THE DETROIT EMERALDS - "YOU'RE GETTING A LITTLE TOO SMART"

You're Getting a Little Too Smart   (Abrim Tilmon) - 3:39

You just knew that opening drum solo was going to get sampled to death and it has - 2Pac ('Only Fear of Death');  Common ('I Want You'); L.L. Cool J ('Back Seat of My Jeep'), Limp Bizkit ('The Nookei'), etc., etc. ,   ...  Same with the hypnotizing bass line.  Imagine what a mash-up of a Detroit soul group and Sly and the Family Stone would sound like and you'll be in the aural ballpark for this one.  Simply killer tune that you won't be able to it still through.  The song was tapped as a single:

- 1973's 'You're Getting a Little Too Smart' b/w 'Heaven Couldn't Be Like That' (Westbound catalog number W 213) # 101 pop; # 28 R&B

And here's a YouTube link so you can check it out yourself:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=556zH4MuPL8

CURTIS MAYFIELD - "SO IN LOVE"

The glorious, slinky, and insidiously catchy, 'So In Love' was one of those rare songs that was worth the cost of the parent album by itself.   Vocally and on guitar, Mayfield at his best - it's the perfect first dance tune for a wedding.  And the horn arrangement, which has always reminded me of something off of a reggae tune), was too-die-for great.   Easy to see why it was a single and returned Mayfield to the charts.

- 1975's 'So In Love' b/w 'Hard Times' (Curtom catalog number CHS 0105)




Here's a link to a YouTube clip of the tune: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bll10yozxRI

THE HUDSON BROTHERS - "HOLLYWOOD SITUATION"

Seriously, I can hear the sarcasm already ...  The Hudson Brothers.  What a dork.

The funny thing about this is I was 16-17 when The Hudson Brothers had their brush with stardom.  At that age I was already too old to have captured Hudson fever.  As a result, I knew relatively little about the group.

Hollywood Situation   (Bill Hudson - Mark Hudson - Brett Hudson) - 2:49   rating: **** stars

'Hollywood Situation' was the tune that captured Casablanca Records' attention and was originally planned as their lead off single.  Label President Neal Bogart liked the song so much he agreed to finance an album - 1974's "Hollywood Siutation".  For anyone who thought these guys were nothing more than a television joke, the title track will come as a major shock.  Power pop ?  Commercial rock ?  Who cares about the musical label ?  Opening up with one of the catchiest guitar riffs I've heard in a long time and the nifty refrain,the tune melded a first-rate rock melody with a set of funny lyrics that took dead aim at their reputations. The song was just that friggin' good !!!  

Judge for yourself.  Here's the link to a YouTube clip:  
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5z9Pt2z4iA8

ERIC MERCURY - "IT'S TIME FOR ME TO LOVE YOU"

Eric Mercury was a largely unknown Canadian singer/songwriter who found himself recording with the Stax affiliated Enterprise label.  His label debut was an enjoyable set of soul tunes, that occasionally came a bit too close to Richie Havens territory.   While there were quite a few good songs, the standout was:

 It's Time for Me To Love You   (Steve Cropper - Eric Mercury - William Smith) -  9:23  




Seriously, this may be one of the funkiest jams to ever come out of Stax.   The song retained a distinctive Stax flavor, but the combination of The Memphis Horns, William "Smitty" Smith's Hammond B-3 fills (and you thought only Booker T. Jones could pull off that sound), Richie Simpson's machine gun drums, the Latin percussion touches, and the song's extended arrangement made it quite unlike your normal Stax release.  Try sitting still through this one.  Clocking in at over nine minutes, it was simply too short.  A rarity for me in that this tune deserves five stars.

 

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PETER GABRIEL - "SKY BLUE"

At work I mentioned to a friend I'd seen Peter Gabriel and Sting this past summer.  He asked if they'd played "Sky Blue'.  The answer was no, but having heard the studio version I can remember being less than overwhelmed, so it wasn't a great disappointment for me.  Yeah, I remember the song had a typically stark and stunning Gabriel melody, but so does most everything in his catalog.   And them I stumbled across a 2003 live performance of the song.  Taken from Gabriel's "Growing Up Live" concert DVD, the live performance wasn't all that different from the studio version, with the exception of what the The Blind Boys of Alabama brought to the song ...  simply stunning.  Around the six minute mark the Blind Boys cut loose and it's ... well spine tingling.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZXpHF5MCbc

And if you find "Sky Blue" stunning, then check out "Cloudless".  Basically the same song without Gabriel's voice, but with the addition of a distinctive African flavor.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyFT432hhpo