Johnnie Taylor Good Love! CD

Personnel: Johnnie Taylor, Tasha Taylor (vocals); Will McFarlane, Jimmy Johnson (guitar); Jim Horn, Gary Armstrong, Binnie Ciesielski, Dennis Soule, Harvey Thompson, Charles Rose (horns); Clayton Ivey, Butch Bonner (keyboards); David Hood (bass); Roger Hawkins (drums); Thomisene Anderson, Jewel Bass, Quandra Brooks (background vocals).
Producers: Charles Richard Cason (tracks 1, 3); Tommy Couch, Wolf Stephenson (tracks 2, 4-12).
Engineers: Wolf Stephenson, Steve Melton, Kent Bruce, Jerry Masters.
Recorded at Muscle Shoals Sound Studios, Sheffield, Alabama and Malaco Studios, Jackson, Mississippi.
Personnel: Johnnie Taylor (vocals); Tasha Taylor (vocals); Jimmy Johnson , Will McFarlane (guitar); Gary Armstrong, Dennis Soule, Jim Horn, Vinnie Ciesielski, Charles Rose, Harvey Thompson (horns); Clayton Ivey, Butch Bonner (keyboards); Roger Hawkins (drums); Quanda Brooks, Jewel Bass, Thomisene Anderson (background vocals).
Recording information: Malaco Studios, Jackson, MS; Muscle Shoals Sound Studios, Sheffield, AL.
Photographer: Marion Silber.
Arranger: Charles Richard Cason.
Good Love! is an excellent latter-day record from Johnnie Taylor, illustrating that the singer has lost very little of his soulful power. Although the production may be a little to slick for some tastes, Taylor's gutsy singing makes the music sound gritty, and very few modern-day Southern soul albums have a collection of songs this consistently strong. In other words, Good Love! is everything any Johnnie Taylor fan could hope for from a modern-day soul record. ~ Leo Stanley
GOOD LOVE! finds the veteran R&B singer updating his style while maintaining the rich, soulful quality that has served him throughout his 35-year solo career. Taylor is in a somewhat schizophrenic mood on this release. Many cuts take a modern approach, with the instrumental focus on synthesizers and drum machines. Elsewhere, Taylor is accompanied by the storied Muscle Shoals rhythm section, dishing up some fine, horn-punctuated soul as gritty and powerful as anything in his stellar back catalog.
Long-time fans will be glad to hear that the more techno-minded cuts do not detract from the intensity of Taylor's voice. Rather, they cast it in sharp relief, emphasizing its character, like a deep shade of blue viewed against a translucent backdrop. There are more surprises along the way, including a guest vocal by Taylor's daughter Tasha and a subtle, hypnotic cover of Leon Russell's "This Masquerade." The new twists and the old reliable virtues of Taylor's talent make for an album that establishes a hero of yesteryear as a man of the moment.