For the past several years we have been denied new releases of our favorite lps so, of recent, I started pulling out older lps I loved but just haven't listened to. I started a thread on the Four Tops Nature Planned It album and enjoy reading all of your thoughts.

This week I pulled out Freda Payne's Contact album. I know it's not Motown but Invictus was so patterned after that company that it had that Motown feel. Freda did three good albums for Invictus, but not only is this the best of those three but it gets my nod for the best Invictus album.

The album is truly a masterpiece in many ways. It's thematic about a woman who ends a relationship then regrets it. Each song relates to that premise. The album starts out with a breath-taking medley of I'm Not Getting Any Better and Suddenly It's Yesterday. This is pure HDH, with full orchestrations. Freda's jazzier side comes out on the first song and again on The Road We Didn't Take.

The album's highlight for me is You Brought The Joy. A dynamic tom-tom drum intro that made me realize that the Supremes I'm Gonna Let My Heart Do The Walking by the same producers was perhaps patterned after this. You Brought The Joy is an exciting production. Great Freda solo and wonderful strings and horns.

There are many highlights on this album which makes it a very cohesive set. Odd and Ends is a gorgeous production with Freda singing with fever. The first single, Cherish [[What Is Dear To You), perhaps has a Diana Ross feel to it.

The only song that doesn't really fit the concept is the album closer Mama's Gone. Despite that, this song is beautiful and reminiscent of General Johnson's Patches.

This would be Freda's biggest selling album. Though not a big hit it did respectably for an lp without a major hit. The second pressing removed the fluffy He's In My Life in favor of Freda's rushed-out hit Bring The Boys Home. One would have thought this hit record would have put the lp high up on the charts, but it didn't. Invictus was said to be having distribution and financial problems by this time.

A lost hit record on here is Suddenly It's Yesterday. Dynamic orchestration featuring the Detroit symphony and great backing vocals behind the demure Freda makes for a Top Ten possibility