Billy Price & Otis Clay - This Time For Real

Published Monday 14th September 2015
Billy Price & Otis Clay - This Time For Real
Billy Price & Otis Clay - This Time For Real

STYLE: R&B
RATING 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10
OUR PRODUCT CODE: 157794-23260
LABEL: Bonedog BDRCD
FORMAT: CD Album
ITEMS: 1

Reviewed by Lins Honeyman

This collaboration between renowned US soul and gospel singer Otis Clay and fellow veteran Jewish soul singer Billy Price unsurprisingly sounds like a late '60s Southern soul release given that most of its content has been trawled from the genre's golden era. Proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that the old boys still have more than what it takes, the voices of former Sensational Nightingales singer Clay and New Jersey blue-eyed soul boy Price - reunited after first performing together in the early '80s - have aged like a fine wine and carry all the grit and character that comes with age whilst turning in energetic, passionate and demanding performances throughout. Produced by US bluesman Duke Robillard with his peerless band in session, Price and Clay breathe new life into an array of albeit underrated classics ranging from Johnny Sayles' "Somebody's Changing My Sweet Baby's Mind" to the Detroit Spinners' slow burner "Love Don't Love Nobody" which both typify the album's overall theme of heartbreak and troublesome love. Elsewhere, both band (complete with brass section to die for) and frontmen get their funk-tinged groove on with versions of Syl Johnson's "Going To The Shack" and the Bobby Womack classic "Broadway Walk" whilst an affecting take on "Tears Of God" by Los Lobos contains the only reference to Christian faith but does so in stunningly poignant fashion to claim its spot as the highlight of this stellar release.

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