With These Hands (Expanded Version)

the take

I was already kind of convinced to check The Manhattans out after enjoying "It's Going to Take a Lot to Bring Me Back". Well, more so check out their album "With These Hands". A part of me kind of expected this to be decent enough to have in the background. To my surprise, this is actually really good. The Manhattans as a group displayed great harmony for the entire duration of the album and kept me interested in what they wanted to get off their chest. The songwriting is good enough for an R&B album of its time (I'll admit it's not comparable to other R&B records circa 1970), but the vocal performances make it both compelling and potent for me to immerse myself in their world. Because of this, some songs shine brighter than others; "If My Heart Could Speak / One Life to Live" and "By the Time I Get to Phoenix" (side note: shout out my hometown) are two other tracks that stand out as the best among the original album's tracks. As for the expanded version bonus tracks, it's more of the same except that it's not as memorable for me. There's still great material here, though, as "Oh Lord How I Wish I Could Sleep (Mono)" is the best one out of these. While at times some songs sound more cheesy than others, I can't deny that "With These Hands" is an album I enjoyed quite a bit.