Eleanore Mills Reissued
Singer Eleanore Mills unfortunately released only one album, the 1974 LP “This Is Eleanore Mills!”, which is now available as a re-mastered edition. The album came out on Astroscope, which was a subsidiary label of All Platinum Records, the lable of impresario Sylvia Robinson and was produced by Harry Ray and Al Goodman (The Moments, later Ray, Goodman & Brown) and Tommy Keith.
The album is classic 70s Soul material of the highest order with some crisp production, very cute horn sections and arrangements that aren’t written anymore these days. “Fascinating, Devastating Man” would have made Betty Wright proud as well. “I’m Gonna Get You” is an irresistible, sing-along uptempo Soul tune with some quirky bridge. But the hookline is really contagious.
The album is strong on ballads, too. The “love lost” kind of ballad. “He Said Goodbye” really emphasizes Eleanore’s strong and powerful voice that you think that it really is a shame she didn’t record more than just this one album. She later appeared on two Norman Connors albums singing “You Are Everything” by The Stylistics and Herbie Hancock’s “Butterfly” and then on the 1980 Roberta Flack/Donny Hathaway LP. Eleanore also appeared on a few house 12″ records in the 80s and 90s.
“Same Routine” has a very special pre-disco touch with rousing strings and backgrounds and “Stop Accusing Me” sounds like a leftover from the good old Motown days. “Telegram”, where Eleanore reminds me of a young Gladys Knight, had also been recorded by Irene Reid and later sampled by various artists. Another classic piece of Soul. As is the almost 7-minute “Teach Me Baby” which grows after each listen. The album comes with two bonus tracks, “Singing The Blues” and “Something Is On Your Mind”, both recorded a couple of years after this session and appearing on a hard-to-find All Platinum compilation and the latter sounding like a second “Rocksteady” from Aretha Franklin.
