Carol Douglas. Does NO ONE Care?

[Philles/Motown Gary]

Once again , we kind of have matching ears. YOU GOT THE POWER would go into my discard pile . we approach these records with the highest of hopes based on who's behind them ..........but EVERY artist , producer has hits and misses . Maybe this one is missing the Harold Wheeler touch , but the name Brad Baker on it gives me hope. YOU GOT THE POWER is weak overall like you said and its vocally sung too raw for my taste , and her interest in this gentleman comes across as nothing more than a desperate slut ....kind of like Cher ....TAKE ME HOME , TAKE ME HOME , TAKE ME HOOOOME !!! lol!!

But back to Brad Baker , his name is never far from Gregg Diamonds [[Andrea True etc.) like Kipps is never far from Mccoy.

Do you know the works of Meco's Showdown?

Hey John! "Matching ears"! Yeah, that sounds about right! We seem to have matching taste in just about everything.

Showdown! I bought their LP back in the day. They're tracks are also present on the Camouflage "A Disco Symphony" CD. Can't say I was ever crazy about Showdown. They don't even sound like Meco. You're right -- they needed Harold Wheeler. He had the golden touch. There are four of their tracks which I found tolerable: "Walkin' In Music", "Keep Doin' It", "Come Down In Time", and "Let's Make A Deal" [[the Gloria Gaynor song, although not nearly as good vocally as Gloria's version). When I got the CD, I marked the tracks I liked on a posted note for future reference, as I always do. I don't think I've ever played the Showdown tracks again since! They pale so in comparison to "A Disco Symphony's" beautiful medley.

I have both Andrea True CDs, but I never paid much attention to the producers.

Yeah, it's true that Van McCoy re-applied some of his earlier songs to newer productions which ended up on his mid-to-late '70s disco productions. That never bothered me because his newer duplicates always sounded ever better than the earlier versions! Faith, Hope & Charity's very early, pre-RCA version of "Wings Of Love" is even prettier on Van's own 1978 vocal version on which FH&C is also present.

""WINGS OF LOVE":

Faith, Hope & Charity [[early '70s):
https://youtu.be/ZWgb3wVDIpw

Van McCoy w/Faith, Hope & Charity [[1978)
https://youtu.be/RzKj9OtGHUw

[I just love Van's voice on his 1978 solo album. [[Sorry, Jack!) And, of course, the recording equipment was much improved by 1978 compared to the earlier production above which sounds primitive.]

Another comparison is FH&C's "You're My Peace Of Mind" and David Ruffin's Motown version of which both are excellent:

"YOU'RE MY PEACE OF MIND":

Faith, Hope & Charity [[1976)
https://youtu.be/znRQk9u6sFM

David Ruffin [[1977)
https://youtu.be/BCExw9dmkZs

[Gotta go with FH&C's own version, as that's the one I knew and loved first.]


One more example of Van's duplicate tune productions is the track:

"LET'S GET INTO SOMETHING":

Richmond Extension [[1975)
https://youtu.be/a25yq3HvWMo

David Ruffin [[1976)
https://youtu.be/KPXZ--eQiXI

And one more:

"GOOD GOOD TIMES":

David Ruffin [[1976)
https://youtu.be/mvU99g4T1eA

Peaches & Herb [[1977)
https://youtu.be/9wmDn8a-waA

All similar but a little different, yet all top-notch Van McCoy.

[Boogiedown]

Hey John! "Matching ears"! Yeah, that sounds about right! We seem to have matching taste in just about everything.

Showdown! I bought their LP back in the day. They're tracks are also present on the Camouflage "A Disco Symphony" CD. Can't say I was ever crazy about Showdown. They don't even sound like Meco. You're right -- they needed Harold Wheeler. He had the golden touch. There are four of their tracks which I found tolerable: "Walkin' In Music", "Keep Doin' It", "Come Down In Time", and "Let's Make A Deal" [[the Gloria Gaynor song, although not nearly as good vocally as Gloria's version). When I got the CD, I marked the tracks I liked on a posted note for future reference, as I always do. I don't think I've ever played the Showdown tracks again since! They pale so in comparison to "A Disco Symphony's" beautiful medley.

I have both Andrea True CDs, but I never paid much attention to the producers.

Yeah, it's true that Van McCoy re-applied some of his earlier songs to newer productions which ended up on his mid-to-late '70s disco productions. That never bothered me because his newer duplicates always sounded ever better than the earlier versions! Faith, Hope & Charity's very early, pre-RCA version of "Wings Of Love" is even prettier on Van's own 1978 vocal version on which FH&C is also present.

""WINGS OF LOVE":

Faith, Hope & Charity [[early '70s):
https://youtu.be/ZWgb3wVDIpw

Van McCoy w/Faith, Hope & Charity [[1978)
https://youtu.be/RzKj9OtGHUw

Ha I'm not sure any longer what thread we are on Gary! lol. Seems we've blended the artists and now we've got Van McCoy on this thread! WINGS OF LOVE is quite an elaborate production and I can see why Van devoted time to it.



would it be a fair guess to wonder if this might be Van testing out his take on the Fifth Dimension's style?

[Boogiedown]

I have both Andrea True CDs, but I never paid much attention to the producers.

.

The second and much weaker one was produced by Michael Zager , another hit and miss producer [[ quite a few misses , lol!) but he did give the Spinners' career a much needed revitalizing :




Gary , BITD = back in the day

I think Meco backed off from producing others by the eighties. The full orchestrated sound which was his forte, was vanishing , almost overnight. And with as much effort as it sounds like he put into Marlena Shaw's album , the lack of pay off must have been very discouraging.