Richard Knight Jr. – Love Is Possible– Album/Single Review

Meet Chicago-based musician Richard Knight Jr. – a singer/songwriter with a career and catalog spanning over forty years. Creating cleverly orchestrated and arranged piano-based pop, Richard dug deeply into his robust catalog to produce his latest release, Love Is Possible. Teaming with longtime collaborator Mark MacLean, Richard filled this new album with recently completed, previously unfinished gems and brand-new tracks – an affecting mixture that truly exemplifies his virtuosic playing and songcraft. Ready to see why Love Is Possible is currently garnering irrefutable online reverence? Let’s talk about it.

Wait. Who does what?

Richard writes the music and lyrics, and tackles piano and lead vocals.

Mark MacLean contributes background vocals, keyboards, and various “musical enhancements.”

According to a song’s particular needs, Richard is joined by Steve Dollinger on guitar, Glenn Morimoto on trumpet, and Geoff Lowe on bass.

(Oh, and Curtis Allen Hager adds his arranging acumen to five of the album’s 12 tracks.)

Now….let’s talk about it.

The album kicks off with “When You Say You Love Me.” And when Richard says one of his influences is Carole King (part of a list of diverse musical talents, including Laura Nyro, Stephen Sondheim, Todd Rundgren, Stevie Wonder, Joni Mitchell, Kate Bush, and Andy Partridge of XTC), I hear that particular King-esque piano melody. But this song is darker, a little more mournful. And Richard’s voice? Clean, perfectly clear, and emotive. At times, it reminds me of a younger Billy Joel-meets-Neil Diamond.

“Love Is Possible” really reminds me of Neil Diamond – a strong but vulnerable voice over a moving piano melody. There’s real energy here as we move through various feelings and Richard’s adaptive vocalization. Two songs in, and I’m realizing exactly why this album is acquiring consistently great acclaim.

“Three Times Makes It True” starts with Richard’s delicate voice over warming orchestra surges. When the acoustic guitar asserts itself, I’m reminded a bit of John Denver’s melodic palette; it’s a great but gentle lamenting from open fields and beneath big blue skies.

“All the Way to the Other Side (the Couldn’t, Shouldn’t, Wouldn’t Song)” is comically exclaimed with staccato tuba. It’s a purposely mechanical Broadway offering that breaks, briefly, into something glistening and melodic before returning to that boisterous Broadway march.

“I’ve Been a Haunting for You” is dramatic with string and piano pulses before becoming something bigger and darker. It’s a little angry, but always tastefully restrained. And…is that the Mellotron I hear? Yes, I believe some of those sadder strings are the unwinding of a Mellotron’s icy recordings. I absolutely LOVE the sound of this instrument, and pretty much any song that utilizes it. EXCELLENT!

“Daddy Was a Thin Man” is a little Sondheim-leaning and rather sad with gentle but assertive vocals. Yet the piano continues in measured pressings with orchestral washes expressing moments of emotional catharsis.

The album closes with track #12, “I’m Night.” This is a quiet, solemn, and very brief track with a trembling, reverb-drenched vocal over airy orchestration. It makes a simple proclamation in its sung pseudo-whisper (“I’m night”), and after a few strong piano strikes, fades quietly away.

But is it good?

Folks, this is AMAZING. The songs are well crafted, orchestrated, and adeptly arranged. And more importantly, they come from someplace real; they’re absolutely bound by – and carefully unspooling – a thousand powerful feelings, and you experience each one as poignantly as the player. If you like clever, emotive, classical piano pop invoking singing/songwriting greats, you’ll love Love Is Possible by Richard Knight Jr. Forty-one years was perhaps too long a wait for something so wonderful, but it certainly arrived just in time.

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BELOW: Listen to Richard Knight Jr. and check him out on Bandcamp, YouTube, Spotify, and Facebook. Please support Richard Knight Jr. by visiting his website and playing, downloading, and/or purchasing his music. And, as always, thank you for supporting real music.