"Lady In Red: The Columbia Sides Plus" by RONNIE DYSON - Featuring The Whole of the US 1970 LP "(If You Let Me Make Love To You Then) Why Can't I Touch You?" on Columbia Records - Issued in 1971 in the UK on CBS Records as "When You Get Right Down To It" (November 2014 UK Soul Music CD Compilation of Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

Above is the UK CD Compilation on Cherry Red's Soul Music Records

Above is the 1970 US LP Sleeve

Above is the UK LP from 1971 with a Different Name

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"…Make It With You…"

I love a reissue done with passion and heart and even a sense of pride. And this little beauty is one of them.

Over six foot and possessed of a sweet yet powerful voice - Brooklyn's Ronnie Dyson was only 18 when he landed a prestigious lead vocal role in the Broadway Musical of "Hair" (the Sixties love and peace anthem of "Aquarius" from that production leads off this compilation). A deal with the mighty Columbia Records followed and that's where this classy English CD compilation comes in - put out by Soul Music Records of the UK (part of Cherry Red).

UK released November 2014 - "Lady In Red: The Columbia Sides Plus" by RONNIE DYSON on Cherry Red/Soul Music Records SMCR 5125 (Barcode 5013929082533) is a 23-Track CD-only Compilation of Remasters. Here's an account of who loved who and who cheated while they were doing it (73:51 minutes)...

1. Aquarius (from "Hair") - 1969 USA single on Columbia SP-45-184, A

2. God Bless The Children

3. Are You Ready For Love - Tracks 2 and 3 are the A&B-sides of his debut USA 7" single on Columbia 45-45025 credited as Ron Dyson

4. I Don't Wanna Cry

5. Emmie

6. A Touch Of Baby

7. I Just Can't Help Believin'

8. She's Gone

9. Band Of Gold

10. (If You Let Me Make Love To You Then) Why Can't I Touch You?

11. Make It With You

12. Fever

13. Do What Your Heart Tells You To Do

14. Bridge Over Troubled Water

NOTE: Tracks 4 to 14 are his debut album "(If You Let Me Make Love To You Then) Why Can't I Touch You?" released September 1970 on Columbia Records C 30223 in the USA. It was released in 1971 in the UK as "When You Get Right Down To It" on CBS Records S CBS 64779 with a different track line up on Side 2. To sequence the UK LP using this CD use the following tracks

Side 1: 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9

Side 2: 16, 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14

15. Girl Don't Come - non-album B-side of "(If You Let Me Make Love To You Then) Why Can't I Touch You?" - a USA 45 released 1970 on Columbia 45-45110 - taken from the Musical Production of "Salvation". It was also the B-side of the 1970 UK 7" single on CBS Records S 5044 - A-side was "(If You Let Me...)... - Track 10"

16. When You Get Right Down To It

17. Sleeping Sun - tracks 16 and 17 are the A&B-sides of a US 45 on Columbia 45-45387 in 1970. "When You Get Right Down To It" is also the name of and Side 2 opener of the UK LP. It was also released in the UK as a 7" single in September 1971 on CBS 7449

18. Abelene - non-album B-side of "A Wednesday In Your Garden" released 1971 in the US on Columbia 5-45496

19. Jesus Is Just Alright (Extended Version)

20. Love Is Slipping Away - tracks 19 and 20 are the A&B-sides of a US 7" single on Columbia 4-45599 released in 1972

21. One Man Band (Plays All Alone) - A-side of a US 7" single on Columbia 4-45776 released in 1973

22. Just Don't Want To Be Lonely - A-side of a US 7" single on Columbia 4-45867 released in 1973

23. Lady In Red - A-side of a US 7" single on Columbia 3-10211 released in 1975

Produced overall by David Nathan - the 16-page booklet has fantastically detailed liner notes from noted Soul Music writer RASHOD OLLISON that document Dyson's career - five albums placed on the US Billboard charts between 1970 and 1983. And yet this singer is all but forgotten and criminally neglected - Rashod quite right surmises that posterity deserves to give Dyson's musical legacy a better rap than that. There's even a pictorial Discography on Pages 12 and 13 but the big news is an ALAN WILSON digital remaster from original tapes - some of it is hissy for sure but all of it is full of presence and warmth.

Produced by the legendary Billy Jackson - the (weirdly titled) debut album has its fair share of contemporary covers - Laura Nyro's "Emmie", BJ Thomas's "I Just Can't Help Believin'" (Mann/Weil song), a frantic funkified "Fever" and Freda Payne's Invictus smash "Band Of Gold". But slaying all comers is his fabulous Soulful take on the David Gates/Bread hit "Make It With You" - as lovely a tune as you've ever heard with a high-octave impassioned vocal. "She's Gone" is the same - a pleader that works. Lending itself to Soulful interpretation - Simon & Garfunkel's magisterial "Bridge Over Troubled Water" sees him get serious - giving it some great Gospel vocals - it's admittedly hissy in places as the piano plays - but its emotionally powerful stuff.

Barry Mann's "When You Get Right Down To It" has him sounding not unlike a male Dusty Springfield while "Sleeping Sun" is probably the most Pop song on here. "Abelene" is HDH Soul while he goes all Isleys on his excellent cover of "Jesus Is Just Alright" while we veer towards the Wigan Casino with his take on Frederick Knight's "Just Don't Want To Be Lonely". Speaking of which - Northern Soul fans will flip for "Lady In Red" - a Norman Harris/Vinnie Barrett Soul/Disco upbeat dancer lathered in strings and great doubled vocals (you can just smell the talcum powder).

Dyson passed away in 1990 aged only 40 - at least this superbly presented CD does his recorded legacy proud. Well done to all involved at Cherry Red's Soul Music Records and a great way to get that 1970 US Debut LP (1971 in the UK) on digital...