Let No Man Put Asunder
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Love Having You Around
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Dr. Love (Tom Moulton 12″ Mix)
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Album: Delusions (1977)

The onset of spring makes disco bloom on my hi-fi. And though it has its place, I’m not talking about the commercial disco I wish I heard at Studio 54; I’m talking about the soulful proto-house disco I wish I heard at the Paradise Garage. One of the best examples of the latter is First Choice’s Delusions LP.

Annette Guest and Rochelle Fleming founded First Choice when they were still Philadelphia high school students. Rochelle reminisces:

Our success didn’t hit us until graduation night. We were marching down the aisle and the principal of the school said he wanted to congratulate First Choice… then the whole graduation class just stood up and hollered and screamed.

Five years later, as disco was starting to dominate the pop landscape, First Choice (Rochelle, Annette, and new member Ursula Herring) released Delusions. In hindsight, First Choice is perceived as more of a singles act rather than album artists. Delusions, however, is a fairly consistent collection of songs, thanks in part to the lush production from MFSB’s rhythm section: Ron Baker, Norman Harris, and Earl Young.

“Let No Man Put Asunder” wasn’t released as a single initially. But 10 years after it was recorded, Shep Pettibone remixed “Let No Man Put Asunder” to huge success at the clubs:

The remix is a big improvement, thanks to the airtight rhythm and masterful mixing. But it sounds like Rochelle Fleming re-recorded her vocals, and I miss the soulful idiosyncrasies she contributes to the original.

“Love Having You Around” is the rare Stevie Wonder cover that improves upon the original:

I feel sacrilegious admitting that I prefer the looser, more euphoric vibe in First Choice’s 5-star classic version — Stevie Wonder is as close as it gets to a spiritual figure in my life.

“Dr. Love” is über-disco: over-the-top orchestrations, hard-driving drums, and risqué lyrics. Wisely, for the 12″ remix, they handed the reels over to legendary producer/remixer Tom Moulton. Moulton was a pioneer of “mixing down” — stretching out and weaving together the musical building blocks of the recording to improve danceability, and facilitate blending between different records. His original “Dr. Love” remix proved to be a bit too much for First Choice, and a shorter, edited version was used for the official 12″. This version appeared on a compilation a few years back, and you can hear how much fun Moulton had in exploring the different movements of the song.

Thanks to the fervid remixing of their records, First Choice sailed through the disco era and continued to keep party people dancing as house music started to take shape. They’ve reformed a couple of times since then, and Rochelle Fleming continues to belt out First Choice classics.

Shame (12" Mix)
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Smooth Talk
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I Don’t Know If It’s Right
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The Show Is Over
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Album: Smooth Talk (1977)

Evelyn “Champagne” King was all of 17 years old when her debut record Smooth Talk was released. Discovered while accompanying her mother as she worked as a janitor at Philadelphia International Records (home to The O’Jays, Lou Rawls, and Teddy Pendergrass, among many others), Evelyn was successful from the get-go with her 5-star classic first single, “Shame,” presented here in its extended 12″ mix. In addition to lengthening some passages within the song, the producer trebelled out the mix a bit. Or maybe my 12″ of “Shame” is in better shape than my Smooth Talk LP.

The title track is a true rare groover — one of those tracks that’s been given new life over the years via a white label house record or two. I’m surprised the breakdown that starts at 3:57 hasn’t been sampled yet (or has it?).

“I Don’t Know If It’s Right” has one of those choruses that is instantly catchy. I wonder how America today would react to a 16-year old singing, “I dont know if it’s right to let you make love to me tonight… ‘Cause I don’t want you to be just another man.” Ah, the 70s.

“The Show Is Over” may be familiar to fans of Ice Cube, who sampled it in “You Know How We Do It.” It’s also a great example of an orchestrated R&B track that takes its time to build up emotionally and musically. I believe Evelyn’s record label made a mistake by not releasing this as a radio single; to these ears, it’s a 5-star classic.

Evelyn continued to make records throughout the 70s and 80s, peaking with the 1982 hit “Love Come Down.” After taking a break though most of the 90s and the 00s, Evelyn released a new album in 2007 and continues to tour.

Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes
Don’t Leave Me This Way (Dim’s Re-Edit)
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Album: After The Playboy Mansion (Compilation, 2002)

Teddy Pendergrass
You Can’t Hide From Yourself
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Album: Teddy Pendergrass (1977)

This is part one of a two-part tribute to Teddy Pendergrass. part two

This week’s passing of soul legend Teddy Pendergrass hurts a little bit. Few can claim as much authority on the mic as Teddy. During his prime, even his ballads were turned up to 11.

Of course, I dove into the collection on a hunt for all things Teddy. Embarrassed to say, I only had a greatest hits collection and Life Is a Song Worth Singing, Teddy’s second LP. After listening to Life Is a Song Worth Singing from end to end, I decided that it is worthy of LP Classics designation; a full post is forthcoming.

I did have a few Teddy tracks on some compilations, plus Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes’ Wake Up Everybody, their landmark 1975 LP with Teddy on lead vocals. That record included a bunch of great tracks, chief among them the rousing 5-star classic "Don’t Leave Me This Way." Even though the LP version is a scorcher, I decided to digitize a 2002 “re-edit” from Dimitri From Paris that modestly improves upon the track’s mixability.

The other track I selected is “You Can’t Hide From Yourself,” from Teddy’s 1977 eponymous solo debut LP. As the title might indicate, this became an anthem in gay discos. Philly Soul architects Gamble & Huff threw it down yet again, combining a thomping beat, blaring Philly horns, and a positive message with one of Teddy’s most urgent vocals.

Some biographical notes upon Teddy’s passing:

• Read his NY Times obituary or his Wikipedia page.
• Everything changed for Teddy after a 1982 car accident made him a paraplegic. Though he rarely performed live after the accident, he did keep making commercially successful records. But he mostly dedicated his post-accident life towards advocating for the rights of those with spinal cord injuries.
• Teddy got his start as a replacement drummer for Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes. Harold quickly figured out that Teddy could also sing, and reassigned him to lead singer. Get a taste of Teddy’s percussion skills in the clip below (he picks up the drumsticks starting at 3:40):

• The ladies loved them some Teddy, and he occasionally put on shows where only women were allowed in the audience as he passed around lollipops shaped like himself (R. Kelly, take note). In researching Teddy’s life, I was surprised to learn there may have been another side to his image as the consummate ladies’ man. Because I want this space to value musical drama over the real-life variety, I won’t go into the details here, but a quick search about the nature of Teddy’s car accident will clue you in.

Can’t Fake The Feeling
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Released in 1980

"Can’t Fake The Feeling" has been very good to me. As you can see from the photo of the label above, I paid a pretty penny for it but It was worth it. It’s one of those records that kills on the dancefloor, and few of my generation have ever heard it before — qualities that make DJs very happy.

When it was released 30 (!) years ago, it was  — justifiably — a massive #1 club hit. It’s easy to see why: the beat is steady, the production is tight, and the melody is catchy. And then there’s Geraldine’s raw, expressive singing that hearkens back to a time when dance track vocals were recorded with limited to no filters, pitch correction, or digitized harmonies.

It was released on the Prism label (Prism would later morph into seminal hip hop label Cold Chillin’ Records) and was written by Geraldine and Kat Dyson, who is primarily known for playing guitar with Prince’s New Power Generation. I’m sad to say that my limited online research into Geraldine didn’t reveal much about her; "Can’t Fake The Feeling" was her biggest hit.

Barbra Streisand (w/Barry Gibb)
Guilty
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Album: Guilty (1980)

Tanya Morgan
Stay Tuned (Sunset Version)
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Album: Sunset (EP, 2005)

A couple of months ago, I was diggin’ in the dollar bin at Amoeba and came across Guilty, a Barbra Streisand/Barry Gibb duet album from 1980. My Mom totally had this record, and played it frequently enough that the title song came back to me instantly. As I stood hunched over the crate on the floor, I wondered what other beats might lurk within the dated airbrushed sleeve. For a buck, I could satisfy my curiosity and prevent lingering back damage.

I had thought about featuring Guilty in a new gBlog feature dedicated to cheesy pop, but couldn’t find enough tracks on the record that were bad-good enough to share. Oh well. At least the title cut — which won a Grammy and features the brothers Gibb (aka the Bee Gees) on background vocals — entertained me enough to rip it and upload to my iPod.

I had pretty much given up on the idea of blogging about the record. But a few weeks after I had put it aside, I heard a familiar sample in a podcast from The Sound of Young America. It was included in a 2006 performance by an unknown rap group with a misleading name: Tanya Morgan. (According to their MySpace profile, “THE NAME MEANS NOTHING…AND EVERYTHING. JUST ENJOY THE MUSIC! THATS AN OLD QUESTION PLEASE DONT ASK IT ANYMORE! LOL”)

After about 30 seconds on Google, I discovered the name of the track and soon possessed a copy of the song, “Stay Tuned.” Production-wise, this cut is bananas! Tanya Morgan (I keep wanting to call them Tracy Morgan) speeds up a “Guilty” sample and chops Barbra’s vocal into tasty little morsels.

But as the track nears its expected end, it veers in an unexpected direction, letting the original Barbra/Barry track play unadorned (at the accelerated tempo) for a good minute or so. As Barry rehashes the same vocal line Barbra sang in the first half of the track, producer Von Pea brings the beat back and chops up Barry’s vocals to match the earlier Barbra sample. Rappers Donwill and Ilyas then repeat their verses over the remixed beat. It’s kinda hard to explain, but the impact is a deft combination of clever and groovy.