The Impressions - Times Have Changed 1972

 Times had, indeed, changed by the time this Impressions album was released in 1972, the group's first new album in two years. Curtis Mayfield was gone from the fold, but to ease the transition, his presence was still felt with half a dozen compositions and a production credit as well. Leroy Hutson, Fred Cash, and Sam Gooden were the singers, and the results were...impressive, to say the least. Cash takes the lead vocal on the topical and urgent "Stop the War," which is also a phenomenal (and eloquently understated) guitar showcase. The smooth, lyrical title track presents an almost elegant sound, dominated by harmonies and a reed arrangement -- and then comes the group's rendition of "Inner City Blues," arranged by Hutson with a slight shift in tempo and a somewhat more exposed string accompaniment than the Marvin Gaye original. "Our Love Goes on and On," which Mayfield later used in a rendition by Gladys Knight on the soundtrack to Claudine, is also produced on a surprisingly lush scale, considering its solid, in-your-face rhythm section and soaring harmonies. And then comes the superbly sung "Potent Love," a "lost" single off the album, with a string-driven hook that never seems to resolve or end (nor does one want it to). As Mayfield's successor, both as a singer and working behind the music, Hutson is showcased perhaps a little more heavily than the other members -- and, ironically enough, he would leave the following year for a solo career -- but this was still a fine beginning for a new era of the Impressions' history.