Others may prefer “Dance With Me” or “Still the
One,” but my favorite among the pop band Orleans’ trio of mid-Seventies hits was "Love
Takes Time." A fine concert 1991 version in Japan, with keyboardist Larry Hoppen on lead vocal, exists on
YouTube.
But I’ve come around to thinking that this 2013 performance by the group at the Perkins School for the Blind’s “Possibilities Gala” is particularly special. The
suicide of Hoppen the year before had, by the time of this appearance, deprived
the group of its soaring tenor voice.
But John Castillo, a powerful sight-impaired alum from
the Perkins School, who comes in toward the end of the first verse, fills in
admirably; the Perkins Secondary Chorus blends their harmonies smoothly with
the group; and the violinist supplies textures that even the original single did
not possess.
I do not know how long it took for Orleans and the
Perkins School musicians to rehearse, but the final performance is one of
wonder and exhilaration.
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