Leroy Hutson

Leroy Hutson – Unforgettable (1979/2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 50:23 minutes | 856 MB | Genre: R&B
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Acid Jazz

After recording a string of soul albums that earned him little commercial success, Leroy Hutson decided to take the most commercial route possible on 1979’s Unforgettable by making a disco album. Given that Hutson was a gifted arranger/producer and tended towards the sweet side of soul anyways, it could have been a harmonious marriage. Sadly, it doesn’t work because Hutson suppresses all his personality as a performer and producer to produce some disco tracks that represent the genre at its most bland and faceless. The worst offender is the title track, a disco-era update of the Nat King Cole classic: instead of reworking the song in an ambitious fashion, it merely grafts a repetitive disco beat onto the melody and pads it out to dancefloor length with some aimless jamming from the band and an array of embarrassing sci-fi synthesizer noises. “(You Put The) Funk in My Life” is similarly uninspired, combining a funky but faceless band vamp with a set of clichéd “let’s boogie” lyrics to create a typical example of disco album filler. However, a few of other tracks keep Unforgettable from being a complete loss: “Right or Wrong” is sultry ballad that benefits from an arrangement that blends strong vocal harmonies with some dramatic orchestrations, and “More Where That Came From” is a jazzy funk workout that easily outdoes the album’s more overt attempts at disco. However, these highlights can’t keep Unforgettable from feeling like an unsuccessful (and uncomfortable) artistic compromise. As a result, it can only be recommended the most devoted Leroy Hutson fans.

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Leroy Hutson – The Man! (1974/2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 34:39 minutes | 466 MB | Genre: Soul, Funk, Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Acid Jazz

Digitally remastered and expanded edition of Leroy Hutson’s 1974 release. One of the finest soul albums of 1974 featuring amongst others ‘Could This Be Love’, ‘Ella Weez’ and Leroy’s own version of ‘The Ghetto ’74’, Donny Hathaway’s signature tune which Leroy wrote with Donny. The album comes with one bonus track, the hard to find mono version of ‘Ella Weez’.

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Leroy Hutson – Love Oh Love (1973/2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 37:16 minutes | 637 MB | Genre: R&B, Soul
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Acid Jazz

After working as a writer and producer for such soul music stalwarts as Donny Hathaway and a stint replacing Curtis Mayfield as the lead vocalist in the Impressions, Leroy Hutson embarked on a solo career with 1973’s Love Oh Love. The album combines the kind of smooth soul music that Hutson performed with the Impressions with more ambitious and conceptual outings in the vein of Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder. When Hutson sticks to love songs, Love Oh Love is magical: “So in Love With You” combines a honey-sweet romantic vocal from Hutson with a spine-tingling string arrangement to create an elegant and heartfelt ballad, while the title track raises its tale of lost love to an up-tempo level with jazzy horns and a percolating rhythm arrangement. “As Long as There’s Love Around” is another effective romantic track that layers Hutson’s velvety vocals over a complex instrumental track that combines gentle strings and brash horns with an insistently grooving bassline. The progressive-minded tracks are less satisfying: “Time Brings on a Change” is a political commentary song whose use of a Martin Luther King sample is a little too gimmicky for its own good, and “Getting It On” is a funk instrumental that fails to work any memorable hooks into its pleasant groove. Despite these problems, nothing on the album is less than listenable and everything flows together nicely to create a cohesive (if somewhat short) album. In short, Love Oh Love is one of the most consistent albums in the Leroy Hutson catalog and a good introduction to his silky soul style.

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Leroy Hutson – Hutson II (1976/2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 38:19 minutes | 742 MB | Genre: Soul, R&B, Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Acid Jazz

Every Leroy Hutson album features a sweeping, make-you-feel-good opening tune; this time “Love the Feeling” warms you for a collage of soulful ballads, mid-tempo romps, and steppers. The best of the lot is “I Do, I Do (Want to Make Love to You),” a sensuous booty call reminiscent of Peabo Bryson. Jonesing for a hit, some of the cuts come off cookie-cutter, but Hutson’s singing shines throughout. “Blackberry Jam” and “Sofunktiscation” are formulaic but pleasing funkers.

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Leroy Hutson – Hutson (1975/2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 44:31 minutes | 884 MB | Genre: Soul, R&B, Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Acid Jazz

Released on Curtom Records in 1975, Hutson illuminates the fickleness and unpredictable nature of the music business. Leroy Hutson seemed to have it all going for him; he replaced Curtis Mayfield in the Impressions, then branched out solo, was a friend of Donny Hathaway (who also worked for Mayfield at the time), and was given carte blanche to produced hits with the help of others for himself. The biorhythms must have been out of whack, because it never really happened for the talented guy. This is a fine effort with bouncy tunes, stirring ballads, and crack productions yet the masses never heard it. Best bets: All. But special mention to “Lucky Fellow,” “All Because of You,” and “So Much Love.”

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