Consumer Guide Album

Esther Phillips: You've Come a Long Way, Baby [Mercury, 1977]
Anyone who believes Creed Taylor is a neutral presence should check out Phillips on her own: using Kudu producer Pee Wee Ellis and the basic Kudu formula--mixing blues and standards and rock with MOR and disco crossovers--she comes up with her most consistent album of the '70s. She divvies up the sides, putting mostly crossover stuff on the B, where it holds its own. She takes on someone named Mischa Siegal to help Ellis with the string arrangements, which are discreet, more trim than wallpaper. And she does an extra blues. Not to mention "Into the Mystic." B+