360 Degrees Of Billy Paul - BILLY PAUL***

Brown Baby/I'm Just A Prisoner/Its Too Late/Me & Mrs Jones/Am I Black Enough For You/Let's Stay Together/Your Song/I'm Gonna Make It This Time

Philadelphia soul singer Billy Paul released many albums during the 1970s but the only one to enjoy a high chart placing was 360 Degrees thanks to the US chart topping single Me & Mrs Jones. (US:17)

“I think the defining characteristic that sets him apart instrumentally is the more evident piano and keyboard playing that you don't usually hear as much in the lush productions of Philly soul. The other thing that separates Paul from the rest is his very distinctive voice. The covers on here are just fantastic too, he really reinvents them into his own, making Let's Stay Together and Your Song practically unrecognizable.”

“The best tracks, indeed, are the slower, deeper cover of Let's Stay Together and Your Song. The rest is just too commercial. However, Paul's voice is very impressive.”

“A nice variety of songs for Billy Paul to flex his style on. The opener, I'm Just a Prisoner, the hit Me & Mrs. Jones and the other two less familiar songs Am I Black Enough For You and I'm Gonna Make It This Time are all unique and full of character, not simply depending on one formula sound.”

“360 Degrees Of Billy Paul certainly has a lot more to offer aside from the one song that everybody knows from it. In fact it’s only blemish is a cover of Al Green’s Let’s Stay Together which strips the original arrangement down to bare bones making for a rather boring track. He does, however, cleverly re-work Elton John’s Your Song by taking an opposite approach and significantly increasing the song’s tempo, and adding to the arrangement. This is the most impressive of the album’s three covers.”

“These songs are a great trip back to the past; they marry a great jazz singer with some beautiful R & B stylings that will leave you speechless. Billy is more than a singer, he's an amazing interpreter. His vocal sounds just seem to flow out of him. He turns a simple ballad like Elton's Your Song into a soulful, breath-taking, up-tempo masterpiece. He makes Let's Stay Together and It's Too Late his own also. This is an amazing album from an artist who should have been as big as any R & B superstar of the 70s.”