Linda Jones: Your Precious Love (1965 - 1972) ... plus

Linda Jones was more than just a singer, or even a great singer. She was, purely and simply, an experience; a young lady whom took soul to church and poured into the microphone. This Newark, New Jersey-born soulstress started in her family's gospel group the Jones Singers at the age of six. Her first recording was 'Lonely Teardrops' under the name Linda Lane, on Cub Records in 1963, and she had unsuccessful singles on Atco Records in 1964 and Blue Cat the following year. In 1967, she worked with writer/producer George Kerr and signed to Russ Regan's Loma label in 1967. This resulted in her biggest hit, 'Hypnotized', which narrowly missed the US Top 20. Here she used the vocal idiosyncracies that she displayed in her later recordings with greater subtlety - a warbling exhibition of vocal gymnastics unlike anything that anyone has ever done before or since. In fact, she's generally credited with really bringing the art of melisma (spreading a syllable over several notes) into popular music. The best example was 'Not on the Outside,' recorded for Turbo Records in Newark, NJ, perhaps the most over-the-top vocal performance ever released. Once cited by Gladys Knight as her favourite singer, Linda Jones was aptly described in Black Music magazine as "perhaps the most soulful singer in the history of R&B music". She makes Tina Turner sound like Judy Collins, achieving a level of intensity in the first 10 seconds that is infrequent even within the Deep Soul idiom. If you are not that familiar with Linda's output, I would genuinely recommend that you sample it in small doses - it's rather like getting into a hot bath... Take it a little at a time for comfort until complete immersion can be accomodated! This out-of-print Sequel compilation from 1991 is a fantastic assembly of Linda Jones' early-'70s Turbo recordings, with most of her classic readings: 'I Do' and Jerry Butler & the Impressions' 'For Your Precious Love' with her spoken intro. She also does solid remakes of 'Dancing in the Street,' and 'Doggin' Me Around' and, with her towering fury, transforms a ballad like 'Let It Be Me' in pure gospel. The original material is no joke either, like 'Stay With Me Forever,' which is a pleading love letter that Jones' litters with exclamation points. The set carries a disclaimer attributing the poor sound quality to the fact that compact discs enhance defects in the original analog recordings. It's hard to imagine any recording equipment, though, analog or digital, that would not have been distorted by the extraordinary power of Linda Jones's voice. I augmented the set from 18 to 30 tracks by adding 12 songs from her previous work for Blue Cat and Loma Records, some of which are more Northern Soul-oriented, including the original hit version of 'Hypnotized'. Unfortunately, Linda Jones passed away from a sugar coma in 1972, at the early age of 28. Taken from the liner notes. http://www.billyprice.com/, http://www.oldies.com/, http://www.allmusic.com/

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