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Bill Medley 100%/Soft & Soulful

$11.99 ... CD Gatefold List Price: 16.98 (€8.84 || £7.56 || ¥1125) (approx.)

A pair of classics from the great Bill Medley – pulled from his key early years on his own! Bill Medley 100% a surprisingly wonderful little record – and a real testament to the blue-eyed soul of Medley! The set's a solo outing that has Bill stepping away from his fame as a Righteous Brother – but almost sounding even better on his own, with a depth of soul to his vocals that's really amazing – echoes of Ray Charles, Jerry Butler, Chuck Jackson, and other 60s greats – served up with a surprising lack of cliche – at least in comparison to folks who tried this sort of thing in later years. Bill Baker serves up some sparkling arrangements for the set – and titles include "Brown Eyed Woman", "You're Nobody Til Somebody Loves You", "Let The Good Times Roll", "Show Me", "One Day Girl", and "That's Life". Soft & Soulful is a record that really has Bill Medley deepening up his groove – moving past some of the more standard soul music modes of earlier efforts, and stretching out in a rich tapestry of modes that clearly sets the scene for soul singers in generations to come! There's still a strong dose of 60s soul in the mix here, but the arrangements complicate things nicely – and bring in this "adult" approach to the music that no doubt went back from Medley's mainstream presence to have an influence on other soul singers as well – kind of a template for more mature modes that would show up more strongly in the 70s. Medley wrote some of the tunes on the set himself – which further deepens the personality of the record – and titles include "Winter Won't Come This Year", "Peace Brother Peace", "100 Years", "I'm Gonna Die Me", "Softly", "When Something Is Wrong With My Baby", "Any Day Now", and "Street Of Dirt".  © 1996-2013, Dusty Groove, Inc.