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"...Could It Be I'm Falling In Love..."
It's funny what fifty years
(or thereabouts) can do to perspective.
When I was a hairy-galoot in
the early Seventies (where much of this music hails from), most aspiring young
hard-rocking dudesters like me (wearing our cheesecloth shirts, desert boots
and donkey jackets) would have looked at names like The Stylistics, The
Delfonics and The Spinners and made a face akin to stepping into a freshly
minted dollop of poodle doo-doo. All those strings and words about making you
feel brand new and could I be falling in love and was I ready or not for her
special kind of lurve - yucksville central. Where are the Tolkien hoards of Ork
un-dead or immortal souls being sold at the crossroads for guitar licks we
asked? Why weren't these people Searching For Space, Masters of Reality or at
least looking for a Demon's Eye or something eminently sensible like that, eh,
eh?
This was the kind of schlock
music your sister and her crocheted-smock pals liked – double yuck! And then to
throw in cardigan-inducing types like Dionne Warwick, Johnny Mathis and those
matching Three Degrees with all those perfect teeth – why it was enough to make
a chap denounce Deep Purple and publicly acknowledge liking Carole King or Cat
Stevens or some such horribly sensitive sacrilege...
And yet here we are in 2020,
quite rightly worshiping at the podium of THOM BELL – at the feet of melody and
composition once again, and not at what was terminally unhip back in the day.
And as one of my fellow reviewers has already eloquently pointed out
(Runmentionable) - why hasn't this compilation acknowledging the genius of
Philly’s Third Man been done before now, who along with Kenneth Gamble and Leon
Huff put TSOP on the map? It does seem odd actually.
Still, never mind the
elephant flares, it's here now, and as you've no doubt gleaned from the flood
of five-star reviews, Ace Records and their stunning Kent Soul label imprint
have pulled off yet another wise and wily compilation wonder. The Sound Of
Philadelphia here we come...to the details...
UK released 26 June 2020 (10
July 2020 in the USA) - "Ready Or Not - THOM BELL: Philly Soul
Arrangements And Productions 1965-1978" by VARIOUS ARTISTS on Ace Kent
Soul CDTOP 488 (Barcode 029667098021) is a 23-Track CD Compilation of Remasters
that plays out as follows (77:15 minutes):
1. Here I Go Again - ARCHIE
BELL and THE DRELLS (December 1969 US 45 on Atlantic 293, B-side of "A
World Without Music" - Stereo Version also available on the LP
"There's Gonna Be A Showdown" on Atlantic SD 8226)
2. I Can't Take It - THE
ORLONS (July 1965 US 45 on Cameo 372, B-side of "Don't You Want My
Lovin'")
3. You've Been Untrue - THE DELFONICS
(April 1967 US 45 on Cameo C-472, A-side)
4. Look The Other Way -
LESLEY GORE (October 1968 US 45 on Mercury 72867, B-side of "I'll Be
Standing By")
5. Tick-Tock - CONNIE
STEVENS (October 1970 US 45 on Bell B-922, B-side of "Keep Growing
Strong")
6. What I See - THREE
DEGREES (February 1970 US 45 on Neptune N-23, A-side)
7. Moody Woman - JERRY
BUTLER (May 1969 US 45 on Mercury 72929, A-side - also from the Stereo LP
"Ice On Ice" on Mercury SR 61234)
8. What Kind Of Lady - DEE
DEE SHARP (September 1968 US 45 on Gamble G-219, A-side)
9. Ready Or Not Here I Come
(Can't Hide From Love) – THE DELFONICS (November 1968 US 45 on Philly Groove
154, A-side – also from the 1968 US Stereo LP "Sound Of Sexy Soul" on
Philly Groove PG 1151)
10. I Wanna Be A Free Girl –
DUSTY SPRINGFIELD (April 1970 US 45 on Atlantic 2729, A-side)
11. It's The Same Old Love -
THE COURTSHIP (May 1972 US 45 on Tamla T 54217F, A-side)
12. People Make The World Go
Round - THE STYLISTICS (May 1972 US 45 on Avco AV-4595, A-side)
13. Back Stabbers - THE
O'JAYS (June 1972 US 45 on Philadelphia International ZS7 3517, A-side - also
from the 1972 US LP "Back Stabbers" on Philadelphia International KZ
31712)
14. One Man Band (Plays All
Alone) - RONNIE DYSON (January 1973 US 45 on Columbia 4-45776, A-side)
15. Do You Remember
Yesterday – THE INTRUDERS (September 1971 US 45 on Gamble G-4016, B-side of
"I Bet He Don't Love You (Like I Love You)")
16. I'm Doin' Fine Now - NEW
YORK CITY (February 1973 US 45 on Chelsea 78-0113, A-side – also from the 1973
US LP "I'm Doin' Fine Now" on Chelsea BCL1-0198)
17. Life Is A Song Worth
Singing - JOHNNY MATHIS (from the 1973 US LP "I'm Coming Home" on
Columbia KC 32435)
18. Something For Nothing -
MFSB featuring THOM BELL (February 1974 US 45 on Philadelphia International ZS7
3540, B-side of "TSOP (The Sound Of Philadelphia)" - also from the
1973 US LP "MFSB" by MFSB on Philadelphia International KZ 32046)
19. Could It Be I'm Falling
In Love - THE SPINNERS (December 1972 US 45 on Atlantic 2927, A-side - also from
the 1972 US LP "Spinners" on Atlantic SD 7256)
20. You Make Me Feel Brand
New - THE STYLISTICS (from the 1973 US LP "Rockin' Roll Baby" on Avco
AV-11010-598)
21. Close The Door - TEDDY
PENDERGRASS (May 1978 US 45 on Philadelphia International ZS7 3648, A-side)
22. It's Gonna Take A
Miracle - LAURA NYRO and LABELLE (January 1972 US 45 on Columbia 4-45537,
A-side - also from the November 1971 US LP "It's Gonna Take A
Miracle" on Columbia KC 30987)
23. Track Of The Cat -
DIONNE WARWICK (from the 1975 US LP "Track Of The Cat" on Warner Bros
BS 2893)
Tracks 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 11,
15 and 16 in MONO - all others in STEREO
The 20-page booklet is the
usual feast of indepth song-by-song analysis sidled by period promo photos,
rarely seen seven-inch single picture sleeves, unusual sheet music, and of
course those gorgeous Philadelphia International, Atlantic, Columbia, Avco et
al 45-labels reproduced by the text (some in promo-form). Many of the entries
(Orlons, Jerry Butler, Delfonics, Dusty Springfield etc) by trusted compiler
and genuine enthusiast BOB STANLEY benefit from interviews with TB on the
making of gems like "Ready Or Not" (the clever use of Trombone and
French Horn) or "Back Stabbers" (proud of his string arrangements)
and so on. Sometimes his remarks are often sideways to the entry (about other
things and not how it was recorded) like how he was surprised to find that The
Spinners and their hugely liked Atlantic Records hit "Could It Be I'm
Falling In Love" was in fact outselling The Rolling Stones at one point.
It's a brill little read and like all good liner notes, leaves you wanting to
know more. Ace's longstanding Audio Engineer DUNCAN COWELL has mastered the
compilation and I can honestly say it's a joy to listen to from start to
finish.
At times the criss-cross of
Mono 45s with Stereo album cuts and the upbeat vs. smooch programming makes the
listen feel like a Northern Soul night out – even if it is Philly Soul that
dominates everything. It opens with the irrepressibly chipper "Here I Go Again"
which at ten seconds past two minutes, comes in, does the business and then
quickly leaves having satisfied all and sundry. In fact as I recall, "Here
I Go Again" was reissued in September 1972 on Atlantic in the UK at the
height of the British Northern Soul boom - a dancer par excellence. Cameo
Parkway girl-group melodrama follows that with another B-side, only this time
by The Orlons. Silly little quarrels make sure the phonecalls are not returned
in "I Can't Take It" (you will get past this girls, I promise).
Falsetto vocals shimmy in when The Delfonics assure us that he still wants her
even though "You've Been Untrue" (love that Harpsichord). I didn't
have the Lesley Gore cut "Look The Other Way" nor the Connie Stevens
gotta-make-it melodrama of "Tick-Tock" with a wall of strings and
drum whacks to make Phil Spector proud (another pair of forgotten
B-sides).
The goodies keep romancing
our stones with "Ready Or Not Here I Come..." - the vocals almost
drowned out with those backing arrangements - gonna make you love me. Equally
sweeping is the longing of I gotta travel in Dusty Springfield's "I Wanna
Be A Free Girl" - the mighty Linda Creed being one of the four writers
(Thom Bell, Gamble and Huff were the other three). The last time I listened to
the la-l-la of "It's The Same Old Love" by The Courtship -(an obscure
Tamla act) was on Volume 12A of The Motown Singles sets covering 1972 - a
thrilling lead vocal from Billy Hill (aka Billy Proctor) who could have been
Little Anthony's twin brother.
From Track 12 onwards the
songs become more familiar but nonetheless for it - winners like "People
Make The World Go Round" (Stylistics), "Back Stabbers" (O'Jays),
"I'm Doin' Fine Now" (New York City) and a very smart inclusion of
Laura Nyro's collaboration with Labelle on an album of cover versions they did
on Columbia called "It's Gonna Take A Miracle". Kent Soul CDTOP 488
culminates with 1978 and Dionne Warwick's whole album of Thom Bell, Linda
Creed, Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff material - "Track Of The Cat" – a
song apparently written about literally about her feline qualities and presence.
It's become something of a cliché
to say that Ace Records of the UK have Soul CD compilations down to a fine art
- something they've doing not for years - but actual decades. Still, every now
and then, they pull out a true humdinger.
Congrats to Bob Stanley, Ady
Croasdell, Mick Patrick, Sheila Burgel and Gareth Sweeney and all the good
bodies involved. Up there for me as one of the Reissues of 2020...
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