Bobby Caldwell - Cat In The Hat [Be With Records]

Bobby Caldwell’s second album, Cat In The Hat (1980), is one of his greatest achievements and another masterwork of sophisticated soul. Featuring the eternal ‘Open Your Eyes’ - brilliantly sampled by J Dilla for Common’s ‘The Light’ - it is as essential as records get. Much like its self-titled predecessor, it has been out of print for far too long. To finally release the much-anticipated reissue is one of our proudest moments.

Whilst Ned Doheny is known in Japan as ‘Mr. California’, New Yorker Bobby Caldwell has always been ‘Mr. AOR’ to his friends in the Far East. His distinctive charm is an irresistible blend of soul, jazz, and pop influences. He possessed a phenomenal songwriting ability, smooth vocal delivery, was a great soul guitarist and deft keyboard player, and was known for his genius chord progressions. All of this added up to a multi-layered brilliance that entered the studio, and the singular sound he achieved was steeped in soulful strings and funky horns, lightly touching the record, whilst letting his smooth voice carry the impressive tracks he had created himself.

From the outset, it's easy to note that Cat In The Hat is a deeply special record. It is gorgeously produced and incredibly well-rounded, charting its own course with deep soul, warm jazz, and an impressive vocal delivery that truly helped Bobby reach new audiences at the time. Prepare for goosebumps with the funky piano power of ‘Coming Down From Love’, which opens the album with a track as good as anything Steely Dan or The Doobies ever created, with a heavenly vocal performance. The astounding ‘Wrong Or Right’ is an AOR hit that sits amongst the sleek, sophisticated grooves of the best Ned Doheny, whilst the cool, bouncy soul of ‘To Know What You’ve Got’ - a quintessential funky ballad - has elemental traces of ‘What A Fool Believes’. Closing out Side A, the folk-funk of ‘You Promised Me’ is a brilliant, soulful march with a wonderful vocal coda that just grows. Sensational.

The delicate bounce and self-harmonised falsettos of ‘It’s Over’ offer a truly delightful introduction to Side B, and serve as a great precursor for what follows. Bobby’s dynamic ‘Open Your Eyes’ is probably the reason everyone’s here. As if it needed it, the eternal J Dilla further immortalised Caldwell into the hip-hop canon with his production of Common’s ‘The Light’, which heavily samples the magical ‘Open Your Eyes’. In a tribute post to Bobby in March 2023, Questlove claimed he “found out brother Bobby loved it.” Bobby’s original has seen new life more recently at the hands of artists such as Dwele and Kendrick Lamar, and rightly so, as its insistent drums and staccato piano created a modern soul classic. You’d think that would be hard to top, right? Not when you’re Bobby Caldwell. Indeed, the horn-heavy ‘Mother Of Creation’ is absolutely genius and - whisper it - possibly the best track on the album, all funky piano and guitars with horn lines to die for. The exquisite ballad ‘I Don’t Want To Lose Your Love’ closes the album beautifully.

Sadly, Bobby passed away on March 23, 2023, after a long struggle with mitochondrial damage and oxidative stress, due to an adverse effect from a fluoroquinolone antibiotic. The reissue of Cat In The Hat will be available on vinyl worldwide, ensuring that fans of his unparalleled talent and soul enthusiasts alike can enjoy the profound beauty of this seminal album. Meticulously remastered and cut by Simon Francis and Cicely Balston respectively, it has been pressed to the highest possible quality at Record Industry in Holland.