album rating: ★★★★☆
Genre: R&B / soul / disco / gospel-inflected pop. Late at Night is the thirteenth studio album by Billy Preston (born William Everett Preston, Houston, Texas, 1946 – died Scottsdale, Arizona, 2006), and his debut on Motown Records. Preston was one of the great keyboard virtuosos of the rock era — a gospel prodigy who played organ on the Beatles' Let It Be sessions in 1969 and at their final rooftop concert, earning the informal title 'Fifth Beatle', and who had two number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100 in 'Will It Go Round in Circles' (1973) and 'Nothing from Nothing' (1974). Late at Night arrived at a transitional moment in his career, combining self-produced R&B tracks with a pivotal collaboration that would become its most enduring legacy. Almost all tracks on the album were written or co-written by Preston himself, who performed vocals, piano, organ, synthesizers, melodica, harpsichord and rhythm guitar throughout. Session musicians include guitarists David T. Walker and Paul Jackson Jr., bassists Keni Burke, Robert Lee Hill and Chuck Rainey, and percussionist Bobbye Hall. The album is notable above all for 'With You I'm Born Again', a ballad co-written by Carol Connors and composer David Shire, originally recorded for the 1979 basketball comedy film Fast Break. Preston initially had not considered the song a hit. When Motown later placed it on Late at Night and issued it as a European single, it achieved unexpected international success. Berry Gordy called Preston to tell him the label had 'a monster hit on our hands.'
Label: Motown Records (USA), released 22 October 1979. Executive producers: Suzanne De Passe and Tony Jones.
Producer: Billy Preston (all tracks except track B4). Track B4 ('With You I'm Born Again'): produced by David Shire and James Di Pasquale for Regal Productions, Inc. Associate producer: F. Byron Clark.
Recording studio: Not individually specified in publicly available sources; recorded in Los Angeles. Engineering and mixing: F. Byron Clark.
Critical reception: The Omaha World-Herald wrote that 'Preston's strutting music often has a Ray Charles feel.' The album attracted renewed attention on the strength of 'With You I'm Born Again', which became a standard on adult contemporary radio in the years following its release. The West Coast Music blog praised the Los Angeles session musician ensemble assembled for the album.
Commercial success: Late at Night peaked at number 49 on the Billboard 200. The duet 'With You I'm Born Again' — sung with Syreeta Wright (Motown recording artist and former wife of Stevie Wonder) — entered the UK charts in December 1979 and climbed to number 2 in January 1980 (held off the top by the Pretenders' 'Brass in Pocket'). In the United States it peaked at number 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 2 on the Adult Contemporary chart, spending 29 weeks on the Hot 100. It was the last top-10 charting hit of Preston's career.
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