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Delaney & Bonnie's brand of soul-rock was firmly in place by the time of this 1969 album, the only one they recorded for Stax. Their following albums would gain greater exposure, but there's not much difference between this record and those subsequent efforts, except perhaps that this is more soul-oriented and less rock-oriented. That's not too surprising considering that members of Booker T. & the MG's are playing on most of the cuts, though a few were done in Hollywood with Leon Russell on keyboards and Carl Radle on bass. The material was a mixture of original songs and compositions from top Stax writers such as Steve Cropper, Isaac Hayes, and David Porter, though generally the songs weren't as grittily powerful or memorably hook-laden at the best stuff to come out of Stax in the late '60s. The cover of "Piece of My Heart" was bound to pass relatively unnoticed in the wake of Janis Joplin's wrenching hit cover of the song (with Big Brother & the Holding Company), and "Hard to Say Goodbye" seems like an attempt to push their sound in a slightly poppier direction, though not at all a bad one.

© Richie Unterberger /TiVo