Released the same year as Hall & Oates’ Abandoned Luncheonette and like that lost classic produced by Arif Mardin, AWB had sufficient grit to appease the purists, but enough melodic and rhythmic hooks for it to reach No 1 in America. “Pick Up The Pieces”, the attempt to out-funk Ohio Players and their mid-’70s ilk, now sounds as much of a novelty contrivance as Stock Aitken Waterman’s “Roadblock”. But “Person To Person” is authentically Stax-like and “Work To Do” is as Philly-fabulous as The O’Jays. “Nothing You Can Do” is horn-driven and harmony-drenched, “Keeping It To Myself” has the midtempo insistence of an Al Green hit, while “Just Wanna Love You Tonight” is almost in the “She’s Gone” white soul superleague.
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