One Soulman And His Dog: Danny Woods - Aries Posted by Junior

Danny Woods: Roller Coaster and Try On My Love For Size From: Aries [Invictus, 1973] Back once again with another slept on gem to bring tingles to your ear drums. Chairman of the Board are one of those long established soul groups that most listeners will be at least familiar with a song or two by. Enjoying more than reasonable success in the early seventies the group split and subsequently suffered the curse of the 'nobody cares about you when you're alone' solo album flops. Needless to say it wasn't long before the group reformed and they are still touring to this day. As an obsessive collector with a high streak of curiosity I love coming across band member's solo albums as they always offer an interesting insight to how an artist takes forward their sound when given the freedom from the group. Band vocalist Danny Woods' only solo effort, Aries, from 1973 doesn't offer up anything extraordinarily different to the band's sound but what it does have is some extremely solid songwriting and some superb production. Roller Coaster is a stonking little tune with it's stuttering kickdrums and the steel drums placed deep in the mix. Try On My Love For Size is one of those pleading soul songs that I just can't get enough of complete with whoop whoop backing singers and more excellent percussion and rhythm work. It's a shame this album wasn't rewarded with more success at the time, maybe its throwback style didn't sit well with listeners who had adjusted to the Hi/Stax sound or maybe it was the choice of another, god awful, what were they thinking, front cover but nows your chance to give Danny and his dog some love.