Customer Reviews

Essential Teddy Pendergrass

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I have been updating my TP collection this year. This is the best yet that I have come across. The audio quality is pristine and it includes some of the older as well as newer stuff. It's nice that they included some of his hits that he did with the Blue Notes. This compilation also shows how TP could go from old school soul songs to funky dance tunes. His biggest draw was that of a lady's man. This nicknamed him Teddy Tender the female bender. TP was perhaps the only r&b artist to go on tour a feature a ladies only night at big arenas is various cities! Who knows how far his career would have gone if he was crippled by the car accident. Teddy is one of the big name singers from the Philly Sound era. This is an era of r&b music that like Motown will never be repeated! It's that good! Get this cd! It's that good!

Sony has revived the Philadelphila International label & this is one of the first releases. (the other is Essential Lou Rawls, which is very choice by the way!!) Included here are all the long versions from previous releases of Teddy as well as the Harold Melvin collections. 145mins of nothing but the truth!!! Including the extended versions of Wake Up Everybody(yes the Jahim sample!!), original version of Don't Leave Me This Way, etc. all remastered, in it's musical glory!! Bonus is the cd has the P.I.R. logo & color on the disk. I cannot wait for future releases from Sony/P.I.R. Thank you Sony music!!!!!

this is probably the best overall collection on Teddy Pendergrass yet. all the extended versions and the soulful feelings from the songs and sentiments which still hit. great Production and strong songwriting. Teddy pendergrass is One of the most underrated Soulful Giants ever. this collection is very soulful and on time.

I usually don't do reviews of compilation albums, but with the passing of one of my favorite singers of all time Teddy Pendergass, I felt a need to do a special review. I remember when I was a kid, every weekend my mom would play different records from the 70's all day. Isley Brothers, Earth, Wind & Fire, Marvin Gaye and countless others would blast in my living room while my mom would sing along, foot tap and sometimes get up and cut a rug. As I got to my early teenage years, records had faded out and tapes and CD's were the mainstream. So I remember buying a Teddy Pendergrass Greatest Hits CD I saw on BET one night for her birthday. Once it arrived, she listened to it maybe 2 times all the way through before I claimed it for myself. Anytime I wanted to hear real soul music I would pop that Teddy P in. No matter what situation I was going through in my teenage years, I had a Teddy P song that could make me see things differently. Breakups, makeups and just overall love, Teddy P had the right song for every situation. Even today I sometimes sing "When Somebody Loves You Back" to myself when I'm feeling happy. I'm not going to do a eulogy or history of his life. If you want that go to Wikipedia. This is Amazon and I'm doing a review of "The Essential Teddy Pendergrass".

One of the injustices is that Teddy Pendergrass never one a Grammy. Teddy had one of the most distinct voices ever. The strength in his voice and the power in his lyrics made him standout amongst the heavyweight of his time (Stevie Wonder, Lionel Richie, Marvin Gaye) This was evident in his early days as a member of Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes. He was brought in as a drummer but was called up to sing lead on "If You Don't Know Me By Know" and "The Love I Lost". But my favorite is "I Miss You". That's where you see the real power and emotion in his voice. By time he went solo, he already had a very strong fan base and he didn't disappoint with hits "Close The Door, Turn Off The Lights & Love TKO". But the songs that really stood out most for me were "You're My Latest, My Greatest Inspiration, Come Go With Me & The Whole Towns Laughing At Me". The song I think that sums up Teddy's life is "This Gift Of Life". A revelation song released after his near fatal car accident in 1982.

This is a very good compilation CD. Its the best I seen since that one I had 15 years ago. However, just like every greatest hits CD, this is not perfect. People will always argue about what songs should have been added and which ones should have been left off. I think "Somebody Told Me" & "Only You" should have been replaced with "Live Without Your Love" & "Can We Try". Also like another reviewer mentioned I wish this CD was in chronological order. To see how he grew from with Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes to the early 90's.

Teddy Pendergrass has inspired so many other artist. From Luther Vandross to Jaheim, they have all benefited from Teddy's style. His songs have been sampled by hip hop acts like Ghostface, Little Brother, Mobb Deep and many more. His music was considered "raunchy" thirty years ago. He told women exactly what he wanted and if she didn't do it fast enough, he would yell it again. Nobody does that anymore. Maybe its just a coincidence but its funny how the "baby boom" of the 70's happened at the same time as when Teddy was on top of his game. That's true baby making music there. R.I.P Teddy!!!

Teddy Pendergrass is one of the most beloved R&B singers from the late 70's and early 80's. Although a car accident would leave him a paraplegic, that didn't stop Teddy from performing or keep his fans away. Legacy Recordings has released a special two disc collection titled "The Essential Teddy Pendergrass." The two disc release features 28 of Teddy's most beloved hit songs. Songs included on the release include "Close The Door," "Love T.K.O.," "Get Up, Get Down," and many other hits. The release also includes Teddy's duet with Stephanie Mills "Feel The Fire," and his collaboration with Whitney Houston "Hold Me." The CD was produced by Gamble & Huff. In addition to the 28 re-mastered hit songs, "The Essential Teddy Pendergrass," includes rare photos and an essay.

My cd collection (which is large in number), is mostly Heavy Metal with some other gneres. R&B is one of the generes I enjoy when I am not listening to Metal. Teddy Pendergrass is one of those artists/singer, who set the standard for guys like Christopher Williams, Eric Gable, yes; and even Gerald Levert (in my opinion). I have cds by each of those artists. Teddy Pendergrass had an amazing vocal ability and with such passion when he sang. He left us many great memorable songs. THis Essentail Collection is great and well put together. The tracks follow each other consitanatly from his early releases to his later releases.

I wish I had all his cd rleases, but this collection will do for now. IT will provide many hours of listening enjoyment. If you don't or cannot get all his releases, this is the next best thing. It has every known "hit" that I know of from Teddy. God bless him and keep him.

The 60"s, 70's and 80"s music era created some of the best if not the best, singers and songwriters of our time. It is without question a time when music was real, raw and just down right emotional. Whatever the artist was feeling or going through in life whether good or bad, you could feel it through their music, and there lies Teddy Pendergrass. Turn off the lights and light a candle, girl I wanna give a special treat, cause you been so sweet; "the whole town is laughing at me, silly fool, how could you lose such a good thing; come on and go with me to my place, where its nice and quiet. You get my point!

Who does that anymore? Who makes you feel your pain of a break up, the anticipation of a new romance, or like a fool for letting a good thing go, like Teddy did? The R&B singers of today, although some are pretty good and may be around awhile, but none will ever come close to this, period. You had to be born in that Era to truly understand! I was born in the early 60's, so I got see what my Mom, Aunts and Uncles do with a Temptations, Sam Cooke, Arethra Franklin and Gladys Knight/Pips song, and what I ultimately did in the 70's and 80's with Teddy, Luther and Michael. We owned it, it was our music!

Teddy, may you now rest in peace as you join the club with the other amazing singers who left us too soon; Michael J, Luther, and Barry White!

Teddy Pendergrass can sing it all. This collection has classic hits with his career as a solo artist and as a lead singer of the Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes. He can sing romantic smooth songs like "Close The Door" and "Love TKO". He could sing great dance songs like "Get Up, Get Down, Get Funky, Get Loose" and "I Want My Baby Back". His best known hits with the Blue Notes are "If You Don't Know Me By Now" and "Don't Leave Me This Way". These were two monster hits from the seventies that really launched his solo career. Another favorite song I love by Teddy is the beautiful duet with Whitney Houston entitled Hold Me In Your Arms Tonight. This song brings back a lot of memories from my teenage years. It is one of the best love songs ever. The music of Teddy Pendergrass will live on forever.

There have been countless TP anthologies over the years, and each one has strengths and weaknesses. "The Essential Teddy Pendergrass," while by far the best collection yet released, offers a wide range of classic songs with pristine sound (thanks to remastering); I was particularly impressed by the inclusion of "Nine Times Out of Ten," one of Teddy's best songs (in my opinion) and one that has been unjustly overlooked by previous anthologies. That said, I do have two minor criticisms of this collection: First, the songs are not arranged in chronological order; if they were, the listener would gain a better understanding of Teddy's development over time as he emerged from Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes ("Wake Up, Everybody," "If You Don't Know Me By Now") in the early 70s to become an R&B titan in the late 70s ("Close the Door," "Love TKO") to his remarkable comeback following a tragic car accident ("Joy," "Hold Me in Your Arms"). Which leads to my second criticism: Teddy's work in the 90s is given short shrift despite some remarkable achievements ("A Little More Magic," "Say It"), no doubt owing to the fact that they didn't become hits. Fans who are just discovering Teddy would do well to supplement "The Essential Teddy Pendergrass" with a couple of his later albums, in particular "Truly Blessed" and "A Little More Magic."

Teddy Pendergrass was a masterful performer; it's a terrible shame that we lost him. He was great as a part of Harold Melvin & The Bluenotes, too. Teddy, both with and without the band, could make ANYTHING sound good--he could have been there singing the phone book and I would have been standing there, applauding! His passing is a great loss to us and his family; but thankfully we have great albums and compilations like this one to remember him fondly. The quality of the sound on these two CDs is excellent and I like the artwork, too.

The first CD is loaded with hits and other songs that any Pendergrass fan would want in their collection. Truthfully, they are all great songs; but there are some that rank very highly as my personal favorites. The track set starts out great with Teddy doing a superb job on "I Don't Love You Anymore;" this still sounds fresh and new! "When Somebody Loves You Back;" "Come Go With Me;" "Somebody Told Me;" "Love T.K.O.;" the wonderful "You're My Latest, My Greatest Inspiration;" Teddy treatment of "Don't Leave Me This Way (Parts 1 & 2)" that absolutely stuns me; "The Love I Lost" that I will never forget; and "If You Don't Know Me By Now" are just some of the splendid numbers we get on the first CD.

The second CD, of course, continues the spectacular music and the hits, too. Just some of the fine music includes "Feel the Fire" with Stephanie Mills which is very easy on the ear; and I really like "Close the Door." In addition, we also get "It's Time for Love;" "Turn Off the Lights;" the ageless "Wake Up Everybody" that is truly nothing short of a masterpiece; "Bad Luck" with that awesome music; "Only You;" "Get Up, Get Down, Get Funky, Get Loose;" the passionate duet with Whitney Houston entitled "Hold Me;" "This Gift of Life" and "I Want My Baby Back."

Teddy Pendergrass never disappointed his very loyal fans; when he performed it was entirely wonderful. We are all better off for his having shared his talent with us; and this is a great two CD set for Teddy's fans to cherish. Indeed, this is such a fine two CD set that it also makes an excellent starter set for anyone just discovering the magical artistry of Teddy Pendergrass.

Thank you, Teddy! We will miss you very much!