Paul Korda - Passing Stranger (1971) (2012)

Paul Korda had worked within the orbit of Immediate Records for some years before recording his debut album for a division of Warner Bros. -- a fact that greatly complicated his situation when the album was pulled over Immediate's claim that he was still under contract to them. It's a pity that the record more or less died on the vine back when, because Korda made a powerful debut, working in the mode of a soulful singer/songwriter, well able to rock out on "To Love a Woman," amid a brace of softer ballads surrounding it. With Chris Spedding, Andy Roberts, and Ray Russell handling the electric guitar chores, while Doris Troy, Nanette Newman, and Madeline Bell sang backup, this was more a full-blown rock affair than some introspective songwriter's confessional, in any case. Between Korda's impassioned vocals and the fully-realized rock production, the record should have done better than it was allowed to -- luckily, it's been reissued on CD in Japan, which at least gets the music out there to be heard by those interested enough to look for it.