Description
| Les Fleur | 3:16 | ||
| Completeness | 3:33 | ||
| Come To My Garden | 3:20 | ||
| Memory Band | 4:05 | ||
| Rainy Day In Centerville | 5:24 | ||
| Close Your Eyes And Remember | 3:42 | ||
| Oh, By The Way | 3:01 | ||
| Expecting | 3:55 | ||
| Only When I’m Dreaming | 3:29 | ||
| Whenever, Wherever | 3:32 |
Minnie Riperton’s solo debut is in many respects her finest hour — devoid of the overly syrupy production that hampers her later work, Come to My Garden instead couches her miraculous voice in the elegant arrangements of the great Charles Stepney, striking a perfect balance between romantic melodrama and sensual nuance. Call Stepney’s singular approach “chamber soul”–the nimble melodies and insistent grooves swell with orchestral flourishes, while the jazz-inspired rhythms (courtesy of Ramsey Lewis’ group) at times evoke Van Morrison’s masterpiece Astral Weeks. Stepney creates the ideal backdrop for Riperton’s soaring vocals, which reveal a subtlety and restraint absent from the glass-shattering bombast of her subsequent performances — the opening “Les Fleurs” (covered decades later by 4Hero) crystallizes the entire record, embracing both intimacy and majesty to haunting effect.
allmusic.com
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