Given the caliber of his collaborators alone, it's remarkable that
Lou Johnson didn't emerge as one of the premier soul singers of his generation. His second and final LP
With You in Mind pairs him with New Orleans R&B production maestros
Allen Toussaint and
Marshall Sehorn, and while the earthy, gut-check Southern soul idiom fits
Johnson's river-deep vocals like a glove, the album's commercial failure proved the final blow to his star-crossed recording career. Listeners who know
Johnson solely from his dramatic Bacharach/David records will be flabbergasted by the scope and elasticity of his vocals: the uptown sophistication of "(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me" and "Kentucky Bluebird" is replaced by a physical strength and heartbreaking intimacy comparable to the best music forged in Memphis or Muscle Shoals.