Reuben James Richards: About Time

A towering stack of Stax.

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To say this album is Stax-drenched would be an understatement.

The first 30 seconds, building from the strident beat through the driving rhythm and surging chords to the horn section working their way upwards to the perfect riff, is a textbook example of how to set up the archetypal Stax single.

Now you’re just waiting for the singer to strut his stuff. It’s the same for the ballads: the shimmering guitar notes, the slow rhythmic emphasis, the horn section working their way downwards.

Reuben James Richards may be unfamiliar, but his voice is close to Eddie Floyd, and he revels in the spirit of it. The songs, written by producer Dave Williams in what must have been a labour of love, are good enough to have enticed some of the original horn section and back-up singers over to participate in this wonderful pastiche.

Hugh Fielder

Hugh Fielder has been writing about music for 47 years. Actually 58 if you include the essay he wrote about the Rolling Stones in exchange for taking time off school to see them at the Ipswich Gaumont in 1964. He was news editor of Sounds magazine from 1975 to 1992 and editor of Tower Records Top magazine from 1992 to 2001. Since then he has been freelance. He has interviewed the great, the good and the not so good and written books about some of them. His favourite possession is a piece of columnar basalt he brought back from Iceland.