Shout Factory
2008
Claudine/Pipe Dreams
About This Album
This Shout Factory two-fer reissue of two 1970s soundtracks featuring Gladys Knight & the Pips is an occasion worth celebrating -- even if one is far superior to the other. The first album here is Claudine, the score penned and produced by Curtis Mayfield for a 1974 film of the same name that starred Diahann Carroll and James Earl Jones. It was cut in a weekend at Mayfield's Curtom studios in Chicago. The timing for the set couldn't have been better: Knight was coming off three Top Ten singles and a gold-selling Top 40 album (Imagination for Buddha). Mayfield's identity is inextricably woven into everything -- the poignant, socially conscious lyrics; the driving, funky soul in the backbeats; the edgy guitar lines; and even the gorgeous string arrangements -- and Knight is at the top of her form as a singer and performer; she delivers these tunes as if she wrote them. Claudine netted a number two soul chart hit, "On and On," which is forceful, gritty, and leather-tough funky; it's the most downright sensual tune Knight ever cut -- without a trace of vulgarity. The song is based on the character's determination to keep her home and family together. Who says "family values" can't be sexy? Mayfield gets to the heart of the issue -- and his charts with a roaring B-3, his own stinging wah-wah guitar, and a hummer of a bassline don't hurt.
Track List (try tracks 1,4,5,8,9 and 13)

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.

 
report abuse