PEGGI BLU Livin' On Love
UK Expansion, 2002
I Can't Wait / Uh Oh / I Never Loved A Man Before / Can't Go Back / Long After Midnight /
Secret Garden / Go Away Little Boy / Crazy For You / Where Is Your Love / Never Let Me Go /
Livin' On Love / When I Call You Mine
Produced by Ted Perlman
It's hard to imagine that's it's 15 years since Peggi Blu's previous album, the
excellent Blu Blowin' (Capitol, 1987), the album I personally rated the # 2 soul
album of 1987, while the number one was If I Were Your Woman by Stephanie Mills. Coincidentally,
Peggi Blu has also recorded with Stephanie Mills back in 1983, when Stephanie and Peggi duetted the
absolutely wonderful song His Name Is Michael on Stephanie's 1983 Merciless album.
The obvious first question is then "where has Peggi Blu been during all these years?", but you have to
wait for our next printed issue to find out the answer, when we expect to have Ms. Peggi Blu in our
exclusive interview. Anyway, those who have been enthusiastic collectors of Expansion releases, surely remember
a track titled Love Is the Magic, which was featured on the very first Expansion Soul Sauce
compilation (Volume 1) in 1992.
Label owner Ralph Tee states on the Expansion website that "the label has been trying
to make her find time to complete an album ever since", but it took them another ten years to have this album
released.
The new album is produced by Ted Perlman, Peggi's husband, who also did a great job
producing the recent Even Now album for The Manhattans. The album
featured a soulful ballad titled Let's Try Love, on which Peggi duetted with Gerald Alston,
and as Ted mentions in the CD leaflet, "Peggi blew the roof off in a steamy duet". The song was written
by Sam Sheppard and Jimmy Varner of By All Means fame.
Livin' on Love does not probably include the indisputable monster cut that
would make this set an instant best-seller among soul circles, but believe me, this is a more than
worthwhile effort with plenty of quality cuts. The track that has probably gained most attention is
Peggi's reading of Go Away Little Boy, a tune made famous by Marlena Shaw,
and Peggi's interpretation is very reliable and powerful, too. Brandon Fields
is featured as the tenor sax soloist, while Gerald Albright plays
electric bass this time.
Other strong cuts on the album include the atmospheric floater Uh Oh (featuring a fine guitar
solo by Ted Perlman), the acoustic guitar flavoured ballad I Never Loved a Man Before,
the melodic mid-tempo burbler Can't Go Back and the conventional soul ballad smoocher Long After
Midnight, which peaked at number 4 on our Quality Time Cream Cuts chart.
A couple of less inspiring, pop-flavoured numbers (Where Is Your Love, Never Let Me Go)
follow, but then we are offered a real treat when Peggi sings the title track Livin' On Love,
which is the most impressive new song featured, written by Ted Perlman and Phil Cody. -IT
