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BELIEVE me, it's just a matter of time before Glenn Jones breaks through and enters the proverbial winner's circle for life! I've been saying this for two years now and felt it was timely now that RCA has just released Glenn's third LP, entitled "Take It From Me". In my humble opinion, this album's two predecessors have been excellent - however, I will concede that the new Hawk Wolinski produced album is perhaps a shade more commercial than either "Finesse" or "Everybody Loves A Winner". Glenn prefers to say "it has more variety and isn't just a typical R&B album" and I wouldn't argue with that. "I see my biggest progress as a songwriter, though," he adds. "This is really the first album I've been involved in from that angle. I also think I am better equipped to handle uptempo, dance material now, too. I know that a lot of artists tend to become stereotyped and that's something I wanted to avoid and if you listen especially to cuts such as "Dangerous" and "Love Will Show Us How", I think you'll hear me trying new things at least, new for me!"
THE input of Hawk Wolinski is worth noting, too. "He's so up-to-date on the technology aspect," Glenn enthuses. "Arid since he is also a keyboard player, he knows how to capture what is in his mind. "I think he is the singularly most responsible person for the different directions you'll hear on this album. Again, "Dangerous" is a good example because it's a track that is not only good for black radio, it's also a good crossovei track, too. "Another aspect of Hawk's input is that he brought in a lot of excellent outside musicians for this project." Eventually, you suspect that Glenn's aim is to get into production. "But that is some way down the line," he stresses. "One thing that I did do was to do a remix on the "Giving Myself To You" track on the new album. We now have an East Coast mix and a West Coast mix! Mine is the East Coast mix, by the way.
What I actually did was change the background vocals and did a little overdubbing to give it a different feel. "Sometime in the future, I'd like to get more into producing but I have other priorities right now." To this point in his career, Glenn has tended to be categorised - almost pigeonholed! - along with the Jeffrey Osborne (vocal) clan. "I actually take that as a compliment because I have the utmost respect for Jeffrey. He's a great vocalist, a great artist and to be compared with him is really a big compliment."
IN between recording and releasing his own albums, Glenn has been acutely busy. He starred as male lead in the gospel musical, "Sing, Mahalia, Sing", for example "but that's in limbo right now because of the legal problems. "But in my case I guess that's a blessing right now because I need the time to concentrate on promoting the new album and, hopefully, getting ready to do some serious touring." But, as I said at the beginning, it really is only a matter of time before the amiable gent from Jacksonville, Florida, gets that elusive big break. You can "take it from me", this could well be the album to do it for him! B&S sept '86 |
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