Eddie Floyd claims he was in the middle of a session at Stax when they went to padlock the door. He claimed, at the time, that he'd remain with Stax until the man told him to stop. That was literally what happened! For a man whose hit streak ended long before, he sure was dedicated. (He later turned up on Malaco, but his post-Stax discography has been pretty slim.)
I was going to have brought that up . . . But there was also a quasi-reggae vibe to this record. Reportedly, Al Bell came up with this after a visit to Jamaica. The opening came from an instrumental reggae tune from 1969, "The Liquidator" by Harry J. Allstars, to which lyrics were set as "What Am I To Do" by Tony Scott. Interesting that "The Swampers" provided all the instrumentation. Notice that in spite of Roebuck Staples being nicknamed "Pops," Mavis referred to "Daddy" during the guitar solo. Perhaps that appellation sounded more like the first name of the guitarist on this - Eddie Hinton - than "Pops" would have, no? But there was also Terry Manning (co-mixer with Willie Mitchell of Al Green's hits) on harmonica, and the "swampy" organ courtesy of Barry Beckett, David Hood on bass and Roger Hawkins on drums. The Staples may've "only" provided vocals - but Good Gawd, what vocals! And did just as well on the "pops" - er, pop charts, as we're now seeing. Pops, however, did play guitar on this when they performed this at the 1973 Grammys, and presumably in concert as well. But overall, the way to go for this is mono (mastered at Stax Studios by Larry Nix) . . .
One of the posters on the pop chart had put up the Staples' performance of this at the 1973 Grammys. As a public service . . . "Pops" here play-synching to Eddie Hinton's solo . . . only Mavis' vocal is live . . .
Clive actually worked for Columbia Pictures prior to founding Arista. But yeah, she left after Clive and ended up at Polygram. I don't think she followed Asher - not quite sure how she ended up there. Might have followed an act that jumped ship...
I really like the music of The Staple Singers and I have a double cd from Ace Records U.K. with songs from 1955 to 1984: The Ultimate Staple Singers: A Family Affair 1955-1984 The song "Oh La De Da" is a version without the fake audience on this album.
On the other thread, there were questions of whether the arrangement on "I'll Take You There" was derived from reggae or ska. I seemed to have detected a bit of what had been referred to as "rock steady" - the same type of arrangement that was the focal point of Aretha's hit of the same name.
Yeah, I can hear that. It's a nice bit of synchronicity, seeing as Stax artists were influential in the evolution of rocksteady.
I see no evidence of what you claim, according to Wikipedia, and Wiki is consistent with what i've known for decades. Do you mind telling us when he went to Polygram? I see absolutely no evidence of it, nor have I ever heard of it.
After being fired from CBS Records, Davis was hired by Columbia Pictures to consult its music division. While there, he decided to ixnay Bell Records (home of The 5th Dimension) and start up Arista. I don't know where this business of Clive being associated with PolyGram came from either . . .
I got it wrong originally - you're misreading my second post. She ended up at Polygram (I think) - Clive ended up working for Columbia Pix. Not sure why she ended up at Polygram - might have followed an artist who jumped ship from CBS after Clive left. Getting information out of her about this period is like pulling teeth - for whatever reason, she doesn't like to talk about it unless she's around friends she worked with at the time. All I know is she toured with Elton John, The Bee Gees, Rod Stewart and The Who. And I cannot even imagine her touring with The Who. Talk about an odd pairing. Come to think of it, I'm not even sure she worked for Polygram. Maybe it was MCA? Apart from Elton, that roster of artists looks more like folks managed by Robert Stigwood...did she end up working for him? Oh, just found her in Billboard via Google...she joined MCA in '71...and she was with Stigwood! That explains the roster of acts! I keep telling her to write her memoirs, but she doesn't like to dish the dirt on artists and has nothing bad or juicy to say about any of them anyhow apart from one who shall remain nameless (and isn't listed up above!).
I see. But, your post wasn't written well. It was confusing. W.B. cleared up the bit about Columbia Pictures.
Oh Girl - Chi-Lites Since this one has already been discussed extensively on the other Billboard thread, let's move on to...
Woman's Gotta Have It - (The Preacher) Bobby Womack I don't remember this song from 1972. In fact, I never heard it until I got it on CD in the 90s.
Words of wisdom from yet another dude who could do it all: sing, write, play, produce ... Bobby had one of the great gritty voices. He knew just when to put a little sandpaper on the edge so you'd feel what he's putting across that much more. The strings on this one have a particularly unusual, almost unreal sound. Seemingly everyone was trying out different ways of recording the string section in '72. Gotta credit James Taylor for introducing me to this song - he does a decent job on it:
I don't recall this one at all. This strikes me as way ahead of its time. That skipping beat and the semi-spoken verses almost sound as though they're anticipating hip hop. In fact, I'm surprised nobody had a hit cover of this in the '90s.
This was the beginning of a streak for Mr. Womack that lasted for quite a few years. He and War were certainly the biggest R&B / soul stars in United Artists Records' roster in this period. Bobby was definitely one of the Kings of Grit, though I'll largely refrain from anything in terms of comments until we hear from him again . . .
Except that here is the CP pressing of this . . . (Pitman's contribution to this label copy variant was the (P) notice at right; don't know who did label type for United Artists, though it was between late 1971 and into 1979.) A few of these, especially the more obscure, I was largely first exposed via Felix Hernandez' long-running Rhythm Review on WBGO 88.3 in Newark, NJ.
It does underscore, however, why on this record Mr. Womack had the pre-heading "(The Preacher)" in his billing on the label. Very compelling in many ways. The other thing: Despite it being listed as recorded at American Studios, there's somewhat of a difference, I noticed, in the instrumentation to their 1967-69 streak of hits.
Since the Bobby Womack tune gained no traction, mainly because of the lack of familiarity on this forum, let's go to the next Billboard #1 R&B single: Lean On Me - Bill Withers June 24, 1972, one week The record in the video is distorted, but I wanted to post it anyway because It represents the 45 length, I like watching record labels spin, and I have the exact pressing shown in that video. @W.B. I immediately went out and bought this 45 I liked it so much. My sister bought the Staple Singers 45 on the same trip to the store. In 1972, I thought this was an unusual song in the way that, at the time as a nine-year-old kid, I thought it was a bit unusual for a Black person to make a folk song. After all, it was not what was representative of what was happening in the soul music scene. Bill Withers isn't an R&B artist or a folk artist. He just writes and records whatever the hell he wants. That's what people like about him. If people want to pigeonhole him or his music, that's their problem, not his. It's just a good thing that Sussex Records stood behind him.
That's funny, that variant (CBS Pitman) is precisely what I have too. A shame that, on the "pop" charts, this would help keep the one that followed on here, from reaching the top spot (I won't get any further than that at this time). By this time, Mr. Withers was co-producing himself, with a little help from some former members of Charles Wright's Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band. With this background, that this comes across as "folkish" is all the more remarkable. But anyway, on balance he has to be Sussex' biggest artist in terms of success, holding on right up to near the point the label folded (similar to what was said about Eddie Floyd on Stax). This original still holds more power than a future cover waaaaaaaaaaaay up the road.
He's definitely a unique voice that probably could only have hailed from this relatively brief era. Roberta Flack, Donny Hathaway, both Stevie's and Marvin's best work, The Staple Singers . . . I think this is the absolute golden age of R&B. "Lean On Me" of course is totally iconic, and as you noted sorta strides the line between folk and R&B, with a unique gospel tinge as well I think. It's one of those songs that seems timeless, like it's always been around.
I was 13 or so when Club Nouveau's version was a hit. I liked that well enough, having no idea at the time that it was a cover. I think I heard the original for the first time a year or two later - what a revelation! Great performance of a great song. The Sussex label is one of my favorites in terms of appearance, too. I only have one in my collection, "Nice to Be With You" by Gallery.
