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Critic's Review
Andrew Hamilton, All Music Guide
Contains the tracks from her two Stax albums on one soulful disk. Fred Briggs a.k.a. Coldwater Stone produced most of the tracks including the deep soul classic "Strung Out" also recorded by the Dells. Two Holland, Dozier, Holland remakes' lift this collection to another plateau: "My World Is Empty Without You," and an extraordinary rendition of "Stop In The Name of Love." Briggs transforms "Stop . . . Love," from a whining plea to an awesome deep soul demand, introduced by a no nonsense woman to her man rap; it stretches out ala Issac Hayes into a heart stopping arrangement filled with passionate singing by Joseph, and the backing voices. Other selections are typical deep soul selections elevated by Joseph's sincere, earthy singing. The lamenting "That Other Woman Got My Man And Gone" would have fare better had Stax been in good shape, it was a good woman to woman song that had become popular in some circles. A rare commodity, Margie's a soul singer that never over sings, or embellish lyrics with vocal tricks. If I could only afford to buy one Margie Joseph album, this would be it, her later sides on Atlantic, and other labels are slicker and not as raw as these tracks. Though, a collaboration she did with Blue Magic "Whats Comes Over Me," rates with anything here.
