Portfolio

Although I am a big fan of Richie Havens, I have found that many of his studio recordings suffer from overproduction and failed to put enough focus on his great guitar playing, which was frequently buried in elaborate arrangements by producers. His 1973 release "Portfolio" stands out to me as one of his best albums because he used his touring band from that time in the studio, which enabled him to capture the strengths of his live performances in the studio. The somewhat odd choice of an album opener, Ervin Drake's "It Was A Very Good Year", turns into a showcase for Havens' frenetic strumming style on the guitar. While it is not my favorite of Richie's choices of covers, he does make the song his own. Overall, out of the nine songs on "Portfolio" Havens wrote three of them: "Dreaming My Life Away", "Woman", and "I Know I Won't Be There". All three are excellent, particularly "Woman", where Havens really cuts loose on guitar and demonstrates the ferocious strumming style he so often displays in concert. I found that two of the songs Havens chose to cover are even more impressive though: Marvin Gaye's "What's Goin On" and Paula Stone's "I Don't Need Nobody", which I have to say are my favorite songs off of this album. Havens' cover of "What's Goin On" is more subdued than Gaye's version, but it affects me on another level due to Havens' delivery of the now classic lyrics. Havens' version is intimate and plaintive, but just as effective as the original due to his vocal talent and the arrangement, and next to Donny Hathaway's version stands out as my favorite cover of this incredible song. Havens' version of "I Don't Need Nobody" is also amazing. I have never heard the original but I can say that Havens' version is one of my favorite songs of his that I can think of offhand, and I have listened to it probably thousands of times. Leon Russell's "Tightrope" is another song that Havens makes his own, and was included on Richie's greatest hits album in the '80's. Havens' vocals throughout this album are phenomenal, and he drifts back and forth between his soulfully mellow style and his fiery rasp that I've always loved. "Portfolio" is aptly titled; it is Richie Havens at his best and stands out to me as one of the strongest albums of his that I've heard. My only complaint is that "Portfolio" and some of Richie's other great albums from this period are not more readily available.

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