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| LATIMORE IS BACK ATCHA! |
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The great Latimore returns in top form with new hits
By ANDY MURCIA
of TheColumnists.com
If you’re a fan of rhythm and blues and funk music, you will no doubt enjoy Benny Latimore’s comeback CD, entitled simply, “Latimore, Back Atcha” on the brand new LatStone Records ($15.98).
I go way back to 1974 with Latimore’s self-penned hit “Let’s Straighten It Out”. This tune was # 1 on the charts as well as going gold. The song lyric was about all that was going on in my personal life at that time, so I played my album so much I just plain wore it out!
Many of Latimore’s vintage recordings affected the ladies much like Barry White’s did. He was cool and often times sang very sexy lyrics. He also recorded funky dance tunes, which gave James Brown a run for his money. But if you let this singer tug on your heartstrings with a good ballad, you’ll be toast! He not only writes music and lyrics that make sense, he sings the lyrics clearly so that we can hear and understand them.
On his current “Back Atcha” album, Latimore is sounding better than ever. He’s older now and brings his social wisdom to his new CD. Check out his self penned, “Ghetto Girl” song (a sure hit single). It’s a terrific observation much like “what’s going on” was for Marvin Gaye. It’s also a well-constructed song that I wanted to listen to several times. The truth in this lyric is a positive commentary long overdue to our young women of today. Comic, and of late, social thinker Bill Cosby will love this tune.
Perhaps the weakest song on the CD (if there is a weak song) is, “Wake Up America”–but it just happens to have the strongest message attached to it. I sense Latimore’s years have served him well in that they bring with his lyric a social wisdom as well as his customary terrific musicality.
Every great singer has to have great songs to sing, so Latimore and his writing partner W. Thompson wrote 10 of them for “Back Atcha”. Latimore’s solo penned, “My Give A Damn Gave Out” (a long time ago) is a bluesy, common sense treatment to a loving relationship that we all can identify with in some manner.
I enjoyed all the songs to say the least, but the real extra charm of this recording is in hearing Benny Latimore’s voice once again. Once you hear it, you will never forget it. Why? Because there is no other voice like it. All great voices are unique in that the listener needs only to hear a few notes and they know exactly who's singing. This is the way it is with Latimore. The emotion that his voice can create in a recording makes the listener feel that it’s personal just to them.
I was introduced to Latimore's music by my brother Joey Murcia, who's a popular session guitarist who played on many, many hit recordings with the Bee Gees, the late Andy Gibb, Joe Walsh, Betty Wright, just to name a few. Joey also played on Latimore’s early vintage hits as well as in his touring band.
They were playing a gig on Chicago’s tough West Side. I was a Chicago police sergeant back then, so I went to see my brother Joey, but I also got to see this 99 percent black Latimore band with their white guitar player (my brother Joey). In addition to enjoying the sounds, I watched the effect Latimore’s voice had on the audience, especially the women. Man, they loved this guy! I also became a fan and went to hear him sing at other venues thereafter, even when my brother was no longer in his band.
Latimore started out as a keyboard man and singer around Miami, Florida. Steve Alaimo, (a terrific singer in his own right with hits like “Everyday I Have to Cry Some”) first introduced Latimore to the legendary record mogul Henry Stone. It was Henry Stone and his lovely and talented wife Inez who executive produced this current “Latimore Back Atcha” album. Henry also did Latimore's previous hit recordings.
If you don’t know the name Henry Stone and you claim to like hit music then you must get out from under that rock! Henry Stone to hit records is like Steven Spielberg is to film. Stone is the founder of TK Records, (KC and the Sunshine Band, George and Gwen McCray’s disco hits, Betty Wright, and too many other artists to name here).
My brother took me to the studio where many of Stone’s hits were made in Miami and it was like visiting Motown’s Hitsville south! Not much fancy stuff there except a whole lot of big talent in the form of musicians, songwriters, and producers. These guys just knew a hit song when they heard it and knew how to encase it with a hit vocal and musical arrangement.
Henry Stone competed with the big record labels and against all odds, and he did very well when you look at his track record for making great hits. Today, the big record labels just don’t have the stranglehold on independent producers that they once had. What with the Internet, a great recording can be produced and sold right online. In the old days a recording artist had to tour and get airplay to sell, but many experts think differently today. I tend to agree.
To prove it’s a new day in selling us hit music all you have to do is go to www.HenryStoneMusic.com to purchase your copy of “LATIMORE, BACK ATCHA” a recording you should hear and own. Do what I did, I bought two because I know I’ll be wearing this Latimore album out, too!
To make a hit recording you need to have just the right support provided in every department and Henry Stone provides his usual first-rate production credits for this CD. They all support Latimore’s performance with just the right touch to make this recording a knock out. Maybe that’s because Latimore himself is the album's producer. With Latimore and Henry Stone back on the musical scene their great collaboration to make hits is off and running.
Now I know this review sounds like a “love
letter” but that’s only because I happen to love this
album. And trust me, it’s not because of my brother, who
had nothing to do with this recording. In fact, I wish he had
played on it because there are hits here.
I don’t review recordings for my living but I do know good
music and I know what I like. I sincerely recommend this album
to you because I truly enjoyed it, and I bet you will, too.
©2007 by Andy Murcia. The CD cover
is courtesy of LatStone. This column first posted Nov. 19, 2007.
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