Smooth Soul Survivors: Look at Me (I'm in Love)

Share this article

    "Look at Me (I'm in Love)"

    [Written & Produced by Walter Morris, Al Goodman, and Harry Ray]

    "Look at Me (I'm in Love)"

    [Written & Produced by Walter Morris, Al Goodman, and Harry Ray]

    Silky smooth soul anthem ‘Look at Me(I'm in Love)’ might well be described as The Moments finest hour yet, being released in 1975, it also represents one of the bands last hurrahs.  The song was co-written and produced by Walter Morris with group members Al Goodman and Harry Ray.  With Ray on lead vocals it stands as an outstanding example of R&B falsetto singing in the mode of the Stylistics and Earth, Wind and Fire.  Yet, less than three years later Ray, Goodman and William Brown had changed their billing to Ray, Goodman & Brown.  They went on to top the soul charts in 1980 with their shimmering Polydor release ‘Special Lady’ and despite Ray’s departure in 1982 continued to conjure up a string of soulful hits throughout the eighties.

    The original Moments, Mark Greene, Eric Olfus Sr., Richard Gross and John Morgan, formed in Washington DC during the mid-sixties but by the time they released ‘Baby I Want You’ and ‘Pray For Me’ on the Hog label the roster had been reduced to Olfus, Gross and Morgan.  From that point the hits kept on coming and from ‘Not On The Outside’ in 1968 through the chart topping ‘Love On A Two-Way Street’ in 1970 and on to soul smashes such as ‘If I Didn't Care’, ‘All I Have’ and ‘Sexy Mama’ the ever evolving Moments line-up enjoyed some truly halcyon days.

    Taken from the 1975 album ‘Look At Me’, the track ‘Look At Me(I’m In Love)’ attained number one on the R&B chart and sat comfortably within the pop top forty of that year.  Guitarist Morris and keyboardist Bernadette Randle all contributed hugely and the exquisite string arrangement came courtesy of industry veteran Sammy Lowe.

    In the intervening years, and despite its classic status, ‘Look At Me(I’m In Love)’ became somewhat overlooked but all that changed in 2011 when rising contemporary jazz star Vincent Ingala chose to make the track a sublime part of his debut CD ‘North End Soul’.  In so doing he provided a timely reminder of the position this wonderful track takes in the annals of emotionally charged romantic soul.

    Denis Poole.  July 2012.


    See other Smooth Soul Survivors