Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes

Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes.  Try this one on for size - the song is called The Love I Lost.  I bagged these two records yesterday at Half Priced Books.  A shame - just fifty cents each.  When I buy records for that price, I feel like I am rescuing the album in some small way - as a curator of this art form.  These two records are Reaching for the World, on the left - and the live record - called Black & Blue, Featuring: The Love I Lost.  And again you guys, please know that Gamble and Huff are my Lennon & McCartney, my Jagger/Richards, .  I cannot say enough great things about this extremely talented song-writing and record-making duo.  Suffice it to say, they are in the RNR HOF, and one of my new (old) favorite songs at the moment is called The Love I Lost.  I captures the funky Philly groove of that era perfectly.  The nice background guitar work, bright horns, harmony background vocals, that hot rhythm, and a catchy chorus, and deep lead vocals.  And just a smokingly great beat.

Yes, Teddy Pendergrass is on this album, who we so sadly lost last year.  Theodore DeReese "Teddy" Pendergrass (March 26, 1950 – January 13, 2010) was an American r and b singer and songwriter.  Pendergrass rose to fame as lead singer of Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes in the 1970s, before he started a very successful solo career at the end of the decade.  Sadly, in 1982, he was severely injured in an auto accident in Philadelphia, resulting in his being paralyzed. After his injury, the affable entertainer founded the Teddy Pendergrass Alliance, a foundation that helps those with spinal cord injuries.  Pendergrass commemorated 25 years of living after his spinal cord injury with star filled event, Teddy 25 - A Celebration of Life at Philadelphia's Kimmel Center.  His last performance was on a PBS special at Atlantic City's Borgata Casino in November 2008.