Continuing their Stax Remasters series, Concord Music Group offers up three lost classics by The Dramatics, Shirley Brown, and Rufus Thomas. Each album has received 24-bit remastering, newly written liner notes, and bonus tracks.
The Dramatics - Watcha See is Whatcha Get
The Dramatics were a soul group from Detroit who recorded singles throughout the latter half of the 1960s. They didn’t have extraordinary success, however, until Watcha See is Whatcha Get, their hit debut album released in 1971. Reaching the top twenty on Billboard’s Top 200 albums chart (and top five on the R&B chart), it makes perfect sense that Concord has reissued this release. The album spawned two smash hit singles, the biggest being the ultra-slow jam “In the Rain,” which hit the top five on Billboard’s Hot 100 and number one on the R&B chart. The title track gave the group another Billboard top ten hit.
The album is augmented by no less than ten bonus tracks, most of them recorded in 1972. Not merely leftovers, some of these bonus cuts were minor hits. The delicate ballad “Fell for You” climbed to number 12 on the R&B chart in 1973. “Hey You! Get Off My Mountain,” an epic mid-tempo ballad featuring a winning combination of growling tenor and sweet falsetto vocals, nearly scraped into the top 40 the same year.
Shirley Brown - Woman To Woman
Shirley Brown’s 1974 debut Woman To Woman has also been treated to an expanded reissue. Brown’s soulful voice has been compared favorably to Aretha Franklin, and her searing vocals is the album's key asset. The title track was a major hit, selling over one million copies and reaching number one on Billboard’s R&B chart (twenty-two on Billboard’s Hot 100). “Woman To Woman” isn’t the only reason to listen to the album, however. “Long As You Love Me” bounces along on a reggae-inflected groove. Lead-off track “It Ain’t No Fun” boasts arguably the album’s most impassioned vocal.
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