Genre: soul
Rating: 4 stars ****
Title: Baby, I'm For Real
Company: Soul
Catalog: SS716
Year: 1969
Country/State: US
Grade (cover/record): VG / VG
Comments: top edge sealed, minor ring wear
Available: 1
GEMM catalog ID: 5455
Price: $15.00
I guess it's a testament to a record company like Motown (and the Motown various subsidiaries), that a group as talented as The Originals could be treated as a second tier act.
In the late 1950s Freddie Gorman and buddy Brian Holland formed The Fideltones. The group released a couple of sides for Aladdin Records before collapsing. Gorman then took a 9 to 5 job as a postal carrier and while delivering mail met Berry Gordy. By coincidence Holland had already been hired by Berry as a staff writer and producer. One of Holland's projects was a song entitled 'Please Mr. Postman' which he turned to Gorman for help completing. When The Marvelettes scored a chart topper with the song, Motown signed Gorman as a solo act on their small Miracle subsidiary. Over the next couple of years he released a couple of solo sides and continued to write material with Holland and Lamont Dozier, but by the mid-1960s he'd returned to his postal job. With partner Bob Hamilton Gorman continued writing as a sideline project. He won renewed recognition when he placed '(Just Like) Romeo and Juliet' with The Reflections and was subsequently signed to the small Detroit Ric-Tic label where he cut a couple of solo sides. Gorman and Berry Gordy then cross paths again when Motown bought out the Golden World/Ric-Tic label, acquiring his recording contact in the process.
As a Motown asset Gorman was promptly teamed with they newly formed The Originals - Henry 'Hank' Dixon, Walter Gaines, C.P. Spencer (the three had previously been members of The Five Jets, The Five Stars, and The Voicemasters), and former Contours and Falcons front man Joe Stubbs. Placed on Motown's Soul subsidiary the group were initially employed as backup vocalists for other Motown acts including The Temptations' David Ruffin, Jimmy Ruffin, and Stevie Wonder, eventually getting a shot at recording on their own with 1966's 'Good Night Irener' b/w 'Need Your Lovin' (Want You Back)' (Soul catalog number S-35029). The single did nothing leading Stubbs to strike out in pursuit of a solo career and a stint in 100 Proof Aged In Soul.
Continuing as a quartet the group found themselves relegated back to studio back-up status. They didn't record another single until 1969 at which point they released a string of three 45s in quick succession:
- 1969's 'We've Got a Way Out of Love' b/w 'You're the One' (Soul catalog number S-35056)
- 1969's 'Green Grow the Lilacs' b/w 'You're the One' (Soul catalog number S-35061)
- '1969's Baby, I'm for Real' b/w 'Moment of Truth' (Soul catalog number S-35066).
Produced Marvin Gaye who also co-wrote the song with then-wife Anna, the latter single proved the group's breakthrough release. Sporting a very retro, almost doo wop-ish sound with all four members handling lead segments, the single topped the R&B charts and also provided the group with a top-40 pop hit. Recognizing a sales opportunity Motown quickly elected to cash-in on the group's unexpected success by releasing a supporting LP. Cleverly entitled "Baby, I'm For Real" (you'll also see the album listed as "Green Grow the Lilacs") the set offered up a mixture of earlier singles and previously recorded but shelved tracks. That probably explains why to my ears the set had such a strange feel to it - tracks like 'We've Got a Way Out of Love' (imagine Motown doing The Four Seasons), 'Green Grow the Lilacs' (imagine Motown doing The Association), and 'Red Sails In the Sunset' sounded positively old fashioned, while the fuzz guitar powered 'When Will We Learn', 'I've Never Begged Before' and 'Why When Love Is Gone' sported a far more contemporary feel and sound. That weird mix of sounds made the LP quite different from most of the late-1960s Motown catalog and one of my favorite (if little known) Motown releases. Sure there were a couple of sour notes - as an example the lead on 'Moment of Truth' was pretty out of tune and some of the retro ballads were a little on the lame side ('You're the One'). Still those complaints were pretty far and few between. I know that's not a very helpful description, but at their best including the Gaye-penned 'One Life We Live' and 'When Will We Learn', these guys were every bit as good as their label contemporaries (how many groups can you name with four first rate lead singers) and had they been signed to any label other than Motown, they surely would have been megastars. Propelled by the title track single and the follow-up single the parent LP eventually hit # 178 pop and # 18 R&B.
"Baby,
I'm for Real" track listing:
(side 1)
1.) We've Got a Way Out of Love (Brian Holland - Lamont Dozier - Eddie Holland) - 2:59
2.) Green Grow the Lilacs (Ron Miller) - 2:39
3.) Baby, I'm for Real (Marvin Gaye - Anna Gaye) - 3:00
4.) I've Never Begged Before (Ivy Lee Hunter - V. Bullock) - 2:39
5.) Red Sails In the Sunset (H. Williams - J. Kennedy) - 2:25
6.) One Life We Live (Marvin Gaye - Frank Gorman - Ivy Lee Hunter) - 2:56
(side
2)
1.) Moment of Truth (Freddie Gorman -- Hank Dixon - Walter
Gaines - C.P Spencer) - 2:57
2.) Why When Love Is Gone (Ivy Hunter) - 2:44
3.) When Will We Learn Ivy Hunter - M. McLeod - S. Bowden - Freddie Gorman) - 2:27
4.) You're the One (Ivy Hunter - E. Stover - Anna Gaye - Marvin Gaye) - 2:59
5.) Love Is a Wonder (J. Dean - W. Weatherspoon - M. McLeod - Freddie Gorman) - 2:44
6.) You, Mysterious You (F. Evans - R. Morris - M. Broadnax) - 2:56
Unfortunately this is one of those outfits with a high mortality rate.
Hunter died in February 1981. Stubbs died from a heart ailment in February 1998. Spencer died of a heart attack in October 2004. Suffering from lung cancer, Gorman died in June 2006