I See the Lion Captive in the Kitchen
I don't care if it's cheesy. I don't care how dated it is. I don't care if it's "too cheery." I love this album. I love how it's its own little entity - back in the days where artists created whole albums, not just strung a series of singles together, hoping they'd be downloaded as an album. (Don't get me wrong, I do download single songs, I just prefer the completed-ness and the sanctity of albums as wholes.)

I had to buy it second hand off amazon, and of course after I did, I discovered that Sony put out a box set of his first 3 albums. D'oh.

But listening to it is comforting. This is one that was almost constantly on the reel-to-reel when I was little. It's something that is so familiar in tunes and lyrics that even though I hadn't heard it in probably almost 20 years, I knew all the lyrics and the sequence of tracks. I love the way it's such a studio album - the musicians on there are great - soulful bass lines, Michaels Jackson and McDonald singing inobtrusive back-up. I love how the instruments on there are varied, mandolin, accordian, strings.

Allmusic.com classifies "Keep the Fire" as:
"Smooth
Searching
Gentle
Poignant
Soothing
Laid-Back/ Mellow"
and I have to agree.