Search - Chi-Lites :: A Lonely Man

AN "OLD SCHOOL" MUST HAVE

towanna spears | Bridgeton, Missouri United States | 09/22/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"If you are a True CHI-LITES fan then there is no doubt that you were waiting like me for this to be released on CD and will just press the send to be button! You already know what listening to THE COLDEST DAYS OF MY LIFE can do to a person on a lonely night so you already know what EUGENE RECORD is singing about on A LONELY MAN my second favorite. You need this one for your old school collection. Aside from Eugene Record's vocals the music is great! JUST DO IT............PRESS SEND"

At the top of their game

D.V. Lindner | King George, VA, USA | 03/06/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Like most white fans of the group, I suppose, I didn't get hip to the Chi-Lites until the fall of 1971 - my senior year in high school - when "Have You Seen Her" crossed over Big Time. That's all it took and I was a rabid fan immediately; even the flip side ("Yes I'm Ready If I Don't Get To Go") was great for repeated playing. It was time to play quick-catch up, as I determinedly did. My 45s collection runs all the way back to their 1969 cover of "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me," to their last Brunswick single in 1976, "You Don't Have To Go." It's a fine collection I have still, and I jealously love it.The "Lonely Man" album happened upon me at a time when I could not have better identified with it's theme - I was unhappily broken up, broke, and at very loose ends - the perfect audience for this LP's, "The Coldest Days of My Life." Life got better, but for the moment, Mr. Eugene Record's lyrics gave voice to my very soul. He's frighteningly realistic in his tale of despair, and one worried that, after he did this lead vocal, he might have looked for a bridge to leap from. It's That Sad. But as soul music, it's unbeatable. As one issue of Rolling Stone Album Guide observed, no black group ever more daringly or more successfully spoke to the idea of masculine vulnerability like the Chi-Lites. Special effects like a forlorn harmonica and wind machines were never in better hands, either. Perhaps hesitant to release "Days" entire 8:30 length as a single side, Brunswick put it out as a 'Part1/Part 2,' which probably wasn't a good idea - this song shouldn't be interrupted. But even in that formulation, it did well.Speaking of singles, "Oh Girl" of course, was the biggest success here, and certainly drove this album's sales nicely, but the title song (whose entire 6:23 length went on one side) and "Living In The Footsteps of Another Man" all made it out as 45s, and those three plus both parts of "Days" made it into the group's first "Greatest Hits" set later the same year.While you really can't go wrong with any of the Chi-Lites material from their Brunswick days, this album appeared when they were at their very zenith of success, and it's a gem. It was originally Brunswick LP No. 754179, and released in April 1972."

Brings back many great memories

Reginald D. Garrard | Camilla, GA USA | 02/08/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"1972. I was completing my freshman year in college and what better way to exemplify and embellish that year is "Oh, Girl", the monster hit from "A Lonely Man".Not only is this disc pure soul, it is one that surely befits the label as one of "soundtracks of a generation"."