LP Review: Do It All
Released: 1979
LP Charts: #17 R&B, #64 pop
After the commercial and artistic success of In the Night-Time, Michael Henderson was right back at it with Do It All. Unfortunately for him, this LP didn’t have a big hit single and didn’t make huge waves. It’s still a respectable, if not necessarily good outing.
However, I submit this album has too much saxophone.
“In the Summertime”, in title and execution, is an attempt to recreate the laid back excitement of “In The Night-Time” from his previous album. Given that “Night-Time” is a stone-cold classic and fresh, this microwaved followup fails to match the energy of the original. And it has way too much sax noodling. Still a decent song since Henderson is indeed microwaving greatness.
“Riding”—which has yet more sax noodling throughout the initial two-thirds of the song—has a real curious outro filled with squiggly synthesizer and bass work. “Do It All” is in a similar vein to the outro of “Riding”. Lots of squiggly synth here plus a jittery rhythm guitar. However, the song gets a little too loud at times as an electric guitar, prominent female backing vocals, and sweeping strings overwhelm the track.
“To Be Loved” begins an unfortunate tradition: Michael Henderson covering old ballads on every album. Jackie Wilson did the original “To Be Loved” better. Soooooo much better. And of course Henderson’s version is fucking swamped with noodling saxophone. Easily the worst song he’s recorded thus far.
“Everybody Wants to Know Why” is some fine pop-funk that mercifully has no saxophone noodling. Inexplicably, to my mind at least, this radio-friendly song was not released as a single. Instead “Do It All” (#56 R&B) and “To Be Loved” (#62 R&B) were given that honor and both failed miserably.
“Playing on the Real Thing” is some great trunk funk. As in, play this in the car and your trunk will be shaking and rattling from the bass. There’s also no sax soloing. There is a really good horn chart with the brass all playing in powerful unison. There’s even a harmonica squealing every now and then.
The album ends on the gorgeous 7:20 opus “Wait Until the Rain”, which has some fantastic acoustic guitar playing. It’s also the only song with a saxophone that utilizes the instrument well on this album. The sax does noodle a bit, but it’s within a proper context. And other instruments gets the stage too. The aforementioned acoustic guitar gets plenty of shine plus there’s a trumpet solo. And the strings are not to be underestimated on “Wait Until the Rain”. They emotionally under-gird the entire song.
ALBUM GRADE: C+
This is an album that struggles to find a sure footing. Except for “To Be Loved”. That song just flat out sucks. Whereas Solid flowed impeccably and In The Night-Time overcame a bit of unevenness to still play in beautiful fashion, Do It All never gets itself in stride.
Song Scores
In the Summertime: 6/10
Riding: 7/10
Everybody Wants to Know Why: 7.5/10
To Be Loved: 4/10
Do It All: 6.5/10
Playing on the Real Thing: 7.5/10
Wait Until the Rain: 8/10