F1RST by O'Bryan

Album Review –

O'BRYAN: F1RST

I have lived, breathed and slept this album over the past few weeks and have absorbed it like no release I can recall over the past few years. This album outshines anything without question. It is simply intoxicating. This is exactly the sort of music that I want to be hearing and exactly the sort of artist I want to be writing about.

Every track without exception is a standout; no fillers, nothing weak and no saps to the juvenile, lost current “R&B” scene or dreary UK-orientated street / urban soul scene. This is REAL, UNADULTERATED, FABULOUS soul music with nothing taken out. If ever an album was screaming for release in the UK and Europe it is this.

I have always rated O'Bryan. Every album he has released has a gem or two tucked away on it. If I were able to, I would take “You Have Got To Come To Me” to heaven with me when I eventually shuffle off this mortal coil. I will defiantly be taking this with me too. I have not been so struck with an album like this since I heard Leon Ware's “Taste The Love” album, or Burt Bacharach's “At This Time”.

The scene is set with the most spine tingling instrumental intro called “Yearning”. The album itself nestles wonderfully in a ballad / mid tempo setting, spaced with beautiful interludes. “Yearning” will have you doing just that, and if “Just Like Doin' It” doesn't make your jaw drop then you are on the wrong web site. The man sounds fantastic, and I have to say that I think this material far surpasses anything he produced for Capitol. “Just Like Doin' It” is a sexy, smoldering number.

After absorbing myself in such a wonderful track I was simply not ready for the brilliance and sheer soulfulness of “Can I Kiss Your Lips”. Oh, with the lovely warm spring-like weather we are currently having there is no better music to accompany it. Again, if this is not your cup of tea then I think that a trip to the Soul Doctor is in order!

“Man Overboard” has made it onto Internet radio and rightly so. This is classic soul material – accept no substitutes. This man is definitely a thoroughbred and deserves as much exposure as possible.

“Gotta Let You Go” will definitely please and the sublime dreamy instrumental, “Reflection” perfectly melts into the KILLER mid tempo “Caught In The Middle”; a song about a man who wants to have his cake and eat it too. This really is an exciting track – not a word I use often. This is a groove of immense proportions and O'Bryan really works well in such a song. This song is addictive and I guarantee that you will be playing this LOUD! “Let Me Be the One” with its luxurious spaced out beats and idling guitar is the perfect spoil for its predecessor and will again have you riveted.

Track 9 is simply beautiful. “Virtual Reality” coyly plays on our onanistic tendencies, and I know that I have been there and so has everyone else. Definitely a song that is coming through the pearly gates with me when the time comes! This is smartly followed by the quirky, squeaky sexy number, “Gratitude”, which is so soulful it hurts. The lovely “Hot Summer Night (End)” brings the curtain down on what I can only describe as the performance of not only this year, but a number of years to come.

Don't allow this album to be excluded from your collection. If ever one SHOULD be in your collection, then this is surely it.

Barry Towler (Soul Express)

His Early years:

O'Bryan McCoy Burnette II began his career in the music business at age 18. At the time, O'Bryan Sang while fellow musician Melvin Lee Davis played bass in the Second Baptist Young Adult Choir in Santa Ana, California. Melanie, a friend of Davis, introduced O'Bryan to producer Ron Kersey. Kersey, who had worked in Philadelphia with music groups such as the Trammps in the 1970's, was looking for members for a new group he was forming, called Hamercy. Kersey accepted O'Bryan into the group as lead singer. The group quickly fell apart, after which Kersey introduced O'Bryan to Soul Train impresario Don Cornelius.

Following this introduction, Cornelius presented O'Bryan to Varnell Johnson of Capital Records who signed him to the label. The following four years on Capitol Records, O’Bryan released four albums and nine singles, which all had slots on the RnB charts.

He released his debut album Doin' Alright in 1982. As a multi-instrumentalist, many listeners considered his uptempo tracks bared subtle resemblances to Prince, but he treaded far closer to the urban contemporary mainstream on his ballads. Although the mid-paced title track proved the most enduring to many fans, the album yielded a big dance floor hit in the form of 'The Gigolo' which reached number five on the RnB charts and number 57 on the pop charts. It also contained what many fans considered an outstanding cover of the Four Tops 'Still Water (Love)'.

In 1983, his second album You and I was released, the title track being an excellent version of a beautiful love song penned by the great Stevie Wonder. The instrumental 'Soft Touch' also proved to be a popular choice from this second album. It also contained the track 'Soul Train's A Coming' which was used as the theme song for the performance theme show Soul Train from 1983 to 1987.

In 1984, O'Bryan released his third LP Be My Lover which included the hit balled 'Lady I Love You'. A major dance floor single release from the album was the funky groove 'Lovelite', a number one hit on Billboard's RnB singles chart which many consider to be the equal to any of Prince's early funk.

He released his fourth and final album on Capitol, Surrender in 1986 which included the dance hit "Tenderoni". It reached the RnB Billboard top 40 and was considered a club hit in early 1987. Since then, he has parted ways from Capitol and went on a hiatus for two decades. Despite the apparent success that O'Bryan has experienced on Capitol Records during the middle of the 1980s, his music still receives airplay on radio stations worldwide.

Average Customer Review: 4