"Eyes of Love" is a fantastic soul album created under extraordinary circumstances.
Remarkably, the group behind it, The Edge of Daybreak, were all inmates at Powhatan Correctional Center in Virginia. "Incarcerated for crimes ranging from armed robbery to a dubious assault charge," the members of the band—James Carrington, Jamal Jaha Nubi, Cornelius Cade, Harry Coleman, and McEvoy Robinson—were either moved or released shortly after the album's release in 1979.
While incarcerated, one of the group's members managed to form a relationship with Milton Hogue, owner of Bohannon's Records And Tapes in Richmond. After arranging a special visit, Hogue brought a mobile recording studio to the jail and they were granted five hours to bust out an eight-track session. Therefore, every track on the record was recorded in just one take.
Despite receiving some local buzz, Edge Of Daybreak ultimately disbanded and the remaining copies of Eyes Of Love were destroyed in a flood.
…it is apparent that this group was well-rehearsed and the songs carefully arranged. Despite the band not having enough time to do overdubs and re-recordings of their parts, the tracks on this record sound pristine—everything feels wonderful and there are few, if any, wrong notes. Highlights include the laid-back funk of the title track, the more energetic "I Wanna Dance With You," and the band's eponymous "E.O.D. (Edge of Daybreak)," a dance cut that is propelled by an active bass line and solid syncopated hi-hat. The album also contains some excellent ballads, with the bedroom anthem "Let Us" and the album's melancholy final cut (complete with atmospheric wah-wah guitar), "Our Love," evoking a softer side of the group that seems to largely be dance-oriented.
In 2015, the album was rereleased and is now available on Spotify. (via @itsaulok)