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The Undisputed Truth (The Undisputed Truth Album)
''The Undisputed Truth'' is the self titled debut album of the Motown group of the same name. Reception Released in 1971, it was produced entirely by Norman Whitfield. The album includes the group's biggest hit single (and only US Top 40 hit), "Smiling Faces Sometimes", which peaked at #3 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 Chart. Many of the songs on this album were also recorded by the group's Motown labelmates, The Temptations (also produced by Norman Whitfield). "Save My Love For A Rainy Day", for example, was originally recorded by The Temptations for their 1967 album ''The Temptations With A Lot O' Soul''. The Undisputed Truth's version was released as their debut single, and it became a minor R&B hit, peaking at #43. The album itself mixes the traditional Motown sound with psychedelic-influenced soul music. A prime example of this is "You Got The Love I Need", which actually uses a backing track recorded in 1965 - the same backing track used for The Temptations' song "I Go ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Undisputed Truth
The Undisputed Truth was an American Motown recording act, assembled by record producer Norman Whitfield as a means for being able to experiment with his psychedelic soul production techniques. Joe "Pep" Harris served as main lead singer, with Billie Rae Calvin and Brenda Joyce Evans on additional leads and background vocals. History In the 1960s, Billie Calvin and Brenda Evans had been part of a California-based group called The Delicates. They were introduced to Motown by singer Bobby Taylor, so when The Delicates broke up in 1970, the two began providing background vocals for artists around Motown. They sang backing on the hits "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" for Diana Ross and " Still Water (Love)" for the Four Tops. Joe Harris had been part of a Detroit soul group called The Fabulous Peps. Formed in 1962, the group was renowned for their energetic stage performances, and they cut a handful of singles for various different labels before their dissolution in 1968. Harris al ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aquarius/Let The Sunshine In
"Medley: Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In (The Flesh Failures)" (commonly called "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In", "The Age of Aquarius" or "Let the Sunshine In") is a medley of two songs written for the 1967 musical ''Hair'' by James Rado and Gerome Ragni (lyrics), and Galt MacDermot (music), released as a single by American R&B group the 5th Dimension. The song spent six weeks at number one on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 pop singles chart in the spring of 1969 and was eventually certified platinum in the US by the RIAA. Instrumental backing was written by Bill Holman and provided by session musicians commonly known as the Wrecking Crew. The actual recording was novel at the time, being recorded in two cities, Los Angeles and Las Vegas, and being mixed down to a final version later. The song listed at number 66 on ''Billboard''s "Greatest Songs of All Time". History The recording was led by veteran American producer and engineer Bones Howe, who had previously worked with the 5t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1971 Debut Albums
* The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclipse, February 10, and August 1971 lunar eclipse, August 6). The world population increased by 2.1% this year, the highest increase in history. Events January * January 2 – 66 people are killed and over 200 injured 1971 Ibrox disaster, during a crush in Glasgow, Scotland. * January 5 – The first ever One Day International cricket match is played between Australia and England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. * January 8 – Tupamaros kidnap Geoffrey Jackson, British ambassador to Uruguay, in Montevideo, keeping him captive until September. * January 9 – Uruguayan president Jorge Pacheco Areco demands emergency powers for 90 days due to kidnappings, and receives them the next day. * January 12 – The landmark United ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums
Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a music chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine that ranks R&B and hip hop albums based on sales in the United States and is compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The chart debuted as Hot R&B LPs in the issue dated January 30, 1965 in an effort by the magazine to further expand into the field of rhythm and blues music. It then went through several name changes, being known as Soul LPs in the 1970s and Top Black Albums in the 1980s, before returning to the R&B identification in 1990 and affixing a hip hop designation in 1999 to reflect the latter's growing sales and relationship to R&B during the decade. From 1965 through 2009, the chart was compiled based on reported sales at a core panel of stores with a "higher-than-average volume" of R&B and/or hip-hop album sales to monitor buying trends of the African-American community. This panel included more independent and smaller chain stores compared to the high percentage of mass merchants that account fo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Billboard 200
The ''Billboard'' 200 is a record chart ranking the 200 most popular music albums and EPs in the United States. It is published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine and is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists. Often, a recording act will be remembered by its " number ones", those of their albums that outperformed all others during at least one week. The chart grew from a weekly top 10 list in 1956 to become a top 200 list in May 1967, and acquired its current name in March 1992. Its previous names include the ''Billboard'' Top LPs (1961–1972), ''Billboard'' Top LPs & Tape (1972–1984), ''Billboard'' Top 200 Albums (1984–1985) and ''Billboard'' Top Pop Albums (1985–1992). The chart is based mostly on sales – both at retail and digital – of albums in the United States. The weekly sales period was originally Monday to Sunday when Nielsen started tracking sales in 1991, but since July 2015, tracking week begins on Friday (to coinc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career spanning more than 60 years. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s, when songs such as "Blowin' in the Wind" (1963) and " The Times They Are a-Changin' (1964) became anthems for the civil rights and antiwar movements. His lyrics during this period incorporated a range of political, social, philosophical, and literary influences, defying pop music conventions and appealing to the burgeoning counterculture. Following his self-titled debut album in 1962, which comprised mainly traditional folk songs, Dylan made his breakthrough as a songwriter with the release of ''The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan'' the following year. The album features "Blowin' in the Wind" and the thematically complex " A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall". Many of his s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Like A Rolling Stone
"Like a Rolling Stone" is a song by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on July 20, 1965, by Columbia Records. Its confrontational lyrics originated in an extended piece of verse Dylan wrote in June 1965, when he returned exhausted from a grueling tour of England. Dylan distilled this draft into four verses and a chorus. "Like a Rolling Stone" was recorded a few weeks later as part of the sessions for the forthcoming album ''Highway 61 Revisited''. During a difficult two-day preproduction, Dylan struggled to find the essence of the song, which was demoed without success in time. A breakthrough was made when it was tried in a rock music format, and rookie session musician Al Kooper improvised the Hammond B2 organ riff for which the track is known. Columbia Records was unhappy with both the song's length at over six minutes and its heavy electric sound, and was hesitant to release it. It was only when, a month later, a copy was leaked to a new popular music club and h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
I Heard It Through The Grapevine
"I Heard It Through the Grapevine" is a song written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong for Motown Records in 1966. The first recording of the song to be released was produced by Whitfield for Gladys Knight & the Pips and released as a single in September 1967. It went to number one on the ''Billboard'' R&B Singles chart and number two on the ''Billboard'' Pop Singles chart and shortly became the biggest selling Motown single up to that time. The Miracles were the first to record the song in 1966, but their version wasn't released until August 1968 when it was included on their album '' Special Occasion''. The Marvin Gaye version was the second to be recorded, in the beginning of 1967, but the third to be released. It was placed on his 1968 album '' In the Groove'', a year and a half later, where it gained the attention of radio disc jockeys, and Motown founder Berry Gordy finally agreed to its release as a single in October 1968, when it went to the top of the ''Billb ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Simon May
Simon May (born 15 August 1944) is a British composer. He has composed many British television theme tunes, including ''EastEnders'' and ''Howards' Way'', and the music for the 1988 film ''The Dawning''. Biography Born in Devizes and a pupil of Dauntsey's School, May was a choral scholar at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, where he graduated with a degree in modern languages in 1965. While teaching languages and music at Kingston Grammar School, he co-wrote a musical named ''Smike'' with a colleague, history teacher Clive Barnett and songwriting partner, Roger Holman. Following the publicity ''Smike'' attracted, May was contacted by the BBC, who televised the play in 1973, starring Beryl Reid and Andrew Keir. It also featured DJ Neil Fox, a pupil at Kingston Grammar, as one of the schoolboys.''PEBBLE MILL SPECIAL, SIMON MAY'', BBC1, 20 December 1994 The show has subsequently been staged many times by youth drama groups. While working at ATV, he was asked to compose some ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cornelius Grant
Cornelius Grant (born April 27, 1943) is an American guitarist, composer, and band leader. He served as the musical director, guitar player, and live show arranger for Motown vocal group The Temptations from 1964 until 1982. Early life Grant was born in Fairfield, Texas, United States. Raised by his grandmother, whom he adored, he taught himself how to play guitar at the age of nine. Discovery When he was 13, his family moved to Detroit. At 15, he was playing in clubs, bars, talent shows, and other functions. Within three years he was playing with Mary Wells, then Marvin Gaye before The Temptations employed him. Compositions Grant used a Gibson Birdland and a Fender Telecaster. He created the opening guitar riff on "I Know I'm Losing You". He wrote the hit song with Eddie Holland and Norman Whitfield. He also wrote " You're My Everything" with Roger Penzabene and Norman Whitfield. Penzabene, a close friend of Grant's, wrote "I Wish It Would Rain" and "I Could Never Love Anoth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ball Of Confusion (That's What The World Is Today)
"Ball of Confusion (That's What the World Is Today)" is a 1970 hit single for The Temptations. It was released on the Gordy (Motown) label, and written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong. The song was used to anchor The Temptations' 1970 '' Greatest Hits II'' LP. It reached #3 on the US pop charts and #2 on the US R&B charts. ''Billboard'' ranked the record as the #24 song of 1970. It reached #7 in the UK Singles Chart. Although a nearly eleven minute long backing track was recorded by The Funk Brothers, only slightly more than four minutes was used for the Temptations' version of the song. The full backing track can be heard on the 1971 self titled debut album of the Motown group The Undisputed Truth. ''Cash Box'' said of the song that the Temptations came up with "another shocker featuring studio-work voltage and the charge of new-Temps lyric power" and "another electrifying experience." Personnel * Lead vocals by Dennis Edwards, Eddie Kendricks, Paul Williams, and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
