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HIGHER GROUND
SOUL, FUNK and JAZZ FUSION - Exception CD Remasters
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"...Take Me Up To The Top..."
Big Break Records of the UK
(known also as BBR) have been doing ASHFORD & SIMPSON fans the world over a
solid for some time now - reissuing their voluminous Warner Brothers back
catalogue onto superb CD Remasters - and all with quality audio, liner notes
and rare Bonus Tracks. Here comes another - this time dealing with their
American-only 1977 platter "Send It" - a quality album in their
cannon of work. Here are the details...
UK released 28 August 2015
(September 2015 in the USA) - "Send It" by ASHFORD & SIMPSON on
Big Break Records CDBBRX0315 (Barcode 5013929061538) is an 'Expanded Edition'
CD Reissue and Remaster with Four Bonus Tracks and plays out as follows (62:07
minutes):
1. By Way Of Love's Express
2. Let Love Use Me
3. Don't Cost You Nothing
4. Send It
5. Top Of The Stairs [Side
2]
6. Too Bad
7. Bourgie Bourgie
(Instrumental)
8. I Waited Too Long
Tracks 1 to 8 are their
album "Send It" - released September 1977 in the USA on Warner
Brothers BS-3088. It peaked at No. 10 on the US R&B charts and No. 52 on
the Pop charts (it was unreleased in the UK).
BONUS TRACKS:
9. Don't Cost You Nothing
(12" Disco Mix)
10. Bourgie Bourgie (Joe
Claussell's Classic Remix)
11. Send It (Single Version)
12. Don't Cost You Nothing
(Single Version)
The 16-page booklet is the
usual BBR plethora of American label repros ("Send It" on Warner
Brothers WBS 8453 - "Don't Cost You Nothing" on Warner Brothers WBS
8514 and "By Way Of Love's Express" on Warner Brothers WBS 8571) - as
well as photos of the hip couple and superbly detailed new liner notes by
CHRISTIAN JOHN WIKANE alongside full reissue credits. The 'super' jewel case
and see-through CD tray add a touch of reissue class - but the best news is the
new Remaster by WAYNE A DICKSON and NICK ROBBINS - two very experienced
transfer merchants. All the great Funk lines are in yer face - lovely Bass and
Vocals - sweet sound filling your living room. A very nice job indeed...
Their albums always feature
goodies amidst the lesser tunes – but "Send It" feels sweet all the
way through both sides. It opens with an obvious single "By Way Of Love’s
Express" where Nick Ashford tells his lady Valerie Simpson that a train is
hurrying his love towards her (what a gent). Their ballads always felt a notch
above syrup and the lovely "Let Love Use Me" is proof - a duet-vocal
mid-tempo smoocher with strings. But that moment of lurve is roundly whomped by
the fabulous dancefloor groove of "Don't Cost You Nothing" - a total
Funk-Soul winner clocking in at just under five-minutes in its album form (the
Bonus Tracks give us the 12" Disco Mix at 6:48 and the 7" single edit
at a svelte 3:40 minutes). I can remember dancefloors filling to this great
Piano-Funk groove as DJs spun those 12" singles with their Warner Brothers
die-cut sleeves. Side 1 then ends on the album's other killer - the 'spread a
little love' slowy "Send It" - a No. 15 R&B hit in August 1977.
Side 2 opens with the bopper
"Top Of The Stairs" where our Nick has an urge he's hoping his woman
will understand (take me up to the top and we'll get lost in the darkness).
"Too Bad" is cool too but my poison is the sensual and slick
instrumental "Bourgie Bourgie" - represented here twice by a Joe Claussell
Remix in the Bonus Tracks. It ends on the tremulous vocals of "I Waited
Too Long" where our hero laments his 'without love' situation and that he
missed the last dance (self-inflicted misery pal). The Four Extras come as very
cool icing on an already very tasty cake.
A top reissue from BBR once
again - well done to all involved - and a must own for fans...
PS: Big Break Records (BBR)
CD Remasters I’ve reviewed:
1. Send It – ASHFORD &
SIMPSON (1977)
2. Is It Still Good To Ya –
ASHFORD and SIMPSON (1978)
3. Stay Free – ASHFORD and
SIMPSON (1979)
4. Central Heating –
HEATWAVE (1977)
5. Hot Property - HEATWAVE
(1979)
6. Candles - HEATWAVE (1980)
7. Turnin' On - HIGH INERGY
(1977)
8. Harvest For The World -
THE ISLEY BROTHERS (1976)
9. Go For Your Guns - THE
ISLEY BROTHERS (1977)
10. In The Heart – KOOL
& THE GANG (1983)
11. I Hope We Get To Love On
Time - MARILYN McCOO & BILLY DAVIS (1976)
12. I Miss You [known as
"Harold Melvin The Blue Notes" in the UK] - HAROLD MELVIN & THE
BLUE NOTES (1972)
13. Black & Blue -
HAROLD MELVIN & THE BLUE NOTES (1973)
14. Love Is The Message -
MFSB (1973)
15. Universal Love – MFSB
(1975)
16. All The Faces Of... -
BUDDY MILES (1974)
17. For The First Time –
STEPHANIE MILLS (1975)
18. I Can See Clearly Now -
JOHNNY NASH (1972)
19. In Philadelphia - O'JAYS
(1969)
20. Back Stabbers - O'JAYS
(1972)
21. Ship Ahoy - O'JAYS
(1973)
22. Down To Love Town – THE
ORIGINALS (1977)
23. Ebony Woman - BILLY PAUL
(1970 and 1973)
24. 360 Degrees Of Billy
Paul - BILLY PAUL (1972)
25. War Of The Gods - BILLY
PAUL (1973)
26. Platinum Hook – PLATINUM
HOOK (1978)
27. Love For What It Is -
ANITA POINTER (of The Pointer Sisters) (1987)
28. Live: Stompin’ At The
Savoy – RUFUS and CHAKA KHAN (1983)
29. Summernights – SILVER
CONVENTION (1977)
30. Smoked Sugar - SMOKED
SUGAR (1975)
31. Spinners – SPINNERS
(1973)
32. Soul Master – EDWIN
STARR (1968)
33. Involved - EDWIN STARR
(1971)
34. Switch - SWITCH (1978)
35. Watercolors – THE WATERS
(1980)
36. Just As I Am - BILL
WITHERS (1971)
37. Heartbeats – YARBROUGH
& PEOPLES (1983)
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