If Glenn Frey is such a soul man – obsessed, as he puts it in the liner notes, with "this Al Green-Memphis thing" – why is his most passionate singing on this album dedicated to the glories of working out? Maybe the ex-Eagle confuses fascination with familiarity, enthusiasm with ability. In any event, it takes more to make a soul song than a few blue notes and an ersatz Stax-Volt groove. And though he fleshes out his earnest imitations with Memphis-style horn arrangements and gospel singers, the fact remains that Frey, with his whispery rasp and kittenish falsetto, sounds whiter than any R&B singer this side of Dan Aykroyd. (RS 548)

J.D. CONSIDINE