Today's RTB joint: Lenny Williams.
Lenny Williams
Spark of Love
ABC Records 1978
Lenny was a man.
I don’t think y’all hearing me… I said Lenny Williams was a man. Only a man could stand alone on his album cover, shirt opened down to his smooth, muscle-free abs, swinging not one but two sparklers and still come off looking cool. Only a man could drop an entire album of love songs and be strong and sincere all the way through. And only a man could do it without cussin’ up a blue streak.
Lenny Williams was a man.
“Lenny Who?” you might ask. (Those of you, who've never seen kings of comedy, at least.) Well, if they ever pressed up a Making Love for Dummies book, Page One would read: “Cause I Love You” by Lenny Williams. If you can’t get nun after playing that, you don’t deserve none. Years before Steve Harvey freaked it on Kings of Comedy, my pops bestowed upon me this Lenny Williams classic —on vinyl no less. Lenny never got the props that Al Greene, Barry White, or even Teddy Pendergrass, but Lenny had more pipes than a mob of crack fiends. Whether he was doing disco, soul or dropping funk with Tower of Power, Lenny Williams could flat-out sing!
Besides “’Cause I Love You,” this 1978 dish includes several classics that old school heads’ll recognize only after the first couple bars each. Cuts like, “Changes,” “I Still Reach Out,” and “You Got Me Running.” It’s a true concept album. Every joint is about the various aspects of being in love and keeping a relationship together—which is rare for what many still consider a “disco” album. But this ain’t ABBA or the BeeGees. Spark of Love is soulful R&B, some of which will make you move. And clockin’ at just eight jams deep; 4 per side, Lenny Williams’ Spark of Love is a delicious classic— especially if there’s a little love in the air.
