| Back in the Game | |
| Type: | studio |
| Artist: | Syl Johnson |
| Cover: | Back in the Game (Syl Johnson album).jpg |
| Released: | 1994 |
| Recorded: | 1994 |
| Genre: | Soul, R&B, blues |
| Label: | Delmark |
| Producer: | Pete Nathan |
| Prev Title: | Stuck in Chicago |
| Prev Year: | 1989 |
| Next Title: | This Time Together by Father and Daughter |
| Next Year: | 1995 |
Back in the Game is an album by the American musician Syl Johnson.[1] [2] It was released in 1994. Johnson had not recorded an album since the 1980s, but had witnessed a revival of his music due its use as samples in hip hop production.[3] [4] Back in the Game was named the best blues album of 1994 by Living Blues.[5]
On the majority of its tracks, the album marked a reunion between Johnson and the Hi Rhythm Section.[6] It was produced by Pete Nathan.[7] Johnson duets with his daughter Syleena on "Dipped in the Water". Back in the Game contains covers of Magic Sam's "All Your Love" and Little Junior Parker's version of "Driving Wheel".[8]
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch wrote that Johnson's "vocals swoop, charge, lunge, and bark with all the mastery of a classic soul singer, but his songs are rarely melodically complex, nor do they develop linearly."[9] The Chicago Tribune called the album "a stunning return to form," writing that "Johnson's voice is still a piercing, bittersweet instrument and his guitar-playing remains tersely eloquent"; the paper later listed Back in the Game as the second best contemporary blues album of 1994.[10]
The Washington Post thought that it "shows [Johnson's] funky blues and soul skills remain surprisingly intact, as does the sinewy sensuality of his vocals."[11] Deeming the music Chicago R&B, the Chicago Sun-Times wrote that the album "showcases the intrinsic charms of the form, recalling the days when R&B record companies like One-derful, Brunswick and Vee-Jay flourished on South Michigan Avenue."[12]
AllMusic wrote that "although the Chicagoan moves into 12-bar blues territory on 'All of Your Love' and Roosevelt Sykes' 'Driving Wheel', it must be stressed that the majority of songs on this album are soul rather than blues." MusicHound R&B: The Essential Album Guide opined that the album "may contain the best version of the much-recorded Al Green song 'Take Me to the River'."