Freddie McGregor Heart Is Willing (Jet Star) Rating: NNN
Rating: NNN
Rarely has Freddie McGregor been able to come up with an album as engaging as his mid-80s Big Ship, Across The Border and the classic Come On Over, but Heart Is Willing, with its mix of smooth roots and dancehall, comes close. Songs like Old Gangster, Searching and the title track are as good as anything he’s written, but the album flounders when he ventures into sappy ballad territory. Victim and I Love You are hard to take, but he really loses it with his adult reggae contemporary version of the Righteous Brothers hit You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling. It’s even worse than you think. A few suspect song choices conspire to seriously damage an otherwise decent collection of tunes.
Check out Freddie McGregor for free at Nathan Philips Square Saturday (August 2) at 9 pm.
