Product Review

VISIONS is a great lesson on how to make a veteran act current without losing its identity. On the group's third Columbia album, Gladys and the Pips work with Silverspoon Productions, the production company owned by then in-demand r&b producer Leon Sylvers (The Whispers, Shalamar). All of Sylver's trademarks are here from the snappy basslines to the guitar-bass breakdown and synth washes. Yet Sylvers' sound fit the group like a glove because he makes the technology sound warm and inviting, while the Empress of Soul works her magic on such excellent tunes as the #1 R&B hit "Save The Overtime For Me," "When You're Far Away" (an early Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis composition), and the clever ballad "You're #1 In My Book". Gladys, her brother Merald and r&b songwriting legend Sam Dees ("One In A Million You") produced the more subdued moments on VISIONS including one of the first recordings of "Wind Beneath My Wings," "Seconds," and "Don't Make Me Run Away".