Arguably best known as one half of The Valentine Brothers, originators of the 1983 Simply Red hit Money’s Too Tight To Mention, Billy comes to the fore on this extraordinary collection of well-chosen covers celebrating some of soul’s biggest names. Be-bop elements collide with the singer’s sweet falsetto on Curtis Mayfield’s We The People, and he imbues Gil Scott-Heron’s Home Is Where The Hatred Is with some choice Marvin Gaye testifying. And that’s just the two opening cuts;
Prince’s Sign O’ The Times benefits from The Universal Truth’s jazz phrasing (shades of Miles Davis), Stevie Wonder’s You Haven’t Done Nothin’ is slowed down and stripped back to a pulpit testament, and War’s The World Is A Ghetto oozes with urban funk. This is a phenomenal album.
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