Don Covay rides his most creative crest as a solo artist with this hearty collection of songs. The settings are simplistic for Atlantic Records, which recorded similar artists in lusher settings. But rawness is what makes these recordings arresting. A guitarist as well as a singer, Covay's pickings aren't buried in the mix, and you don't need a Geiger counter to detect the grooves. Most impressive are "See Saw," "Mercy Mercy," "Sookie, Sookie," and "Boomerang," a call to dance with the feeling of
Major Lance singing a
Curtis Mayfield song. On "Fat Man," you wonder if he's singing about his old Washington, D.C., buddy
Billy Stewart. The two began their careers with
the Rainbows.