Donny Hathaway’s oeuvre spanned only three years and five records. He was a composer, arranger and singer who suffered from depression and was a maestro when out of the limelight. He was a recording producer at Curtis Mayfield’s Curtom Label, composed soundtracks, worked with King Curtis, Leroy Hutson and even Willie Nelson; he landed a couple of fairly average hits, and sounded like a mixture of Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder. In a nutshell – devilishly good!!! In spite of all this, he was not a happy man and in January 1979 the emotionally unstable artist was found dead in front of his hotel. With just one exception, his second album consists entirely of cover versions. As one of the most pop-averse soul singers he performed contemporary hits such as “”A Song For You””, “”He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother””, and (most effectively) “”Put Your Hand In The Hand””, a relaxed and yet impelling gospel choir version of the song, which he seems to have been born for. In contrast to his debut album, this particular album is more on the gloomy side, the tempo of most songs is slow, laments accompanied by the piano, and powerfully executed. The up-tempo song “”Magnificent Sanctuary Band”” and the gospel song “”Little Girl”” with it’s magnificent male-voice choir in the refrain provide a welcome contrast. Still today, Donny Hathaway lives on not only in his often-covered songs, but also as a great inspiration for the younger generations in the realm between soul and R&B. This Speakers Corner reissue LP was remastered using pure analogue components only, from the master tapes through to the cutting head.

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