Love Changes - O.C. Smith

[TomatoTom123]

Hey everyone! I don’t know if any of you are familiar with O.C. Smith's 1982 Motown album Love Changes but there are some nice tunes on it!!

[PeaceNHarmony]

I love OC, Tom, and have never heard this lp. Thanks for the reminder to do so!

[TomatoTom123]

No worries PNH! Hope you like it. The LP has a nice groove to it.

[kenneth]

I had no idea he ever recorded for Motown! Funny how many singers made appearances on Motown kind of late in their careers. I'm thinking of Wilson Pickett, Billy Eckstine, Diahann Carroll, the Fifth Dimension, and I'm sure there are others I can't recall at the moment.

Smith was a good singer who really sang material which, aside from perhaps his early hit "Hickory Holler's Tramp," wouldn't be considered Soul or R&B. It was hard to pigeon hole him, which probably made it harder for him to stay on the charts.

[TomatoTom123]

I had no idea he ever recorded for Motown! Funny how many singers made appearances on Motown kind of late in their careers. I'm thinking of Wilson Pickett, Billy Eckstine, Diahann Carroll, the Fifth Dimension, and I'm sure there are others I can't recall at the moment.

Smith was a good singer who really sang material which, aside from perhaps his early hit "Hickory Holler's Tramp," wouldn't be considered Soul or R&B. It was hard to pigeon hole him, which probably made it harder for him to stay on the charts.

Hey Kenneth! To be honest, I don’t know if his recording contract was with Motown, or the album was just distributed by Motown, as the LP was also released by a label called South Bay.

https://www.discogs.com/release/1552...h-Love-Changes

And yeah I know what you mean! I always thought O.C. was a bit like Lou Rawls in both sound and style. I do know he worked with Johnny Bristol in the 70s as well…

[kenneth]

@Tomato,

Yes, he definitely shares some style points with Lou Rawls who had loads of it. I haven’t listened to him nearly enough.

Smith really did do so well by his choice of material. I like the tracks off this album too. Thanks!

[heikki]

Hi!

Here's an extract from my O.C. feature on this subject -

O.C.’s next album, Love Changes [[# 61-black), appeared first on South Bay Records out of Los Angeles in 1982, and it was produced by – surprise, surprise! – H.B. Barnum. H.B.: “With my writing partner, Walter Johnson, we did that album for a guy, who had a private label, South Bay. He turned out to be a real bad guy, took off with the tapes and everything, and the next time it appeared it was on Motown. We didn’t even know it was sold. O.C. and all of us were looking for that guy.”

The title song, a melodic and mellow slow-to-mid-tempo bouncer, was put out as the first single; first on South Bay, then on Motown [[# 68-black). The b-side, Got To Know, was a beater with a Latin touch. The follow-up was a soft, smooth dancer called I Betcha [[b/w a ticking dancer named That’s One For Love).

The rest of the repertoire consisted of more dancers [[We’re Making Love, We’re Making Music and I’m Glad I Fell In Love With You), one mid-pacer [[If You Knew), one beat ballad [[You’re Still My Lady) and one ultra-slow song called Girl, written by Levert-Williams-Michelle Williams. H.B.: “That’s the O’Jays. They didn’t record it themselves. I was one of the first ever to record the O’Jays” [[since 1963).

H.B.: “That was a great album. That album should have been a major hit, except that I had a problem with Motown, so when they got it they just killed it. The album had already gotten to the charts over here before Motown.”

Best regards
Heikki

[TomatoTom123]

@Tomato,

Yes, he definitely shares some style points with Lou Rawls who had loads of it. I haven’t listened to him nearly enough.

Smith really did do so well by his choice of material. I like the tracks off this album too. Thanks!

Glad to hear kenneth!

Another one of my favourites…

[TomatoTom123]

Hi!

Here's an extract from my O.C. feature on this subject -

O.C.’s next album, Love Changes [[# 61-black), appeared first on South Bay Records out of Los Angeles in 1982, and it was produced by – surprise, surprise! – H.B. Barnum. H.B.: “With my writing partner, Walter Johnson, we did that album for a guy, who had a private label, South Bay. He turned out to be a real bad guy, took off with the tapes and everything, and the next time it appeared it was on Motown. We didn’t even know it was sold. O.C. and all of us were looking for that guy.”

The title song, a melodic and mellow slow-to-mid-tempo bouncer, was put out as the first single; first on South Bay, then on Motown [[# 68-black). The b-side, Got To Know, was a beater with a Latin touch. The follow-up was a soft, smooth dancer called I Betcha [[b/w a ticking dancer named That’s One For Love).

The rest of the repertoire consisted of more dancers [[We’re Making Love, We’re Making Music and I’m Glad I Fell In Love With You), one mid-pacer [[If You Knew), one beat ballad [[You’re Still My Lady) and one ultra-slow song called Girl, written by Levert-Williams-Michelle Williams. H.B.: “That’s the O’Jays. They didn’t record it themselves. I was one of the first ever to record the O’Jays” [[since 1963).

H.B.: “That was a great album. That album should have been a major hit, except that I had a problem with Motown, so when they got it they just killed it. The album had already gotten to the charts over here before Motown.”

Best regards
Heikki

Fantastic to know!! Thanks heikki.

I especially agree with H.B. on the last bit.

[RanRan79]

Hey everyone! I don’t know if any of you are familiar with O.C. Smith's 1982 Motown album Love Changes but there are some nice tunes on it!!

This is my favorite cut from the album Tom. I really love this song. Another nice one is "Girl" from this album.

[TomatoTom123]

This is my favorite cut from the album Tom. I really love this song. Another nice one is "Girl" from this album.

Good to hear Ran!! I’ve never paid much attention to "Girl" before and having just listened to it, it’s nice, but doesn’t do much for me.