Album Review: Curtis Harding Asks You To “Face Your Fear” of Love
While many artists are fusing and “futurizing” their music to sound like it either came from 2084 or another world, Curtis Harding refused to leave the classic sound of his genre: soul. And why should he? While we need those that push us to the future of sound, we also need those that remind us of its essence, to which Harding’s Face Your Fear is a time capsule of Soul’s core.
After review Jordan Bratton excellent, sonic-boundary pushing Driver’s Ed, it is fascinating to hear Curtis Harding’s Face Your Fear. It is like going forward and back in time while avoiding its present. Harding’s tracks like “As I Am”, “Ghost of You”, and “Go As You Are” mash Jimi Hendrix’s funkadelia with some Teddy Pendergrass/ Otis Redding sweet soul. You recall the days when singers like Marvin Gaye begged their listeners to give into love and romance, or curse the day they decided to do so. In essence, Harding shows that vintage soul became classic because it was dramatic. Harding, like these legends, is an “opera singer” of radio love; blasting through notes pain to move listeners to turn up the volume and their voices to commands to “light a candle” or to “give a little tenderness”. Harding achieves those same levels of delicious demands in songs such as, “Dream Girl”, “Face Your Fear”, and “Need My Baby”. He sings like he is calling and, practically, pleading with love to come down from her glorious chariot, and allow him to walk with her into the sunset. His ability to writhe in the desire to attain, keep, and move forever in love, again, shows why we need singers like Harding to keep remembrance of singers like, Marvin Gaye.
Curtis Harding’s Face Your Fear is a beacon for love, and shows you this feeling can turn a heartbeat into an odyssey. Yet, why not? Why not join the epic known as love in songs, “Till The End” or “Welcome To My World”. Like vintage soul, for however down love got in lyrics or ballad soundscapes, the lead vocalist never stopped striving for it, despite fear. Thus, Click Here To Buy Curtis Harding’s Face Your Fear.
