Tony Joe White - Eyes (2025)

Raven released Tony Joe White's 1976 album Eyes was released on 20th Century. Eyes, in particular, is an anomaly, a largely disco album that sounds closer to Boz Scaggs than Tony Joe White, but that's not necessarily a bad thing, since White's voice suits the stylish groove well and it's appealing on the surface. Eyes is deliberately a love album -- the word appears in half of the song titles -- and if that belabors his point a little much by not offering much subtlety, it does at least deliver a swank seduction sound that is thoroughly late '70s, sounding more tied to its time than White's music usually does. That might be why many White fans don't dig this album -- it's such a smooth affair that when he returns to the swamp, as on "Texas Woman," it's disarming -- but it's enjoyable for what it is. Dangerous is in the same vein, but it breathes a little more, offering a stronger dose of the swamp pop that made his name. That and disco make for strange bedfellows -- including song titles like "Hold On to Your Heiney" -- and the album sometimes seems unsure of its identity, but it's usually enjoyable, even it doesn't offer many distinctive songs.