The Tim Terry Experience - Born II Live

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    Tim Terry decided to test the old saying that you can’t go home again when he returned to Memphis after spending time in California. When a musician departs a music mecca such as Memphis, he has to have a pretty good reason. Terry says that he left because Memphis wasn’t exactly open to his brand of neo-soul. Memphis is the home of blues, rock, southern soul and more recently, hip-hop. Terry leans more toward what some might call alternative R&B or neo-soul. So Terry left to pursue opportunities elsewhere, and he found them. His debut album, The Tim Terry Experience, reached number two on charts in the United Kingdom. Still, Terry returned home and immediately set about trying to change things.

    Tim Terry decided to test the old saying that you can’t go home again when he returned to Memphis after spending time in California. When a musician departs a music mecca such as Memphis, he has to have a pretty good reason. Terry says that he left because Memphis wasn’t exactly open to his brand of neo-soul. Memphis is the home of blues, rock, southern soul and more recently, hip-hop. Terry leans more toward what some might call alternative R&B or neo-soul. So Terry left to pursue opportunities elsewhere, and he found them. His debut album, The Tim Terry Experience, reached number two on charts in the United Kingdom. Still, Terry returned home and immediately set about trying to change things.

    Terry started a music and arts series that serves as a venue for musicians, spoken word artists and others to ply their trade. Terry  makes an eloquent mission statement with his latest recording, Born II Live. This album features a band that is expert in playing the funk/rock fusion heard in the title track, while also mastering the stylistic diversity present in the several love tunes featured on Born II Live. That is especially true of the absolutely beautiful “Ooowee,” which is the best of a pretty good bunch. In between, The Tim Terry Experience delves into the acoustic pop, as well as a classic merging of spiritual and secular that typifies soul music at its best.

    The elements for a great album are all there, and Terry brings them all together with his smooth as butter vocal instrument. Two tracks showcase Terry’s ability to navigate the different currents between eroticism and love that borders on the spiritual. Terry delivers a sensual vocal on “Crowning,” a steamy bedroom jam that would fit right in on R&B radio. He totally flips the script on the next cut, “Your Love is Everything.” The tune sports lyrics that would allow it onto the play list on a gospel station:

    When I wake up every morning, it’s hard to imagine a moment without you in my life.
    You bring purpose and order to a chaotic routine
    I’m so glad I decided to make you first in everything.
    I love you not because you give your love so relentlessly, nor because I can depend on you to be there for anything.
    With your love everything’s possible.
    With your love, I can conquer the world if I believe.
    With your love/all my dreams can be fulfilled
    Because your love means everything to me.

    Terry’s soulful vocal is accompanied only by the kind of keyboard playing that will be instantly recognizable to anybody who spends Sunday mornings in church. So here’s the question. Is “Your Love is Everything” a song of praise and worship to God or is Terry extolling the transformative powers of the love of a good woman? You can make a persuasive argument for both, and that is the essence of great soul singing and musicianship.

    On Born II Live, the Tim Terry Experience is nothing less than a musical overview of what compelled generations of music fans to fall in love with that thing called soul music. Hopefully, this musical prophet will find honor in Terry’s home town. Highly Recommended.

    By Howard Dukes