'Classic Track': 'For Your Precious Love' - Jerry Butler & the Impressions

Friends,

It is Sunday again and time to discuss another classic track. I decided to pick a wonderful classic from the late 1950's - 'For Your Precious Love' by Jerry Butler & the Impressions from 1958. It is very important to note that this track has primarily only been available on CD in Stereo. I have since learned that when the Stereo mix was completed in the 1960's and at the time the mix was completed there were additional drums and echo added to the track during the mix. In other words, the Stereo mix is not the sound of the 'hit' single. The mono mix is, therefore, different and distinct.

In preparation for this thread, I did not conduct a exhaustive analysis of the Stereo mixes in my collection. I just closely listened the original Mono 'hit' single mix over and over. This track is hauntingly emotional, heartfelt and honest. A song about the realities of loving someone with all your being and about that love not being reciprocated. At sometime in our lives, we have all been there - I know that I have.

The pristine Mono mix, taken from the Mono master, can be found on the Ace UK 'Golden Age of Rock n' Roll, Vol. # 10. The sound is more dry and intimate than the Stereo mix. The instruments are better defined and less murky without the added echo of the Stereo mix. The Mono is nicely dynamic as well.

Here is the story of 'For Your Precious Love'

'For Your Precious Love' is one of the outstanding vocal group classics of the late 1950's. Not quite doo wop, not quite pop, not quite R & B it might have easily passed for a gospel record.

Butler and his friend Curtis Mayfield began singing together in church in Chicago. Butler and Mayfield eventually joined 'The Roosters', an R & B group in 1957. In early 1958, their manager Eddie Thomas brought the group to the attention of one Vi Muszynski, a divorcee' who wrote songs in her spare time and ran a fan club for country and pop singer Sonny James.

Vi planned to launch her own label and record the Roosters based on some demos that were cut in a small studio near the now torn down Cabrini-Green housing project in Chicago. She then approached Vee-Jay about a distribution deal. Vee-Jay then changed the name of the group to Jerry Butler & the Impressions.

Initial pressings of 'For Your Precious Love' were pressed on Vee-Jay. Those were quickly pulled in favor of Falcon, a Vee-Jay subsidiary. However, legal complications over that name forced Vee-Jay to issue the track under a different moniker as a subsidiary of Vee-Jay - Abner, named after one of Vee-Jay's principals, Ewart Abner. The Vee-Jay and Falcon releases are now highly sought after by collectors because of their short pressing runs.

Following the success of "For Your Precious Love', Jerry Butler left the Impressions and went on to a successful solo career beginning with 'He Will Break Your Heart' in 1960, also a Vee-Jay release.

For those of you who may be interested in the original Mono 'hit' single mix on CD release of this historic track it can be found here:

http://216.15.202.119/cgi-bin/SearchCatNo.asp?lngID=183891

Please share your thoughts, observations and questions!

Bob

 

Good topic Bob, Doesn't surprise me about adding drums and echo on the stereo mix. So many artists in the late 50's early 60's would be sent back to the studio and re-record the mono hit single for stereo. A shame really, they just couldn't leave well enough alone.

 

Hi Joe,

Technically, the Stereo mix of this track was not a re-record, just an overdub. Honestly, until I heard the Mono 'hit' single mix, my sonic memory of this wonderful song was the Stereo mix with the overdubbed drum and added echo. Listening to the Mono mix was like hearing the track for the first time. We all know what that experience feels like....

A great song from Chicago!

Bob

 

It's interesting how it used to be that stereo versions of most late 50's,early 60's hits were the hard to find/rare versions, but now the mono versions are becoming harder and harder to find. "For Your Precious Love" is a perfect example of this. The stereo version was on one of the first oldies CDs I bought, Rhino's "Jukebox Classics, Vol.1",from 1986. Since then, every version I've come accross on CD has been the stereo version. It was certainly a revelation to hear it in clean mono on the Ace CD.

 

Hi Dave,

I certainly agree with your experiences here. Thanks for commenting!

Bob

 

Another good job ... my friend ... classic song ... here is a little more background ... courtesy of Jay Warner's "The Billboard Book of American Singing Groups - A History 1940 - 1990" ...

"During 1957 Thomas [Eddie, the Roosters manager] came up with an unusual gig for the teenagers: a downtown fashion show. Performing their usual set of rhythm and blues doo wop songs, the group also did an original with the music by the Brooks brothers [Arthur and Richard - two members of the group - not the suits] and lyrics by Butler titled "For Your Precious Love." It caught the attention of one Mrs. Vi Muzinski, who arranged an audition with Calvin Carter of Vee-Jay Records. A more elaborate version of the Vee-Jay encounter was described by Curtis Mayfield in an interview. It seems the group was standing knee-deep in snow at the door of Chess Records, but the secretary, seeing them through the window, refused to let them in. Rather than freeze, they went across the street to Vee-Jay Records, entered and were greeted by the great dane that held them at bay until Carter came down. They auditioned with "For Your Precious Love" right in the hallway and wound up recording for the label a few days later."

I like Mayfield's account better ... but the first story is probably the true one.

 

Chip,

Thanks for sharing that account - great addition to the story behind this track...

Bob