Jimmy Holiday had the skills to be a star -- he had a honeyed voice with just the right amount of grit, he could write insinuating songs, both slow and fast -- but it never happened for him. He had a hit right out of the gate with "How Can I Forget," an indie hit on Everest in 1963, but once he signed with the New Orleans-based Minit in 1966, he managed no better than 21 on the R&B charts, even though he could sing several kinds of soul with style. Spread Your Love: The Complete Minit Singles 1966-1970 makes that plain by cycling through his As and Bs from the late '60s, offering a rich portrait of an unheralded talent. Usually, Holiday sidestepped the signature funky sounds identified with the Crescent City -- "Give Me Your Love" is an exception -- favoring a sweeter, smoother sound that sometimes recalls the cool breezes coming out of Chicago thanks to the Impressions. Holiday adeptly updated his sound with a bit of James Brown and Memphis groove -- the latter can be heard on "Spread Your Love," the former on "Baby Boy's in Love" -- and also easily slid into country-soul on a slow-and-dirty version of Lefty Frizzell's "If You've Got the Money, I've Got the Time" and felt at home grafting some of Motown's ornate arrangements onto the Otis-driven groove of "I've Got to Live While I Can," plus he was a good duet partner with Clydie King. Holiday seemed comfortable with nearly every contemporary soul style of the '60s and he wrote strong songs, too; maybe nothing here is a classic along the lines of "Put a Little Love in Your Heart," the hit he co-wrote with Jackie DeShannon, but every sturdy tune sticks around the brain. So, Spread Your Love: The Complete Minit Singles winds up as a requiem for a soul singer who never got his due and still deserves more credit than he gets: this is fine stuff.
Jimmy Holiday
Spread Your Love: The Complete Minit Singles 1966-1970
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AllMusic Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Track Listing
Sample | Title/Composer | Performer | Time | Stream | |||
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1 |
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Jimmy Holiday | 02:49 | Amazon | |||
2 | Jimmy Holiday | 03:06 | Amazon | ||||
3 |
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Jimmy Holiday | 02:50 | Amazon | |||
4 |
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Jimmy Holiday | 02:20 | Amazon | |||
5 |
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Jimmy Holiday | 02:38 | Amazon | |||
6 |
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Jimmy Holiday | 02:21 | Amazon | |||
7 |
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Jimmy Holiday | 03:25 | Amazon | |||
8 |
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Jimmy Holiday feat: Clydie King | 02:13 | Amazon | |||
9 |
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Jimmy Holiday feat: Clydie King | 02:20 | Amazon | |||
10 | Jimmy Holiday | 02:59 | Amazon | ||||
11 |
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Jimmy Holiday | 03:14 | Amazon | |||
12 |
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Jimmy Holiday | 03:31 | Amazon | |||
13 |
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Jimmy Holiday | 02:59 | Amazon | |||
14 |
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Jimmy Holiday | 02:37 | Amazon | |||
15 |
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Jimmy Holiday | 02:20 | Amazon | |||
16 |
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Jimmy Holiday | 03:10 | Amazon | |||
17 |
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Jimmy Holiday | 02:41 | Amazon | |||
18 |
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Jimmy Holiday | 02:49 | Amazon | |||
19 | Jimmy Holiday | 03:03 | Amazon | ||||
20 | Jimmy Holiday | 02:19 | Amazon | ||||
21 | Jimmy Holiday | 02:51 | Amazon | ||||
22 |
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Jimmy Holiday | 04:01 | Amazon | |||
23 | Jimmy Holiday | 03:11 | Amazon | ||||
24 | Jimmy Holiday | 02:56 | Amazon | ||||
25 |
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Jimmy Holiday | 02:21 | Amazon | |||
26 |
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Jimmy Holiday | 02:10 | Amazon |