LP Review: Everything Is Everything
Released: 1970
LP Charts: #33 R&B, #70 pop
Donny Hathaway’s debut is an up-and-down affair. There are visionary moments and others where he’s caught in a stale old R&B rut. Not surprising for any new artist particularly when they produce the whole album and write most of its songs.
Let’s dispense with the stale ruts first. “I Believe to My Soul” is a rough, overblown, and horrifically failed stab at the Ray Charles classic. “Misty” isn’t quite as pompous. It’s still kinda boring, though. “Tryin’ Times” goes to church and is saved by an interesting, looping bass line.
Perhaps worst of all is a lengthy, dragged out version of “To Be Young, Gifted and Black”. If you wanna heard a good version of that song, go listen to Aretha Franklin’s.
On the plus side, Hathaway lets his keyboard skills shine through on the mostly instrumental tracks “Sugar Lee” and “The Ghetto”. Both are very much influenced by Latin music. “Sugar Lee” is the shorter and more lightweight of the two, while “The Ghetto” is a funk-jazz tour de force despite not having any direct lyrics about the sufferings of ghetto life. Hathaway has a spoken intro where he says “Yes… this… is the ghetto… sho’ nuff now…” and the music just takes over as Hathaway hums along with his electric piano and Latin percussion slowly creeps in and takes over your speakers for about seven minutes.
The only lyrics in the song (not counting vocal asides) are folks chanting “The ghetto!” and later on adding “Talkin’ ‘bout the ghetto!”
I dunno, just musically feels like the ghetto in 1970.
Almost as good is the album-opener “Voices Inside (Everything Is Everything)” which has a mean bass that must be the cousin of the one found on “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised”.
As for sung songs that actually work, “Thank You Master (For My Soul)” is a soulful number that succeeds where the previous ones failed by finding the right amount of vocal tension. Also helps the horn section isn’t out of control like on “I Believe to My Soul”. “Je Vous Aime (I Love You)” is also fine pop-soul material.
ALBUM GRADE: C+
There’s a lot going for this album and a bit going against it. That’ll be a C+.
Song Scores
Voices Inside (Everything Is Everything): 7.5/10
Je Vous Aime (I Love You): 6.5/10
I Believe to My Soul: 3/10
Misty: 5/10
Sugar Lee: 7/10
Tryin’ Times: 5/10
Thank You Master (For My Soul): 6.5/10
The Ghetto: 8/10
To Be Young, Gifted And Black: 3/10