You Gotta Have Faith (Hope, and Charity): Real Gone Reissues Lost R&B Gems

Real Gone Music is moving to the sound of a disco beat! In conjunction with SoulMusic Records, Real Gone has tapped the vaults of RCA Records to present two world-premiere CD reissues, both with rare bonus tracks.

Perhaps no other genre has inspired as many songs imploring listeners to suppress their inhibitions and put their dancing shoes on as disco has. “Let’s Go to the Disco/’Cause I feel like dancing tonight/Let’s go to the disco/Where the music is outta sight!” The call to arms “Let’s Go to the Disco” opened the self-titled 1975 RCA album by Faith, Hope and Charity, which was produced, arranged, conducted and largely written by Van McCoy. Brenda Hilliard (“Faith”), Albert Bailey (“Hope”) and Zulema Cusseaux (“Charity”) first teamed as The Crystals (not those Crystals) and then as The Lovelles before canny producer Bob Crewe (The Four Seasons, “Lady Marmalade”) rechristened them Faith, Hope and Charity. They first worked with McCoy – in his days as a top purveyor of sophisticated, sultry soul, pre-“The Hustle” – in 1970, and their hit “So Much Love” gained them entrée to the Top 20 of the U.S. R&B chart and the Top 100 Pop. McCoy took the trio from Maxwell Records to Sussex Records, and although Zulema split from the group in 1971 after a couple of albums, the remaining two members stayed in contact with the producer. (Bailey and Hilliard had even sung on McCoy’s Disco Baby LP, from which “The Hustle” was drawn!) With the addition of new member Diane Destry filling the role of Charity, Hilliard and Bailey reteamed with McCoy and snagged a deal at RCA just as disco was continuing its ascent in the mainstream.

The gleaming, upbeat Faith, Hope and Charity followed the lush, string-laden orchestral disco approach that developed out of the Philadelphia soul sound emanating from that city’s Sigma Sound Studios. McCoy wrote or co-wrote seven of the album’s nine tracks, with the remaining two slots going to cover versions. Each cut found the arranger-orchestrator at the top of the disco game, surrounded by top NY session pros including Steve Gadd on drums, Eric Gale and David Spinozza on guitars, and Leon Pendarvis and Richard Tee on electric piano and clavinet. George Devens filled the Vince Montana role on the vibes.

Like “Let’s Go to the Disco,” “Disco Dan” reveled in the very sound of the new dance music, unabashedly celebrating it: “Disco Dan/He’s the latest, he’s the greatest…Makes you wanna move your feet and clap your hands…The man is really something!” Faith, Hope and Charity also found room to revive classic songs in disco versions. “Disco-fying” songs, from standards to recent hits, was par for the course; in 1975, Gloria Gaynor famously took The Jackson 5’s “Never Can Say Goodbye” to the Top 10. For FH&C, McCoy remade two vintage R&B hits. Both “Rescue Me,” Fontella Bass’ 1965 hit, and “Just One Look,” Doris Troy’s 1963 classic, featured lead vocals from Brenda Hilliard and respectably updated the beloved songs. Hilliard also lent her urgent vocals to the uptempo “Find a Way” from McCoy and his songwriting partner Charles Kipps, Jr.

After the jump: more on Faith, Hope and Charity, plus The New York Community Choir!

Like To Get To Know Them: Real Gone’s July Features Spanky and Our Gang, Lulu, Peggy Lipton, Grateful Dead and More

Tuesday – July 1, that is – will never be the same, thanks to Real Gone Music’s slate spotlighting a quartet of famous sixties girls! But that’s not all. The label is also dipping its toes into tropicalia, anthologizing an unsung country-pop hero, going both punk and disco, and returning to the venerable Grateful Dead catalogue!

Complete Singles Collections have become a specialty of Real Gone’s, and the label continues with a new title featuring every Mercury single released by Spanky (McFarlane) and Our Gang – “Lazy Day,” “Like to Get to Know You,” and “Sunday Will Never Be the Same” among them! Spanky’s recordings were much more diverse than just those sunshine pop classics, with folk, jazz and rock influences – and Real Gone has them all. Oh me, oh my…If you ever wanted to hear Duane Allman and Lulu on the same track, you’ll have the chance with the 2-CD reissue of Lulu: The Atco Sessions 1962-1972! This set, originally released by Rhino’s UK imprint and now a pricey collectible, collects every one of the smoldering soul sides such as “Oh Me Oh My (I’m a Fool for You Baby)” recorded by Lulu with both the Muscle Shoals house band and The Dixie Flyers! Real Gone then goes to Rio with Gal Costa’s self-titled 1969 album for Philips, a key album in the Brazilian tropicalia movement featuring songs from Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil and Jorge Ben. Country and pop star Ronnie Dove’s chart career began with 1964’s “Say You,” and continued with such hits as “Right or Wrong,” “My Babe,” and “Cry.” In 1965 alone he charted five singles, yet Dove’s output has been largely overlooked on CD. Real Gone rectifies this with a new disc featuring all 21 of the pop hits he notched during the ’60s on a single CD, many remastered from newly available tape sources. Fast-forward to the 1970s for an R&B journey courtesy The New York Community Choir’s 1978 RCA album featuring the hit disco floor-filler “Make Every Day Count.” Continuing to the 1980s, Real Gone has an expanded edition of X’s fourth album, More Fun in the New World, produced by The Doors’ Ray Manzarek. The label then arrives in the 1990s with its latest volume of Dick’s Picks. This entry in the series of live Grateful Dead concert recordings restores to print a 3-CD set taken from a 1991 show at the Boston Garden.

Last but not least, Real Gone has a groovy treat with the American CD debut of Mod Squad star Peggy Lipton’s 1968 self-titled Ode Records release in a first-time expanded edition! Produced by Lou Adler, arranged by Marty Paich and featuring the famed Wrecking Crew, Peggy Lipton: The Complete Ode Recordings reveals the striking beauty as a songwriter of great depth, performing her own evocative compositions alongside those of Carole King and Laura Nyro. I’m thrilled to announce here that I’ve written new liner notes for this lost slice of ornate Southern California pop, which also features five bonus tracks including a previously unreleased recording of Brian Wilson and Tony Asher’s “I Just Wasn’t Made for These Times” and rare singles penned by Laura Nyro, Donovan, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, and Jimmy Webb!

After the jump, we have Real Gone’s press release with full information on every title plus pre-order links and more!