The fifth instalment in the Covered With Soul series departs from the custom of the previous four which featured mostly covers of non-soul originals. This mix consists of soul covers of soul songs.

One would imagine that soul covers of soul songs would be more frequent than those of non-soul tracks in the genre’s repertoire of the late 1960s and ’70s, but I’ve found that this is not necessarily so, at least not as far as reasonably well-known tracks are concerned, and if one ignores the Motown custom of its roster all recording the same songs.

Two song titles included here will at first sight seem unfamiliar: The Rance Allen Group’s Just My Salvation reworks The Temptation’s Just My Imagination, giving it a gospel spin. Change Of Pace change their relationship with the soldiers in Vietnam from that in Freda Payne’s Bring The Boys Home. The buddies of the Change Of Pace title are depicted on the cover of the album, though the rest of the LP is standard soul fare, including a Christmas song I neglected to include on the soul Christmas mixes.

David Ruffin’s version of I Want You Back appeared on an album that was completed in 1971 but remained unreleased until 2004, because Motown saw no commercial promise in it. It’s a pity, because it’s a fine album. Don’t feel too sorry for the former Temptations man; he was not a great man – but what a singer!

One performer on this set also provides the original for a song covered here.  The wonderful Marlena Shaw covers Roberta Flack’s Feel Like Makin’ Love and provided the original for California Soul, covered here by Brenda & the Tabulations.

Mike James Kirkland is not very well known, though his song Hang On In There (from the same album as Baby I Need Your Loving) was covered last year by John Legend and The Roots. The marvellous Lyn Collins, former backing singer for James Brown, also deserves to be better known. She sang my favourite version of Don’t Make Me Over (featured here in a cover by the likewise superb Barbara Jean English), which featured on my Bacharach mix a couple of years ago.

Philly Soul singer Barbara Mason specialised in cheating songs, and with her cover of Billy Paul’s Me And Mrs Jones she takes on one of the greatest songs of that kind. Billy’s version is unclear whether the two people actually consummate their love; in her eight-minute version Mason ends up coming face-to-face with Mrs Jones (not the one Billy met with; the wife of her Mr Jones), and we learn that she and Mr Jones did have sex, including the intimate noises Mr Jones makes!

As always, the mix is timed to fit on a standard CD-R.

TRACKLISTING
1. David Ruffin – I Want You Back (1971)
2. Mike James Kirkland – Baby I Need Your Loving (1972)
3. Ronnie Dyson – Just Don’t Want To Be Lonely (1973)
4. Betty Wright – Ain’t No Sunshine (1972)
5. Dee Dee Sharp Gamble – Ooh Child (1977)
6. Lyn Collins – Never Gonna Give You Up (1972)
7. Rotary Connection – Respect (1969)
8. Change Of Pace – Bring My Buddies Back (1971)
9. The Rance Allen Group – Just My Salvation (1970)
10. Ernie Hines – A Change Is Gonna Come (1972)
11. Hank Ballard – Slip Away (1969)
12. The Delfonics – A Lover’s Concerto (1968)
13. Brenda & the Tabulations – California Soul (1970)
14. Marlena Shaw – Feel Like Makin’ Love (1975)
15. Sidney Joe Qualls – If You Don’t Know Me By Now (1974)
16. Barbara Mason – Me & Mr. Jones (1973)
17. Maxine Nightingale – Reasons (1975)
18. The Soul Children – Signed, Sealed, Delivered (1978)
19. Zulema - Wanna Be Where You Are (1972)
20. Barbara Jean English – Don’t Make Me Over (1972)
21. Jean Wells – I’ll Drown In My Own Tears (1968)
22. Blossoms – Grandma’s Hands (1972)

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Generally I’m wary of cover versions, especially if the song being covered is already well known in its original form or is otherwise identified with a particular artist. There is not much you can do to improve on, say, Bridge Over Troubled Water other than to strip the song down and rework it completely. Not many artists have succeeded in doing so. But for an example of how a well-known song can be totally reworked, one might look to Otis Redding’s version of Try A Little Tenderness (originally recorded by Bing Crosby). Or listen to what Donny Hathaway does with the standard Misty on this mix.

The songs covered by soul artists come almost exclusively from a non-soul tradition. Some are standards (Don’t Fence Me In, Misty, Nature Boy), some country (King Of The Road, Harper Valley P.T.A.), some were pop or rock hits. Only two songs here were originally soul numbers, though For Once In My Life had traversed genres before Gladys Knight & the Pips released their take in 1973 (see HERE). The other, originally by Smokey Robinson & the Miracles, is redone here by Chic man Bernie Edwards in a rather nice poppy way. Merry Clayton (whom we last encountered HERE) may be covering a Rolling Stones song, but it is she who sang on the Stones in the first place, so it’s really half a cover.

I’d be interested to know which covers worked for the listener, and which fell flat. As always, the mix is timed to fit on a standard CD-R , and a front and back cover is included.

TRACKLISTING
1. The Isley Brothers – Listen To The Music (1973)
2. Merry Clayton – Gimme Shelter (1970)
3. Erma Franklin – Light My Fire (1969)
4. Stevie Wonder - Bang Bang (1966)
5. Jackie Wilson – Eleanor Rigby 1969)
6. The Dells - Wichita Lineman/By The Time I Get To Phoenix (1969)
7. Isaac Hayes - It’s Too Late (1973)
8. The Delfonics – Alfie (1968)
9. Donny Hathaway – Misty (1970)
10. Grady Tate - Don’t Fence Me In (1974)
11. Joe Tex – King Of The Road (1965)
12. Vivian Reed – Harper Valley P.T.A. (1970)
13. Flaming Ember – Spinning Wheel (1971)
14. The Supremes & The Temptation - Got To Get You Into My Life (1968)
15. George Benson - Nature Boy (1977)
16. Bernard Edwards feat. Jocelyn Brown – You’ve Really Got A Hold On Me (1983)
17. Charles Brimmer – We’ve Only Just Begun (1976)
18. Gladys Knight & The Pips – For Once In My Life (1973)
19. Roberta Flack – Hey, That’s No Way To Say Goodbye (1969)
20. Billy Paul - Mrs. Robinson (1970)
21. Voices Of East Harlem - For What It’s Worth (1970)

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Finally, in response to an e-mail, the photo gallery follows the order in which people are listed. So Dave Dee is on the top left, Uriel Jones next to him, MJ (listed third) left second from top and so on.

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Dave Dee, 67, of ’60s hit group Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich, on January 9
Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich – The Legend Of Xanadu (1968)

Uriel Jones, 74, drummer of Motown backing band collective The Funk Brothers, who played on songs such as Marvin Gaye’s I Heard It Trough The Grapevine, The Temptations’ Cloud Nine, and the song below, on March 24.
Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell – Ain’t No Mountain High Enough (1967)

Michael Jackson, 50, pop singer and former childstar with the Jackson 5 (the b-side of whose 1971 hit I’ll Be There features here), on June 25
Jackson Five – One More Chance (1971)

Bob Bogle, 75, member of surf rock band The Ventures, on June 14
The Ventures – Scat In The Dark (1970)

Billy Powell, 59, Lynyrd Skynyrd keyboardist, on January 28
Lynyrd Skynyrd – Simple Man (1973)

Ron Asheton, 60, guitarist of The Stooges, found dead on January 6
The Stooges – I Wanna Be Your Dog (1969)

Lux Interior, 62, frontman of punk legends The Cramps, on February 4
The Cramps – Human Fly (1978)

Johnny Jones, 73, leader of The King Casuals, alma mater of Jimi Hendrix, on October 14
Johnny Jones & the King Casuals – Purple Haze (1968)

Jim Dickinson, 67, R&B singer with The Jesters, pianist (on songs such as the Rolling Stones’ Wild Horses) and producer, on August 15
The Jesters – Cadillac Man (1966)

Clinton Ford, 77, English skiffle and country singer, on October 21
Clinton Ford – Huggin’ And A Chalkin’ (1962)

Al Alberts, 87, member of the Four Aces, on November 27
Four Aces – Love Is A Many Splendored Thing (1955)

Hank Locklin, 91, country legend, on March 8
Hank Locklin – Send Me The Pillow You Dream On (1960)

Liam Clancy, 74, last surviving member of the hugely influential folk group The Clancy Brothers, on December4.
The Clancy Brothers – The Leaving Of Liverpool (1964)

Mike Seeger, 75, folk singer, brother of Peggy and half-brother of Pete, on August 7
Mike Seeger & Paul Brown – Way Down In North Carolina (1996)

Chris Feinstein, 42, bassist of alt.country band The Cardinals, on December 14
Ryan Adams & The Cardinals – Follow The Lights (2007)

Jeff Hanson, 31, high-voiced singer-songwriter, on June 5
Jeff Hanson – Now We Know (2005)

Rudy Cain, 63, singer and founder of The Delfonics and Blue Magic, on April 9
The Delfonics – Ready Or Not Here I Come (1968)

Fayette Pinkney, 61, member of The Three Degrees, on June 27
Three Degrees – Dirty Old Man (1973)

Eric Woolfson, 64, Alan Parsons’ sidekick in the Project who took lead vocals on the group’s biggest hit, Eye In The Sky, on December 2
The Alan Parsons Project – Sirius/Eye In The Sky (1982)

Jack Rose, 38, virtuoso guitarist, on December 5
Jack Rose – Kensington Blues (2005)

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In Memoriam Vol. 2

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Some people will reel in disbelief and perhaps go on by shouting out the first names of assorted soul deities as I proclaim: The 1970s were the golden age of soul music. Of course, ’60s soul was fantastic, as the two volumes of Any Major’60s Soul compilations proved (Vol. 1 and Vol. 2). But by the late 1960s and early ’70s soul had acquired such a breadth of variety which the still nascent form of the previous decade did not have, by force of progress. The soul shouters were giving way to smooth guys, often singing in falsetto, and the Muscle Shoal horns went out and the string arrangements came in. And Motown and Stax had lost their way. As smooth as ’70s often was, however, it still retained depth. For the first half of the decade at least, soul produced some of the most gorgeous sounds ever in music.

In this series, we’ll follow the decade’s soul music in two-year cycles, starting with the years 1970/71. I have tried to find a middle-way between including the obvious and the obscure, cutting out many favourites from the former category and leaving the connoisseurs of the latter to indulge their needs over at the great Funky16Corners blog.

Followers of pop in this decade will recognise the sample lifted from the Chi-Lites Are You My Woman (Tell Me So). If to the listener the Chairmen of the Board song sounds a lot like something by the Four Tops, then that is because they were the flagship band on the Invictus label founded by erstwhile Four Tops songwriters Holland/Dozier/Holland (it helps that General Norman Johnson’s voice sounds not unlike that of Levi Stubbs). Also from Detroit and recording under HDH were 100 Proof (And Aged In Soul), which included Stubbs’ brother, and the Flaming Ember, the only white soul act in this collection (the Rare Earth fell victim to the brutal cull which I needed to exercise to keep this mix to a CD-R format length). Some acts were carry-overs from the 1960s (Franklin, Ruffin, Delfonics, Wonder, Five Stairsteps), some began productive careers in the timeframe covering this mix (Earth, Wind & Fire, Main Ingredient, Bill Withers), and others appeared in the charts briefly and disappeared again (The Fantastics, Jean Knight, 100 Proof Aged In Soul, Honey Come, The Beginning Of The End).

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TRACKLISTING
1. The Beginning Of The End – Funky Nassau
2. The Chi-Lites - Are You My Woman (Tell Me So)
3. Jean Knight – Mr. Big Stuff
4. 100 Proof (Aged In Soul) – Somebody’s Been Sleeping
5. Flaming Ember – Westbound #9
6. Chairmen Of The Board – Give Me Just A Little More Time
7. Earth, Wind & Fire – Love Is Life
8. Stevie Wonder – If Your Really Love Me
9. The Delfonics – Didn’t I Blow Your Mind
10. Curtis Mayfield – Miss Black America
11. The Presidents – 5, 10, 15, 20, 25-30 Years Of Love
12. Freda Payne – Bring The Boys Home
13. The Fantastics – Something Old Something New
14. Honey Cone – Stick-Up
15. Betty Wright – Clean Up Woman
16. Ronnie Dyson – (If You Let Me Make Love To You Then) Why Can’t I Touch You
17. Jimmy Ruffin – It’s Wonderful (To Be Loved By You)
18. The Supremes - Stoned Love
19. The Five Stairsteps – Behind Curtains
20. The Main Ingredient - Spinning Around
21. The Persuaders – It’s A Thin Line Between Love And Hate
22. The Dells - The Love We Had (Stays On My Mind)
23. Aretha Franklin – Call Me
24. Bill Withers - Grandma’s Hands

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As noted earlier, I had to conduct a ruthless cull to keep the mix down to a length suitable for burning on a standard CD-R. But there are three songs which are too essential to withhold entirely: Donny Hathaway’s great The Ghetto, which is as potent a jam in this studio version as it is on the mindblowing live album. Gil Scott-Heron arguably is not a soul singer, though this track certainly is. Baby Huey died in October 1970 at 26; his only LP, the Curtis Mayfield-produced The Baby Huey Story: A Living Legend (which features a fantastic nine-minute version of A Change Is Gonna Come) was released the following year. Running is a great fusion of soul and rock, much like Sly & the Family Stone, whom Huey used to support.

Donny Hathaway – The Ghetto.mp3
Gil Scott-Heron – The Needle’s Eye.mp3
Baby Huey – Running.mp3

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This mix is not a representative overview of ’60s soul. Some essential artists are not represented here: Sam Cooke, James Brown, Temptations, Four Tops, Marvin Gaye, Curtis Mayfield (well, he is very much present on Major Lance’s deceptively titled track. And the Five Stairsteps, with a song released four years before their famous Ooh Ooh Child, evidently have heard a Curtis song or two before). There are some well-known tracks on here – hopefully not too obvious, though – complementing some less famous tracks. Perhaps some songs will provide surprises. Dionne Warwick takes time out from bacharaching to provide a nearly camp girl-band type song. Johnny Adams gives Release Me, most famous in its Engelbert Humperdinck rancid cheese version, the soul treatment, showing that this is in fact a great song.

Philly soul exponent Bunny Sigler found some fame in the 1970s; the closer on this set was his isolated hit (reaching #22 in the Billboard charts) of the 1960s. DeeDee Sharp, another successful Philly singer, represented here (with a b-side track), even married the co-doyen of the city’s famous sound, Kenny Gamble. Some songs set the scene for the sound of ’70s soul, perhaps none more so than the Delfonics La La Means I Love You, which created a lush sound which would be widely copied by the likes of the Chi-Lites, Stylistics et al. And going back to the essential sound of ’60s soul, check out Peggy Scott on the cover with Jojo Benson: you’d not think that she could belt out a song as she does here. The wonderful Carla Thomas and Otis follow them: by comparison with Peggy & Jojo, those two are pictures of restraint.

There are some fascinating stories behind many of the artists represented here. The most tragic is that of the Bar-Kays, Stax session musicians, who were decimated in the plane crash that also killed Otis Redding, with whom they were touring. And who’d think that the Soul Survivors, another Philly band with a Kenny Gamble connection, were all white?

And, since you ask, my favourites of this mix? Today, it’s Tighten Up and Loveland.

TRACKLISTING
1. Archie Bell & the Drells - Tighten Up (1968)
2. Major Lance – Monkey Time (1963)
3. Soul Survivors - Expressway To Your Heart (1967)
4. Aretha Franklin - Since You’ve Been Gone (1968)
5. Peggy Scott & Jojo Benson - Lovers’ Holiday (1969)
6. Otis Redding & Carla Thomas - Bring It On Home To Me (1967)
7. James Carr – Dark End Of The Street (1967)
8. Jerry Butler - I Stand Accused (1964)
9. Johnny Adams – Release Me (1969)
10. Irma Thomas – I Wish Someone Would Care (1964)
11. Brenda Holloway – Operator (1965)
12. Dionne Warwick – Get Rid Of Him (1964)
13. The Tams - Hey Girl Don’t Bother Me (1964)
14. Stevie Wonder - Until You Come Back To Me (1964)
15. Dee Dee Sharp – There Ain’t Nothing That I Wouldn’t Do (1965)
16. Martha Reeves & The Vandellas - Jimmy Mack (1967)
17. Jr Walker & The All Stars – What Does It Take (To Win Your Love) (1969)
18. Charles Wright & The Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band - Love Land (1969)
19. David Ruffin – My Whole World Ended (The Moment You Left Me) (1969)
20. Robert Knight - Love On A Mountain Top (1968)
21. The Delfonics - La La Means I Love You (1968)
22. The Five Stairsteps – Don’t Waste Your Time (1966)
23. O.C. Smith – Son of Hickory Holler’s Tramp (1968)
24. Sonny Charles & the Checkmates - Black Pearl (1969)
25. The Marvelettes – Don’t Mess With Bill (1966)
26. Robert Parker – Barefootin’ (1966)
27. The Bar-Kays – Soul Finger (1967)
28. Bunny Sigler – Let The Good Times Roll (1967)

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The Blackbyrds – Walking In Rhythm.mp3
If I were to set my alarm clock to wake me up with a song to start my day on a high, this might be it. “Walking In Rhythm”, which was released in 1975, exudes just the right measure of confident happiness, even as the lyrics speak of a certain desperation. As regular readers may recall, I dig the sound of the flute, so the solo here makes me even happier. The Blackbyrds, led by the great jazz trumpeter Donald Byrd, were a versatile bunch, doing Philly-type soul (like this track) one minute, and jazz-funk the next.

Billy Paul – Let ‘Em In.mp3
On his original, Paul McCartney gave shout-outs to his family and assorted pals. In his reworked and soulified cover version, Billy Paul subverts the concept and gives props to icons of black pride. The song gives the finger (or raised fist) to the white establishment as Malcolm X pronounces over the joyous opening strains: “You’ve been had, you’ve been misled, you’ve been took!” Snatches of political speeches about revolution and change continue throughout, ending with MLK’s cry of “I have a dreeeeeeam”. Where McCartney cited “Brother Michael” (his sibling) and “Brother John” (Lennon), Billy cites “Brother Martin” and “Brother Malcolm” — and Louis Armstrong. That in itself is interesting in this anthem of black consciousness, since Satchmo had been saddled with a bit of an Uncle Tom reputation (unfairly so). When Billy Paul sings Armstrong’s name and in the way he pauses before emphasising his name, he is making a statement: Look not at black icons through white eyes.

Honey Cone – Want Ads.mp3
After leaving Motown, the legendary writing team Holland-Dozier-Holland formed their own Hot Wax label, and hit pay dirt with a song they didn’t even write. “Want Ads”, by a girl group formed to sing backing vocals for Burt Bacharach, was a US #1 hit in 1971, written by members of the Chairmen of the Board (Hot Wax label mates who will still feature in this series). The Motown influence is unmistakable: Martha & the Vandellas may be a fair reference point. Indeed, even by 1971, “Want Ads” must have seemed a little outdated. By 1974 Honey Cone had broken up; a year later Hot Wax went out of business.

The Delfonics – Didn’t I (Blow Your Mind This Time).mp3
Ah, the lush sounds of early Philly soul of which the Delfonics and other Thom Bell-produced acts (such as the Stylistics and later the Spinners) were early exponents. “Didn’t I (Blow Your Mind This Time)” was released in 1970, tailending a quartet of wonderful singles (“La La Means I Love You” from 1968, “Ready Or Not (Here I Come)”, and “Think It Over”, both from 1969). The inclusion of “Didn’t I” and “La La…” in Tarantino’s Jackie Brown used to vex me – by associating it with a murderous plot, Tarantino extracted the songs from the context in which I held them dear, just as a poor cover version hit might. Happily, I have forgotten much about the over-hyped style-over-substance flick, and the Delfonics sound is, in my mind, back where it belongs: in that group of late ’60s to early ’70s soul which represents the genre’s high-water mark.

The Presidents – 5-10-15-20 (25-30 Years of Love).mp3
A slice of soul bliss from 1970, produced by Van McCoy, the man who a few years later gave us the infectious disco anthem “The Hustle”. This cute ode to marital happiness was the Presidents’ only hit (it reached #11 in the US), and I can’t claim to have heard anything else by them. I like to imagine that all their songs were as catchy as this one, which borrows from Curtis Mayfield and from the lilting sounds of Philadelphia soul by the likes of the Delfonics.

The Main Ingredient – Everybody Plays The Fool.mp3
One for your trivia quiz: the father of which Oscar-winning actor was a member of ’70s soul group the Main Ingredient? Cuba Gooding Sr joined the group as frontman in 1971, following the sudden death in 1971 of Don McPherson, who had written the excellent black consciousness track “Black Seeds Keep On Growing”. “Everybody Plays The Fool” was a hit soon after Gooding joined the Harlem group. The song – one of three here with great spoken bits (“Dig…this!”) – was later covered by Aaron Neville, competently but lacking in the comforting qualities of the original.

Jimmy Helms – Gonna Make You An Offer You Can’t Refuse.mp3
One of two songs previously posted, but worth recycling. Although an American, Helms scored his only hit in Britain, with this gorgeous falsetto proposition from 1972. Though a one-hit wonder, Helms did not quite fade into obscurity, and bounced back nearly 20 years later as a member of the group Londonbeat (“I’ve Been Thinking About You”), for which I am prepared to forgive him on grounds of “Gonna Make You An Offer You Can’t Refuse”.

Gladys Knight & the Pips – Midnight Train To Georgia.mp3
The song that had all the wags check LA’s train schedules. And, guess what, no such train to Georgia at midnight, which totally destroys the song because… oh, never mind. “Midnight Train To Georgia” was written by former American football star Jim Weatherly as “Midnight Plane to Houston”. In fact, the whole Imagination album, which yielded this 1973 hit, was a tribute to Weatherley (then still just 30).

The Chi-Lites – Have You Seen Her.mp3
That spoken intro is just the saddest thing: “One month ago today I was happy as a lark. But now I go for walks; to the movies, maybe to the park. And have a seat on the same old bench to watch the children play. You know, tomorrow is their future, but for me, just another day. They all gather around me, they seem to know my name; we laugh, tell a few jokes, but it still doesn’t ease my pain.” I’m not so much sad for poor Eugene Record here but for the passing of an age when his behaviour did not automatically raise suspicion. The spoken bit towards the end, at 3:57, is a classy conclusion to the song – especially its last line. The spoken intro was inspired by Isaac Hayes’ rapping ways. I might even declare the spoken bit of “Have You Seen Her” the greatest non-Ike soul rap, but the winner in that category will be revealed in this post’s final entry.

War – The World Is A Ghetto.mp3
It isn’t possible to categorise War. Co-founder Eric Burdon (he of the Animals) wanted to play the Blues, finding to his big surprise that the black guys in the multi-racial group objected to the Blues as what they described as “nigger music”. We may feel rewarded that they thought so, because instead of being perpetrators of interminable blues wankery (cf. Eric Clapton), War became a melting pot of musical styles: soul, funk, jazz, rock, Latin. “Ghetto”, released in 1972 (two years after Burdon left the group), falls into the soul category. It drips with anger and with resignation, an anthem for black disillusionment in the ’70s.

Minnie Riperton – Light My Fire.mp3
There are two “Light My Fires”: the Doors original and José Feliciano’s Latin-tinged cover. Where from Jim Morrison’s mouth the line “Girl, we couldn’t get much higher” sounds like the drug reference it probably is, sung by Feliciano it is an exclamation of giddiness. On her final album, released just two months before her death from cancer in July 1979, Riperton took the Feliciano route — and towards the end, the great José drops in to duet. Her version is wonderful, even if Minnie did not need to exercise her extraordinary five-octave range much. The final album, titled Minnie, yielded my favourite Riperton track, “Never Existed Before”, which I really ought to post a some point.

The Spinners – I’ll Be Around.mp3
I had four Spinners songs shortlisted for this post, and could not decide which one to use. So I picked the one whose title invited a poor pun on the group’s tendency to change record labels (I mean, they were on Motown and Atlantic). I’ll not use the pun now because it is quite awful, but the song is here. Incredibly, the Spinners have been around (oh, OK, I’ll stop it) since 1954. Their heyday was the ’70s, which they kicked off with the Stevie Wonder composition “It’s a Shame” (one of the four contenders) on Motown before having a string of big hits on Atlantic – to which they had moved after the apparent urging of Aretha Franklin – of which “I’ll Be Around” was the first. Their producer during that run was Thom Bell (cf Delfonics), who infused the Detroit group with the sound of Philly.

Earth, Wind & Fire – Reasons (live).mp3
The other recycled track. It is my favourite of all soul songs, especially in its live version from 1975′s Gratitude album. Philip Bailey’s falsetto is quite astonishing here as he goes head-to-head with an alto sax. Glass almost shatters. Bailey’s vocals are the rightful star here, but “Reasons” would be half the song it is if not for the bassline and that great riff.

Lenny Williams – ‘Cause I Love You.mp3 (re-uploaded)
Back in the day, some people scoffed at Lenny Williams’ epic outpouring of emotion. These people were dead wrong. In structure and performance, it is a classic. At the start, Lenny confesses his love for his girl, but soon reveals old scars from a previous relationship. Williams proceeds to convey a gut-wrenching inner drama, summed up by his inarticulated cries of pain of “oh-oh-oh”. You feel for him when he explains how his heart was broken, and more yet when he tells us, in a spoken interval, of what happened next: “And then I went home and I watched television until television went off. And then I played my records until I just didn’t want to hear them anymore. And finally I went to bed, but I found myself waking up a few hours later. And the tears were running down my face.” And at the end of the rap (possibly the best in soul outside the oeuvre of Isaac Hayes) comes the slow-building, groin-thrusting declaration of love for the new girlfriend. Glorious.