Dee Harvey was one on MANY quality releases that saw the light of day on Motown in the early 1990s. Such quality, and still as essential today as they were the moment they hit the streets. Dee Harvey is a classic soul singer in every sense and schooled in the traditional balladeer mode, but still able to kick ass with a dancer if he needs to. If you have the "Five Heartbeats" soundtrack album then you will already have been aware of his performance in the film as Flash, and also his KILLER 80s-styled stepper "In The Middle" which was written and produced by George Duke. The man was perfectly suited to the classy establishment of Jheryl Busby and Steve McKeever who expertly steered Motown through it's sale to MCA in 1988 until Polygram got it's hands on it and eventually maimed it by giving it to the grossly inexperienced and inappropriate Andre Harrell. Today, as you know, an album of this quality would never appear on the once-great label.Back in 1991 I fell immediately in love with "Leave Well Enough Alone", a song describing the most sexy temptation a married man might well face and the dilemma he finds himself in. A similar tale to that laid down by the late, great Tyrone Davis, but a smoother, 1990s approach. A superb track that deserves championing to this day. Still a monster, too, is the Tena Clark penned and produced "Just As I Am". At first I thought this song was going to be a bit sugary and schmaltzy BUT get passed the initial 60 seconds we are given a real and true treat. What a vocalist Dee Harvey is! Wow. Where is he now, that's what I want to know! My third choice is the brilliant uptempo synthy number, "Nothin' But Emotion" - a great track and still I play this today. Some great funky guitar licks on here and a testament to Dee, Tena and Motown for creating some timeless material in a decade that slid more and more into musical banality and chaos as the decade went on.
Barry Towler
The Vibe Scribe
The Vibe Scribe
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