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"...That's How Long I'll Be Loving You..."
"The Collection" offers you 20 Philly Soul albums in single repro card sleeves inside a hard-card box set with a chunky 36-page booklet (5 of the discs even have bonus tracks – Nos. 1, 3, 6. 9 and 17).
Bunny Sigler's entry is a strange one in some respects in that it offers us the October 1974 album after the one that charted in May 1974. The May 1974 Philly LP "That's How Long I'll Be Loving You" sold well and rose to a respectable No. 27 on the US R&B LP charts with a run of nine weeks. What you get here is a reissue in October 1974 under a different name "Keep Smilin'" with seven of the originals tracks retained and three new ones added on – "Shake Your Booty", the title track "Keep Smilin'" and "Sweeter Than The Berry".
The original May 1974 LP "That's How Long I'll Be Loving You" was also issued in the UK under the same name, but "Keep Smilin'" with too much duplication - was not. Big Break Records of the UK did a superb CD Remaster of "That's How Long I'll Be Loving You" in October 2012 (CDBBR 0182 – Barcode 5013929048232) with two bonus tracks – 45-single versions of "Love Train" and "I Lied". But it did not include the three new songs of the reissued LP. So this box set offers the only way I know of to get the "Keep Smilin'" album configuration on CD. Here are the details...
UK released May 2014 - "Philadelphia International Records: The Collection" by VARIOUS ARTISTS is a 20CD Mini Box Set on Sony Music 88843055662 (Barcode 888430556621) and CD8 of the 20 breaks down as follows (42:32 minutes):
CD8:
1. Shake Your Booty [Side 1]
2. Picture Us
3. Keep Smilin'
4. That's How Long I'll Be Loving You
5. I Lied
6. Things Are Gonna Get Better [Side 2]
7. Sweeter Than The Berry
8. Your Love Is Good
9. Somebody Free
10. Love Train
Tracks 1 to 10 are the album "Keep Smilin'" by BUNNY SIGLER - released October 1974 in the USA on Philadelphia International KZ 33249. The album had been US released earlier in May 1974 as "That's How Long I'll Be Loving You" on Philadelphia International KZ 32859 peaking on the US R&B LP charts at No. 27 (released July 1974 in the UK on Philadelphia International S PIR 8025) - but had only seven of the ten tracks featured above. The seven on "That's How Long I'll Be Loving You" can be sequenced by using the following songs on CD8 - Side 1: 6, 4, 5, 2 and 10 and Side 2: 8 and 9 only
All albums (including those with bonuses) are documented in the lovely 36-page colour booklet that features brief reviews of each title by long-time Soul aficionado DEAN RUDLAND. These are followed by page-after-page of the albums pictured alongside detailed track lists. Each of the CDs is numbered on the label so you know where they're placed in the order of things. There are no mastering credits - but as all of these albums have been available before at one point on Sony/Legacy reissues so those remasters have been used and the sound quality is uniformly great.
Back in May 1974 when the original LP was still hot, Philly pushed out Sigler's extended cover version of the classic O'Jays hit "Love Train (Part One)" on a 45 (Philadelphia International ZS8 3545) with (Part Two) on the flipside – even gracing the release with a rare picture sleeve. With steady radio play, it finally charted in July 1974 and they were rewarded with a No. 28 placing on the US R&B singles chart.
Resplendent in his kinky boots and looking like Sigler is auditioning for a Jilly Cooper novel about horseracing shenanigans in well-heeled stud-stables, the rejiggered October 1974 LP didn't fare so well on the singles front. Philly USA issued three 45s around "Keep Smilin'" - first up came Philadelphia International ZS8 3554 in October 1974 that coupled the new tune "Keep Smilin'" with "Somebody Free" on the B-side but it didn't chart.
The lovely "That's How Long I'll Be Loving You" was then coupled in January 1975 with "Somebody Free" on Philadelphia International ZS8 3575, but again no joy in chart action. February 1975 saw the ass-swaying "Shake Your Booty" which utilized Instant Funk as its backing band put out on Philadelphia International ZS8 3560 with "Your Love Is Good" on its B-side (MFSB being the backing band there). But it was clear the LP was played out and Sigler wouldn't see singles chart action again until 1978.
With arrangers like Norman Harris, Ronnie Baker and Dexter Wansel, Sigler's knack for a tune and musicians like Instant Funk and MFSB as his support acts – the late 1974 LP "Keep Smilin'" maybe a forgotten album now but is a cool inclusion here nonetheless.
For sure with 20 different albums in the overall box set, you could argue that there are a few clunkers in its midst. But with interesting releases like this, "Keep Smilin'" and "The Collection" in general is a winner - beautifully presented, sounds spiffing and full of great Seventies Soul memories you will want to relive again and again...
PS: the "Philadelphia International Records: The Collection" Box Set also contains a version of the 1974 MFSB album "Love Is The Message"
