O problema era que, se você se concentrasse, era fácil ouvir as diferenças entre os dois cantores. Pelo menos para os meus ouvidos, Johnson tinha uma sensação um pouco mais crua, aparentemente mais confortável em material mais funk como ' Don't Do It ', a faixa-título , e o som da Carolina Beach Music em ' I Want to Take You Home (To See Mama) '.
Talvez não tão deslumbrante quanto seu álbum anterior, Hi, mas uma joia, canção por canção; um álbum que deveria estar em mais coletâneas de soul.
Faixas
A1 Let Yourself Go 3:06
A2 Don't Do It 2:44
A3 I Want To Take You Home 2:32
A4 Could I Be Falling In Love 3:03
A5 Stuck In Chicago 2:47
B1 Diamond In The Rough 2:51
B2 Keeping Down Confusion 2:37
B3 Please, Don't Give Up On Me 2:30
B4 Music To My Ears 2:40
B5 I Hear The Love Chimes 2:39
This second of three underrated releases for Hi finds Syl Johnson slowly but surely transforming from a credulous loser into a standup guy no one messes around with. Diamond in the Rough could be viewed as a creative bridge between the slightly formulaic Hi approach of 1973’s Back for a Taste of Your Love and the more bluesy and rewarding Total Explosion from 1975. Different from the southern soul belter which distinguished fellow Hi second leaguers Otis Clay and O.V. Wright, Johnson’s unique feat lies in his earnest yet sometimes ironic take on love and relationships. Exemplary are “Keeping Down Confusion” with its rolling organ and “Don’t Do It“, where the singer drives home the ultimate cliché of “I was just doing my job/Working overtime,” convincing listeners of wrongfully being accused of cheating on his better half. Singing at the top of his register unintentionally added to Johnson’s well-timed delivery and was perfected for Total Explosion’s closing track “That’s Just My Luck“.
Not a dry eye in the house as Johnson’s seemingly guilty conscious (“What am I doing here/With another man’s wife/I’m shaking in fear/But I’m having the time of my life/I’m a fool/To put myself in jeopardy/But I can’t help myself/She makes sweet love to me”) makes for an adultery song which holds up with the likes of Don Covay’s “I Was Checkin’ out She Was Checkin’ in“. Diamond in the Rough has its own surprises, for instance in the minor R&B chart success of “I Want to Take You Home to See Mama“. Initially coming on too joyfully honest for its own good, its credibility easily supersedes Al Green’s “Let’s Get Married.” As ballads like the unfairly overlooked first single “Please Don’t Give up on Me” stand out, the albums best song remains the driving “Stuck in Chicago“. The only song not written by Willie Mitchell and his gang, it paved the way for Total Explosion’s tougher approach where the former Chicago bluesman would let it loose on his harmonica. His reading of “Take Me to the River” gave the author and Hi superstar he was often compared to a run for his money. Like Big Mouth Billy Bass miming the song to Tony Soprano in one of the television series’ episodes, Johnson did have the last laugh as “getting stuck in Chicago” would lead to his biggest hit.
"Diamond In the Rough" foi o segundo álbum de Syl Johnson pela Hi Records de Willie Mitchell. Se você gostou do som suave e sedoso da soul soul de Memphis que Mitchell criou para Al Green e outros, então as chances eram boas de que você iria gostar desta coleção. Dito isso, este não foi um grande afastamento do álbum anterior. Cercado pela nata dos músicos de sessões do Hi, como o álbum anterior, este conjunto pesado de baladas tornou muito difícil ignorar a semelhança de Johnson com Al Green. Veja bem, ser comparado a Green não era a pior coisa que poderia acontecer com você, mas para ser justo com Johnson, um pouco de diferenciação provavelmente não teria prejudicado sua carreira. O problema era que, se você se concentrasse, era fácil ouvir as diferenças entre os dois cantores. Pelo menos para os meus ouvidos, Johnson tinha uma sensação um pouco mais crua, aparentemente mais confortável em material mais funk como ' Don't Do It ', a faixa-título , e o som da Carolina Beach Music em ' I Want to Take You Home (To See Mama) '.
Talvez não tão deslumbrante quanto seu álbum anterior, Hi, mas uma joia, canção por canção; um álbum que deveria estar em mais coletâneas de soul.
Faixas
A1 Let Yourself Go 3:06
A2 Don't Do It 2:44
A3 I Want To Take You Home 2:32
A4 Could I Be Falling In Love 3:03
A5 Stuck In Chicago 2:47
B1 Diamond In The Rough 2:51
B2 Keeping Down Confusion 2:37
B3 Please, Don't Give Up On Me 2:30
B4 Music To My Ears 2:40
B5 I Hear The Love Chimes 2:39
This second of three underrated releases for Hi finds Syl Johnson slowly but surely transforming from a credulous loser into a standup guy no one messes around with. Diamond in the Rough could be viewed as a creative bridge between the slightly formulaic Hi approach of 1973’s Back for a Taste of Your Love and the more bluesy and rewarding Total Explosion from 1975. Different from the southern soul belter which distinguished fellow Hi second leaguers Otis Clay and O.V. Wright, Johnson’s unique feat lies in his earnest yet sometimes ironic take on love and relationships. Exemplary are “Keeping Down Confusion” with its rolling organ and “Don’t Do It“, where the singer drives home the ultimate cliché of “I was just doing my job/Working overtime,” convincing listeners of wrongfully being accused of cheating on his better half. Singing at the top of his register unintentionally added to Johnson’s well-timed delivery and was perfected for Total Explosion’s closing track “That’s Just My Luck“.
Not a dry eye in the house as Johnson’s seemingly guilty conscious (“What am I doing here/With another man’s wife/I’m shaking in fear/But I’m having the time of my life/I’m a fool/To put myself in jeopardy/But I can’t help myself/She makes sweet love to me”) makes for an adultery song which holds up with the likes of Don Covay’s “I Was Checkin’ out She Was Checkin’ in“. Diamond in the Rough has its own surprises, for instance in the minor R&B chart success of “I Want to Take You Home to See Mama“. Initially coming on too joyfully honest for its own good, its credibility easily supersedes Al Green’s “Let’s Get Married.” As ballads like the unfairly overlooked first single “Please Don’t Give up on Me” stand out, the albums best song remains the driving “Stuck in Chicago“. The only song not written by Willie Mitchell and his gang, it paved the way for Total Explosion’s tougher approach where the former Chicago bluesman would let it loose on his harmonica. His reading of “Take Me to the River” gave the author and Hi superstar he was often compared to a run for his money. Like Big Mouth Billy Bass miming the song to Tony Soprano in one of the television series’ episodes, Johnson did have the last laugh as “getting stuck in Chicago” would lead to his biggest hit.
