Monumental, ornate psychedelic soul. Given Billy Paul's then-recent success with "Me and Mrs. Jones", it would appear that his record company was prepared to throw some money his way, and he took full advantage by producing the kind of compositionally and instrumentally ambitious album that can be hard to pull off, especially back in the day, without the proper budget. Spacious songs with a cloudy, shimmering feel courtesy of an extensive backing band that incorporates horns, strings, harp, synth, and more.
Track listing:
1. I See the Light
2. War of the Gods
3. The Whole Town's Talking
4. I Was Married
5. Thanks for Saving My Life
6. Peace Holy Peace
The time has come for bad things to end
The time has come for life to begin
The time has come for the war of the gods
If you like this, you should also listen to:
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| Phil Flowers and His United Family - Alpha and Omega (1973) |
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| Angelo Bond - Bondage (1975) |
For some reasion I always got the feeling Billy Paul had something more up his sleeve. Pretty much a one hit wonder otherwise. A very intriguing prospect this.
ReplyDeleteEpic cover art (back & front) / epic title track.
ReplyDeleteLove the first two tracks.
ReplyDeleteTranscendent
ReplyDeleteMy neighbor/buddy and I bought a bunch of LP's awhile back. A bunch of random cheap ones at this awesome record store we have downtown. Everything was chosen based on art alone. Anyways, This was one of the ones we picked. Had never heard of Billy Paul. While not everything we picked up was great, This particular record floored me. Track one and the closing track are so good. Big fan of Mr. Paul now. Actually I'd probably say this is my favorite soul record period. Great post!
ReplyDeleteGot a vinyl copy...great to have a mp3 copy.
ReplyDeleteCheers
AJ