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Rating: Excellent |
erry Callier grew up on the South Side of Chicago, where he learned to play guitar as a teenager and practiced his voice among jazz clubs and folk cafes. He was not an artist of quick breakthroughs, but of steady maturation. His third studio album What Color Is Love was released in 1972, after years of searching for his own sound. Under the wings of producer Charles Stepney, he finally found the right balance between soul, folk and orchestral richness. In 2015, Music On Vinyl reissued the album on 180-gram vinyl. This reissue offers a warm look back at a time when Callier had fully found his voice.
What makes this album so special is how it doesn’t let itself be forced into anything. It’s soul, but not Motown. It’s folk, but not fragile. It’s jazz, but without virtuoso display. Callier’s songs move slowly, thoughtfully, in a world of their own logic. His voice is never pushy, but always present. In “Dancing Girl,” he drapes himself over the music like a soft blanket, while “You Goin’ Miss Your Candyman” feels rhythmic and adventurous. The title track is a small masterpiece of subtlety: rippling, reflective, with an emotional range that is greater than the notes themselves.
Compared to his previous album, Occasional Rain, is What Color Is Love richer and more daring. The production is more ambitious, with strings, horns and percussion that always fall precisely into place. Yet it remains an intimate album. Callier always keeps the middle ground between introspection and expansion. His voice is the anchor, his guitar the direction indicator. The music does not grow outward, but draws you in.
In the early seventies, soul was on the move. Artists like Marvin Gaye and Curtis Mayfield wrote personal, social lyrics with layered arrangements. At the same time, jazz fusion was growing and folk was finding new forms. What Color Is Love fits in there in a wonderful way, without ever merging with the current. Callier seems to pay no attention to trends. His work is timeless, or rather: it lives in a time that he himself determines. Whoever heard this album in 1972 heard something new. Whoever hears it now hears something that is not outdated by any means.
The recordings took place at RCA Studios in Chicago, where Stepney brought the orchestra and band together in an atmosphere of attention and openness. They were not driven by commercial pressure, but by a love of detail. Guitarist Phil Upchurch, saxophonist Don Myrick and bassist Louis Satterfield – all musicians from the Chess/Cadet stable – played not to impress, but to support. The arrangements are lush, but never excessive. There is a calmness in everything, as if the musicians gave each other space to breathe. Callier himself sometimes almost seems to whisper, as if he is absorbed in the music that unfolds around him.
This Music On Vinyl release, released in June 2015 under cat.nr. MOVLP1465, was pressed by Record Industry in the Netherlands. The pressing sounds quiet and spacious, with a deep, soft bass that anchors the music firmly without becoming muddy. The high notes are clear but never shrill. The dynamics are beautifully preserved, especially in the transitions from strings to voice, from silence to groove. No remastering is indicated, and that shows: the record sounds organic and true to the original mix. As if you hear the band in the studio, without any polished gloss. The cover is solidly made, with Joel Brodsky's legendary cover photo in full sharpness and contrast. The warm colours and soft grain of the photo fit seamlessly with the music. The lack of extra booklets or additions does not bother: the album stands on its own.
What makes this reissue so valuable is that it tries to add nothing. There is no digital embellishment, no modernization of the sound. This is What Color Is Love as it always sounded, but on high-quality vinyl, cleanly pressed and lovingly cared for. The music breathes as it did in 1972. In a time when many reissues sound as if they have been passed through a shiny filter, it is a relief to hear a record that has retained its soul.
What Color Is Love remains an album that you don't just put on. It demands attention, and gives deep warmth in return. This version on vinyl is a quiet triumph: it makes no noise, but lets you listen with new ears. It is not a reinvention, not a tribute - it is a reunion. As if you see an old friend again, and notice that nothing has been lost. Only gained.
= Full Album Play List =
= Track List =
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