Consumer Guide Album

Laura Lee: Laura Lee [Hot Wax, 1972]
The original title was Two Sides of Laura Lee, which went the way of the "Empty Bed Blues" promised on the jacket but still sums up the idea: soften up that man-hating persona. It succeeds, too, with songs from the Honey Cone's production team that give Lee, a gritty singer who can't match the power of a Millie Jackson or the spunk of an Ann Peebles, a chance to show off the recitatives at which she excels--I'm especially fond of "At Last," where Lee falls for a nice boy. But the prize is on the "other" side--"Rip Off," the real follow-up to "Women's Love Rights," which I'll bet was boycotted by male program directors because it was about property as well as sex. B+