Crate Digging In Your Own Collection: Benny Johnson Posted by Junior

Benny Johnson: Visions Of Paradise and Stop Me From: Visions of Paradise [Today, 1973] A common mistake when you trawl through a lot of records in a short space of time is that it's easy to overlook the gems. It's more than often the case that I'll play something, think it ok, and file it away only to be blown away when I hear a track from it a few months later. This premature dismissal syndrome gets particularly bad if I pick up a whole stack of one style as the albums blend into one epic longplayer and is undoubtedly not helped by my almost ADD level need to constantly consume new music. A classic case is Benny Johnson's Visions Of Paradise LP that I picked up on reissue after seeing the rave reviews it got. Clustering it between around twenty other albums I picked up in that period I gave it a listen, thought it a reasonably enjoyable Al Green-lite record and filed it away. It was only in the last week when, on a whim, I put it on my mp3 player, that it dawned on me how great this record is in it's own right. In my defence, listen to the horns at the beginning of the title track and tell me you're not instantly transported to Memphis and Hi Records. On further listens Benny's voice has more of a Syl Johnson feel to it than Al, his vocals giving off a raw power and emotion that stands up to scrutiny. Either way it's a lovely lovely track and well deserves it's own appreciation. Stop Me is more on the upbeat tip but still with that brassy instrumentation. Love the way this track builds up it's tempo until you can almost hear Benny running on the spot by the time it fades out. The album has been reissued now by Soul Brother who have done a decent job of reproducing but not smothering the sound of the original, great album cover too. It's not the first album where I couldn't see the woods for the trees and a timely reminder to take my time over each album that comes my way. What albums have you slept on only to have been reintroduced to at a later date?