Angel

On some occasions, ultra-busy people in the music industry -- perhaps A&R reps or publicists, perhaps journalists and critics -- will hear only one song on an album and assume they know everything there is to know about the artist. But first impressions can be deceiving; they certainly are in the case of Angel Rissoff's Where Have You Been? This 2005 release gets off to an exuberant start with the opener "Where You At?," a jump blues offering with a '40s/early-'50s-type approach. Listening to "Where You At?," it would be easy to categorize Rissoff as a jump blues shouter with a fondness for Louis Jordan. But "Where You At?" doesn't tell the whole story where Rissoff is concerned; actually, most of the disc is retro-soul in the '60s/'70s vein. Rissoff clearly longs for the days when singers like Eddie Floyd, Tyrone Davis, William Bell, and Al Green ruled the R&B charts, and that outlook serves him well on some covers (including Smokey Robinson's "I Want a Love I Can See") as well as original tunes like "Why Me?," "Break out the Tears," and the title track. Rissoff is white, but Where Have You Been? isn't as rock-influenced as recordings by Rare Earth, the Spencer Davis Group, and other blue-eyed soulsters who were popular in the '60s and early '70s; stylistically, this 2005 release is -- for the most part -- pretty similar to what African-American soulsters were doing 30, 35, and 40 years earlier. And Rissoff's race shouldn't be an issue because -- like Teena Marie, Lisa Stansfield, and the Average White Band -- he is clearly skillful at what he does. So how should Rissoff be categorized? Perhaps it's best to describe him as a '60s/'70s-style soul singer who makes occasional detours into jump blues, pre-'60s R&B, and urban blues-soul. However one categorizes him, Where Have You Been? is a promising, if derivative, outing from the talented singer. ~ Alex Henderson, All Music Guide