The Stylistics at the Anvil

After the gritty sounds of Stax in the sixties, the sweet easy listening Philly soul of the Stylistics seemed a little tame when it swept through the UK charts in the early seventies. But fifty years later, I have to admit that the songs themselves were good and the delivery excellent. Lead singer Russell Thompkins Jr had a great voice and the rest of the group supported him well. Now Russell leads his own version of the Stylistics while two other original members of the group - Herb Murrell and Airrion Love (pictured below) - continue to tour, with Barrington 'Bo' Henderson (bottom photo) taking the lead since 2018 and Jason Sharp completing the foursome. They tour a lot and last night it was the turn of the Anvil in Basingstoke to welcome them. Any slight reservations I had about them were quickly dispelled as they put on a superbly professional show, with the new front man every bit the equal of the original lead singer. All their big hits were showcased, including 'Star Of A TV Show', 'Sing Baby Sing', 'I'm Stone In Love With You', Betcha By Golly Wow', 'You'll Never Get To Heaven', 'Let's Put It All Together', 'Break Up To Make Up', 'Stop, Look Listen (To Your Heart)', 'You Are Everything' and 'Ebony Eyes'. The songs were beautifully performed by the whole group and showed the sheer quality of Thom Bell's songwriting. Highlight for me was 'You Make Me Feel Brand New' which was truly a spine tingling moment, and other songs such as 'Jenny' and 'Na Na Is the Saddest Word' were almost as good. The whole performance was slickly presented and note perfect and the audience loved it. The final number 'I Can't Give You Anything But My Love' brought them to their feet and the enthusiastic applause was well deserved. I have to admit that I found the soul sounds of the early seventies, when the group was at its peak, with two 'Best Of' LPs reaching number one in the album charts and nine singles reaching the UK top ten, a bit of a let down at the time compared with the previous decade. And it wasn't long until disco took hold and the Stylistics sound became outdated. But compared with much of what came later the Stylistics were head and shoulders above many later soul and disco groups. If there is a criticism it would be that they were TOO well rehearsed, a trifle contrived. But vocally and visually they were excellent. Betcha By Golly Wow they were!