You Are The Meaning Of This Song

I feel a tremendous amount of respect and admiration for arrangers. One of the many reasons I started this blog was to try to give a little more attention to the folks who contributed so much to the music I love, yet very often are overlooked. Charles Stepney was one of those people. He was in a class all his own. He's a hero of mine. In my opinion, Stepney stands right up there with Duke Ellington.

Gene Page (1938-1998) was arguably not as gifted as Stepney, but he was a damn fine artist. Everybody knows his work with Barry White - the 8-minute LP version of Never Never Gonna Give Ya Up on STONE GON' and Strange Games and Things from Love Unlimited's MY SWEET SUMMER SUITE are utterly devastating; BLACULA is justly celebrated, but SOULWALKING will teach you a little bit more about what he did for music, and THIS SITE will tell you even more. The man had an amazing career! Now I'll shut up and let his music speak for itself!



Love Starts After Dark, Arista LP, 1980



[Photos scanned off album cover, courtesy of SOULWALKING. I'll have a scanner very soon, I swear!]

Out of print. Ripped @ 320. Somewhat noisy, with a couple of gigantic pops, but no skips, as I recall. If you find any let me know!

1. Love Starts After Dark (Leon Silver) 5:32
2. With You In The Dark (Leon Ware, Herb Alpert) 4:00
3. Put A Little Love In Your Lovin' (Ray Parker Jr.) 5:40
4. Second Time Around (Emmett North, Robert Jackson, Tony Churchill) 4:50
5. You Are The Meaning Of This Song (Leon Siver, Nidra Beard) 3:33
6. Hold On To That Groove (Eddy Watkins, Phillys St. James) 5:54
7. Hollywood (Joe Sample, Wil Jennings) 4:35
8. I Wanna Dance (Gerard, Lon Van Eaton) 3:45

Produced by Billy and Gene Page

Arranged and Conducted by Gene Page

"Put A Little Love In Your Lovin'" produced By Ray Parker Jr

Horns arranged by Edward Meyers and Kinsman Dazz, except "Love Starts After Dark", arranged by Gene Page

Production coordinator: Sara Gene Page

Music Preparation: George Annis' Music Suite

Recorded at The Sound Factory

Special thanks to Leon Sylver for his Platinum

Guest Artists: Merry Clayton, Jackye Gerard, Phyllis St. James, Charmaine Sylvers

Ed Greene, d; Eddie Watkins, b; Charles Fearing, Paul Jackson Jr., Emmett North, Ray Parker Jr., Thom Rotella, Tommy Tedesco, Wah Wah Watson, g; Alex Brown, Mercy Clayton, Sylvia Cox, Jackye Gerard, Yvonne Hill, Ray Parker Jr., Francy Pearlman, Pat Powdrill, Dorie Pride, Phyllis St. James, Charmaine Silvers, Sybil Thomas, Carla Vaughn, voc; Sonny Burke, Gene Page, keyb; Jack Ashford, Eddie Brown, Olie Brown, Gary Coleman, perc; Darren Carmichael, Kurt Mc Gettrick, Allen Mc Grier, Edward Meyers, John Mitchell, Wayne Preston, Les Thaler, John Thomas, horns; Todd Cochran, Steve Caplan, synth; Harry Bluestone, concertmaster; Merry Clayton, vocal contractor

LINK

Viva Maestro Gene Page!

In harmony,
Chris

Delfonics - Tell Me This Is A Dream

In case you missed it, and in case you're a huge Delfonics fan (but who isn't?), this fantastic (and mysteriously - or not so mysteriously) out of print 1972 Philly Groove album can be found at RAIDER OF THE LOST ARK. Thanks, Solsoul!

In harmony,
Chris

Give Me Just A Little More Time...

Hi, folks -

Thanks for the kind comments about my father's passing. It means a lot to hear from folks who inspired me to get off my ass and start doing this. It means just as much to hear from folks who love the music and don't run a blog. I'm holding up, doing my best to live my life in a way that honors Pop and all the things he taught me. I'll keep doing that, for sure.

I have to take care of so much business over the next few weeks that I might not be able to post much for a while, so this and the next post or two will be loaded. They'll be things I posted to the contributions section of On The Outside Looking In (come back, oldsoulrebel and Soul Man Red!).



Chairmen of the Board - Finders Keepers, The Invictus Anthology

3-disc box, Castle, 2002 @ 192 - in print and very much worth owning!

Disc 1 - part 1 | part 2
Disc 2 - part 1 | part 2
Disc 3 - part 1 | part 2

Their monster 1974 album, Skin I'm In, is part of the set, but the tracks are (slightly) out of order. I copied the tracks and re-tagged them. All the tracks are also present in the 3-disc files, too, of course.

Skin I'm In

A good rip of their first LP is at FUNK MY SOUL.

I'll try to post all the Nina Simone Philips albums as soon as I can, try my best to keep up with comments (thanks, everybody!) and I'll post a few links to favorite posts at other blogs. See you soon!

In harmony,
Chris

The Most Beautiful Album In The World?

Right now, for me, it is.

My father passed away on Monday, May 12, at 7:24 PM. He left us peacefully and painlessly, surrounded by his family and close friends. We'll miss him so much.

For the past few days, this album has been almost the only thing I can listen to with deep attention. Music can be a kind of prayer and albums like this can only happen when folks get together to create in an atmosphere of love and respect for the music and for each other.



The Dells Sing Dionne Warwicke's Greatest Hits, Cadet, 1972.

Produced, arranged and conducted by a transcendent genius, Charles Stepney, who also plays piano and harpsichord on the tracks.

Discographical info here.

Ripped @ 192 from CD. It's in print, so please buy it and support the good folks at Dusty Groove!

LINK

In harmony,
Chris

Count Indigo

I know almost nothing about him, but the song's got this Johnny Pate/ Isaac Hayes/ Gene Page/ Jerry Peters filtered through Roy Budd/ Tony Hatch kind of vibe that knocks me out.



MY UNKNOWN LOVE, 1995 CD single @ 160.

Produced and arranged by Mike Flowers, someone else I know very little about. INFO

A couple of years ago, I ripped this off a friend's copy of a UK compilation called This Is Easy. I'm about to buy the single HERE.

The Count's Myspace Page has a version of Light My Fire and some other songs.

The Mighty Mighty Dells #1

Give Your Baby A Standing Ovation
Cadet LP, 1973 @ 320

Utterly gorgeous album arranged and conducted by Charles Stepney. No musician credits listed on cover.

1. Give Your Baby A Standing Ovation 4:34
2. Ain't No Sunshine 4:40
3. You Don't Care 3:49
4. Share 4:02
5. Love Can Make It Easier 4:44
6. The Glory Of Love 3:51
7. Stand Up And Show The World 3:08
8. Soul Strollin' 3:31
9. Closer 3:42

Out of print.

LINK

In harmony,
Chris