Joy

AMG Review of Joy

Ron Wynn
All Music Guide

Teddy Pendergrass finally made it back to the top in 1988, when the title track from this album spent two weeks at the head of the R&B list. The song even got mild pop attention, and the album was the first since his accident to really reflect the new Pendergrass sound. He sang in a slower, somber, yet appealing way quite different from the swaggering, openly sexual/macho posturing of the late '70s and early '80s. This was a weary but not beaten Pendergrass, whose manner and delivery underscored the resilient theme in Joy's lyrics.