A Compendium Of The First Six Years Of Her Hits Career
09/27/2008
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Betty Wright, born on December 21, 1953 in Miami, began her singing career as a member of the Gospel group Echoes Of Joy with sister Jeanette Holloway and brothers Philip "Leno Philips" and Milton, and her earliest recordings were made at age 13 for Miami's Deep City Records. By the time she was 15 she was recording for Henry Stone and Steve Alaimo's label, Alston Records (whose distribution was handled by the Atco subsidiary of Atlantic Records), and in August of 1968 had her first hit when Girls Can't Do What the Guys Do hit # 15 R&B and also made the Billboard Pop Hot 100 at # 33.
Not a bad debut, but when nothing else worked throughout the rest of 1968 and all of 1969 they likely began to wonder if they had another One-Hit Wonder on their hands. None among He's Bad, Bad Bad/Watch Out, Love in 1968, The Best Girls Don't Always Win/Circle Of Heartbreaks, The Wrong Girl/The Joy Of Becoming A Woman, I'm Not Free Hearted/A Woman Was Made For One Man and Soldier Boy (also b/w A Woman Was Made For One Man) - all in 1969 - could dent the Top 100 of either chart. Nor did things look all that much brighter when Pure Gold topped out at # 40 R&B in September 1970, followed by another flop, I Found A Guy/If You Love Like I Love You, and in August 1971 I Love The Way You Love could only manage a # 44 R&B and # 109 Hot 100 "Bubble Under."
But late in 1971 it seemed like she finally broke out when Clean Up Woman spent eight weeks at # 2 R&B (kept from the # 1 slot by The Chi-Lites' Have You Seen Her?, Family Affair by Sly & The Family Stone, and Let's Stay Together by Al Green) and also got as high as # 6 Hot 100, b/w I'll Love You Forever (also in this set). However, in the spring of 1972, If You Love Me Like You Say You Love Me could only manage a modest # 21 R&B and # 104 Hot 100 "Bubble Under" while its flipside, I'm Gettin' Tired Baby, settled for a # 42 R&B/# 121 "Bubble Under." For reasons known only to the producers, they include just the B-side in this so-called Platinum volume.
In summer 1972, Is It You Girl? (erroneously shown as Is It Your Girl at track 6) reached # 18 R&B but again missed the Hot 100, settling for a # 101 "Bubble Under", and in the early fall Baby Sitter became her second-best R&B entry to date when it finished at # 6 as well as # 46 Hot 100. The following April, It's Hard To Stop (Doing Something When It's Good To You) settled for a # 11 R&B and # 72 Hot 100 , and in October, Let Me Be Your Lovemaker made it to # 10 R&B and # 55 Hot 100. In March 1974, It's Bad For Me To See You could only make the lower regions of the R&B charts (# 66), and while that is omitted from this volume, they do include Secretary which peaked at # 12 R&B/# 62 Hot 100 in June/July 1974.
Tracks 13, 19 and 20 are from the 1972 Alston LP I Love The Way You Love, while tracks 14 to 18 are from the 1973 Alston LP Hard To Stop.
Not a bad compilation, with excellent sound quality and liner notes, but, of course, Betty would go on to have another 25 hit singles to 1990, including another eight for Alston. And her next best hit would come in 1978 when Dance With Me, a duet with Peter Brown, reached # 5 R&B and # 8 Hot 100 for the Drive label. That, however, would be her only major hit on the more lucrative Hot 100 as only three others would crack that list, the highest being a # 54 duet with Brown again on You Should Do It, also in 1978 for Drive."
Track Listings (16) - Disc #1