RSSConsumer Guide by Review Date: 1974-08-01
1974-08-01
Donna Fargo: All About a Feeling (Dot, 1974) Even though she promises her share of rose gardens, Fargo is a lot more credible than Lynn Anderson, her major competition in the young country woman sweepstakes, adult division. Her cheerfulness carries real conviction, and this might function as an object lesson in how to be happy without being stupid to anyone but a dour young city man like myself. C+
Isis: Isis (Buddah, 1974) In which a band of women prove they can play as schlocky as the Brooklyn Bridge, only worse (no Johnny Maestro). Sad pretensions, off-key vibrato that offends even a proud tin-ear like myself, and Shadow Morton at his heavy worst. I used to be sad that the Shangri-Las broke up, but now I'm not, because this is probably what they would have become. D
Eddie Kendricks: Eddie Kendricks (Tamla, 1974) Most over-extended falsetto of the year. Motown was probably right to try and keep him in the Temptations. C-
Paul Williams: Here Comes Inspiration (A&M, 1974) Does a fellow as bright and successful as this pudgy eccentric, who once boasted that he looked like a gym teacher from Bryn Mawr, have a right to revel in sentimentality? Maybe. Because unlike the people who make hit singles out of his songs (the Carpenters, Three Dog Night, etc.) he makes it sound as if reveling is fun. B-