Voices of The Gods

Billy Paul - War Of The Gods (1973) {2012 Remastered & Expanded - Big Break Records CDBBR 0184}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 311 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 119 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 84 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1973, 2012 Sony Music / Big Break Records / Cherry Red Records | CDBBR 0184
R'n'B / Soul / Philly Soul / Psychedelic Soul / Soul Jazz

2012 marks the 40th anniversary of the hugely influential Philadelphia International Records. To mark this, and following our reissue of some of the labels other acts such as the Three Degrees, Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes and the O’Jays, we are pleased to present another album from one of the most identifiable voices of the Philly Sound. WAR OF THE GODS reached R&B #12 and Pop #110 upon its release in 1973. Some of the artists backing Billy on this album are Bobby Eli, Bunny Sigler, Norman Harris, Leon Huff and Ron Baker.

Soon after his return from America, at the height of the war in 1943, Britten wrote incidental music for a radio play by Edward Sackville-West on the Homeric subject of Odysseus’s return to Penelope. Drawn from the complete score with barely any amendment of the original, and compressed into a 36-minute cantata, with Chris de Souza tailoring the text and Colin Matthews, Britten’s last amanuensis, most tactfully editing the music, the result is extraordinarily powerful. The most important role is that of the narrator, here masterfully taken by Dame Janet Baker who brings the story vividly to life despite the stylized classical language (e.g. “Odysseus, Lord of sea-girt Ithaca” or “His fair wife, white-armed Penelope”). Rather confusingly Athene also appears as a soprano, with the radiant Alison Hagley sounding totally unlike Dame Janet. She is one of a godly quartet of singers who contribute Greek-style commentaries – vocal passages which regularly add to the atmospheric beauty of the piece.