Customer Reviews

Best of

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Softones rehearsed down the street from my house. We would go down and listen to them all the time. I love their music.

I agree with the first reviewer, Carla my Love was not included on this CD. What I did was downloaded "Carla" and added to "The Very Best of The Softones" for my own listing enjoyment!

Being a Balimore boy I particularly remember the early Softones' hits like Silly Billy, My Dream and I'm Gonna Prove It. They were untouchable. You can stand those songs against any of the '70s soul groups--Delfonics, Blue Magic , Dramatics, the Moments and the like.
Marvin Brown's falsetto is the most dynamic voice I heard prior to Philip Bailey of Earth Wind and Fire. And they are still performing , sounding just as great.
I gave it four stars instead of five because of the disco and show tunes. But understand--the body of work is what counts. Then the bonus live cut came "You Go Your Way" and I shouted "Now that's the Softones I remember."
Surely, to say the Softones were underrated was an understatement.
And like everyone else noted, "Carla My Love" would have been icing on the cake!

The Softones has a smooth pleasing sound that the more mature music lovers like. If you like to sing, you can sing along. Although it will be difficult to match the sound of lead singer Marvin, you can fool youself.

Based on the power and sheer beauty of these songs it's difficult to understand why The Softones' recordings never matched the popularity of those of The Delfonics, The Stylistics, The Dramatics or The Dells. This group's singers were just as good as those of the above-mentioned groups and this fine CD is an excellent compilation of their best songs. No "Sweet Soul" fan should be without this CD.

As one of the songwriter's of "I Played the Fool" and "Sweet Dreamer," I can tell you from personal experience that the Softones are a very talented and great group of guys. Working with them at H&L Records was a pleasure. These songs only represent the tip-of-the-iceberg of their talent, and, believe me, I know. I think you'll find this CD very enjoyable.
Bob Johnson

This "sweet soul" trio, which hailed from Baltimore, had their heyday in the first half of the 1970s, led by the high falsetto tones of Marvin Brown, along with Elton Lynch and Steve Jackson, and while they didn't exactly burn up the singles charts for their label, AVCO Embassy (later to become Hugo & Luigi Records), they did have a devoted following in and around Maryland and D.C.

Their first release came in 1972 on AVCO 4601, and even though My Dream b/w How Did I Lose? (only My Dream is here) failed to dent any of the national charts, it did do well enough locally to encourage the label to try again early in 1973 with I'm Gonna Do It b/w God Save America on AVCO 4616, and this time the A-side made it to # 44 R&B in April (the B-side is missing here). For their next release they covered the Elvis Presley 1962 hit Can't Help Falling Love and, b/w What Is Life? (not here), it peaked at # 56 R&B that July on AVCO 4619. All releases to this point were billed as The Soft Tones.

Their last release in 1973, The First Day, showed them as The Softones and this time they levelled off at # 69 R&B in December b/w Everybody Knows But Me (also omitted here) on AVCO 4626. Whether or not it was because the label was losing interest, there was only one single release in 1974, Never Let A Woman Go By b/w And I Remember Your Face on AVCO 4629 and it failed to chart at all. Both were also left out of this compilation. Then, in late 1975, after reaching back to 1943 for That Old Black Magic, they had their best hit when it rose to # 29 R&B on AVCO 4663 b/w Why, Why, Why (not here) in December 1975/January 1976.

And that would be their last hit for the label, which began calling itself Hugo & Luigi Records in 1976, although there were more single releases. Girl, We've Got To Keep On b/w Love Child (H&L 4671 in 1976), Go On With The Show b/w Everybody Knew But Me (H&L 4680 in 1977) (none of them here), Laundromat b/w And I Remember Your Face (H&L 4685 in 1977), and That's What Love Can Be b/w Sweet Dreamer (H&L 4697 in 1978) - those last four sides ARE here - all failed to chart.

They are apparently together performing to this day, and in 1983 had a # 72 R&B with, appropriately enough, One More Time as The Tones, with Do It Light on the flip of an obscure label called Criminal Records (Criminal 1702). That they didn't do better on the R&B charts - never mind not having one Pop cross-over - is strange when you hear their sweet harmony, and one can only conclude it had a lot to do with poor promotion of their efforts. Well worth a listen though, and easily a 5 star release IF it had included the B-sides of their hits rather than cuts that were never previously released.

As for "Carla My Love," this was not among their hit singles in the 1970s, nor was it ever released by AVCO/Hugo & Luigi as a single by either the Soft Tones or The Softones.

I have always been a great fan of the Softones and were delighted with the release of this cd back in the nineties but were first introduced to these soul greats as a teenager and remember my elder brother spinning the tracks of the Black Magic album over and over again.To my untrained ear I thought it was Russell Thompkins Jr , Ted Mills or Leroy Burgess III leading but as always my elder brother educated me that it is neither the Stylistic, Blue Magic or Black Ivory but The Softones . I had hope and anticipated that this cd would contain "Carla my Love" , "Go on with the show" and "Never let a woman like that go by" but am never the less not disappointed with what this cd contain....A real bonus to any Softones collection would be their rendition with First Class doing "Love Minus One"...I listened to Ray Goodman and Brown's version of Love Minus One on their millennium edition cd but my ears still crave the caress of Marvin Browns voice begging ......but baby...we got to go on with the show...this is sweet soul at it's extraordinary best.

This "Best of" cd release, taken from 3 of the group's albums, the debut AVCO label release (cover of the cd is from that album cover), and subsequent H&L release. There were 2 more vinyl albums released and a couple more cd releases (the cds do not contain their original 70s recordings). The version of "Carla, My Love" on the cd, is not the highly sought after original performed by the group. As has been previously stated, there is much good music on this cd, so I will not expand on that. When the question(s) arise as to the reasons the group did not attain greater recognition and commercial success, in the writer's opinion, I have a big question? Based on the talent of the group, their style, such a quality lead tenor, why didn't the group end up being produced by the premier architects at that time of "East Coast Soul", who were succesfully producing groups of this type..... the powers at Philadelphia International Records, or the likes of Thom Bell (Delfonics, Stylistics, Spinners, amongst others), Norman Harris, Vince Montana, etc., etc., etc., "The Philly Sound"? The importance of label and who produces a group is HUGE! The heart & soul of this group was East Coast sweet soul. For a group with this kind of talent, how not Philly, and the aforementioned legends??? As to why not? The writer doesn't know. This group, placed in the hands of Thom Bell, or Gamble & Huff, what could have been! Regarding the original version of "Carla, My Love", so requested by those who had the pleasure of listening to it? The issue is label. The record is on the almost impossible to find, latter 70s album "The Softones & First Class - Together", on Parkway International Records. It was a small, obscure label (the writer is not aware of any other releases on the label), not on the labels this cd was culled from. The album was produced by none other than George Kerr, the same who took the recording equipment into Rahway State Prison to record the Escorts 1st album "3 Down 4 To Go", and their 2nd lp "All We Need Is Another Chance". Sweet soul record collectors years ago gobbled up any copies they could lay their hands on, long gone! It is a "Shelf #1" racked album in one's record collection, +$100.00 when it does show on the market. A non-authorized reissue cd of the album was in Japan in the early 90s. The original song is on a non-authorized sweet soul compilation cd, "floating" around. Perhaps the Parkway International studio tape is still in a possession, if so, perhaps in the future a deal may be cut to reissue the album, to the delight of those who do not possess.

This is a great CD; however, it is missing one very popular song and that is "Carla My Love." I have not been able to find that recording anywhere and I thought for sure that it would be included in this particular CD.