Vinyl Community: Gimme 10 Norman Whitfield Productions

[paulb]

Cant believe you didnt mention Masterpiece, a superb follow on from "Papa"

[garethfitzpatrick]

Love those Undisputed Truth albums, both perfect amalgamations of soul and psych. Never tire of listening to them.

[Paneeks]

Fantastic post John. I never know what to expect with you G-10's. But I am always satisfied. I have quite a few of those surprisingly. Loved the drops. I know what I am spinning tonight~
Rob/Boston

[scottspinner]

Great james could dance the night away with them. Love wishing on a star a favourite. Weller done a great version too.

[alandonald]

I'm new to your channel (thanks Mazzy) but I'll be a regular after watching this. I love psychedelic soul and I love anything by Edwin Starr. I saw him many times, a warm and wonderful man

[drrhythmn]

You did it! Fabulous selections - you've reminded me of that Undisputed Truth version of What's Going On too - lovely stuff. I've always been a sucker for Zoom - it's almost ambient psych soul...Stargard and Nitro are worth exploring in the later Whitfield period too

[TheDigitalGramophone]

Great video, John. Just the type of quality I would expect from you. I must confess, I’m not a big fan of the psychedelic soul era. I love the Temptations, but many of their songs from that period of their discography are so cheesy. Still, Whitfield’s impact on R&B was really huge and I’m glad you’ve done a video here to spotlight some of his contributions. Enjoyed that Rose Royce at the end. I don’t how you got some of these needle drops through. Cheers! ✌🏻

[richbumdrop]

He did some good stuff on rare earth, and me and rock and roll are here 2 stay, david ruffin, norman put wah wah ragin on the ma album by rare earth

[jankove]

Nice review but people always forget the contributions of Paul Riser as an arranger or jerry long, the make that music sound better.

[jamesgriffithsmusic]

Cool stuff John. I will never forget being in an Amsterdam coffee shop back in the day, and hearing Papa was a Rolling Stone coming over the speakers. It was the first time I'd heard it and It sounded mighty fine.. Didn't the Stones do 'Ain't too Proud' on the 'It's Only Rock'n'Roll album?

[FatCityVinyl]

Just got the new reissue of Cleveland Eaton's Plenty Good Eaton and the Heard It Through The Grapevine bass line crops up on there (not a straight cover but the melody incorporated as part of a larger composition). Going to have to revisit that Rare Earth Ecology, remember finding that in the dollar bins at my favourite record shop in Seattle quite some years ago, that reminds me, I did have it in mind the other day to spin their debut again. Got some kind of German press or other of it off a pal. Assume you know the cover of Smiling Faces produced by Sly & Robbie and sung by the Tamlins. Only got the album with that song and at best one other by Undisputed Truth; think Steve Carlson showed another of theirs recently which got me curious to explore them more. Ah, Rose Royce, that's a nice one, been too long as well; I actually have most of these albums, you just might end up sending me down a Whitfield wormhole as well lol...cheers John!

[XjunkieNL]

Hahah, I've always wanted to do a Gimme 10 cover versions of I Heard It Through The Grapevine. But I'm only at six at the time ;) Norman Whitfield is a genius. Still on hunt for some of the records he did in the early seventies. My personal favorite is the 12" version of Papa Was A Rollin' Stone. Cheers. /Paul

[melomano]

Great selection... I love his sound. Lots of artists I think I know, but really don't. Will look out for the undisputed truth first album... superb, cheers!

[jankove]

Not the Miracles, Gladys knight and the pips

[anotherfatbeardedmantalkin]

I reckon the first time I heard of Norman Whitfield was via his mention in Billy Bragg's Levi Stubbs' Tears.

I think there's a comparison to be made between the smooth soul as done by Rose Royce and the equally smooth Nashville Sound. They are both taking a spikey and raw music of a minority people, smoothing it over with strings and lush production to appeal to a more upwardly mobile audience. They both can also suffer from sentimentality and cheeseiness. What do you reckon?

[michaelfarrer]

Good post how about an appraisal of David Ruffin one of the great soul vocalists .