Donny Hathaway: A Donny Hathaway Collection (2LP, purple vinyl) [RHINO]

Why you'll love it

This purple 2LP set gathers the best of Hathaway's Atlantic years in one place. "Where Is the Love" with Roberta Flack won a Grammy and reached No. 5, and "The Closer I Get to You" climbed to No. 2 on the Hot 100.

This edition

• 2LP set
• Purple vinyl
• Stereo mix

About the album

Few voices in soul could make a room go quiet the way Donny Hathaway's could. Atlantic first gathered this collection in 1990, and it still works as the perfect front door: the studio sides, the live recordings and the duets, sequenced so the hits and the deep feeling arrive together. It moves from intimate piano ballads to big, joyful band numbers without ever losing that voice.

His reading of Leon Russell's "A Song for You" is the benchmark version, and "Giving Up" turns a Van McCoy song into a slow-burning gospel lament. "Someday We'll All Be Free" and "I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know" sit beside the duets with Roberta Flack, including "You've Got a Friend," "Where Is the Love" and "Back Together Again." The live takes of "What's Going On" and "The Ghetto" show how a crowd could turn into a choir, and "To Be Young, Gifted and Black" carries real weight. Arif Mardin and Hathaway shared the string and horn arrangements on several of the studio cuts.

Then there's "This Christmas," the 1970 single that became a holiday standard. It closes side four, so you can hum along in July without anyone giving you a look.

Also at Kops: more Donny Hathaway on vinyl · browse Classic Soul

Tracklist

Listen

On Atlantic / Rhino (cat# RCV1 82092), a reissue of the 1990 compilation.