The late, great Teddy Pendergrass will be posthumously remembered on August 21 with the upcoming album Duets Love & Soul on Cleopatra Records. The record will include recordings of past Pendergrass hits remade by him during the final years of his life, with duet partners added by Cleopatra president Brian Perera.
The project leads off with the smash hit "Love TKO," remade as a duet with Cleopatra recording artist Angie Stone. The recording follows the arrangement of the original pretty closely, but with an older, less powerful-voiced Pendergrass singing lead. Stone sounds great, as usual, but the vocal mix seems a bit...ummm...off. The song is certainly a step below the fantastic, powerful original that we could listen to any time, any day.
The late, great Teddy Pendergrass will be posthumously remembered on August 21 with the upcoming album Duets Love & Soul on Cleopatra Records. The record will include recordings of past Pendergrass hits remade by him during the final years of his life, with duet partners added by Cleopatra president Brian Perera.
The project leads off with the smash hit "Love TKO," remade as a duet with Cleopatra recording artist Angie Stone. The recording follows the arrangement of the original pretty closely, but with an older, less powerful-voiced Pendergrass singing lead. Stone sounds great, as usual, but the vocal mix seems a bit...ummm...off. The song is certainly a step below the fantastic, powerful original that we could listen to any time, any day.
The Duets Love & Soul project will also include collaborations with Jody Watley, The Stylistics, Martha Reeves, The Ohio Players and many others. We'll reserve judgment until we hear more, but we're disappointed in this first peek at the album. The Teddy Bear certainly deserves the acclaim for a brilliant career. We just hope that this album will be a worthy vehicle.
Check out "Love TKO" below and tell us what you think.
Teddy Pendergrass and Angie Stone
"Love TKO"