Tyrone Davis I Just Can't Keep On Going (2016)

Born May 4, 1938 in Greenville, Mississippi, Tyrone Davis is considered the "king of romantic Chicago soul". He moved to Chicago in 1959, where he found work as a valet for bluesman Freddie King. Eventually, Davis began singing in clubs on the city's West and South Sides, and by 1965 he had signed to the Four Brothers label.. Three years later, Davis moved to producer Carl Davis' Dakar Records and earned his first hit, "Can I Change My Mind," when a local DJ played the B-side of his Dakar debut. The song went to Number One on the R&B charts, and hit the pop Top Five. In the Seventies, he scored other R&B chart-toppers with "Turn Back the Hands of Time" and "Turning Point" before switching to Columbia Records and discofying his soul. It was his smooth bedroom ballads like "In The Mood", however, that burned up the charts. Davis went onto record successfully on various labels like Ichiban and Malaco up to his death. He is one of the most imitated soul singers of the modern era.

This 15-track compilation gathers the best of Chicago soul singer Tyrone Davis' Columbia recordings from 1976 to 1981. Cut after Davis made his career defining soul hits for Dakar in the '60s, he scored a few more chart toppers including the upbeat, disco era tracks "Give it Up, Turn it Loose, "This I Swear," and "Get On Up (Disco)." But it's the lush, Quiet Storm material represented exceptionally well on "In the Mood," "Lets be Closer Together" and "Close to You," (not the Carpenters tune), that finds the vocalist in his true element. This is a good introductory retrospective from this romantic soul master and the perfect companion to 20 Greatest Hits which focuses on his Dakar material.