Lonely Teardrops

Jackie Wilson's big beautiful voice outshines Dick Jacobs' bombastic big band sound on his second solo album. His voice-of-plenty makes two hopelessly MOR tunes ("Hush-A-Bye" and "By the Light of the Silvery Moon") tolerable, and contributes two compositions himself ("You Better Know It" and "Singing a Song"). Berry Gordy and Billy Davis, with help from Gwendolyn Gordy-Fuqua, contribute the most commercial songs, including the hit "That's Why I Love You So," "Each Time I Love You More," and "We Have Love." This marked the final time Gordy and Davis worked with Wilson; the hitmaking combo split because Gordy objected to Brunswick's dogmatic refusal to put their songs on the flip side of their hit A-sides. (He resented other writers' songs riding the coattails of their hits and cutting their mechanical income in half; he also wanted a share of the publishing. Regent Music published all the songs Gordy and Davis wrote for Wilson, and still holds the copyrights.) ~ Andrew Hamilton