3 of a Kind Part III
Released in 1974 on the love unlimited “In Heat” LP here is the original lick in all it’s glory, a longtime personal fave, always in the box & massive at loveunlimited HQ.
We really like all 3 versions, hence the post, cover versions are most welcome, but in this case, for us it’s all about the original.
3 of a Kind Part II
More of the same, Dionne added the ‘E’ to her surname in 1975 on the advice of her numerologist. In the same year she released this version a BIG spin for Gilles Peterson.
Released in the UK on 45.
3 of a Kind Part I
We absolutely love Chaka & here she is again, with the killer “move me no mountain” taken from her “Naughty LP” (1980).
Think of Mtume (pronounced Em-Too-May) & usually the first track that springs to mind is the slick “juicy”(1983) sampled so much in hip-hop by so many performers.
From the band Reggie Lucas and James Mtume provided their magic touch to Stephanie Mills including the Grammy winning single “Never Knew Love Like This Before” (1979). Reggie Lucas also produced the majority of Madonna’s first album.
“So you wanna be a star”, is in the same vein as the massive “Bourgie Bourgie” penned by Ashford & Simpson and subsequently released by Gladys Knight & John Davis.
From the start this tracks a winner, it just builds-&-builds…it’s got the strings, deep-deep lyrics, spacey keys & killler horns. Disco Heaven.
Enjoy
The Trammps, based in Philadelphia are remembered as a disco band. Often seen as part of the disco overground, most likely a result of ‘Disco Inferno’ being included on the massively popular Saturday Night Fever soundtrack in 1977.
In the same year the Trammps released the song ‘The Night the Lights Went Out’ to commemorate the electrical blackout that affected New York on 13 July 1977. This song was housed-up by the Black Science Orchestra, as the basis for their debut single ‘Where Were You’ released on Junior Boy’s Own.
Prior to their disco fame the Trammps released Rubber Band as a single in 1973 on Buddah a real soul gem that has featured on more than one occassion in modern hip-hop.
It was sampled as the basis for the Game’s release ‘Hate It Or Love It’ getting re-worked & chopped-up by the legendary production team of Cool & Dr.Dre. J Dilla (rip) used it for ‘Dilla Says Go’ from Donuts.
Yet another re-working here we have the editions disco edit of rubber band. a real fave at love unlimited towers.
Produced by Barry White and released in 1974 on Casablanca records - sweet soul music. Gloria only ever made one LP and it is well worth seeking out.
Love Unlimited originally formed as a group to imitate the legendary Motown girl group The Supremes. Barry White produced, wrote and arranged this classic soul track “Walkin’ in the Rain” He also makes a cameo appearance via a telephone.
DJ Spinna, hails from Brooklyn New York City & is a honoury member of the Love Unlimited Hall of fame, his genre-busting dj sets really are something special (check out his rare radio mixes at www.deephousepages.com).
His productions are right up there too, with tight crisp programming across a variety of beats & pieces from his old school origins of hip-hop, house, artist remixes and lately broken beat style.
Here is his remix of Berlin-based songwriter/producer/singer georg levin. More Spinna to follow.
Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love has produced some amazing emotional soul & disco. Harold Melvin & The Bluenotes contributed massively to this output on the tsop label with global hits like “The Love I Lost” & “Don’t Leave Me This Way” through to socially conscious songs such as “Wake Up Everybody” and “Bad Luck”
They departed Philadelphia International for ABC Records, based in New York in 1977. “Reaching for the World” became the group’s final major single…Emotional Stuff.
Some people put JR Bailey’s 1974 album ‘Just Me n’ You’ amongst the top ten best soul albums ever made. I fancy it too. Right from the very first note (featured here) to the last, this whole album is an absolute treasure beyond measure. Since becoming highly collectable, it was first reissued in Japan, then reissued by soul brother recs here in the UK. How lucky are we - this cd was gifted to me from a friend, who told me that he had also thought “Love Love Love” was a Donny Hathaway tune (phew). This is the first track on the album, the rest of it is available at Crazy Beat records.
