"Love's theme" vocal and the strange Johnny Bristo

[Nano]

This weeked a friend borrowed me a PolyGram CD series called "Hits of...", covering two years at a time from 1965 to the Nineties. So I'm here checking track names that I don't remember, looking for alternate versions and making mp3 copies in my hard drive. Two things I found interesting in the volume "Hits of 73+74":

1) It features "Love's theme" by the Love Unlimited Orchestra. OK, but this is the VOCAL VERSION! I knew there was one -someone did a thread about this a while ago- but this is the first time I hear it, and it's good. If someone is still looking for it, this compilation CD have it (with no warning on the label or booklet).

2) There's a song called "Hang on in there baby" by Johnny Bristol. On first hearing it sounds like a white singer being produced by Barry White, or at least doing a BW ripoff. Then I look in my "Soul A-Z" encyclopedia and this guy has great credentials! In Motown he produced Junior Walker, Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight & The Pips and even a couple of Marvin Gaye-Tammi Terrell duets! :o Then he left Motown and produced Tavares :o , and then he produced Boz Scaggs! :o Still, there's not even a mention of Barry White.
Anyone knows more about this Bristol lad? He has four LPs in between 1974 (Hang on in there baby) and 1981. Are them worth hearing?

[Bernie]

Originally Posted by Nano

1) It features "Love's theme" by the Love Unlimited Orchestra. OK, but this is the VOCAL VERSION!

This also has been on the Funky Collector CD for a number of years and is pretty good.

[NickNack]

Johnny Bristol died in March of this year. He is mentioned in our "Disco People" section of the site. Also, check out this bio from AMG:

JOhnny Bristol

Johnny and Barry White were beginning to break as artists about the same time --- '73 or '74. Each had been working behind the scenes for many years before this.

BTW: The 'vocal' of "Love's Theme" is originally from the Love Unlimited (not LUO) album, IN HEAT, released in 1974.

[markydefad]

Originally Posted by Nano

2) There's a song called "Hang on in there baby" by Johnny Bristol. On first hearing it sounds like a white singer being produced by Barry White, or at least doing a BW ripoff. Then I look in my "Soul A-Z" encyclopedia and this guy has great credentials! In Motown he produced Junior Walker, Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight & The Pips and even a couple of Marvin Gaye-Tammi Terrell duets! :o Then he left Motown and produced Tavares :o , and then he produced Boz Scaggs! :o Still, there's not even a mention of Barry White.
Anyone knows more about this Bristol lad? He has four LPs in between 1974 (Hang on in there baby) and 1981. Are them worth hearing?

Nano,

"Hang On In There Baby" is one of my alltime faves...soooo smoooth and sexy and altogether wonderful. Johnny's followups never got to me as much. I recently purchased "Bristol's Creme" and it was just "OK". The BEST to my knowledge is from 1981: "Free to be Me" on Hansa/Handshake. This has some terrific tracks: "Love No Longer Has A Hold On Me", "Sweet & Deep", Hold Onto Love" and especially, "Take Me Down". His voice is deep and sexy and the production is good.

He remade "Hang On In There Baby" with Alton McCLain ("It Must Be Love") in 1980. This version is real good too. It's on cd.

Bristol produced "Someday We'll Be Together" for Diana Ross' solo debut...but Motown decided to release it as the farewell DR & Supremes record (thematically apt - we're breaking up...but there's hope :P ) although the "Supremes" didn't even sing on this track. The Waters sisters did the backups. BUT-- Mary & Cindy lipsynched the backups when they did the number on "Ed Sullivan".

Johnny Bristol can also be heard singing with Miss Ross on the "These Things Will Keep Me Loving You" on her solo debut.

[zeca azevedo]

Hey NANO,

I simply cannot believe that you didn't know JOHNNY BRISTOL and HANG ON IN THERE BABY... This song was a huge hit at the time and it appears in tons of 70's pop and soul compilations. The man was one of the greatest producers and songwriters of the MOTOWN staff [you can hear his voice in SOMEDAY WE'LL BE TOGETHER by THE SUPREMES - he wrote the song and produced the record]. Like ISAAC HAYES first, BARRY WHITE later [remember, the trademark BARRY WHITE sound owns a lot to the symphonic soul developed by ISAAC HAYES in his late 60's masterpiece, HOT BUTTERED SOUL] , BRISTOL was a soul producer that decided to record some solo albums. After the triumph of ISAAC and BARRY on the pop market, JOHNNY BRISTOL saw an opportunity in the early 70's to shine as a recording star just as a producer. His albums are all great, the highlights being HANG ON IN THERE BABY, the album, and BRISTOL'S CREME [MARKY thinks it's just OK, but I really love this one].

Some other great songs recorded by JOHNNY BRISTOL:

- HAVE YOURSELF A GOOD TIME THINKIN' ABOUT THE GOOD TIMES [wonderful pop soul song, one of my favorites ever and a genuine classic, deserves more recognition these days]
- LOVE NO LONGER HAS A HOLD ON ME [this rare groove classic is huge among soul fans here - at least among my friends who are all black music connoisseurs; great record]
- DO IT TO MY MIND [sexy midtempo song]
- SHE CAME INTO MY LIFE [another of my favorites by JOHNNY BRISTOL, you OUGHTA know this one]
- LOVE ME FOR A REASON [ he's the writer of the song and his own recording is FAR BETTER than THE OSMONDS']
- LOVE TAKES TEARS [a record in the same vein of HANG ON IN THERE BABY]
- LUSTY LADY [funky and sophisticated, up there with the best records BARRY WHITE did in the 70's]
- I WOUDN'T CHANGE A THING
- I LOVE TALKING ABOUT BABY [red hot ballad]
- BABY'S SO MUCH FUN TO CREAM [another great sexy ballad]

And I can list more songs. You see, the guy had strong credentials and a long career on the soul scene when he decided to go solo in the 70's. His records are very soulful, sometimes more soulful than BARRY WHITE's. To give you an idea of the quality of his work, when the guys on MOJO magazine decided to do a list of the best 100 soul albums of all-time, they included HANG ON IN THERE BABY... and none of BARRY WHITE's records. Unfair, you say? I don't know, but I was very happy because I was not the only one thinkin' that JOHNNY BRISTOL's solo records are great.

So what you're waiting for? Go find his records, NANO, it's an order! :lol:

Peace,

zeca azevedo, having myself a good time thinkin' about the good times

P.S.: I forgot to mention - JOHNNY BRISTOL died THIS YEAR, on MARCH 21.

[QUINNY]

I too was surprised that you didn't know of Johnny Bristol and Hang On In There Baby.
It was a surprise that the record wasn't banned for having sexually explicit lyrics, eh? Singing about "virgin love" and "sweet moment of surrender". In 1974, that was pretty much way off the scale.

[Karlos]

Johnny Bristol's "Hang on in there Baby" is an all time classic. I also like "Do it to my mind" an early Atlantic 12 inch from 1976. "Love no longer has a hold on me" is also a classic track from the early 80's. A word of caution here though. The US release of "Love.." on Handshake records is much different to the European release on Ariola. The Ariola version is, in my opinion, much superior.

[Nano]

Thanks for your comments... Bear in mind that when "Hang on in there baby" came out I was, like 9 years old! :) I remember hearing Barry White in the radio, and other records my brothers brought home, but didn't know about Mr. Bristol. My first reaction on hearing this track was "hey, who's this guy replicating BW's sound?" I mean the orchestration. Of course Isaac Hayes was first -everybody is in debt with him, even The Arranger himself, Mr. Curtis Mayfield- but this recording reminds me a lot of early BW hits like "You're the first, the last, my everything" or "What am I gonna do with you".
Anyway, seems I have some hunting to do! :)