AMG Review of Soul Searching

Alex Henderson
All Music Guide

AWB's artistic winning streak continued with its outstanding fourth album, Soul Searching. Interestingly, this wasn't an album that enjoyed a great deal of publicity or that contained a lot of major hits. In fact, its biggest single, the dreamy "Queen of My Soul," only made it to number 21 on ~Billboard's R&B albums chart. But thanks to the devoted following AWB had acquired since signing with Atlantic in 1974, Soul Searching went gold. Indeed, AWB aficionados were quite receptive to first-rate material ranging from the invigorating "I'm the One" to the hauntingly romantic "A Love of Your Own." By zeroing in on their strengths -- hard-hitting funk and delightfully melodic soul -- AWB saw to it that Soul Searching was every bit as rewarding as its predecessors.