I'm Gonna Miss You/The Articulate Artistics

2 LPs on 1 CD.
Liner Note Author: Alan Robinson .
Director: Gerald Sims.
Arranger: Sonny Sanders.
The pairing of the group's first two Brunswick albums on one CD is very apt, especially as neither album runs even 30 minutes; one can make the strong case that this British import CD amounts to a best-of their Brunswick sides. I'm Gonna Miss You was never much more than a collection of superb single sides, with Marvin Smith's voice out in front over a fairly wide variety of backings and settings, from the string-dominated "Glad I Met You" to the harder "Hope We Have" and "Love Song," with their more upfront rhythm arrangements (courtesy of Sonny Sanders). There are good horn arrangements here on several numbers, alternating with the more lush string sound, and the title track displays some gorgeous and understated elegance in the accompaniment to Smith's impassioned singing, while on "Girl I Need You" all of the stops are pulled out, strings mixing with a lively rhythm accompaniment and luscious backing vocals. Although some listeners detect a move away from the Motown influence of their earlier sound on this album, there is also at least one song -- "I'll Always Love You," written by group member Jesse Bolian and producer/manager Carl Davis -- that comes dangerously close to cribbing from the Four Tops' "Is There Anything That I Can Do" from the latter group's second album. The Articulate Artistics makes for a good contrast, being a more cohesive body of work with a harder, more soulful and funky edge. And although this CD runs under 60 minutes, the quality of the music is so high that one will hardly feel cheated. The sound is superb and the liner notes give a very engaging account of the group's history, which makes the quality of their work even more astounding, riven as they were by personnel changes from the early '60s onward. ~ Bruce Eder