About time, indeed. Richards is in his fifties, so it’s extraordinary that this is his debut album, for he has the voice of a classic southern soul singer though he was born in the Caribbean and has lived in Britain since the 1970s. In 1994 his single Hold on My Heart, recorded with British producer Dave Williams with backing from the Muscle Shoals brass, was praised by the legendary R&B producer Jerry Wexler, but only now have Richards and Williams completed their long-planned album. Williams’ songs are a respectful soul pastiche, while the musicians include Charlie Chalmers, whose sax work once backed Wilson Pickett and Aretha Franklin. And as for Richards, he’s equally impressive on the driving and brassy ASAP, a keyboard-backed ballad, Let Me Be the One, or the slow, powerful remix of Hold on My Heart. An exercise in classy retro-soul, recorded in Norfolk.
