The Moments – A Moment With The Moments 1970 & The Other Side Of The Moments 1972

 Though it's bookended by two of the sweet soul trio's biggest hits, A Moment With the Moments reflects the overall weaknesses in the trio's songs, performances, and most tragically, the sound of any release associated with parent company All Platinum. Harry Ray, a newcomer to the Moments, hits all the high notes on the opener, a cover of the Ink Spots' vocal standard that hit the R&B Top Ten. "Key to My Happiness" is a great buried treasure, firmly in the Motown sound, and "Love on a Two-Way Street" is as exquisite a soul ballad as ever made it to the top of the pop charts. Still, "Lovely Way She Loves" and "So This Is Our Goodbye" are weak filler material, the group straining to get the same pleading in their voice as more popular acts like the Delfonics. The arrangements are effective, and the backing by Willie & the Mighty Magnificents is fresh and inventive, but alas, the sound is sub-standard (par for the course for All Platinum) and even a 2000 CD revamping of the album by Sequel (packaged with The Other Side of the Moments) can't help the weak sound. 

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 The Other Side of the Moments displays the New Jersey soul trio as a supper-club act, just as a few top soul acts (the Four Tops, the Impressions, the Supremes) had flirted with during the '60s. Why the Moments were attempting to court a more traditional audience during the early '70s is a mystery. The trio doesn't have much trouble with the material, but the arrangements and recording are period curiosities; a nimble electric bass attempts to update the trad strings, but fails every time. The quick pace and intimate delivery for "In the Still of the Night" make for an album highlight, but the group's performances of "What's New?" and "Angel Eyes" sound overripe and tossed-off. This "other side" of the Moments certainly wasn't fooling any Nat King Cole fans out there, and unsurprisingly bombed with soul audiences too, making it one of the group's most uninspired works.