Gulf Coast Records/Hillside Global artist: Tito Jackson - Under Your Spell - New Release Review

 I just had the opportunity to review the most recent release (August 6, 2021), Under Your Spell, by Tito Jackson and it blends modern funk, blues, pop and rock for his own style. Opening with Wheels Keep Turning, Jackson on lead vocal and guitar sets a pop pace joined by Michael Harris on drums, Michael K Jackson and Brandon Adams on keys, Darnell Neal on bass, Jason Parfait and Ian Smith on horns. I really like the horn work and slide guitar efforts by Jackson on this track. Heavy footed, Under Your Spell, has a great foot drum thump and with strong addition by Joe Bonamassa on guitar, Robert King on bass and sassy horn work by Parfait and Smith, this track has a great groove. R&B track, Big Leg Woman has a strong sax intro by Parfait, and gives Jackson a great chance to shine on lead vocal, features Kenny Neal on guitar with Jackson and keeps with the theme of ballsey horn throughout. My favorite track on the release is You're Gonna Push Me To Far with some really nicely stylized guitar "JG Watson" like work by KT Thomas. Very cool. George Benson is a standout on lead guitar on Rock Me Baby, a smooth, R&B take on BB King's classic track. Also featured are James "Boogaloo" Bolden on trumpet, Russell B Jackson on bass, Eric Demmer on sax, Wilber Crosby on lead guitar, lamar Boulet on trumpet, Darrell Lavigne on keys, Brandon Jackson on drums, and with Claudette King on lead vocal, Michael Lee and Tito Jackson on lead vocal and guitar. Wrapping the release is smooth soul track, I Got Caught (Loving In A Dream) with warm vocal harmionies and featurning Tito on guitar, Harris on drums, Brandon Adams on organ, synth bass and piano, Tyree Neal on guitar, and with pootent horn accents by Parfait and Smith. Solid closer. 

   

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Island Records Group release: The Motown 7s Box - New release review

I just received the latest release, The Motown 7s Box, from Island Records Group and it's a fast paced mouthful of savory soul and R&B style. Opening with Marvin Gaye's This Love Starved Heart, the release is hopping from the start. The Spinners', What More Could A Boy Ask For, is slick and smooth with horn and vocal backing. Frank Wilson's Do I Love You is a strong driver with full orchestration. Wilson is on top of his game on this track. The Originals' Suspicion has such a strong Motown trademark sound with the drums in front with the vocals and underlying strings and backing vocals. Very nice. The Supremes do a straight up version of Stormy. This is a really cool track with classic styling. Stevie Wonder, one of the best song smiths of our time, is up next with Just Enough To Ease The Pain. This track is closely related to Light My Fire melodically with a definite Wonder twist. The Four Tops' Clip My Wings moves along at a fast moving clip and leaving you wanting more. Tammi Terrell contributes one of my favorite tracks, All I Do, which shows just how talented she is. Barbara McNair, with It Happens Every Time, has a nice easy paced pop tune. David Ruffin's I Can't Be Hurt Anymore is a terrific R&B track showing Ruffin in solid groove. The Temptations' Forever In My Heart has trademark vocal blending with that superior bottom. Kim Weston picks up the pace with You Hit Me Where It Hurts. This is a great pop track with super vocals and melodic harmonies. Chris Clark steps up with Something's Wrong, another of my favorite tracks. It has just the right pace and feel. The Isley Brothers wrap the release with the smooth My Love Is Your Love. This is a really warm track and a perfect track to close the set.

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You & I - Stevie Wonder

Stevland Hardaway Morris (born May 13, 1950 as Stevland Hardaway Judkins), known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, mufti-instrumentalist, record producer and activist. Blind since shortly after birth, Wonder signed with Motown's Tamla label at the age of eleven, and continues to perform and record for Motown to this day.

Among Wonder's best known works are singles such as "Superstition", "Sir Duke", "I Wish" and "I Just Called to Say I Love You". Well known albums also include Talking Book, Innervisions and Songs in the Key of Life. He has recorded more than thirty U.S. top ten hits and received twenty-two Grammy Awards, the most ever awarded to a male solo artist. Wonder is also noted for his work as an activist for political causes, including his 1980 campaign to make Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday a holiday in the United States. In 2009, Wonder was named a United Nations Messenger of Peace. In 2008, Billboard magazine released a list of the Hot 100 All-Time Top Artists to celebrate the US singles chart's fiftieth anniversary, with Wonder at number five.
Wonder has been married twice: to Motown singer Syreeta Wright from 1970 until their divorce in 1972; and since 2001, to fashion designer Kai Milla Morris. He has seven children from his two marriages and several relationships.

Stevie met Yolanda Simmons when she applied for a job as his secretary for his publishing company. Simmons bore Wonder a daughter on February 2, 1975: Aisha Morris.) According to Stevie, the name Aisha is "African for strength and intelligence". After she was born, Stevie said "she was the one thing that I needed in my life and in my music for a long time. It was this in mind, she was the inspiration for his hit single "Isn't She Lovely." Aisha Morris is a singer who has toured with her father and accompanied him on recordings, including his 2005 album, A Time 2 Love. Wonder has two sons with Kai Milla Morris; the older is named Kailand and he occasionally performs as a drummer on stage with his father. The younger son, Mandla Kadjay Carl Stevland Morris, was born May 13, 2005, his father's 55th birthday. In May 2006, Wonder's mother died in Los Angeles, at the age of 76. During his September 8, 2008 UK concert in Birmingham, he spoke of his decision to begin touring again following his loss. "I want to take all the pain that I feel and celebrate and turn it around".

Wonder's Taxi Productions owns Los Angeles radio station KJLH.
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