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Soul, psychedelia and sensuality: Minnie Riperton’s 20 best songs – ranked!
Fifty years on from Riperton’s biggest album, Perfect Angel, we look back at the joyous, octave-jumping oeuvre that turned her from backing singer to pop star
Photograph: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images The creative ambition that drove Rotary Connection – the soulful, psychedelic collective Riperton sang with early in her career – often risked pretentious failure, but when they succeeded, they were sublime. This remarkable mini-epic showcased the sensitivity of Stepney’s work, string and brass sections blossoming into grandiose symphonics, then falling back into shadowy tension, to create the album’s magical sonic universe. Its final track – all swooning strings, Riperton’s yearning declarations of love and backing singers delivering unforgivingly complex staccato blitzes – perfected the concept, sending sophisticated cocktail party pop on the wildest trip.
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