Jimmy Witherspoon traveled to London to record
Love Is a Five Letter Word with producer
Mike Vernon in 1974, and the pair came up with a surprise -- a glossy album that owed as much to pop and contemporary soul as it did to the blues. In fact, there's not much on
Love Is a Five Letter Word that sounds like true, gutbucket blues -- it all sounds processed and stylized, as if he was reaching for a hit. Some of the results work, but
Witherspoon's true essence is buried by the slick groove, steel guitars and electric sitars. For anyone but completists, Love is a Five Letter Word isn't particularly worth exploring. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine