Brenda & the Tabulations: The Top & Bottom, Epic, and Chocolate City Singles Collection (1969-1977)

Singer Brenda Payton and keyboardist Maurice Coates were the creative spark behind Philadelphia's Brenda & the Tabulations, and the pair wrote several impressive songs for the group, including the debut single 'Dry Your Eyes,' which was released by Gilda Woods' fledgling Dionn Records imprint at the end of 1966 and went Top Ten on the R&B charts and Top 20 on the pop charts early in 1967. When Dionn Records folded in 1969, the Tabulations landed on another Woods' imprint, Top & Bottom Records, and paired with producer and songwriter Van McCoy, continued to issue some outstanding singles, like 1969's airy soul delight 'The Touch of You,' a good seller in many R&B markets that features an endearing whisper/vocal from Brenda Payton, and their biggest record on the label, 1971's 'Right on the Tip of My Tongue,' which was written by the other two Tabulations, guitarist Eddie Jackson and drummer Jerry Jones. This set collects both of those songs along with the other singles the Tabulations released for Top & Bottom between 1969 and 1971, most of which get the soft soul treatment that exemplified Philly soul before the arrival of the harder-edged Philadelphia International sound, which obliterated everything that came before it. Other highlights here are 'Always & Forever,' 'A Love You Can Depend On,' 'Scuse Uz Y'All,' and 'And My Heart Sang (Tra La La)'. I added as bonus tracks the non-single cuts from the groups' first and only album on Top & Bottom Records, which dropped before the release of 'Right on the Tip of My Tongue', including two crafty remakes of 'California Soul' and 'Someday We'll Be Together'. Also, I added some of the singles they recorded for Epic Records between 1972 and 1973, the most significant of which are 'One Girl Too Late,' 'Little Bit of Love' and 'Let Me Be Happy,' plus all of their Chocolate City '45s released in 1976 and 1977, including 'Take It or Leave It' and 'Let's Go All The Way (Down)'. 29 tracks in all!! For more B&T, check HERE. http://www.allmusic.com/

aa

rr