L.J. Reynolds - Love Is About To Start (1999)

The 1990s found L.J. Reynolds wearing two different hats and dividing his time between his solo career and the Dramatics, whom he had left in 1980 and rejoined in 1987. Reynolds turned 47 in 1999, and it was obvious to his fans that his voice hadn't lost any of its power over the years. In fact, the soul veteran is in generally excellent form on 1999's Love Is About to Start, which favors a classic Northern soul approach and isn't much different from the recordings he made with the Dramatics in the 1970s. Reynolds sings with conviction throughout the CD, sounding quite focused on material that ranges from the sentimental "Everything Is You" to an inspired cover of Deniece Williams' "Silly" and a remake of "Key to the World" (which Reynolds first recorded in 1981). Interestingly, Reynolds meant for the gritty "Down on My Luck" to acknowledge modern country-pop (which he has said he's heavily into), but the song is actually quite bluesy and has more in common with B.B. King than with Clint Black or Tim McGraw. Love Is About to Start breaks no new ground for Reynolds, which is probably just as well -- classic 1970s-like soul is what he does best, and there's plenty of it on this rewarding CD.