Joe Hinton - Funny How Time Slips Away

All Music Guide

Although Joe Hinton put out an LP that was also titled Funny (How Time Slips Away) in the mid1960s on the Backbeat label, this 2006 CD does not have the same tracklist. It's an entirely different, 21song compilation of material that Hinton released on Backbeat from around 196468, including of course the title cut, which was the sole big hit he enjoyed. While Hinton was a bit of a journeyman who never settled into a specific niche, these are good if unspectacular sides mixing varying blends of soul, pop, gospel, and a bit of blues, country, and Southern grit now and then. Although a good amount of the material recorded in the wake of "Funny (How Time Slips Away)" is obviously trying to mine the same brassy urbane soulpop of that hit, there's also some more standard early soul that makes use of his highest, most gospelinfluenced vocal range. The effect is to sometimes make him sound a little like a rawer Brook Benton (and in fact, a few of the songs are Benton covers). Yet he did get in ...a more downhome groove with tracks like "The Whole Town's Talking," which sounds like mid'60s Motown at its funkiest, while "Don't Tell Her the Truth" could well be the best '60s soul cover of a Paul Anka compositionnot that there are many people keeping count. - Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide Read more Less