Birth Day

For other uses, see Birthday (disambiguation).
Birth Day
Studio album by New Birth
Released 1972
Recorded 1972
Genre Soul/Funk
Label RCA Records
Producer Harvey Fuqua
New Birth chronology
Coming Together
(1972)		 Birth Day
(1972)		 It's Been a Long Time
(1973)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic [1]

Birth Day is the fourth album by the now-solidified Louisville, Kentucky group New Birth. It released in 1972 on RCA Records, and it was produced by mentor Harvey Fuqua and his uncredited assistant Vernon Bullock, and was the album that put the group on the map. Consisting of the instrumental group The Nite-Liters, vocalists Love, Peace & Happiness (Ann Bogan, Leslie and Melvin Wilson), Londee Loren (Wiggins), Bobby Downs and Allen Frey, this would be the last album in which Ann would appear, as she succumbed to the pressure put on her by her mother to stop singing and raise her two children herself.

Starting out with the massive hit "I Can Understand It" (originally by Bobby Womack), led by Leslie Wilson, they followed their trend of covers with an exceptional version of The Stylistics' "Stop, Look & Listen" and Buffy Sainte-Marie's "Until It's Time For You To Go", featuring future member of The Supremes Susaye Greene. When Harvey was unable to get the performance he wanted out of Londee Loren, he got Susaye to do the vocals. which he released under the New Birth's name. (That's Harvey and Carolyn Willis of The Honey Cone speaking the intro). Londee, however, more than met the challenge in live performances and came to develop a much more mature voice on future releases.

In addition, the album featured the funk jam "Got To Get A Knutt". which featured a play on words on various television commercial slogans (a theme that was duplicated by Crown Heights Affair on their song "Do It The French Way").

Track listing

  1. "I Can Understand It" (Bobby Womack)
  2. "Until It's Time for You to Go" (Buffy Sainte-Marie)
  3. "Got to Get a Knutt" (New Birth)
  4. "Theme from Buck and The Preacher" (Bogan, Carter, Harvey Fuqua, Saunders)
  5. "Stop, Look, Listen (To Your Heart)" (Thom Bell, Linda Creed)
  6. "Easy Evil" (O'Day)
  7. "You Are What I'm All About" (Harvey Fuqua, Londie Wiggins)

Chart performance

This was their breakthrough album, reaching number one on the R&B albums chart in the United States. The first single, "I Can Understand It", peaked at number four on the R&B singles chart in early 1973. The second single, "Until It's Time for You to Go", reached number twenty one on the R&B chart.

Chart (1973) Peak
position
Billboard 200[2] 31
Billboard Top R&B Albums[2] 1

Singles

Year Single Chart positions[3]
US US
R&B
1973 "I Can Understand It" 35 4
"Until It's Time for You to Go" 97 21

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://www.allmusic.com/album/r45526/review
  2. 1 2 "New Birth US albums chart history". allmusic.com. Retrieved 2011-06-25.
  3. ↑ "New Birth US singles chart history". allmusic.com. Retrieved 2011-06-25.

External links

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