Consumer Guide Album

3 Tenors of Soul: All the Way From Philadelphia [Shanachie, 2007]
The rare repertoire album with a future, because there's no stink of the canon about it. Russell Thompkins Jr. and Ted Mills are remembered as oddballs if at all--although you, gentle reader, of course recognize them as the falsetto leads of the Stylistics and Blue Magic. But together, their nearly intact voices--Thompkins' buttery, Mills' supple--actualize an out-of-this-world tenderness that's a promise, not an escape, with Delfonic William Hart designated as third wheel. Curated by MFSB guitarist Bobby Eli, the songs are equally pristine--certified hits by Isley-Jasper-Isley and the Brothers Gibb, AWB and EWF, Dionne Warwick and Hall & Oates, but the average rock history buff will be lucky to recognize them, never mind following through with IDs. Granted, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame could ruin this yet. And I say, let it try. A-