Friday 16 December 2022

Blue Magic - 13 Blue Magic Lane, album review


Falsetto Howl

from 1975, this is original soul: that is, if you accept its full copy of The Stylistics, and I do.

I've read it called a Halloween album, but I'm guessing that's entirely based on third track Born on Halloween which does begin with a howl, but it then transforms not into a werewolf but the falsetto of so much of the whole. So it too is a sweet, harmonious ballad in the Philly mood and mold. That fourth Haunted by Your Love may be a prompt for some to stick with the Halloween theme says more about an inability to grasp metaphor than take note the actual romatic thrust of a lyric.

The synths on most tracks are also a significant part of the Philly/Stylistics template. On second Chasing Rainbows they sound like shooting stars, or what I imagine shooting stars would sound like if recorded in the studio. Inevitably, this and other production predictability reflect their time and lack the memorable melodic impact of The Stylistics. The title track is a victim of this, moving to a more upbeat tempo when it's the ballads that lay claim to the album's best material, penultimate Stop and Get a Hold of Yourself returning to this. Closer What's Come Over Me is a signature saccharine sound in the Style of... The spoken narrative telling us 'I've never been to heaven but instead spent the night with you' is another limitation, but it did make me smile.



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