Damn Near Righteous - Bill Medley (2007)
In Tune Productions / TuneCore

I must admit that I know very little about Bill Medley’s career. I know that he and Bobby Hatfield were the Righteous Brothers, and that he had a huge hit duet with Jennifer Warnes in 1987. Everyone knows that.

I didn’t expect much when I sat down to listen to samples from his new release “Damn Near Righteous”. Produced by Steve Dorff, I guess I expected a Christopher Cross record with a gruffier voice.

It’s smooth alright, with ace session players like Dean Parks, Vinnie Colaiuta, John Robinson and Joe Chemay, but it’s a big, fat, wonderful production with Wurlitzers, Hammonds, grand piano, real strings (if not, they certainly fooled me), real horns, guitars, drums and backing vocals. Not a cheap synthpad like, say, recent Leon Russell records, in sight. It sounds really expensive, actually, and when I think back, it’s been a while since the last time I heard a record sounding quite as good.

His voice is rustier than it used to be, but I think that’s an asset here. He has great tone. They’ve probably fine-tuned him a bit (he’s 67) but his voice sounds natural throughout the record - as opposed to something like…oh, yeah… ”Chicago XXX” (2006) - Jason Scheff and Bill Champlin sound like computers on that album. It’s a real treat to listen to Medley on most of these tracks.

It’s a bit too ballad-heavy, though. I like the bluesy and soulful numbers better, like “Sit Down & Hurt” , “Trick Bag”, “Hurt City”… there are lots of great tracks to choose from. His re-recording of Beach Boys’ “In My Room” doesn’t do much for me, even though Phil Everly and Brian Wilson participates. Too smooth. His cover of “Just Like A Woman” also leaves a lot to be desired. ”Beautiful” and “Two Lives” are boring in my ears. “California Goodbye” is definitely the best ballad as far as I’m concerned - it gives me goosebumps every time I hear it.

All in all, highly recommended. But do listen before you download - I have this hunch that a lot of you might disagree with me here.