George HaffendenWe’re massive devotees of John Morales here at TFSR, and I had the privilege of meeting the man a few months ago. In addition to releasing his new compilation album ‘John Morales Presents Club Motown’ (which is excellent, by the way), he has also been busy remixing Tracy Hamlin’s epic cover of Luther Vandross’ ‘Never Too Much’.
For me, the original version of ‘Never Too Much’ is the superior version: Luther’s debut single is certainly his best. Nonetheless, Tracy Hamlin does an excellent job with her version – much better than the Mary J. Blige attempt on the ‘So Amazing’ tribute album released by Clive Davis. Yet, once again, John Morales takes the track to another level on his superb remix. His trademark percussion and vocal drops are all there; indeed, the percussion and drums are front and centre, making the song irresistible – forcing immediate head-bobbing and foot-tapping from the get-go.
It’s incredible difficult to rival Luther Vandross, particularly on his own songs. Luther was, arguably the master of the cover song: his versions of ‘A House is not a Home’, ‘If Only For One Night’, ‘Creepin’, ‘The Closer I Get You All’ all rival if not eclipse the original versions. Yet, somehow Tracy Hamlin has done a masterful cover of Luther’s best; aided by John Morales, this cover deserves to be big.
Haff