The opening song, “I Thank Ya”, is a robust Latin soul effort that begs airplay; not my overall favourite cut but an impressive slice of passionate Latin music nonetheless. The song that will floor a lot of readers will be the superb “It's Up To You” which is in the Pete Balasco bag with a twist of Kem and Marlon Saunders. The flute, when that appears, takes us to another level. Similarly, the pondering “Sunshine” grabs you with both hands. This song has a more programmed feel, but the basic, stripped down backing, timbales, fender rhodes and Stevie-like harmonica. I can imagine Eric Benét doing something like this. “Circle In A Square Peg” also could be a Benét song from his “A Day In The Life” album, and deserves serious radio play. In the good old days before the lunatics took over the Asylum, records like this would have had exposure and been hits. The uptempo, jazzy “Soulmate” echoes Jeff Lorber in his more soulful moments a la “West Side Stories”. Paul Jackson Jr works very well on this and I only wish he would adopt more material like this on his own albums. What works very nicely is the cool soulful bossa of “Moments”. Those keys take me right back to the early 80s, and Peter's smooth, smooth vocals do nothing but justice to it. I think this is a real gem of an album, and if you like more ardant Latin material then there is also that too.
Barry Towler
The Vibe Scribe
The Vibe Scribe
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