Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes were one of the very
first groups to achieve global success for Philadelphia International Records
within its first year as a CBS-distributed label. The 1972 release of two
consecutive 'tell-it-like-it-is' ballads 'I
Miss You' and 'If You Don't Know Me By Now' marked the start of a four-year association that yielded some of the most
enduring recordings in contemporary soul music, in the process creating with label founders Kenny Gamble & Leon Huff and a
burgeoning coterie of talented songwriters, arrangers and musicians - a handful
of timeless dance music classics including 'The Love I Lost', 'Bad Luck' and
'Don't Leave Me This Way'.
A Philadelphia-based group (The Charlemagnes) became 'The
Blue Notes' after Harold Melvin joined them in the mid-'50s and after a number
of personnel changes, 'Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes' achieved their first
US Top R&B hit in 1965 with 'Get Out (And Cry)'. Mainstays of the popular
lounge circuit, Melvin had hired Theodore Pendergrass as the new drummer for
the group's touring band in 1970 and by the time the quintet joined the
fledgling roster at P.I.R., he had emerged as the lead singer; it was Pendergrass'
gospel-honed passion-filled vocals that were front-and-centre of the four
gold-certified albums that formed the legacy of treasured recordings included
in this glorious 36-track, 3-CD box set.
Disc 1 comprises the 1972 LP, I MISS YOU (originally released
as 'Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes' and retitled after the US Top 10
R&B success of their first P.I.R single) and includes the soulful opus 'If
You Don't Know Me By Now'; and the 1973 set, BLACK & BLUE particularly
memorable for the group's anthemic 'The Love I Lost' and 'Satisfaction
Guaranteed (Or Take Your Love Back)'.
Disc 2 features two albums released in 1975: TO BE TRUE
which kept the momentum going with 'Where Are All My Friends' and 'Bad Luck'
while also introducing female vocalist Sharon Paige via the US R&B
chart-topper, 'Hope That We Can Be Together Soon'; and WAKE UP EVERYBODY, the
title track of which with its memorably timeless
lyrical theme – became the group's final
million-seller with Pendergrass who went on to launch his solo career in 1977.
Disc 3 consists of various bonus tracks: the group's cover
of Nilsson's 'Everybody's Talkin'' from The Philadelphia All-Stars' 1977 LP,
"Let's Clean Up The Ghetto" LP; two dance mixes by legendary remix
pioneer Tom Moulton, "Bad Luck" and an eleven-minute version of
'Don't Leave Me This Way', originally a track from the group's final P.I.R. LP never issued as a U.S. single (but covered by Motown's Thelma
Houston for whom it became a global smash); and three 'live' recordings from
the group's performance at a CBS Records' 1973 convention.
With artwork by Roger Williams and mastering by Nick
Robbins, the box set also includes informative notes by renowned US writer
Kevin Goins.
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