The song "Who's Making Love?" was among
Johnnie Taylor's biggest chart hits, with
Taylor's tough but impassioned vocal supported by a potently energetic performance by the usual Stax Records crew (including
Steve Cropper,
Donald "Duck" Dunn, and
the Memphis Horns. But
Who's Making Love, the album assembled to accompany the single, is for the most part dominated by more measured and blues-based material. While "Take Care of Your Homework" generates a potent groove (and reads like a sequel to "Who's Making Love"), and "Hold on This Time" is a remarkably successful emulation of the Motown production style, for the most part,
Who's Making Love suggests
Taylor was most comfortable with slow, sorrowful laments such as "Can't Trust Your Neighbor" and "Poor Make Believer," and while these tunes lack the dancefloor drive of
Taylor's uptempo hits, no one can deny he knows how to make the most of the dramatic sweep of a tale of love gone wrong, and his tales of lovers gone astray (and paying the price) carry a weight not unlike that of his earlier gospel period.
Who's Making Love captures some of the high points of
Taylor's career as a Southern soul man, and finds him nodding to his past and well as his future in his search for inspiration. ~ Mark Deming