Customer Reviews

More...The Best of the Delfonics"

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Has there ever been a better voice than William Hart? Okay, maybe Eddie Kendricks and David Ruffin, but other than that, NO! Also, check out the horns and strings.

Has there ever been a better voice than William Hart? Okay, maybe Eddie Kendricks and David Ruffin, but other than that, NO! Also, check out the horns and strings.

I purchased this 1999 issue of "More...The Best of the Delfonics" when it was first released, and judging the prices they're now getting for it, I'm glad I did.

This is a reissue of two albums, 1974's "Alive and Kicking" coupled NOT with "the ultra rare "Delfonics Return", as the Amazon page erroneously says, but with the unreleased 1976 album "The Professionals".

Both albums are definitely worth having. "Alive and Kicking" contains the previous year's "Think It Over", "Lying to Myself" (both of which charted to the lower regions of the R&B charts) plus their last two Top 30 R&B hits, "I Don't Want to Make You Wait" and "I Told You So". The harmonies are still lush on these, as well as album cuts "Hey Baby", the gorgeous "First Thing On My Mind", and especially the Norman Harris co-write "Can't Go On Living" (which Harris also arranged). The album was produced by Stan Watson, but you'd be hard pressed to discern it from Thom Bell's production, Watson was obviously a great student of Bell.

"The Professionals" was produced by Hart & Hart (William and Wilbur). Unfortunately, they didn't write many good tunes for this one, but there are still glimmers of the old sound on such cuts as "I've Got Everything", "Oh My Love" and "Your Name" (a rare upbeat tune for the group). Times and the music landscape had changed in just two years, people wanted to dance, and so there was no room for the Delfonics sweet sound, so this album wound up being shelved.

Fortunately, it's now being reissued along with the remainder of the Delfonics oeuvre, the rarity of this particular disc notwithstanding. Six albums was their Philly Groove output, all are reissued, all are worthy of having. But don't pay the overinflated prices here, check around, they can be found much cheaper.

There's a rumour that my cousin (Michael Foreman) died of a heart attack. Can anyone confirm this?

Has there ever been a better voice than William Hart? Okay, maybe Eddie Kendricks and David Ruffin, but other than that, NO! Also, check out the horns and strings.