Stone Gon'

In the early '70s, Barry White took the new freedoms accorded to soul artists to new extremes of lushness and over-the-top romanticism. Stone Gon' was the second White album in the veteran composer-producer's new guise as super-emperor of the bedroom, offering five tracks running between five and ten minutes each. Two cuts became early entries in his long string of insistently ardent hits: "Honey Please, Can't Ya See" recalled Thom Bell's recent work with the Spinners, while "Never Never Gonna Give Ya Up" married White's style to the rhythmic innovations of disco. The latter, in fact, all but encapsulates the sensual urgency that listeners think of when they consider Barry White. Excellent albums like this one ensure that they'll be considering him for a long time to come.