A real two-parter.
The first seven tracks are downright down, rhythm and blues and outright blues with shades of mournful gospel, all the lord's grace and the woman's flight and the man's woe, with capable, cavernous howling from Charles over shuffle drums and piano runs.
And then suddenly, right at the halfway mark, everything comes to life, with the bouncy horn stabs of Hallelujah I Love Her So. It bops around for a couple of joyous moments and then, at the very end of the song, Charles mutters "I'm a little fool for you, little girl", harkening back to the title of the previous song that, by now, sounds an age away. Is this the same girl? Has he gotten her, changing everything? It's too perfect a pivot to be coincidental, and quite a neat trick.
Aside: there's a trend lately in hip hop towards two-half albums. It had been striking me strange, coming as I do from a rock album structure background, but maybe this bipartite idea has a longer history, via R&B, than I realized.
Continuing through the album we get into the peerless Mess Around and a whole slew of upbeat rockers, beats a-bristlin, horns a-stormin. Love has been found, and it saved us all. The latter half is definitely the draw here, and solid enough for 4/5
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