The psychedelic soul group’s final two Motown albums both Produced by Legend Norman Whitfield. A couple of years ago, as part of Kents ongoing series of reissues of repertoire from the Motown catalogue, they gave the CD premiere to three Gordy albums by producer Norman Whitfield’s pet project the Undisputed Truth (which will be posted here in due course). These two Gordy albums were by the group’s second line-up.Norman Whitfield put the Undisputed Truth together in 1970 as a vehicle for his productions. In 1973 the two original female members of the group decided to call it a day and, rather than audition individual members, Whitfield opted to bring in established Detroit group the Magictones to replace them. In early 1974 they joined remaining original Joe Harris to record the Undisputed Truth’s second biggest hit ‘Help Yourself’ heard here in a remade version; the original can be heard on kent,s earlier set as part of the “Down To Earth” album, which featured one side of material by the new line-up, and one by the original trio. In late 1974 the group’s image underwent a massive change, as regular attire made way for space-age clothing, silver face make-up and white Afro wigs. Their music changed with the image, taking on a harder, funkier sound akin to what George Clinton was accomplishing with Parliament and Funkadelic. The public accepted these changes without any complaint and, for a while, the hits kept coming until disco won out over P-Funk and the group’s music took a further direction change away from Motown. A handful of tracks have been available previously on CD as part of “Best Of” anthologies, but this 2 CD package marks the first time these two albums have been reissued in their entirety. The booklet contains a wealth of rare illustrations and notes featuring quotes from a new interview with Virginia McDonald, the lone female member of the group’s second line-up and co-lead singer on ‘Help Yourself’ with Joe Harris. “Cosmic Truth” and “Higher Than High” have stood the test of time well and, although they contain no major smashes, there are hits on each album that will be well remembered by Motown aficionados. If anything, they both sound better with the passing of years.
AMM
Review Courtesy Of Oldsoulrebel
The Taster!
Tracks Below (FLAC)
16 comments:
many thx oldsoulrebel for a cracking review yet again!
Excellent guys many thanks for this review!
Thanks OldSoulRebel for another fine review for us.
Thanks for the review AMM and Oldsoulrebel
I Always enjoy Norman Whithield productions
Thanks again folks. Great albums and reviews.
Great Review Thank you AMM
Thank you very much for the Undisputed Truth. I enjoyed the sounds of this group. thanks AMM
i like their Whitfield LPs but much thanks for this Kent reissues with Booklet much appreciated
Two for the "price of one" - and a wonderful band, too. Thanks for review, P.
Many thanks Oldsoulrebel and AMM for this review
Reb
Many thanks Oldsoulrebel and AMM for this review ....Looks GOOD!
Thanks for this Upgrade AMM and Oldsoulrebel !!
Thanks for this review looks interesting
Thanks to Oldsoulrebel and AMM for the review love that Whitfield style with some great singers in this band and the revamped band
Cheers Pedro
Unknown artist but the taster sound very good !
Could use this upgrade, too. Thanx!
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