I've Been Here All the Time/If Loving You Is Wrong I Don't Want to Be Right Luther Ingram Artist

{|Luther Ingram|} started recording in the mid-'60s, yet it wasn't until 1972 that he released an LP. This CD combines his first two albums (both issued in 1972) onto one disc, with the addition of thorough historical liner notes. The earlier of the ... Read more

{|Luther Ingram|} started recording in the mid-'60s, yet it wasn't until 1972 that he released an LP. This CD combines his first two albums (both issued in 1972) onto one disc, with the addition of thorough historical liner notes. The earlier of the pair, {|I've Been Here All the Time|}, is actually a collection of a dozen tracks that appeared on 1969-1972 singles. As such, it almost functioned as a best-of as far as what {|Ingram|} had released up to that point, including all nine of the 45s that had made moderate to solid chart impressions, foremost among them the 1970 Top Ten R&B hit {|Ain't That Lovin' You (For More Reasons Than One).|} What it didn't include, of course, was his blockbuster {|(If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don't Want to Be Right,|} the title track (minus parentheses) of his second 1972 album. Actually, six of the nine tracks on that LP also appeared on singles before and after its release, but at least it had three songs unique to the record. It might be, then, that this two-fer is almost more of a collection of some of his most popular singles (including the Top Ten R&B 45 {|I'll Be Your Shelter (In Time of Storm),|} which shows up on {|If Loving You Is Wrong I Don't Want Be Right|}) than it is a pairing of dedicated albums. And if you're going about collecting {|Ingram|}'s recordings on CD in a systematic fashion, it's true too that 18 of these 21 tracks are on either {|Pity for the Lonely: The Ko Ko Singles, Vol. 1|} or {|I Don't Want to Be Right: The Ko Ko Singles, Vol. 2|}. What's here, however, is certainly decent early-'70s soul, neither too pop nor too deep Southern. More often than not it's sweet and earthy at the same time, though those who prefer the earthier stuff will find more of it on the earlier sides contained on {|I've Been Here All the Time|}. ~ Richie Unterberger Less