Double Exposure - My Love Is Free - The Salsoul Recordings 1976-1979 - Import 4 CD

Credits:

Double Exposure

Description:

It isnt complete, lacking 7" edits of "Ten Percent" and "My Love Is Free" available on other compilations, but this four-disc boxed set from SoulMusic and Second Disc Records is the most comprehensive Double Exposure anthology by far. Each of the vocal groups three albums is expanded with contemporaneous 7" and 12" mixes. The fourth disc gathers retrospective edits and mixes that reach back to 1993 for the superb Masters at Work remix of "Ten Percent." While the muscular and fleet "Ten Percent" is Double Exposures signature song -- their 1976 debut, it almost topped Billboards disco chart with help from Walter Gibbons extra-stimulating remix, the first commercial 12" single -- their like-titled album contained two additional dancer-friendly charting singles in "My Love Is Free" and "Everyman." Moreover, commanding ballads such as "Just Cant Say Hello" and "Pick Me" showed that they were multidimensional. (Indeed, the church-bred singers had been together since the early 60s, and earlier in the 70s recorded for Stax subsidiary Volt as United Image.) Member Joe Harris contends in the liners that Salsoul didnt give Ten Percent enough of a push at radio -- "Ten Percent" itself should have crossed over as much as, say, "Bad Luck," by fellow Philadelphians Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes -- and that the label waited too long to get the group back in the studio. Perhaps as a consequence, 1978s Fourplay and 1979s Locker Room were comparative retail nonstarters despite offering some solid soul-rooted disco. The stomping and swaying "I Got the Hots for Ya," selected from the latter, gave Double Exposure their highest placement on the R&B chart at number 33. In addition to the wealth of full-bodied production work from Norman Harris, B-H-Y associates Ron Baker and Earl Young, and several other Philly notables, the set thankfully adds the Bert Reid-produced 1983 solo single from Jimmy Williams, "All of My Lovin," a deep boogie gem. ~ Andy Kellman

Tracklisting:

1.Ten Percent (7:06)
2.Gonna Give My Love Away (3:10)
3.Everyman (7:21)
4.Baby I Need Your Loving (5:43)
5.Just Can't Say Hello (3:13)
6.My Love Is Free (7:37)
7.Pick Me (3:19)
8.Ten Percent (Original Walter Gibbons 12" Disco Mix) (9:41)
9.Ten Percent (Original Ken Cayre 12" Mix) (7:26)
10.My Love Is Free (Original Tom Moulton Mix) (9:37)
11.Everyman (7" Version) (2:42)
12.My Love Is Free (Walter Gibbons Disco Madness Remix) (4:53)