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Labelle Something Silver

To most people perhaps, Labelle had one major hit ("Lady Marmalade") in the mid-70s and that was about it. They broke up after two follow-up albums to "Nightbird" because they didn't catch fire and internal squabbles about the musical direction they should be taking. Patti Labelle went on to become a superstar to the supperclub crowd in the 80s and 90s, Nona Hendryx realised her true ambition when she ventured off in the direction of black rock and funk and fell in with New York's hip music making crowd, while Sarah Dash surfaced sporadically with an occasional album but declined into relative obscurity.

But what's unknown to all but Labelle's serious fans is that even before "Lady Marmalade", Patti, Nona and Sarah had already discarded their 60s girl group image and transformed themselves into "something silver" in the 3 years or so preceding "Lady Marmalade". Or that during this time, they made three criminally neglected albums that were commercial failures few knew about and none would remember and that's why "Something Silver", drawing on some key tracks from these three lost albums, is such a revelation.

Listening to this great compilation album makes you realise what a powerhouse these three ladies were when they were simply Labelle. Produced and managed by Englishwoman Vicky Wickham, they dabbled convincingly with rock material by the Who ("Won't Get Fooled Again"), the Rolling Stones ("Wild Horses") and Cat Stevens ("Moonshadow"), covered Laura Nyro ("Time And Love") but more significantly started recording their own material. Nona Hendryx was the main writer in the group and it is on her songs that Labelle produced their best work during this time. Unlike most 60s girl groups which had only one featured lead singer, Vicki's concept of Labelle was about three distinct personalities, so Sarah and Nona were either distinctly audible or had their own solo spots in any given song. The magical blending of their three separate voices is simply unbelievable. My own personal favourites are "Shades Of Difference", "I Believe That I've Finally Made It Home", "Sunshine (Woke Me Up This Morning") and "(Can I Speak To You Before You Go To) Hollywood". The opening track, "Something Silver/The Revolution Will Not Be Televised", from their "Pressure Cooking" album, is also a stunner. It broke new ground. While "Labelle" and "Moonshadow" (recorded for Warner) are now separately available on CD, somebody should coax RCA into reissuing "Pressure Cooking" on CD too. It is possibly the strongest of the three early Labelle albums.

"Something Silver" is an inspired compilation and a must for all soul music lovers. To my ears, we lost a great and progressive black vocal group when Labelle split up in 1976. While Patti, Nona and Sarah went on to do some excellent stuff on their own, none rivalled the freshness and vibrancy of their 70s recordings as a group, including material from "Phoenix" and "Chameleon", their two equally underated post-Lady Marmalade albums.

1. Something In The Air/The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

2. Shades Of Difference

3. Sunday's News

4. Won't Get Fooled Again

5. Moon Shadow

6. Time And Love

7. Morning Much Better

8. Touch Me All Over

9. Wild Horses Listen

10. Runnin' Out Of Fools/If You Gotta Make A Fool Of Somebody

11. If I Can't Have You

12. I Believe That I've Finally Made It Home

13. Sunshine (Woke Me Up This Morning)

14. (Can I Speak To You Before You Go To)Hollywood?

15. Lady Marmalade

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Rating:
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