Haven't heard "Love On A Two Way Street" in years. Always liked it. Sylvia Robinson ended up being around for the birth of two blockbuster genres, disco and hip hop. Not many people can claim that.
You must not be familiar with Robin Trower's two R&B-oriented albums "Caravan To Midnight and "In City Dreams" that Don Davis produced in Detroit. Yup, Don Davis was a popular producer in the 70s. I think the work he did with the Dramatics was excellent. And, here's what I always tell our rock friends who insist that everything danceable is disco: the difference is in the groove, or more precisely, the BASS line. In the disco of the late 70s, most of the stuff people hate was of the European-slyle, with that four-on-the-floor kick bass, and the bass guitar part is fundamentally simple and steady. Quite monotonous. Here's an example of what I mean: listen to Chic's "Dance, Dance, Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah)". Notice the simple steady bass pattern. Now, listen to their songs "Le Freak" or "Good Times", or even Sister Sledge's "We Are Family". Notice the difference in the rhythm? Notice the drum part? Notice the slower pitch? The latter examples are what we would call R&B-based, while "Dance, Dance, Dance" is a steady, pulsating pattern. Another example would be Donna Summer's "Hot Stuff" vs. "Winter Melody". It's all in that bass rhythm. Other examples could be Dan Hartman's "Instant Replay" vs. "07 - (Every Time I Turn Around) Back In Love Again" by L.T.D.". The way something's mixed plays a part, too. All those R&B artists signed with Columbia in 1976. Clive Davis, who had the good sense to leave the R&B artists to do what they do best, had been ousted a year before, and less soul-friendly or understanding executives were soon running the label. They started pressuring all these new R&B signees or acquisitions to get pop or disco hits. Some did, some didn't. Earth, Wind & Fire certainly felt the heat, and that led to "September"(And you longtime members know how I feel about that song!). , and the David Foster and disco-influenced "I Am" album. The power transition at CBS worked for Stax holdovers Emotions and Johnnie Taylor, but not so great for the rest. The Jacksons (which we will get to when we get to 1975), weren't even trusted at first. I'm not quite sure what happened at Philadelphia International Records, other than brewing internal troubles with the writers, producers, and even alleged issues between Gamble & Huff. But, even so, at least CBS didn't mess with them too much. It's OK, but not as good as "I Gotcha" was back in 1972 when his label was distributed by Mercury Records, IMO. More on Joe Tex in a couple of years. We're jumping way ahead again! Let's get back to 1970, shall we? There's a LOT of great music just up the road, so why do people keep wanting to jump ahead? Hmmm...maybe it's because we're confusing it with the disco thread.
May I say that, as with many of these classics, mono is it for this one. Especially the 1970 Stang 45. I wouldn't necessarily trust the 1974 reissue single on ABC's "Goldies 45" label.
Disagree. The "I Gotcha" single was better than the I Gotcha album, IMO. But I'll withhold further Tex talk for when his time comes around in this thread...
It sounds almost telephone-y and tinny in comparison to the Stang original. That was a problem with a few other Goldies 45 reissues from other labels (i.e. "Hey Girl" by Freddie Scott, originally on Colpix).
I guess it's time for the next song: The Love You Save - The Jackson 5 Now we head into the summer of 1970 with this fun hit. I always loved it, and it's much better than ABC, IMO. Off the same album, too. The mono version sounds like a foldover to me, but runs a bit longer than the common stereo version.
Oh yeah, big difference between what's R&B and disco, in fact a lot of acts missed the mark of "disco success" because the songs were danceable but not disco. Agree about all of the post-Clive Davis Columbia/CBS signings. Luckily Gamble and Huff signed with CBS at the right time and got hits without being hassled about crossing over. Philadelphia International became a disaster, the label highs will be seen shortly in this thread. Their work was brilliant.
It certainly percolates, that's for sure . . . and the pop audience clearly agreed. (As we'll see a few number ones from now.)
Considering that the Stang original was tinny itself, that is a hell of a thing. Most of the Goldies 45 singles I own sound pretty good. The exception being Ral Donner's "Girl Of My Best Friend," originally on Gone, but on Goldies 45, there is a persistent hiss running through it.
The Jackson 5 were making it look too easy at this point, just a terrific song. Nasty lyrics in retrospect, I think it's just great.
I think the heads at CBS even pressured The Isley Brothers, and they had a certain level of autonomy with their label. They pressured Maurice White, of course. Once Clive Davis was gone, CBS bosses wanted hits at any cost. They were short sighted and didn't care about trying to cultivate their base or their new audiences. Once Earth, Wind & Fire had major hits with "Fantasy", "Got To Get You Into My Life" and "September" their Black fan base started to move away from them as they gained a wider pop audience. That's when they started to be known by their new audience as a pop or worse yet, a disco band. Black audiences also turned a few degrees away from Commodores, and went to Rick James, Teena Marie, and closer to Bootsy's Rubber band, Bar-Kays, Con Funk Shun, Brick, and other more funk-leaning bands. R&B audiences were not as in to disco as a lot of people think. That audience stayed close to R&B and funk. Even blues made a resurgence when disco grew. B.B. King, Bobby "Blue" Bland, Z.Z. Hill, even Millie Jackson were popular. Isaac Hayes enjoyed a hit with a cover of Jerry lee Lewis' "Don't Let Go". All the stuff R&B fans went for had a groove, and the funk. A disco hit by, say, Donna Summer and Gloria Gaynor, sure, but ...hey, can we talk about all this when we get there? There's a lot of stone cold classics between now and then. And, you can bet your last money it's all gonna be a stone gas, honey! When we get to 1972!
More to the point, their masterminds at the time, "The Corporation™," were "making it look too easy." But when I see the title and hear the record, I'm sometimes reminded of the PSA the late James Dean did for traffic safety shortly before his death, and the words he uttered therein: "The life you save may be mine." The instrumentation on these records, coming as they did from L.A., does have an out-of-worldish vibe compared to Motown's own Detroit-based house band. No less enjoyable, though. Beg pardon, but I distinctly remember that song originally recorded back in 1957 by Roy Hamilton (which I have, B.T.W. - both on 45 and 78). If JLL did it, it too was a cover.
I didn't know that, and thank god! I'd hate to have anything by that racist dirtbag JLL in my collection.
The Isleys did well, all of those T-Neck albums went gold or platinum. I think they only had problems with The Real Deal, that's the only album I remember in that time frame that didn't do that well--and it wasn't they great...Still no big pop overtures and they had great sales... True about Maurice White and EWF, that was interesting career trajectory in retrospect, I'm surprised more R&B fans didn't leave them, long way from "Evil" to "September" but the work remained good and the album cuts still had R&B. Yeah, they were known as a disco band for some, "Boogie Wonderland..." Nope, a lot of R&B didn't like disco, that's why a lot of product from R&B acts stayed on the shelves. The pop audience sometimes didn't buy it and the R&B fans didn't either. Yep, I'll save that for another time... Yep, the Motown Recording Studios in LA had a nice sound, certainly not like the Detroit studio but it was great for Motown's next phase. Yep, I remember that James Dean commercial too. The song itself is a bit more advanced than Jackson 5's core audience, but I think Motown did well making the songs intelligent and accessible to children and adults. No "Rockin' Robin" or "The Boogie Man" on the horizon yet
I think Sound Recorders was the recording venue for early Motown J5 hits (including their first three #1's) before they set up what was initially MoWest studios.
Like most funk bands, there was an unmistakable rock (not "pop") element to the Isleys' sound. Despite the fact that they were selling records hand over fist, they were very pissed that the FM album-rock stations wouldn't give them any airplay. You'd think "That Lady" and "Live It Up," with their extended guitar solos, would have been locked and loaded in rotation, along with Stevie Wonder (who was played frequently on rock radio), but it wasn't to be.
It's a discussion on this forum i've tried to initiate several times on this forum with little success. But, R&B never really left, and only started coming back once the pop audiences quit listening., right around the end of 1980. We'll get there. A lot of people still lament the demise of Hitsville Detroit, but they shouldn't. United Sound took it's place quite nicely. Los Angeles helped usher in the new era for Motown. It wasn't just Motown that changed, it was the entire music business and they had to adjust, although they had to be dragged kicking and screaming...
Though in my neck o' the woods, Q104.3 doesn't play it - though they do play Stevie Wonder's "Superstition" and "Low Rider" by War from time to time. But, as you say, we'll get to those when we get to them.
Looks like it's time to get to the next song: Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I'm Yours - Stevie Wonder Again, the mono mix is superior. I confess that my first exposure to this song was via Peter Frampton's cover version.
My take is that when Disco became persona non grata, a lot of R&B ac...er..talent got caught in the cross hairs and it took Thriller to open up the airwaves again. Was it rascism? Homophobia? Plain 'ol backlash? Maybe a little bit of everything.
Signed was another in a string of very enjoyable Stevie Wonder singles that began in earnest with For Once In My Life. For Once In My Life/ Angie Girl My Cherie Amour/ I Don't Know Why Yester-Me, Yester-You, Yesterday Never Had A Dream Come True Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours Heaven Help Us All I hate We Can Work It Out but adore the flip Never Dreamed You'd Leave In Summer If You Really Love Me Superwoman Lots of folks like to say his great run began with Superstition but I beg to differ.
Another great Stevie single. His run that began with "Superwoman" is in another league - it transcends pop - but before he could transcend it he had to master it, and "Signed, Sealed, Delivered" demonstrates that mastery.
