With the gloominess of our current situation, we all need some Love and Happiness. This compilation from 1990 brings some of the fun back with songs like “In the Midnight Hour” by Wilson Pickett and “Ain’t No Sunshine” by Bill Withers.
Who can resist “Stand By Me” by Ben E. King? Or “Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me” by Glady Knight and The Pips?
Do you remember these songs? Any favorites here? GRADE: B+
TRACK LIST:
| 1 | Jackie Wilson– | (Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher |
| 2 | Aretha Franklin– | Think |
| 3 | Jerry Butler– | He Will Break Your Heart |
| 4 | Al Wilson– | Show And Tell |
| 5 | Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes*– | If You Don’t Know Me By Now |
| 6 | The Pointer Sisters*– | Slow Hand |
| 7 | Ben E. King– | Stand By Me |
| 8 | Otis Redding– | I’ve Been Loving You Too Long |
| 9 | The Staple Singers– | I’ll Take You There |
| 10 | The Chi-Lites– | Oh Girl |
| 11 | The Drifters– | Save The Last Dance For Me |
| 12 | James Brown– | I Feel Good (I Got You) |
| 13 | Al Green– | Let’s Stay Together |
| 14 | Gladys Knight And The Pips– | Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me |
| 15 | Johnnie Taylor– | I Believe In You (You Believe In Me) |
| 16 | Bill Withers– | Ain’t No Sunshine |
| 17 | Wilson Pickett– | In The Midnight Hour |
| 18 | Aaron Neville– | Tell It Like It Is |
| 19 | Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell– | Ain’t Nothing Like The Real Thing |
| 20 | The Temptations– | Just My Imagination |
| 21 | Junior Walker & The All Stars– | What Does It Take (The Win Your Love) |
| 22 | Percy Sledge– | When A Man Loves A Woman |
| 23 | Dionne Warwick– | Anyone Who Had A Heart |
| 24 | Smokey Robinson & The Miracles*– | You’ve Really Got A Hold On Me |
I sure do.
Patti, whoever put this compilation CD together knew what they were doing…
Excellent stuff! Only a B+, George?
Fred, I was considering an A- but settled on a B+. Needless to say, I enjoyed listening to this CD!
I’m back!
I know most of tthese songs and really like them. My favorites are Save The Last Dance For Me, Stanad by me and of course
Think!
Especially Aretha’s performance in the Blues Brothers movie.
Wolf, I just happened to unearth my BLUES BROTHERS soundtrack last week. That may show up here in a couple of weeks…
All of them! Although my favorite has to be “Ain’t No Sunshine”—one of the most melancholy songs of the 1970s. Love it! But George, how can they release an album titled “Love & Happiness” (which, incidentally, seems belied by the nature of some of the songs therein) and NOT include Al Green’s “Love & Happiness”?
Deb, I thought the same thing!! Perhaps there were some legal entanglements. Or maybe Al Green wanted more “green” than they were willing to pay!
It took me a while to figure what this had to do with 1990, but I guess that’s when it came out. Of course I know them all. I see Cap’n Bob’s least favorite James Brown song made the cut.
If I had to pick three:
I’ve Been Loving You Too Long
You’ve Really Got a Hold On Me
(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher
But Think and Oh Girl are close.
Jeff, the late 1980s and 1990s were the heyday of complication CDs. By the 2000s, there were fewer of them.
Typo on Knight’s Gladys above…a good anthology, and the only one that doesn’t ring a bell for me is the Al Wilson song. It does indeed have excellent company here.
Favorites include the Withers, the Miracles, the Franklin and the Staples songs. I might’ve plumped for the Pointers’ “I’m So Excited” if I was editing this.
More fleeting partial nudity than I recall (probably not on broadcast versions): the Pointers’ “I’m So Excited” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iwBM_YB1sE
Also, a typo on the Junior Walker title. Another one of the library bargains?
Todd, this was a Salvation Army Thrift store find. It only cost me 25 cents.
Todd, yes, LOVE & HAPPINESS is well worth the quarter I paid for it.
A lot of great ones there
Maggie, I like the diversity of LOVE & HAPPINESS. Something for every listener!
Jackie Wilson, Gladys Knight, and Smokey Robinson lead the pack for me! As Jeff so accurately said, I hate the James Brown song!
Bob, but it’s a man’s world!
Bill Withers was born a year and change later than my mother, about 11 miles down the road. Wonder how long he hung around the Beckley, WV area…she got out PDQ after high school.
Todd, I’ve been to West Virgina and I can see why plenty of people leave.