David Ruffin - David: Unreleased LP & More '2004

Tracks list

Its well known that Motown recorded more material than it could release, but its
reasons for shelving material remain a mystery to this day. Ever since the CD
reissue boom of the late 80s, this unreleased material has begun to trickle out
of the vaults, and when it does surface in such forms as the dynamite
double-disc set A Cellarful of Motown!, the music is so good its hard to believe
that it never was released at the time. Knowing this, it should not come as a
complete surprise that former Temptations lead singer David Ruffin had a full,
completed album shelved in 1971, but hearing Hip-O Selects excavation of that
album on the 2004 release David: The Unreleased Album, its still a wonder that
this record sat in the vaults for over three decades, with very few of the songs
recorded during the sessions appearing on other records and compilations over
the years. Far from being unreleasable, David (titled as such because the album
was never given a proper title -- it was given a catalog number and track
sequencing, with David Ruffin penciled in as its name, but that was used as the
title for his 1973 album) finds Ruffin at a solo peak, not just a singer but in
terms of material. He cut the 12 songs that comprised the album, along with the
seven bonus tracks from the same sessions that fill out this CD reissue, in late
1969 and 1970, after he had a big solo hit with My Whole World Ended (The Moment
You Left Me), with the intent of releasing the album in 1971. There were a pair
of covers of recent hits -- an appropriately heartbroken and seductive Rainy
Night in Georgia and a rather revelatory I Want You Back, which added real grit
to the Jackson 5s effervescent smash -- but most of this was material written
for Ruffin and it played to his strengths. While this music was rooted in
Motowns signature sound and performed by the Funk Brothers, it also looked
beyond Detroit, adding heavy doses of funk, psychedelia, and smooth soul, filled
with galvanizing horns, driving guitars, down-n-dirty clavinets, flourishes of
electric sitar, fuzz tones, and wah-wah guitars, all grounded by Ruffins earthy
testifying and tied together by top-notch songwriting. All these elements wound
up sounding much hipper than much of the music officially released by Motown in
the early 1970, when Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye were just beginning to break
free of the studios formula, and while David and its accompanying bonus tracks
are not a masterpiece along the lines of Talking Book or Whats Going On (or even
Where Im Coming From, for that matter), its vibrant, exciting music that still
sounds fresh -- arguably fresher than full-length Temptations albums of the late
60s -- which qualifies it as a lost classic of sorts. Why was it lost, consigned
to the vaults for nearly three and a half decades? According to the liner notes,
nobody really knows. Ruffin wasnt popular among the executives at Motown in the
early 70s, and he was also going through a number of well-documented personal
problems, so its possible that Motown simply didnt want to promote him at the
time, but its also true that the label had a number of great records, including
Marvins Whats Going On, to release in 1971, and Ruffin had two LPs out in 1970,
including a duet album with his brother Jimmy, so the market may have been
saturated. Well likely never know the reason why David was buried, but
fortunately it has been unearthed, and its a reason for hardcore soul and Motown
fans to celebrate.

Tracks:

Original LP
1. Each Day Is A Lifetime
2. I Want You Back
3. Out In The Country
4. You Can Come Right Back To Me
5. I Cant Be Hurt Anymore
6. Rainy Night In Georgia
7. Ive Got A Need For You
8. Anything That You Ask For
9. Let Somebody Love Me
10. For The Shelter Of Your Love
11. Dinah
12. Dont Stop Lovin Me

Bonus Tracks
1. Its Gonna Take A Whole Lot Of Doin
2. I Want Her To Say It Again
3. Your Heartaches I Can Surely Heal
4. Get Away Heartbreak (Keep On Moving)
5. You Make Me Do Things I Dont Want To Do
6. Mountain Of Memories
7. Heaven Help Us All

Mono Single Mixes
1. Each Day Is A Lifetime
2. Dont Stop Lovin Me
3. You Can Come Right Back To Me
4. Dinah 

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