Brighter Side Of Darkness: "Love Jones"

There’s a reissue of this out now, made because copies of the original LP are rather scarce, but whadya know, I found an OG pressing of this at the aforementioned Jelly’s for $4!!  This is a classic of the vocal group era, back when names like Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes, The Stylistics, The Delfonics, The Dramatics, etc. were hitting hard.  However, Brighter Side Of Darkness probably owes its largest debt of influence to legendary Chicago contemporaries The Dells, as they quickly reveal the trademarks of their shared windy city lineage.  BSOD could also elicit comparisons to the Jackson 5 due to the presence of 12-year old singer Daryl Lamont, who takes the lead on the massive hit title track “Love Jones,” a drippy, immaculate slow jam if ever there was one.  The rest of the tracks on the album are in step with the trends of the time, covering funkier grooves at points, but mostly focusing on the sweetly sung ballads that were the bread and butter of the vocal group sound.  This is definitely a period piece, but there’s really no denying the beauty of these songs, made back when the majority of soul and R&B still possessed a disarming innocence that is nowhere to be found in modern music.