25 great album cuts that weren't hits: a couple soul classics on this list

[smark21]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/rockandpopfeatures/8146268/50-greatest-album-tracks-the-hits-that-never-were.html

[soulster]

What a rotten list!

[R. Mark Desjardins]

One standout album track that I've always enjoyed is "Hope That We Can Be Together Soon" by Harold Melvin & The Bluenotes with Teddy Pendergrass featuring Sharon Paige. I wonder if there would have been enough room on the surface of a 45 rpm record to fit all that info on it! Well worth seeking out on youtube.

[roger]

One standout album track that I've always enjoyed is "Hope That We Can Be Together Soon" by Harold Melvin & The Bluenotes with Teddy Pendergrass featuring Sharon Paige. I wonder if there would have been enough room on the surface of a 45 rpm record to fit all that info on it! Well worth seeking out on youtube.

I thought "Hope That We Can Be Together Soon" WAS a 45 in the U.S. as it got to #1 on the Billboard R&B chart.

BUT .. back to the list .. there are some very strange choices in there, given that it is a list published in a British newspaper .. sticking to the stuff that I know ..

"Ain't No Way" by ARETHA FRANKLIN was issued as a "B" side, which means that to my mind it can no longer be classified as an "Album track only" ..

"Isn't She Lovely" by STEVIE WONDER may not have been a 45, but a note for note cover version of it by DAVID PARTON got to #4 on the U.K. chart in early 1977, at the same time that Stevie's L.P. version was selling by the truckload.

AND . most bizarrely of all ..

A "short" version of "Voodoo Chile" by JIMI HENDRICKS [[if you can call something around five minutes long "short") was released as a single in Britain in 1970, just after Mr Hendrix died, and spent one week at #1 on the U.K. chart!! So why it is included on the list is a complete mystery to me.

Roger

[soulster]

"Ain't No Way" by ARETHA FRANKLIN was issued as a "B" side, which means that to my mind it can no longer be classified as an "Album track only" ..


Of course, it still is for those who didn't buy Aretha 45s. I knew it as an album cut. To me, though, "Prove It" [[not on the list) is a B-side because that's the way I became familiar with it. Different mix, too!

[roger]

Of course, it still is for those who didn't buy Aretha 45s. I knew it as an album cut. To me, though, "Prove It" [[not on the list) is a B-side because that's the way I became familiar with it. Different mix, too!

Actually Soulster, when I look at my copies of Joel Whitburn's Billboard chart books he has both "Ain't No Way" and its official "A" side "[[Sweet Sweet Baby), Since You've Been Gone" as big U.S. hits .. he has "Since You've Been Gone" peaking at #5 "Pop" and #1 "R&B" and "Ain't No Way" peaking at #16 "Pop" and #9 "R&B".

Roger

[soulster]

Actually Soulster, when I look at my copies of Joel Whitburn's Billboard chart books he has both "Ain't No Way" and its official "A" side "[[Sweet Sweet Baby), Since You've Been Gone" as big U.S. hits .. he has "Since You've Been Gone" peaking at #5 "Pop" and #1 "R&B" and "Ain't No Way" peaking at #16 "Pop" and #9 "R&B".

Roger

Whoa! You're right! I just looked it up! I never, ever noticed that! It did indeed chart! Cool!

But, I still know it as an album cut, as we never had that particular 45. So, when I put it on my 1967 comp years ago, I used the stereo mix.

[sunshineonacloudyday]

The first two that come to my mind are from the criminally overlooked WILLIE HUTCH:

Lucky To Be Loved By You [[from his SOUL PORTRAIT LP)

Try It You'll Like It [[from his MARK OF THE BEAST LP) Killer versions from Marvin Gaye, The Sisters Love also!!

[R. Mark Desjardins]

Soulster,
Just to clarify, are there two versions of "Prove It?" Do you know if the two mixes eventually both made it to CD compilations, or is one mix is favored over the other in Aretha hit collections?