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Rating: "Soul is truth...no matter where it comes from, no matter how it is presented": Low Rawls.
1974. Minnie Riperton and her delightful ice cream cone on the cover are an irresistible invitation to taste this old album of authentic Soul music.
The soul is the vivid, imaginative, brilliant one of the early 70s, years when the Motown sound reigned supreme without rivals, precisely during that period at the start of an unstoppable creative decline, due to the Machiavellian managers of the record company who progressively turned Motown (and consequently the music it produced) into an assembly line of identical albums to be sold like hamburgers to the ravenous white audience.
But flowers grow from manure, as someone once said, and so in the midst of this explosion of Soul-mania and aided by the unequivocal genius of Stevie Wonder (producer of the album and author of two tracks), Minnie Riperton brings out this semi-masterpiece titled "perfect angel".
Riperton, this little angel of soul music, enters and exits each song on tiptoe, but leaving a precise and identifiable mark. The central focus, the driving force of the album is the light and gentle voice of this girl with a coquettish and innocent look, capable of moving even a heart of stone.
Her expressive power, at least directly proportional to her emotional fragility, imprints in each track a tangibility and concreteness, a figure so distinct and defined that it becomes a heartrending and exciting listen, over time, more and more.
Over the course of nine splendid tracks (of which she is also a co-writer), Minnie Riperton alternates seductive love amenities like "perfect Angel" and "Lovin' you" (No.1 in the States), chirps carefree stunning pastel-toned pop jewels like "seeing you this way" or "everytime he comes around", and dirties her soul with rock in the magnificent "reasons", coloring everything with her enchanting five-and-a-half octave voice, sweet and scratching at the same time, "Soul" to the core.
This is an album to recommend to everyone without reservation: bright, catchy, a mix of electrifying and profound music, the result of the magnificent talent too soon taken away by an inexorable cancer of that "perfect angel" with the mischievous look that leads on the cover.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Reasons (03:26)
(M. Riperton R. Rudolph)
The reasons for my life are in a million faces
Like aching promises I feel them in my bones
Slipping through my fingers to dance upon the road
The reasons for my life are more than I can hold
But oh, the sweet delight to sing with all my might
To spark the inner light of wonder burning bright
You're not alone
You're not alone
The reasons for my life are buried in deep places
Words once could awaken them
these seeds that I have sown
Ringing through the madness to crash against the cold
The reasons for my life cannot be bought or sold
The reasons for my life are filling all my spaces
Like rushing waters flow, they carry me along
Twisting through my memory to pull free from the load
The reasons for my life are more than I was told
04 Seeing You This Way (02:44)
(M. Riperton R. Rudolph)
la la la la la la la la la la...
Seeing you this way makes me feel so happy
Seeing you this way makes me feel so good
You come alive
You fill the world with magic
When you move this way
You fill the world with love
Seeing you this way makes me feel so happy
Thank you, thank you for your love
la la la la la la la la la la
I just wanna thank you
05 The Edge of a Dream (04:21)
(M. Riperton R. Rudolph)
The ripples run into the sun
And your smile blends with the clouds that flutter by me
As I sit on the edge of a dream
What do I see? What do I see?
I see the children playing in the sun
And there is love enough for each and everyone
As I sit on the edge of a dream
That's what I see! That's what I see!
Things that might be, if we look we just might see
Paint the world so brightly, let our freedom ring
Merry-go-round without a sound
I hear your song in the breeze that rock-a-byes me
As I sit on the edge of a dream
What do I see? What do I see?
I see the Lord inside of everyone
Can it be my dream will really come
As I sit on the edge of a dream
That's what I see! That's what I see!
Things that might be, if we look we just might see
Paint the world so brightly, let our freedom ring
And here comes the morning sun
I wonder if my dream will really come
As I site on the edge of a dream
That's what I see! That's what I see!
06 Perfect Angel (03:41)
(S. Wonder)
What we're making is history
Fooling impossibility
Making love, not a fantasy
Love is true, love is you
Making story book dreams come true
Feeling just enough love for two
There's such magic in being with you
Cause it's true, loving you
And I think you are the perfect angel
I think you are the perfect one
And I think you are the perfect angel
I think you are the perfect one
Long ago we played hide-go-seek
Kissing under the apple tree
Who could tell me that this would bring
me to you, you to me, yeah
Since the start, you have been my love
Giving infinite paradise
Every night I wanna thank Him twice for your love
Your sweet love
My mama told me if I was goodie
That I would find me someone to love me
07 Every Time He Comes Around (03:53)
(M. Riperton R. Rudolph)
Everytime he comes around I feel like I'm on fire
When he looks into my eyes and sees down to my soul
It's so hard for me to tell if this is just desire
Or the love I need to make my spirit whole
How am I to know?
Now I ain't lookin' for a man to hold me for an hour
I ain't lookin' for a man to love me for a day
Every time he comes around I get the funny feelin'
What I'm looking for don't matter anyway
Hey, it don't matter anyway
'Cause every since I was a child
I dreamed about my baby's smile
It scares me so to say
I wanna be with him in the worst darn way
Cause every time he comes around I feel like I'm on fire
When he whispers in my ear I start to lose control
Still it's so hard for me to tell if this is just desire
Or the love I need to make my spirit whole
How am I to know?
Cause every since I was a child
I dreamed about my baby's smile
It scares me so to say
I wanna be with him in the worst darn way
Cause every time he comes around I feel like I'm on fire
Mmmm, I lose control
Still it's so hard for me to tell if this is just desire
Or the love I need to make my spirit whole
08 Lovin' You (03:59)
Lovin' you is easy cause you're beautiful
Makin' love with you is all i wanna do
Lovin' you is more than just a dream come true
And everything that i do is out of lovin' you
La la la la la la la... do do do do do
No one else can make me feel
The colors that you bring
Stay with me while we grow old
And we will live each day in springtime
Cause lovin' you has made my life so beautiful
And every day my life is filled with lovin' you
Lovin' you i see your soul come shinin' through
And every time that we oooooh
I'm more in love with you
La la la la la la la... do do do do do
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