I know this one - I'm In Love - quite well as the album Let Me In Your Life was the second to last Aretha LP I bought until the Freeway Of Love album in the 80s. I like this one but admit I'm surprised it even cracked the pop Top 20 since the song doesn't really go anywhere and doesn't seem the type of R&B that pop audiences were into by this point. I liked the follow-up even better. Her take on Ain't Nothing Like The Real Thing is a slow burner that fared even worse than I'm In Love but still won her a Grammy.
I enjoy "I'm In Love" but it really coasted into the top twenty on the pop side due to the goodwill the previous hit "Until You Come Back To Me" generated. Had the charts been moving at a more normal pace in 74 this would've probably been more of a mid thirties pop charter. Aretha turning down the Jackson/Yancey material with the exception of the track "You" for her '75 set of the same name that Natalie Cole launched her career with left a certain amount of egg on her face when word got out about it. The two divas didn't really become friendly again until the late eighties when Cole made her big comeback with her "Everlasting" album. Miss Franklin has also been allowed through ownership of all her post "Let Me In Your Life" Atlantic albums except the Sparkle soundtrack to essentially erase the 75-79 drought years from her history. She cut a deal with Universal seven or eight years ago to finally reissue them all then changed her mind again at the last moment. Aretha also allegedly turned down another huge set of songs for a different diva but I'll bring that up when we get there.
This makes sense, I don't believe any of those albums are on her Spotify. It seems Aretha began again with 'Jump To It' in '82 I believe but before that not much seems to have happened since '74.
I don't know much about Natalie Cole's personal history except for her marriage to, and her divorce from her producer, and her heroin addiction. But, "diva", in its negative deviation, is not a word I would ever use to describe Natalie. Those albums made it to CD. I just wish I had bought them seven or eight years ago when I had the chance. They are probably still available. The one I thought was pretty good is "Almighty Fire".
Those CD's floating around are unauthorized European bootlegs. I even confirmed that with two of the parties at Universal who were working with Aretha on them. They are rather convincing looking and even folks have put on Wikipedia that they are offical but they aren't.
This was Aretha's 15th #1 and 1974 was the 8th straight year she'd had at least one topper. That streak would break in '75, but she'd pick it back up in '76 and '77. 10 years out of 11 ain't shabby! She does sound a bit subdued in spots of "I'm In Love", but that just means she's fixing to suddenly floor you with a mighty wail or shout around the next corner.
Next: Be Thankful For What You Got - William DeVaughn And we already covered this in the other thread!
The funny thing is, despite this being mistakenly attributed over the years to Curtis Mayfield - and there are some vocal similarities - I don't really hear Mr. Mayfield on this, unless you hear some similarities with the opening conga to the intro to his "Give Me Your Love" from the Superfly soundtrack. No, this is yet another number which seemed to have been derived, sound- and arrangement-wise, from the Al Green/Willie Mitchell/Hi Records strain of "The Memphis Sound." There was, in Mr. DeVaughn's vocal performance, a bit of Mr. Green in there. There were, on the original Roxbury release, two type variants for this. My own copy is a Hollywood pressing: Only a few months after this release, Roxbury (and its parent Chelsea) would break from RCA and go the indie route, changing their color scheme in the process. But the background on this would ultimately rub off on RCA, as this tan color would go on to replace orange as the main color for their own releases beginning early 1975 and continuing until the introduction of the "black label, dog near top" design in fall 1976.
I can easily hear how people would think this is Curtis Mayfield. And, I went to tell the uploader on YouTube that the song he labels as "Diamond In The back" by Curtis mayfield is this song, but the uploader disabled comments. I guess some people can't handle being told they're wrong. I wish the copyright holder would find out and do something about it. This is the pressing I have.
It's very possible that the mistitling and misattribution may well be deliberate in that case, to get around copyright laws. It's known to happen there. But do you hear anything resembling Al Green and "The Memphis Sound," given what was noted?
I'm glad I brought "Be Thankful" up over in the other thread. Seemed like a lot of folks had never heard it or hadn't played it in years. A stone classic like this doesn't deserve to be forgotten. "Gangster lean" is still a common hip-hop term, but many fans don't know where it came from.
I'm one of those who kinda sorta forgot about this one and I'm shocked I could forget such a cool tune. I really hope this ain't the beginnings of Dementia.
I didn't know what it was until a few years ago. I still don't know what a diamond in the back is. What amazes me about this forum is that we talk about old music all the time, but lots of people claim they haven't heard stuff since it was out. It makes me wonder what people listen to. Top 40 dance music?
Meanwhile, props to members of MFSB whose "slinky" groove helped make this record. The organ, especially near the end, reminds me most of the "gloopy" rills on many an Al Green record. Of course, the organ at Sigma Sound seems to have had their audio output set different from that at Royal Studios . . .
Now, that's something I didn't know! Now that you've mentioned it, the vibes and that organ sound very familiar.
Next up: Hollywood Swinging - Kool & The Gang Here's another smoker that was very, very big around where I lived. I always tend to focus on the hi-hat in this song, especially during the breakdown. This single is quite unique in that it was issued from an album that was, by this point, over a year-old. "Wild And Peaceful" had a very long chart life, and was the album that put Kool & The Gang on the musical map. Previous singles from this album were "Funky Stuff Pt 1" and "Jungle Boogie".
