Latimore

• More More More Latimore [Glades, 1974] B+
• Latimore III [Glades, 1975] B+
• It Ain't Where You Been [Glades, 1976] B-
• Dig a Little Deeper [Glades, 1978] B+
• I'll Do Anything for You [Malaco, 1983] B+

Consumer Guide Reviews:

More More More Latimore [Glades, 1974]
After last year's covers of "Take Me to the Pilot," "So Much Love," and "For What It's Worth" I hoped I'd never run into the fellow again, but here he gets basic. His voice is too ordinary to put any of the three blues up with the Bland, King, or Mabon original. But he likes what he's singing so much that he doesn't have to go for the simulated high emotion of some fancy vocal embellishment--he just puts those lyrics across, intelligent and matter-of-fact, as if you've never heard them before, which maybe you haven't. B+

Latimore III [Glades, 1975]
Mixing Lou Rawls and Swamp Dogg in a soul-stud groove that climaxes on the fast side with his sympathetic impression of "a redneck in a soul band" and is softened on the (less impressive) slow side by a spirited but thoughtful rendition of "Ladies' Man," a song about not getting it up that's probably the best thing Oscar Brown Jr. ever wrote. B+

It Ain't Where You Been [Glades, 1976]
Like Barry White, Lattimore is the strong talkative type--never jabbering, never letting up on the line. Unlike Barry White, he sings with enough variety to keep the backing to five basic pieces. Like Barry White, he tends to repeat himself. B-

Dig a Little Deeper [Glades, 1978]
In seven solid, funk-rooted tunes this obdurate soul holdout portrays, in order, a long-suffering on-the-road monogamist, a stud on the prowl, a reluctant lay ("We got to hit if off before we get it on," he tells a "liberated woman"), a sentimental monogamist, a sex slave, a good lover (title tune), and a seducer of virgins (courtesy Rod Stewart). And convinces in all seven roles. Very impressive. But I don't believe I'll introduce him to my wife. B+

I'll Do Anything for You [Malaco, 1983]
As T.K. was folding in 1980, this after-the-fact soul hero resorted to L.A. session men to define his seriousness, which proved no less schlocky than most pop seriousness. But his 1982 return to his roots on Malaco was only slightly less schlocky, because at least temporarily the man has lost his knack as a composer. Here the title tune and the first three cuts on side one are the hottest soul tracks of a year that saw as many new soul albums as the previous three or four put together, but it isn't just the Mississippi rhythm section that's catapulted him back into the action. It's also the Memphis songwriting stable. Say thank you to George Jackson and Denise LaSalle. B+