Love Oh Love
Encyclopedia
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.
~ Donald A. Guarisco, Allmusic
Donny Hathaway
Donny Edward Hathaway was an American soul singer-songwriter and musician. Hathaway contracted with Atlantic Records in 1969 and with his first single for the Atco label, "The Ghetto, Part I" in early 1970, Rolling Stone magazine "marked him as a major new force in soul music."His collaborations...
and a stint replacing Curtis Mayfield
Curtis Mayfield
Curtis Lee Mayfield was an American soul, R&B, and funk singer, songwriter, and record producer.He is best known for his anthemic music with The Impressions during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960's and for composing the soundtrack to the blaxploitation film Super Fly, Mayfield is highly...
as the lead vocalist in The Impressions, Leroy Hutson
Leroy Hutson
Leroy Hutson is an American soul and R&B singer, songwriter, arranger, producer and instrumentalist, best known as former lead singer of the R&B band, which came to fame vocal group, The Impressions....
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
Marvin Gaye
Marvin Pentz Gay, Jr. , better known by his stage name Marvin Gaye, was an American singer-songwriter and musician with a three-octave vocal range....
and Stevie Wonder
Stevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris , better known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and activist...
. When Hutson sticks to love songs, Love Oh Love is magical: "So in Love With You
So In Love With You
"So In Love With You" was the third and final UK single to be taken from Scottish band Texas' third studio album Ricks Road...
" 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
Leroy Hutson
Leroy Hutson is an American soul and R&B singer, songwriter, arranger, producer and instrumentalist, best known as former lead singer of the R&B band, which came to fame vocal group, The Impressions....
catalog and a good introduction to his silky soul style.
~ Donald A. Guarisco, Allmusic
Track listing
- "So in Love With You"
- "Love, Oh Love"
- "When You Smile"
- "Getting It On"
- "Time Brings on a Change"
- "I'll Be There, I'll Still Care "
- "I'm in Love With You Girl"
- "As Long as There's Love Around"
Personnel
- Leroy HutsonLeroy HutsonLeroy Hutson is an American soul and R&B singer, songwriter, arranger, producer and instrumentalist, best known as former lead singer of the R&B band, which came to fame vocal group, The Impressions....
- keyboards, percussion, vocals - Stephen Harris - guitar
- Victor Chandler - bass
- Michael Hawkins - piano
- Morris Beeks - organ
- Scotty Harris - drums
- Joe Reeves - percussion
- Norman Shoeby - congas
- Jerry Wilson, Sonny Seals - saxophone
- Bill McFarland, Billy Howell, Michael Davis - trombone
- Aaron Dodd - tuba
- Miller Pertum - vibraphone
- The Identicals, The Imaginations, Janice Hutson - background vocals
Singles
| Year | Single | Chart positions | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday... |
US R&B Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, is a chart released weekly by Billboard in the United States.The chart, initiated in 1942, is used to track the success of popular music songs in urban, or primarily African American, venues. Dominated over the years at various times by jazz, rhythm and blues, doo-wop, soul,... |
US Dance |
||
| 1973 | "Love, Oh Love" | — | 75 | — |
| "When You Smile" | — | 81 | — | |