"Candi/Young Hearts Run Free" by CANDI STATON – A Review Of Her 1974 and 1976 Albums on Warner Brothers - Now Reissued And Remastered Onto 2CDs By Edsel Of The UK In 2013 With 5 BONUS TRACKS…A Review by Mark Barry...

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"…Young Hearts…" 

 

"Candi +  Young Hearts Run Free" by CANDI STATON

After 3 albums with Fame Records - "I'm Just A Prisoner" (1970), "Stand By Your Man" (1971) and "Candi Staton" (1973) – Alabama Southern Soul Diva Candi Staton signed a career rejuvenating contract with Warner Brothers that saw her move out of cult worship to global fame. 

 

And this timely reissue from Edsel of the UK (released 30 September 2013) touches on her first two albums for the mega label in 1974 and 1976 – adding on 5 tasty bonus tracks into the bargain. Here are the wiggle-bottom details for CANDI STATON and Edsel EDSK 7032 (Barcode 740155703233)…

Disc 1 (38:53 minutes):

Tracks 1 to 11 are her 4^th album "Candi" – released December 1974 in the USA on Warner Brothers BS 2830 (No UK release)

 

Track 12 is a BONUS – "As Long As He Takes Care Of Home (Without Rap)" – a Promo-Only B-side to the 1974 USA 7" single on Warner Brothers WBS 8038 (the A is the Rap Version).

Disc 2 (60:04 minutes):

Tracks 1 to 8 are her 5^th album "Young Hearts Run Free" – released June 1976 on Warner Brothers BS 2948 in the USA and July 1976 on Warner Brothers K 56259 in the UK. It peaked at 14 in the American R&B charts and became her first charted LP in the UK at Number 34 (the single "Young Hearts Run Free" reached No. 2).

 

Tracks 9 to 12 are BONUSES – "Young Hearts Run Free (Original Single Edit)", "Run To Me (Extended Version)", "Young Hearts Run Free (12 Extended M&M Mix Eighty Six)" and an "Instrumental" version of the same.

The outer card wrap gives the whole reissue a quality feel – as does the 20-page booklet which pictures album artwork, publicity photos, American and British Warner Brothers labels, rare foreign picture sleeves, track by track recording info and exceptionally detailed liner notes by Soul Expert and long-time Edsel Associate TONY ROUNCE.

The remasters by PHIL KINRADE at Alchemy are exceptionally good – clear and full of presence – bringing out Rick Hall’s deeply churchy Soul production on the first LP and Rick Crawford’s uber-pronounced strings and backbeat on the second.

“Candi” is a Soft Soul album – romantic and mushball. It opens with a take-me-back pleader – a cover of Philip Mitchell’s “Here I Am Again” which features superb backing vocals from The Joint Ventures and The Collettes. It gets mid-tempo with “Your Opening Night” (a George Jackson cover) and relationship reflective with “Going Through the Motions”. Things get Travis Wammack guitar-funky with “A Little Taste Of Love” and Mac Davis commercial with the radio-friendly happy Soul of “Stop And Smell The Roses”. But my poison is the slink of the second Philip Mitchell track on here - “As Long As He Takes Care Of Home” (an obvious 7” single). What a great groove it is.

She gives it some social consciousness on “Clean Up America” with her “Get it together” and “pitch in” clarion calls and finishes up with the brass stepper “Six Nights And 8 Days” by Earl Wright and George Jackson (the last single released off the album Stateside). “Candi” is a good Soul album – old fashioned in many ways - but in truth it lacked that absolute slaughter-the-punters track needed to break down the barriers for her as an artist. That would all change with Candi Staton’s 1976 outing…  

“Young Hearts Run Free” was a monster hit – riding the Disco boom globally and making Staton a household name. The first thing that hits you about the album is the Production values – massively upped and aimed directly at city dancefloors with a vengeance. The man behind this is Producer and Principal songwriter for the whole album – Dave Crawford. "Run To Me" and "Destiny" set the boogie pace while the lovely "You Bet Your Sweet Love" takes it down a notch before the big title track.

I can remember my sister and her friends dancing around the handbags at the nightclub – not just digging the beat of "Young Hearts Run Free" – but chomping down on every word – really feeling that bittersweet pain. "Living For You" is fairly forgettable but "Summer Time With You" gets all bedroom Barry White and is largely successful at it. The LP ends with another commercial funky beat – Dave Crawford's "I Know".

And to hear the "Without Rap" version of the killer "As Long As He Takes Care Of Home" is an absolute blast – even if the sound isn't the greatest - a genius inclusion. The long version of "Run To Me" is a Disco nugget and DJ's will love it. But I found the "Young Hearts Run Free…" 12" Remixes that mix in "I Know" are largely superfluous to requirements…

As Soul Boys of all colours look back to those heady days of the Seventies and early Eighties – albums by artists like Patrice Rushen, Randy Crawford and Candi Staton are getting revaluated all the time. It's not all genius for sure, but a sweet lady with tunes worth re-visiting. Take a punt on this classy reissue…

"The Windows Of The World / Valley Of The Dolls / Promises, Promises / Soulful…Plus" by DIONNE WARWICK – A Review Of Her Four Albums Between 1967 and 1969 On Pye International and Scepter Records - Now Reissued And Remastered Onto 2CDs By Edsel Of The UK In 2014 With 21 Bonus Tracks…

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"…Do Right Woman…" – The Windows Of The World…PLUS by DIONNE WARWICK

Dionne Warwick’s catalogue for Pye International (UK) and Scepter Records (USA) has been done before – but never with such style – and dare we say it – such affection. With 4 LPs and a whopping 21 Bonus Tracks - there’s a huge haul on this 3CD set (No. 3 in a series of 4 multiples). So let’s get to the details right away…

UK released 20 January 2014 - Edsel EDSK 3017 (Barcode 740155301736) breaks down as follows…

Disc 1 (63:14 minutes):

Tracks 1 to 10 are her 9th album "The Windows Of The World" – released August 1967 in the USA on Scepter SPS 563 and Pye International NPL 28101 (Mono) in the UK

Tracks 11 to 20 are 10th album “Valley Of The Dolls” – released March 1968 in the USA on Scepter Records SPS 568 and Pye International NSPL 28114 (Stereo) in the UK

Disc 2 (62:31 minutes):

Tracks 1 to 3 are BONUSES

Tracks 4 to 13 are her 11th album "Promises, Promises” – released December 1968 in the USA on Scepter Records SPS 571

Tracks 14 to 19 are BONUSES

Disc 3 (75:27 minutes):

Tracks 1 to 10 are her 12th album “Soulful” – released April 1969 in the USA on Scepter SPS 573 and Pye International NSPL 28122 (Stereo) in the UK

Tracks 11 to 23 are BONUSES

The 4-way foldout digipak gives the whole reissue a quality feel with each flap used to showcase rare picture sleeves, promo variants and label bags. The chunky 28-page booklet pictures the album covers, 7” singles, more foreign picture sleeves, original British Pye International and Wand labels, publicity photos, track-by-track annotation and exceptionally detailed liner notes by Soul Expert and long-time Edsel Associate TONY ROUNCE. It’s beautifully done.

The remastered sound varies wildly depending on the source – the singles in Mono are invariably hissy but the Stereo album tracks are glorious – beautifully clear – the “Promises, Promises” album especially. Even if the punchy Mono tracks are a little on the noisy side though – they have punch and are full of that great Sixties vibe. And much of this stuff hasn’t been in print for decades - with some of the bonus tracks (singles sung in foreign languages) only previously available on very expensive imports. 

The shadow of Bacharach and David hangs of so much on here – but that’s a complaint I’ll gladly countenance. “Do You Know The Way To San Jose?”, “Windows Of the World”, “I Say A Little Prayer”, “Theme From The Valley Of The Dolls”…it’s all so bloody good and has ‘so’ stood the test of time. I love her cover on the “Soulful” LP of the James and Bobby Purify hit “I’m A Puppet” penned by Spooner Oldham and Dan Penn. And the congregational mood to Aretha’s “Do Right Woman – Do Right Man” feels just as soulful as the classic Atlantic Records original. Even the obvious choice of “Hey Jude” feels good.

Among the bonus cuts is an aching version of the Little Anthony & The Imperials torch ballad “Hurt So Bad” which is superb - as is the gospel organ of “Young. Gifted & Black” - slowed right down to powerful effect – a properly great reinterpretation.

It’s not all genius of course (some of the Sly Stone covers are trying to hard) – but what is good is magical.

A classy lady and an equally classy reissue series. Kudos to all involved…

PS: This reissue is Volume 3 of 4 – the other titles in the series are:

1.         Presenting Dionne Warwick /Anyone Who Has A Heart /Make Way For Dionne Warwick /The Sensitive Sound Of Dionne Warwick (Edsel EDSK 7051)

2.         Here I Am – Dionne Warwick In Paris / Here Where There Is Love / On Stage And In The Movies (Edsel EDSK 7052)

3.         I’ll Never Fall In Love Again / Very Dionne / Dionne / Just Being Myself  (Edsel EDSK 7053)

"Blow" on BLU RAY – A Review Of The Ted Demme 2001 Film

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"…I'd Broken A Promise…" – Blow on BLU RAY

It’s the summer of 1968 and ‘Boston’ George Jung of New England Massachusetts (Johnny Depp) arrives on Manhattan Beach in California with $300 dollars in his pocket and his rotund childhood best buddy 'Tuna' in tow (Ethan Suplee of My Name Is Earl). Every girl is gorgeous and says things like "right on", "groovy" and "solid". And everyone - but everyone - is getting stoned smoking Pot. 

It’s a far cry from his constantly bickering parents Fred and Ermine Young (Ray Liotta and Rachel Griffiths). His Dad is a Plumber/Heating Contractor who slaves 7 days a week for his half-crazy high-aspirations wife who keeps leaving him and coming back again. Both are always two minutes away from financial foreclosure. George worships his father Fred as a dependable blue-collar hero - but determines he will never be like that - or them – and absolutely never be that kind of parent to his own children…

One afternoon in their Californian beach apartment – armed with a huge bag of quality grass - blond-haired George and a giggling Tuna hook up with Kevin Dulli. Dulli (Max Perlich) is another college dropout who tells the hippy pair that he’s never smoked Pot this good before. Kevin also points out that there are 100,000 rich college kids back East who would pay handsomely for such quality. George gets an idea to make easy money and visits his supplier Derek Foreal (Paul Reubens) - a gay who owns a men’s hair salon. And soon he is using Derek, Air Hostess Barbara (a beach girl he’s fallen in love with played by Franka Potente from The Bourne films) and his pal Dulli to courier Pot from LAX to BOS airports via her two suitcases that never get checked because she’s staff.

Now demand is outstripped supply – so they go to the source in Mexico and literally ask on the streets for a hook up with a Pot dealer. They get what they want and are soon flying in a single-engine Cessna (with the pilot door missing) into a private strip and start dealing big time. George, Tuna, Dulli and Barbara buy a gaudy multi-layered Canyon mansion with their illicit gains - working hard and partying even harder by the pool. But when George’s parents come to visit – they can’t figure out where all the money’s coming from? And on it goes to Columbia in 1976 where George meets with the ruthless drug baron Pablo Escobar (Cliff Curtis) and soon Dulli and George haven’t enough room to fit thirty million dollars in cash in their apartment’s closet.

But in between all of this 'living-the-dream' lifestyle comes the first of many disappointments and heartbreaks. George gets busted in Chicago in 1972 with 622 kilos of Grass and is charged with intent to distribute; he gets two years prison time. But following a nosebleed at dinner with his parents – it transpires that his beloved girlfriend Barbara has cancer - and literally doesn’t have two years to wait for him. And while in prison George meets with even worse – a South American called Diego (Jordi Molla) with a sweet and persuasive tongue - asking the money-hungry George has he ever dreamt of ‘cocaine’…

"Blow" is a story film – and a long one at that. Acapulco 1972 becomes Florida 1987 morphing into California 1990  – and you’re presented with one long litany of narcotic clichés - addiction, greed, sex, paranoia, stupidity, double-crossing friends, physical depravation and what the lack of willpower will do to a person.

It’s undoubtedly cool too – the house parties – the naked girls – lines off tables – fancy restaurants – and a trophy Columbian wife Mirtha (Penelope Cruz) who is the probably the most desirable woman on the planet. There’s even possible redemption for George when he and Mirtha have a daughter Kristina (Emma Roberts) whom he adores with his whole being. Maybe he will clean up for her…

But on his 38th birthday George uses his 6-year old daughter with devastating lifetime results (dialogue above). Still - maybe he’ll get a second chance at the age of 42 (but now looking like he’s 92) as he tapes an apology to his aging and broken father Fred that he hopes will make amends somehow. He quotes their father-child mantra "…Dance With The Stars…" which now seems like a cruel and sad echo from the past…

The BLU RAY picture is superlative throughout. It’s Anamorphic 2.35:1 Aspect Ratio (bars top and bottom) but even stretched to Full Aspect – it still looks top dog all the way through (especially in the sunnier destinations). Audio is English 5.1 Dolby Digital and English 5.1 Dolby TrueHD with a Subtitle of English for the Hard Of Hearing. 

The Extras include Focus Points, Behind The Story, George Jung Interview, Music Video, Production Diary, Trailers, Additional Scenes and Character Outtakes.

Adapted for Screenplay by David McKenna and Nick Cassavetes from a book by Bruce Porter, co-Produced by Denis Leary and Directed by Ted Demme - "Blow" tells the true life-story of George Jung and cocaine without fudging the obvious. There are a lot of films about drugs but few of them deal with the bitter reality – especially when it comes to the personal devastation not just to yourself – but also to those who surround you.

Is Ted Demme’s 2001 film about Cocaine and addiction – or is it about what drugs do to your family, your children, your friends, your precious time on this planet, your very soul. It starts out all Rolling Stones Sticky Fingers cool - where everyone is your lover and friend – but ends up a nightmare - doing a 40-year stretch – walking alone in a Prison Compound with mirages in your head – a life wasted - everything you love and care about in the world ostracized.

Incarcerated in 1994 - Federal Inmate 19225004 is due for parole in 2015 - aged 72. Check this film out but be prepared to shed a tear…

PATRICE RUSHEN – "Straight From The Heart/Now" - Albums Originally on Elektra Records in 1982 and 1984 (September 2013 Edsel 2CD Expanded Edition Remasters with Nine Bonus Tracks) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"…Help Me To Remember…"

With 4 albums already under her belt at Prestige Records in the early to mid Seventies and all at the tender age of only 24 – PATRICE RUSHEN signed to Elektra Records in 1978 - and soon became the darling of the World’s dancefloors. Five albums followed between 1978 and 1984 - the other 3 are dealt with in a separate review for "Patrice" (1978), "Pizzazz" (1979) and "Posh" (1980) - also on Edsel/Rhino as a 2CD set.

But this hugely talented Californian singer and multi-instrumentalist has seen her Funky catalogue languishing unloved by digital reissue companies for years - or been the province of massively expensive imports. Well along comes Edsel of the UK and they’ve done the total business by this – the second of two 2CD reissue sets.

UK released 30 September 2013 - "Straight From The Heart/Now" by PATRICE RUSHEN on Edsel/Rhino EDSK 7031 (Barcode 740155703134) is a 2CD set housed in a card slipcase/wrap with Nine Bonus Tracks that plays out as follows…

Disc 1 (70:04 minutes):

1. Forget Me Nots

2. I Was Tired Of Being Alone

3. All We Need

4. Number One (Instrumental)
5. Where There Is Love

6. Breakout!

7. If Only

8. Remind Me

9. (She Will) Take You Down To Love

Tracks 1 to 9 are her 8th album "Straight From The Heart" – released April 1982 on Elektra Records E1-60015 in the USA and on Elektra K 52352 in the UK.

BONUS TRACKS:

10. Forget Me Nots (Special Dance Mix/12" Version)

11. Breakout! (12" Version)

12. Number One (Instrumental)

13. Forget Me Nots (Single Version)

14. I Was Tired Of Being Alone (Byron Clark Remix)

Disc 2 (70:17 minutes):

1. Feels So Real (Won't Let Go)

2. Gone With The Night

3. Gotta Find It

4. Superstar

5. Heartache Heartbreak

6. Get Off (You Fascinate Me)

7. My Love's Not Going Anywhere

8. Perfect Love

9. High In Me

10. To Each His Own

Tracks 1 to 10 are her 9th album "Now" – released May 1984 on Elektra Records 603 60-1 in the USA and Elektra 960 360-1 in the UK

BONUS TRACKS:

11. Get Off (You Fascinate Me) Dance Mix

12. Get Off (You Fascinate Me) Instrumental

13. Feels So Bad (Won’t Let Go) Instrumental

14. Feels So Bad (Won’t Let Go) Dub Version

The outer card wrap gives the whole reissue a quality feel – as does the chunky 28-page booklet which pictures the albums, original Elektra labels, publicity photos, lyrics, track by track recording info and exceptionally detailed liner notes by Soul Expert and long-time Edsel Associate TONY ROUNCE.

The original production values of Charles Mimms, Jr. (pictured with Patrice in the last few pages of the booklet) on both LPs was top notch anyway – uber high class and funky as a rollerskater’s insoles.  So it’s not surprising to find that the remastered sound by PHIL KINRADE at Alchemy is gorgeous throughout – full of presence and toe-tapping detail.

The sessions heavily featured THE MADAGASCAR HORNS with Raymond Lee Brown on Trumpet with Gerald "Wonderfunk" Albright on Saxophone along with a procession top session players and guest vocalists like ROY GALLOWAY. But as with the three preceding albums - what's more impressive is that this lady plays a huge array of instruments herself whilst writing, singing and co-producing. 

It opens with the fabulous "Forget Me Nots" (a tune that never seems to date – lyrics above) followed rapidly by another chart hit "I Was Tired Of Being Alone", Roy Galloway guest vocals on "All We Need". And the remaster absolutely shines on the lovely acoustic finisher "(She Will) Take You Down To Love".  But my poison has always the albums one Instrumental track "Number One" which runs to just below 5 minutes. Now at last I have a CD version of the rare 12" Mix that adds another 2 minutes of Funky Nirvana. There's an electric piano solo towards the end that is absolutely stunning - and I defy you to resist its groove!

1984's "Now" continued in the same vein as "Straight" opening with the polished funk of "Feels So Real (Won't Let Go)" followed by the Kool & The Gang hit sound of "Come With The Night". The ballad "Heartache Heartbreak" is a tad forced – better is the slap-bass funk of "Get Off (You Fascinate Me)" - so Prince in its moves. And I always liked the mid-tempo "High In Me" with a so warm bass backing. And again one of the discs highlights is a bonus track – the brill instrumental of "Get Off (You Fascinate Me)" – as sexy as Jean Reno speaking the phonebook in French.

After the high of "Straight From The Heart" I remember "Now" feeling like a bit of a let down at the time. But on rehearing it now – it’s better than that and it's easy to see why these two LPs (along with the three that went before) are held in such affection by Soul and Funk lovers everywhere. Great stuff and what a trip down memory lane – and when I think of the clobber I wore to nightclubs back in the day - I can only hope no one got any photos!

You have to say that Edsel have done Patrice Rushen's uplifting musical legacy proud. Way to go boys…

PS: see also separate reviews for Edsel/Rhino's 2CD reissue of "Patrice/Pizzazz/Posh" that accompanies the above "Straight From The Heart/Now" - offering albums from 1978, 1979 and 1980 also on Elektra Records with Four Bonus 12" Mixes...

Also make a further beeline to her stunningly funky "Shout It Out" album on Prestige from 1977 – it was reissued on CD by Soul Brothers of the UK in 2009 and sounds utterly amazing (features "The Hump" and "Let Your Heart Be Free").