Search - Phil Perry :: Classic Love Songs

Phil's fantasy

jewel shears | Englewood, New Jersey | 09/04/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"i had had pleasure of hearing phil perry perform live in the early 90's,i have been mermerized every since. his higher octave voice have women glowing from head to toe and sittng on the edge of there seats not wanting to miss a note . phil was recently on the cd 101.9 boat cruise in nyc july 2006. he performed from the new cd the classic love songs. what a voice, the ability to go up and down the music scale is amazing. he is one of the most sought after back up vocalist in the music industry. phil has the ability to interpret classic love songs as well as his own songwriting skills. a seven minute cover of the Spinners' "Love Don't Love Nobody" is filled with pure high adultrated engery and purely a song that takes to heart the attention a man should give to a woman after the love has ended. the album My Book of Love, received less attention, but was a far stronger album. Book was also the album on which Perry began to take a more active role in songwriting and production, putting his personal signature beyond the vocal performance. This led to his lead songwriting role on 2001's Magic, an excellent album on Peak Records that showed Perry in complete control over his music. As you can image, Perry's voice is clear and pitch perfect as can be on the disc, as he covers well known hits by the Chi-Lites, the Stylistics, Marvin Gaye and others. Working with producer/multi-instrumentalist Chris "Big Dog" Davis, Perry has released an album of love renditions of these cuts that is clearly aimed at late night listeners. Davis's arrangements overall are rather soft and easy listening, leaving it to Perry to bring life through his higher octave voice, and he generally does, especially on Eddie Holman's "Hey There Lonely Girl" and the Tempts' "Just My Imagination." But the disc gets much better when it moves to jazzier arrangements, and the more creative surroundings make Perry's version of DeBarge's "All This Love" an absolute jewel - and a can't miss cut for comtemporary jazz radio. Even more is the flute and bass led jazz rendition of Lionel Richie's "Hello," which Perry takes in a direction completly different from the original and may be the album's finest moment.While the tone of the album is intentionally mellow, it would have been nice to hear Perry break out on a cut, as he did on prior cover such as Call Me. Five years between CDs is way too long for phil, i was happy to see that Phil has currently signed with Shanachie Records a label that is producing a lot of progressive artist. such as bobby lyle, pieces of a dream , doc powell and others. this album is dedicated to the late night listening in mind, Classic Love Songs is an return of a great vocalist releasing ballards of the 70s/80s.











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