Eddie Kendricks "People...Hold On" lp Revisited
I purchased this album back in the late 70s when it was in a $1 cut out bin. I listened, thought it was good, then put it away. I didn't even bother to get it on CD until I again, saw it in a cheap clearance bin.
Like always, when I sit in a chair and put on my headphones, can I truly appreciate or depreciate an album. People...Hold On is a good album.
I usually like everything Frank Wilson does. As Jean Terrell [[Supremes) once told me, "all of Frank's material was strangle...I mean different." That is true. There are odd structures to some songs, terse beginnings to a song and Wilson definitely favored strong R&B with significant sweetening by the Detroit Symphony.
Starting with If You Let Me, the lp is off and running. This had already been recorded by Jimmy Ruffin a couple years prior but Eddie's sweet voice gives it a sexuality that was absent from the original. Girl, You Need A Change Of Mind is one of the funkiest tracks Wilson ever produced. Here again, it's odd structure makes it highly listenable and eventually danceable. It is considered by many to be the song that ushered in the disco era. In itself it is a symphony of soul.
Date With The Rain is another lush selection. Adorned with sound effects and another great lead vocal it had definite single potential. Eddie's Love is a standout cut on the lp and did make it to single release with little impact. The album ends with the subtle Just Memories.
The album did little in sales in its first release. It wasn't until early 1973 when the album was 7 months old that is started to pick up in sales enough to warrant Eddie's third album with Frank Wilson, and that was because of the late blooming Girl, You Need A Change Of Mind. Eddie's first two solo lps did little to boost his new career. Wisely Motown kept him on and the Keep On Truckin' white album would be out later in 1973 to firmly establish Eddie Kendricks as a dance master.
While listening there were cuts I could imagine being done by the Four Tops or The Supremes. The Tops were gone and The Supremes were turned over to Smokey. This allowed Wilson to give full concentration to Kendricks. It pays off.
Good album guys
