Their early 70s hits like Oh Girl, Have You Seen Her and Lonely Man possess a deep melancholic delivery over a very unhurried beat akin to country music superstars like Merle Haggard etc whilst layered with high doo wop harmonies, horns and plenty of mouth organ to make the line between country and soul indistinguishable and give the Chi Lites a unique sound. Both soul and country were big at the time and undoubtedly made them popular during this era of many crossover artists and the lineage isn't ever more clear than on this track with it's use of rapid acoustic guitar playing and screeching violins along with the Chi Lites mix of bouncy, bass heavy Bubblegum soul. It works with Eugene Record's crystal clear voice adding a pop fervour to the laidback country vibe.
Monday 2 May 2016
The Chi-Lites (1974) My Heart Keeps on Breaking
The elements of the Lonesome Chi Lites sound included deep echoey harmonica, clanky rhythm guitar, weeping autumnal strings, Eugene Record's sweet falsetto and often carried powerful, specific messages in their long titles. The Chi Lites were from Chicago and while they had the dreamy sound of the Impressions and an aggressive social concious funk intensity from Curtis Mayfield they seemed to have an orchestrated sound closer to a Philly act. The Chi Lites towed a line between Philadelphia soul and Adult Contemporary soft rock formats with sweet soul ballads full of sweeping strings but harmonicas and a laid back, train track guitar strum borrowed more from the country rock scene.
Their early 70s hits like Oh Girl, Have You Seen Her and Lonely Man possess a deep melancholic delivery over a very unhurried beat akin to country music superstars like Merle Haggard etc whilst layered with high doo wop harmonies, horns and plenty of mouth organ to make the line between country and soul indistinguishable and give the Chi Lites a unique sound. Both soul and country were big at the time and undoubtedly made them popular during this era of many crossover artists and the lineage isn't ever more clear than on this track with it's use of rapid acoustic guitar playing and screeching violins along with the Chi Lites mix of bouncy, bass heavy Bubblegum soul. It works with Eugene Record's crystal clear voice adding a pop fervour to the laidback country vibe.
Their early 70s hits like Oh Girl, Have You Seen Her and Lonely Man possess a deep melancholic delivery over a very unhurried beat akin to country music superstars like Merle Haggard etc whilst layered with high doo wop harmonies, horns and plenty of mouth organ to make the line between country and soul indistinguishable and give the Chi Lites a unique sound. Both soul and country were big at the time and undoubtedly made them popular during this era of many crossover artists and the lineage isn't ever more clear than on this track with it's use of rapid acoustic guitar playing and screeching violins along with the Chi Lites mix of bouncy, bass heavy Bubblegum soul. It works with Eugene Record's crystal clear voice adding a pop fervour to the laidback country vibe.
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Great album
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