Gone Digital: John Miles, Tom Johnston, Anglo Saxon Brown, The True Reflection, and more
If it’s Tuesday, then it must be time for Gone Digital, our weekly look at five recent additions to Rhino’s digital catalog. As ever, the types of music we’ll be covering will be all over the place, but that’s Rhino for you: we’re all about variety!
• John Miles, MILES HIGH (1981): Your knowledge of Miles’ career depends heavily on which side of the pond you call home. In the UK, he had two top-10 hits – “Music” and “Slow Down” – and a top-20 hit with “Highfly,” but he only had one song crack the top-40 of the Billboard Hot 100, and that was “Slow Down,” which topped out at #34. This album contains none of those songs, and although there were two singles released from the LP (“Turn Yourself Loose” and “Reggae Man”), neither proved to be hits anywhere. That said, the album did climb to #28 in Sweden, so there’s that, at least.
• Tom Johnston, EVERYTHING YOU’VE HEARD IS TRUE (1979): Two years after officially leaving the ranks of the Doobie Brothers, Johnston released his debut solo LP. Thanks to his recognizable voice, the album spawned a hit single with “Savannah Nights,” which climbed to #34 on the Billboard Hot 100.
• Anglo Saxon Brown, SONGS FOR EVOLUTION (1976): Founded in Richmond, Virginia when they were still calling themselves Ujima, this R&B group changed their name upon moving to Philadelphia and signed a deal with Atlantic Records. The album didn’t end up going very far, but it’s still considered one of the great underrated Philly soul albums of the ‘70s.
• The True Reflection, WHERE I’M COMING FROM (1973): The website Funk My Soul refers to this group’s sound as “Philly Sophistisoul,” and they have nothing but praise for this album, writing, “Boasting both incredible tenor and falsetto leads and exceptional harmonies, you really cannot fail to be impressed when the songs are as good as this.”
• Various Artists, MY LOVE IS GETTING STRONGER: NORTHERN SOUL CLASSICS (2020): We’re wrapping things up this week by giving a little love to a new compilation we’ve just added to our digital catalog, one that provides listeners with an opportunity to learn about Northern Soul Classics. There’s so much great stuff here that you’ve probably never heard before, so dive in and get your groove on!
