Gladys Knight & The Pips - The One And Only (Expanded Edition) '1978/2015

Tracks list

	Tracklist
---------
01. Sorry Doesn't Always Make It Right
02. Come Back and Finish What You Started
03. All the Time
04. It's a Better Than Good Time
05. Butterfly
06. The One and Only
07. Saved By the Grace of Your Love
08. Don't Say No to Me Tonight
09. Be Yourself
10. What If I Should Ever Need You
11. It's Up to You (Do What You Do) (7" Version)
12. It's a Better Than Good Time (Full Extended Mix)
13. Saved By the Grace of Your Love (12" Version)
14. I'm Still Caught Up with You (7" Version)
15. It's a Better Than Good Time (Single Edit Version)
16. Everybody's Got to Find a Way (7" Version)
17. Stringman (Demo)

Gladys Knight (b. 28 May 1944, Atlanta, Georgia, USA), her brother Merald
‘Bubba’ (b. 4 September 1942, Atlanta, Georgia, USA), sister Brenda and
cousins Elenor Guest and William Guest (b. 2 July 1941, Atlanta, Georgia, USA,
d. 24 December 2015, Detroit, Michigan, USA) formed their first vocal group in
their native Atlanta in 1952. Calling themselves the Pips, after their cousin
James ‘Pips’ Woods, the youngsters sang supper-club material in the week and
gospel music on Sundays. They first recorded for Brunswick Records in 1958,
releasing the unsuccessful single ‘Whistle My Love’. Another cousin of the
Knights, Edward Patten (b. 2 August 1939, Atlanta, Georgia, USA, d. 25 February
2005, Livonia, Michigan, USA), and Langston George were brought into the group
line-up the following year when Brenda and Elenor left to get married. Three
years elapsed before the Pips’ next sessions, which produced a version of
Johnny Otis’ ‘Every Beat Of My Heart’ for the small Huntom label. This
song, which highlighted Knight’s bluesy, compelling vocal style, was leased to
Vee Jay Records when it began attracting national attention, and went on to top
the US R&B charts and reach the pop Top 10. By this time, the group, now
credited as Gladys Knight And The Pips, had signed a long-term recording
contract with Fury Records, where they issued a re-recording of ‘Every Beat Of
My Heart’ which competed for sales with the original release. Subsequent
singles such as ‘Letter Full Of Tears’ and ‘Operator’ sealed the
group’s R&B credentials. A switch to the Maxx label in 1964 - where they
worked with producer Van McCoy - generated minor hits with ‘Giving Up’ and
‘Lovers Always Forgive’. Langston George retired from the group in 1962,
leaving the four strong line-up that survived into the 80s.

In 1966, Gladys Knight And The Pips signed to Motown Records’ Soul subsidiary,
where they were teamed up with producer/songwriter Norman Whitfield. Knight’s
tough vocals left them slightly out of the Motown mainstream, and throughout
their stay with the label the group was regarded as a second-string act. Between
1967 and 1968, they had major R&B and minor pop hits in America with
‘Everybody Needs Love’, ‘The End Of The Road’, ‘It Should Have Been
Me’ and ‘I Wish It Would Rain’, but enjoyed most success with the original
release of ‘I Heard It Through The Grapevine’, an uncompromisingly tough
performance of a song that became a Motown standard in the hands of its author
Marvin Gaye in 1969. Gladys Knight And The Pips’ version topped the R&B chart
for six weeks at the end of 1967 and also reached number 2 on the US pop charts.

The group enjoyed further R&B and pop hits at the end of the decade with
‘Didn’t You Know (You’d Have To Cry Sometime)’, ‘The Nitty Gritty’,
‘Friendship Train’ and ‘You Need Love Like I Do (Don’t You)’, while
the poignant ‘If I Were Your Woman’ was one of the label’s biggest-selling
releases of 1970 and provided the group with their third R&B chart-topper. In
the early 70s, Gladys Knight And The Pips slowly moved away from their original
blues-influenced sound towards a more middle-of-the-road harmony blend. Their
new approach brought them success in 1973 with the smash hit ‘Neither One Of
Us (Wants To Be The First To Say Goodbye)’ (number 1 R&B/number 2 pop), while
further hits during this period included ‘I Don’t Want To Do Wrong’,
‘Make Me The Woman That You Go Home To’, ‘Help Me Make It Through The
Night’ and ‘Daddy Could Swear, I Declare’.

In late 1973, Gladys Knight And The Pips elected to leave Motown for Buddah
Records, unhappy at the former label’s shift of operations from Detroit to
Hollywood. At Buddah, the group found immediate success with ‘Where Peaceful
Waters Flow’ and ‘Midnight Train To Georgia’, an arresting soul ballad
which topped both the R&B and pop charts. Major hits such as ‘I’ve Got To
Use My Imagination’ and ‘Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me’ (R&B
chart-toppers and pop Top 5 hits) mined a similar vein. In 1974, the group
performed Curtis Mayfield’s soundtrack songs for the movie Claudine, spawning
the major hit ‘On And On’, and the following year the title track of I Feel
A Song gave them another R&B number 1. Their smoother approach was epitomized by
the medley of ‘The Way We Were/Try To Remember’, released the same year
(1975) that saw Knight and the group host their own US television series.

Gladys Knight made her acting debut in Pipe Dreams in 1976, for which the group
recorded a soundtrack album. Legal problems then dogged their career until the
end of the decade, forcing Knight and the Pips to record separately until they
could sign a new recording contract with CBS Records. Knight enjoyed minor R&B
hits at the end of the decade with the solo singles ‘I’m Coming Home
Again’ and ‘Am I Too Late’. About Love in 1980 teamed the reunited group
with the Ashford And Simpson writing/production partnership, and produced a
strident piece of R&B social comment in ‘Landlord’ and ‘Bourgie’
Bourgie’’. Subsequent releases alternated between the group’s R&B and MOR
modes, generating hits such as the R&B chart-topper ‘Save The Overtime (For
Me)’ and ‘You’re Number One In My Book’ (both 1983). In 1985 Knight
appeared on the chart-topping pop hit ‘That’s What Friends Are For’,
alongside Elton John, Dionne Warwick and Stevie Wonder. After a move to MCA
Records in 1986, ‘Love Overboard’ demonstrated that Gladys Knight And The
Pips could work equally well in both R&B and pop genres, taking the group back
to the top of the R&B charts and into the pop Top 20 at the end of 1987. The
latter song earned them a Grammy Award for the Best R&B performance in early
1989, while the group enjoyed two final R&B hits at the end of the decade with
‘Lovin’ On Next To Nothin’’ and ‘It’s Gonna Take All Our Love’.

In 1989, Gladys Knight and the Pips parted company. Merald remained with his
sister when she achieved a UK Top 10 hit that year with the James Bond movie
song ‘Licence To Kill’ (her highest UK chart position since Gladys Knight
And The Pips’ 1977 Top 5 hit ‘Baby Don’t Change Your Mind’), and
released her second solo album, Good Woman, in 1991. Her subsequent work has
alternated between gospel and mainstream pop, although apart from the R&B Top 5
hit ‘Men’ she has enjoyed relatively minor chart success. She collaborated
with Chaka Khan, Brandy and Tamia on the minor hit ‘Missing You’ in 1996,
taken from the Queen Latifah movie Set It Off. The same year she was inducted
into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame with the Pips. A noteworthy album of
standards was released in 2006. 



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