Irene Reid -The World Needs What I Need 1971

Irene Reid's lone Polydor effort, The World Needs What I Need, reinvents the singer for a new dawn, jettisoning the jazz sensibilities of previous efforts in favor of a bottom-heavy psychedelic soul approach perfectly matched to her potent vocals. While nowhere near as tripped out as concurrent Polydor releases from the likes of Roy Ayers or Edwin Birdsong, the album definitely boasts all the label's early-'70s hallmarks: thick, percolating grooves, panoramic arrangements, and a deep sensitivity for a universal consciousness far greater than the music itself. Navigating well-chosen covers like "Son of a Preacher Man" and funky originals like "Hey World, Let Love In" with aplomb and self-possession, Reid never seems out of place in such radical environs; indeed, the performances here are among her very finest, and it's a shame the album's commercial failure spelled such an extended absence from the limelight. AMG.

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