Review Summary: She hits the high notes like an angel… a perfect one.
Fans of Stevie Wonder’s famous double album,
Songs in the Key of Life, hopefully consider “Ordinary Pain” to be one of the album’s many highlights. What these fans may not know is that the already at that time acclaimed Minnie Riperton is the featured artist that blew them away during the second half of the song. More importantly, they may not know that she hit #1 in the US and #2 in the UK with her hit single “Lovin’ You” just a year earlier. Even if they do know, they may fail to realize that the album “Lovin’ You” is from,
Perfect Angel, is excellent from start to finish in the same way as her feature on “Ordinary Pain.”
The main appeal of “Lovin’ You” is its sweet vocals accompanied by shockingly high pitched notes that followed the chorus, all set to placid acoustic guitar. It’s the perfect soul song with an extra edge of personality. Honestly, that’s the main appeal of the album: Riperton’s voice. Many of the songs on here feature the same angelic high notes, but the way she utilizes them differs from song to song. For instance in “Seeing You This Way,” Riperton stretches the note for as long as she can to add intensity to her desire. Here, her voice is fairly sexual, but in a clean “I’m married and always singing about my husband” kind of way. Other times however, the love is less sexual and more motherly when she sings about her daughter, future comedian Maya Rudolph, whom is the subject of the previously mentioned #1 single.
Actually, “Lovin’ You” wouldn’t have even been on the album if it weren’t for Stevie Wonder himself suggesting that Riperton add an “embarrassing song” about the love for her daughter. Wonder’s influence on the album was even greater due to the fact that he even wrote two songs for the album, both of which reflect his songwriting style rather blatantly. Not to forget that along with Riperton’s husband Richard Rudolph, Wonder also co-produced the album. He played piano, drums, and harmonica for the album as well. Musically,
Perfect Angel is basically a Stevie Wonder album; it’s really only in the vocals where Riperton takes it for her own, and honestly I don’t see a problem with that.
Musically, the album is very slow and moody. It’s fair to even say that this is archetypal love making music. On some tracks the guitars solo simply, yet orgasmically, on others, the keys fiddle around like fingers on the body, and congas and/or drumsets rock around steadily, but never harshly. It’s so sweet, so sexy, yet so… well angelic. Not to mention that “Our Lives” is a romantic epic about the staying power of Riperton and her husband’s love for each other that’s backed by an impressive harmonica solo. This epic serves as the closer and brings
Perfect Angel to a satisfying, if not perfect end.
To some people what I’ve described above might seem incredibly boring, and honestly there’s nothing really unique about this album other than Riperton’s immaculate high notes, but there’s not really any other criticism you could say about the album, it’s spotless. It doesn't have the revolutionary quality of a classic, but it's surely close enough. So grab a spouse and have a romantic outing to this innocent and loving 70s soul album.
Album highlights: “Reasons”, “Seeing You This Way”, “Lovin' You”, “Our Lives”
