Raw groove
WebsterLionel@bigpond.com.au | Australia | 12/06/1998
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Timmy Thomas is ready to be rediscovered as a cult icon.This CD showcases a raw groove, Thomas singing at least as well as Marvin Gaye, often accompanied by lounge bar style soul/R&B backing. The excellent liner notes explain that Thomas has a more than respectable jazz training with some really famous stars of the 50s and 60s. Yet Thomas brings jazz cool to his own sould, R&B, funk and disco songs.To set the scene remember Thoms had his own Miami bar - "Timmy's Lounge Bar" in the early 1970s. Early tracks express this perfectly with Thomas playing a lowery organ with drum machine.The title track, "Why Cant we live together?", is an incredible hippie soul standard, melding Marvin Gaye and Martin Luther King. It is probably better known as the last track on Sade's first album "Diamond Life".Although Thomas was a hit wonder the balance of the album is still very cool.If the black urban funk of 70s black action films is for you then so is Timmy Thomas. This albums fit in perfectly with the sounds of "Shaft", Trouble Man", "Superfly", "Foxy Brown", "Cleopatra Jones" and more.If this is all too long ago think of "Jackie Brown" and Bobby Womack's "Across 100th street" and go south to Miami, you've found Timmy Thomas."
Synergy: A requirement for collective survival
S. Oboh | 01/09/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Product was received in good time and condition. The basic question- Why can't we live together- continues to be food for thought for me and continues to sober me up."
One Brief Moment Of Glory - Then Mediocrity
S. Oboh | 08/10/2007
(3 out of 5 stars)
"There were a few artists who roared onto the musical scene in the 1970s with a huge hit - and then more or less faded into the background with each succeeding release. Timmy Thomas, a keyboardist/singer/songwriter, born November 13, 1944 in Evansville, Indiana, was one such.
He wasn't exactly an overnight smash either, having worked extensively with notable jazz musicians such as Donald Byrd and Cannonball Adderley, then doing session work with several record companies, including Goldwax, before securing a contract with the T.K. Records subsidiary Glades.
Late in 1972 they released Why Can't We Live Together, and with his pulsating organ style and his impassioned yet understated vocals conjuring up comparisons to the great Booker T. Jones of Booker T. & The MGs and a less-frantic Percy Sledge, company executives had to be forgiven for thinking they had the next big star. Especially after it climbed to # 1 R&B and # 3 on the Billboard Pop Hot 100 b/w Funky Me early in 1973.
Even when the follow-up People Are Changin' struggled to a # 23 R&B/# 75 Hot 100 in May 1973, they retained that hope, but when Let Me Be Your Eyes dropped below the R&B Top 40 [# 48] in August, and was shut out of the Hot 100, doubt began to creep in. The problem was, every song sounded much like the previous one, and that was no different with What Can I Tell Her late in 1973, and although it did climb to # 19 R&B, it too failed to make the Hot 100. Indeed, he would not make those charts again until 1984.
In April 1974 the prophetic One Brief Moment stalled at # 62 R&B, and then late that year he had his only double-sided hit when I've Got To See You Tonight topped out at # 31 R&B in December and its B-side, You're The Song (I've Always Wanted To Sing) made it to # 78 R&B the following March. Three months later Sexy Woman reached the # 69 R&B slot, but that's not included here. Instead, they give you the uncharted B-side, Sweet Brown Sugar.
No hits came in 1976 at all, and in May 1977 Stone To The Bone nudged up to # 74 R&B, followed by another 18-month gap before Freak In, Freak Out just barely made the R&B Top 100 at # 92. That would be his last Glades charter. In 1981 he resurfaced with the small Martin label, taking Are You Crazy??? to # 73 R&B. That one, and all the Glades hits, with the exception of Sexy Woman, are here.
Not included, however, are his final two hits which came in 1984 with the Gold Mountain label - Gotta Give A Little Love (Ten Years After) which topped out at # 29 R&B and # 80 Hot 100 in June, and Love Is Never Too Late which again just cracked the R&B Top 100 at # 90 that August.
Afterwards he reverted to session work with his old employer, T.K. Records, backing people like Gwen McCrae and Clarence Reid [in his Blowfly guise], and as late as the 1990s he was functining as a producer for the LaFace label.
In the event you are trying to decide between this release and one of the other two offered, this would appear to be your best bet if what you are seeking are originals of his hit singles. The Collectables volume has just 10 tracks so on cost alone this one is a better choice. Also, the EMI release offers album cuts in some instances as opposed to 45rpm releases."
Track Listings (20) - Disc #1