Search - Barry White :: Ive Got So Much to Give

"...It's Such A Groove..."

Mark Barry at Reckless Records, Lon | UK | 05/30/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This May 2010 Hip-O Select CD reissue (B0014038-02) takes the 5 lengthy tracks of Barry White's debut solo album and adds on two rare 7" single B-sides. It breaks down as follows (45:38 minutes):



Tracks 1 to 5 are the album "I've Got So Much To Give" released April 1973 on 20th Century T-407 in the USA and on Pye International NSPL 28175 in the UK (it reached Number 1 on the US R'n'B charts).



Track 6 is "Just A Little More Baby" - a non-album instrumental version - it's edited down from its full album length of 7:11 minutes to 4:21 minutes; it's the B-side to "I'm Gonna Love You Just A Little More Baby" and was released April 1973 on 20th Century TC-2018 in the USA and June 1973 on Pye International 7N.25610 in the UK.



Track 7 is "I've Got So Much To Give", a non-album instrumental version, B-side to "I've Got So Much To Give", released August 1973 on 20th Century TC-2042 in the USA.



Downsides - there's an awful lot of 7" mixes missing - the 7" edited single version of "I'm Gonna Love You Just A Little More Baby" isn't on here (3:58 minutes), nor is the slightly longer version that's on the American promo 7". The "I've Got So Much To Give" 7" single was not issued in the UK, but the American A-side is again an edit and no show. There was a further British 7" for "Bring Back My Yesterday" (Pye International 7N.25622), which also had an edited A-Side - but again - no show. With the playing time so short, it's sloppy not to have had these exclusive cuts on here.



The 3-way foldout inlay is unfortunately like so many Hip-O Select releases for their single discs - adequate and no more. There's credits for each track, but no appraisal of Barry White and his music, no liner notes, nothing on the back page, the inlay under the see-through tray is blank, there's no singles pictured etc. Just a little more effort would have made such a difference. But there is, however, a huge compensation - the SOUND...



The 1st generation master tapes have been remastered by KEVIN REEVES at Universal Mastering Studios-East and it's a truly fantastic job done. The sound is HUGE - really clear and clean - amazing punch to all of the tracks. And it's not trebled up nor compressed down - just full - the music is better than you've ever heard it before. It's especially good on those fantastic B-sides, which I've been after for years on CD.



Highlights include the Full Album Version of "I'm Gonna Love You Just A Little More Baby" which is a monster sexy workout (lyrics above), but is of course lyrically naff. Which brings me to a point. I can vividly remember 1973 when a Barry White 45 was the soul single your 'sister' bought - and even though you secretly enjoyed the sly and wicked back-groove that punctuated his every release - you couldn't actually admit this to any of your mates lest you get a thick lip. Thirty-five years on and in all honesty, the lover-man routine is even more difficult to listen to now than it was back then...



Still - this release is saved by its beautiful sound quality. If you're into BW and the Love Unlimited Orchestra and their unique Seventies Soul sound - then this is essential purchase. Casual buyers will probably only want it for Full Album Version of "I'm Gonna Love You Just A Little More Baby" and those cool instrumental B-sides though."

The Maestro..

MarcS | Jersey City, nj United States | 05/26/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"In my opinion, if you have to get one Barry White album, I would have to say get this one. There is such sense of urgency about this 70s soul record. You can feel that this man is GOING to make this a hit record. Everybody shines on this one; Barry, Glodean, Linda, Diane, and the orchestra. The first time I heard this, I had never heard anything like this before. The strings, the vocals, the harpsichord, the beat...But I think the songs themselves are the biggest stars. There are other great great Barry White records, like Ston gon, Sings for Someone you Love, etc, but I think this one is the crown jewel."

Introducing The Music Maestro

Andre S. Grindle | Brewer Maine | 05/05/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"So many artists in music from many different era's can only dream of a debut album as self defining as this turned out to be. It's hard to imagine that Barry White was a total unknown,merely a marginally successful producer before this album came out and afterward almost everyone knew his name. One of the reasons for such early recognition is simply that usually it takes at least two or three albums into ones career before an artist really developes a name for themselves. On this debut there was absolutely no tenative nature to the sound. As with Isaac Hayes five years earlier with his landmark Hot Buttered Soul this set the pattern for the next few albums to come from White. Interestingly enough that is where the comparasin ends with Isaac really. White's style of cinematic soul doesn't possess the psychedelic and gusty soul flavors Hayes had been dealing with during his breakthrough period. There is a more Northern urban sophistication to the arrangements here that have a lot of Philly/Gamble & Huff flavors but nonetheless Barry White is still one of the funkiest people around. Even though this album is almost entirely made up of slower songs such as "Bring Back My Love","I've Found Someone" and the title song each of these songs possess this strong blacksploitation era slow funk groove where the rhythm section,the orchestra and backup singers all keep the dramatic progression forward from start to finish. Interesting thing is these songs were never intended for Barry himself. He wrote them for someone else and they were only designed for reference but when he heard himself singing these songs Barry realized he'd unknowingly established how he'd sound as a solo artist. These are extended romantic soul symphonies as only Barry could deliver them. The other two songs on this album give up the funk a lot more obviously. The Shaft-like wah wah's and the building arrangement of his version of "Standing In The Shadows Of Love" brings the Holland/Dozier/Holland original into a whole new era and more than does justice to the famous Four Tops hit by successfully updating it for the 70's funk era. The one song that could've easily made this album even if the album hadn't otherwise been that good was "I'm Gonna Love You Just A Little More,Baby". It's one the first songs even non fans have flash into mind when they think of Barry White and has been used in as many modern Hollywood movie sex scenes as "Let's Get It On". What's amazing about this song to me is the energy it builds up and what a constructivist arrangement is;the drums,keyboards and Barry's jazzy piano stylings all gradually worm their way into the song. So believe it or not it actually musically implies the act of sexual intercourse itself and actually that's quite an accomplishment. This album was issued on CD and went out of print later so happily Hip-O Select had it reissued on CD again now with bonus tracks. One is a brilliant instrumental take of the song I was just discussing retitled "Just A Little More Baby" with some multi tracked echoed backup vocals of Barry thrown in for effect. The other is a total instrumental of the title song,showing how musically inventive and elaborate Barry's music was even without the drama of the spoken word narrations and bass voiced vocals. It's a great honor to the late Barry White that this album is now available again so that current and future generations will have the opportunity to view him in his rightful musical rather than cultural context."