Benny and Us resulted from a chance meeting in Miami between Ben E. King
and the Average White Band, who were vacationing there just when King
was starting work on a new album. The finished LP yielded two hit
singles and became King's best-selling LP, rising to number 33. The
sound is soulful and funky, very bright and passionate -- the upbeat,
relentlessly catchy "Get It Up for Love" and the soaring, horn and
string driven "A Star in the Ghetto" made respectable showings on the
R&B charts, and a good portion of the rest ("The Message," "What Is
Soul") is pretty powerful stuff as well. "Imagine" is so busy and so
self-consciously earnest that it's difficult to enjoy, but King is so
good in the moments when he is on target, that it's hard to skip this
track, even if it is the weakest number here. The radiant "Keepin' It to
Myself" and the poignant cover of Donny Hathaway's
"Someday We'll All Be Free," by contrast, are among King's very best
records. Benny and Us was a good enough record that it nearly led to a
joint tour (as opposed to some joint appearances, which actually
happened) between King and the Average White Band -- one can only marvel
at what those shows must have sounded like, and lament that fact that
no live album was cut. It also marked King's last major appearance on
the charts for Atlantic. To date, however, it's only available as an
import from Sequel Records. That reissue, apart from excellent sound,
also includes alternate edits of "Fool for You Anyway," "The Message,"
and, especially "Star in the Ghetto," including the 12" single version
of the latter -- all are worth hearing.
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