Gladys Knight & The Pips - If I Were Your Woman (1971/2021) [Official Digital Download 24/192]

Gladys Knight and the Pips spent the whole of the 1960s polishing their reputation as one of the most luminous jewels in the Motown crown. As the decade turned, their relationship with the company may only have had another three years or so to run, but their soulful standards remained sky-high, as underlined by the brilliance of the ballad we remember today, their final Motown R&B No. 1 “If I Were Your Woman.”

After an initial breakthrough on Vee-Jay in 1961 with the chart-topping “Every Beat Of My Heart,” the family group from Atlanta bestowed Berry Gordy’s empire with a succession of glorious recordings. They included the pre-Marvin Gaye, 1967 No. 1 version of “I Heard It Through The Grapevine” and numerous other major R&B and crossover hits including “The End Of Our Road,” “The Nitty Gritty” and “Friendship Train.”

1970 had already provided Knight and the Pips with a top three success via “You Need Love Like I Do (Don’t You),” when a song that chimed in with the then-current rise of the Women’s Lib movement arrived circuitously at their door. “If I Were Your Woman” was a stirring ballad written by the prolific composer Pam Sawyer and writer-artist Gloria Jones, best known for her original version (and Northern Soul hymn) of “Tainted Love” (and, later, for being Marc Bolan’s partner).

The backing track for “Woman” was recorded in February 1970 and Jones added a demo vocal some weeks later. When, as The Complete Motown Singles Vol. 10 recounts, they took it to producer-engineer Clay McMurray, his first choice to cut it was Sondra ‘Blinky’ Williams, and his second the Supremes, then getting used to life without Diana Ross.

TRACKLIST

1. Gladys Knight & The Pips - If I Were Your Woman
2. Gladys Knight & The Pips - Feeling Alright
3. Gladys Knight & The Pips - One Less Bell To Answer
4. Gladys Knight & The Pips - Let It Be
5. Gladys Knight & The Pips - I Don't Want To Do Wrong
6. Gladys Knight & The Pips - One Step Away
7. Gladys Knight & The Pips - Here I Am Again
8. Gladys Knight & The Pips - How Can You Say That Ain't Love
9. Gladys Knight & The Pips - Is There A Place (In This Heart For Me)
10. Gladys Knight & The Pips - Everybody Is A Star
11. Gladys Knight & The Pips - Signed Gladys
12. Gladys Knight & The Pips - Your Love's Been Good For Me



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