I OWE a massive debt of gratitude to Lawrence. Not only did he introduce me to the mighty Peddlers, but he inadvertently turned me onto the discount racks and charity shops where I first unearthed their music.
Back then, digging through those bins was just a cheap, rewarding pastime. But when Fat City opened its doors in Afflecks, everything changed; many of the exact records I’d been scoring for pennies suddenly reappeared in their "breaks" section with heavily inflated price tags. What started as an affordable obsession was rapidly becoming a costly habit.
Growing up, Dionne Warwick was a constant staple in our house, sound tracking my childhood alongside my mother. Her sunlit interpretation of What the World Needs Now holds a bittersweet place in our family history. It was the song mother’s partner chose for her funeral, though grief has entirely blocked out any memory of it actually playing.
While I easily amassed Warwick's iconic Bacharach and David catalogue from those same charity shop racks, this record had proven elusive until now. Following an acrimonious split with her longtime songwriting duo, Dionne moved to Detroit’s finest production powerhouse: Holland-Dozier-Holland. On the advice of an astrologer looking to jumpstart her stalled chart success, she added an extra "e" to her surname (becoming Warwicke) and completely relinquished creative control for her album, Just Being Myself.
Sadly, the cosmic realignment failed. Feeling increasingly disheartened after her move to Warner Bros., she watched the album tank commercially, which explains why finding a copy today is such a rarity.
This specific B-side is an absolute masterpiece that easily deserved to be the lead track. Since the turn of the millennium, it has been sampled no fewer than 23 times across the fractious hip-hop landscape.
Yet, as always, I find myself fiercely loyal to the original. What’s not to love? You get her soothing, soulful delivery anchored by Gene Page’s wonderfully dramatic arrangement. It is a concentrated dose of brilliant songwriting, with Holland-Dozier-Holland delivering one of their rawest, most enduring productions.
Many recordings live two distinct lives. The first is often defined by unfulfilled artistic intentions or the harsh sting of contemporary criticism. The second belongs to a future generation, listeners unborn at the time of its release, whose eventual re-appraisal is usually far more forgiving.
Life is simply too short to waste words on music that no longer move you when there is still so much brilliance to wax lyrical about. What is truly magical about a track like this is the metaphysical bridge it builds. Those who loved it the first time around, and those discovering it today, are feeling the same joy in the same passages, creating a sweet, timeless harmony across the generations.
.jpg){kind=logo}
No comments:
Post a Comment