Baby Washington & Don Gardner - Lay a Little Lovin' on Me (1973) / Edwin Starr & Blinky - Just We Two (1969) ... plus

Two older '60s soul stars, Baby Washington and Don Gardner, team up in this early '70s album of sweet soul duets titled Lay a Little Lovin' on Me. Don had worked previously with Dee Dee Ford, and he is going for a similar style here with Baby Washington, with both singers trading off vocals, and one usually dominating the song more than the other. The groove is kind of early '70s indie, and the smoother numbers are the best. Arrangements are by Bobby Martin, Burt De Coteaux, and Paul Riser, and cuts include 'We're Gonna Make It Big', 'I Just Want to Be Near to You', 'Baby Let Me Get Close to You', 'Can't Get Over Losing You', and 'Lay a Little Lovin' on Me'. Edwin Starr & Blinky Williams' Just We Two album opens up with a soulful rendition of 'You've Made Me So Very Happy,' a #2 hit for Blood, Sweat and Tears earlier in the year that was itself a cover of a Motown original by Brenda Holloway, and it concludes with the Smokey Robinson classic, 'Ooo Baby Baby.' One particular standout in between is a new version of 'Oh How Happy,' which was written by Starr under his given name of Charles Hatcher for the group Shades of Blue in 1966. The cute duet grazed the lower reaches of the Hot 100 in the summer of 1969. Starr went on to record his signature hit, 'War,' the following year, so it's not a surprise that the pairing was so short-lived. But the reasoning behind the mass of powerhouse, unissued Blinky recordings remains one of Motown's many mysteries. As bonus tracks I added seven of those elusive Blinky's solo tracks, including 'The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game', 'I Wouldn't Change The Man He Is', 'This Time Last Summer' and 'Money', plus an extra duet with Edwin Starr, 'Never Gonna Give You Up', which was unreleased at the time. http://classic.motown.com/, http://www.dustygroove.com/

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