The Undisputed Truth - Face To Face With The Truth (1972)

 

You have to have this.

Norman Whitfield at his very best - giving this his second string his full attention and reinventing some Motown classics in his own way as a result.  This is Motown as soul not pop but the benefit is obvious.  The man reinvented the label after Holland Dozier Holland defected in my view - not that he wasn't succesful beforehand.

 

The stand out here is the slow burn of "What's Going On" (worth it for the really crying guitar track alone)  - how can anyone do this within a year of MPG and still deliver a definitive version.  Brave or just darn mad? but so good.  Other songs are familiar in name but differ in arrangement "Take Me In Your Arms" beautiful; "Heaven and Hell Right Here On Earth" poignant; "What It Is" a funky workout; "Superstar" surpasses Norman's take with the Temps (and for me that's saying something special).

 

You've got to have this record

Roy Ayers - You Send Me (1979)

From The Lost Record Covers Club

When I first heard Roy Ayers it was as a new manufacturing controller at the Phonodisc factory, the marketing guy I worked with was astounded that I wasn't aware of Mr Ayers.  He set about putting me right - sending me all that he could find within the Polydor library.  By the time the tapes for this arrived I made sure I sat in on the cutting session, getting an early listen.  I have followed or reversed back through his career ever since and whilst the track "Everyone Loves The Sunshine" is the one often featured on compilations it is hardly the high point in my opinion.  My favourite comes from this album - "Can't You See Me" is the one for me.  Like all music perhaps it is where you hear the track concerned or how you came across it in the first place.

Polydor - 2391 365