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''Ebony Woman'' is an album by soul singer Billy Paul. The album was produced by Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff, arranged by Stanley Johnson and Bobby Martin, and engineered by Joe Tarsia. On its original Neptune Records release in 1970 the LP reached #12 on the Billboard soul charts and #183 on the pop charts. The Bobby Martin penned "Let's Fall in Love All Over" was released as a single but failed to chart. The album was re-released with new cover art in 1973 on Philadelphia International Records reaching #186 on the pop chart and #43 on the soul charts. Big Break Records remastered the album for its 2012 re-release on CD. ==Release and critical reaction== Billy Paul originally recorded the song "Ebony Woman" in 1959 and it was released as a single on the New Dawn label.〔 The song was resurrected and re-cut as the title track for an album which Paul and his producers Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff wanted to make a statement with. Specifically, Paul's debut ''Feelin' Good at the Cadillac Club'' was a conventional jazz album with sparse production that failed to make the impact they hoped it would. Paul recalled the shift in direction: "We decided to do something with a more up-to-date sound, with more musicians. Something that would venture a bit into R&B but without me losing my sound. We spent a lot of time workin it out and came up with the album called ''Ebony Woman'', which came out on Neptune." Paul mixed jazz and soul; ballads with mid-tempo and upbeat numbers; and covers with originals—a formula he would repeat on subsequent albums. The album's modest chart success was buoyed by its considerable appeal in Detroit, home of Motown.〔 Ed Williams, Program Director for WLIB in New York City, wrote the liner notes that appear on the back cover of the album: Author John A. Jackson explained how the album's struggles were necessarily tied to the fortunes, or lack thereof, of Gamble & Huff's independent record label Neptune Records: Specifically, Neptune was distributed by Chess Records and when owner Leonard Chess died, Neptune was forced to close shop.〔 But Paul continued to record for Gamble & Huff's new label Philadelphia International Records and following the massive success of ''Me and Mrs. Jones'' and the 360 Degrees of Billy Paul album, Gamble & Huff decided to reissue Paul's first two albums. When asked in 1973 about a follow-up to ''360 Degrees'', Paul replied: Allmusic's Ron Wynn called the album "good, though uneven" giving it two out of five stars.〔 Chris Wells also gave the album two of five stars noting that the title track for the album is "by far its best track – a gorgeous, superbly sung ballad, a paean to the African-American female in a time of civil rights and social and political consciousness. Unfortunately a lot of the rest isn’t up to much. Basically, it’s covers all the way...Paul investing lots of effort to no great purpose. True, Billy’s own contributions reveal him to be a singer of character and individuality, albeit one in need of some strong material to call his own."〔 On the album's 2012 reissue, Joe Marchese of ''The Second Disc'' called it a "must-have reissue.... an album that’s most worthy of reassessment and reissue especially during this, PIR’s 40th anniversary year." 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Ebony Woman」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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