The Great David Ruffin: The Motown Solo Albums, Vol. 2
CD Edition limited to
5000 non-numbered limited edition copies.
By the mid-70s, David Ruffin seemed like he had become a large but somewhat forgotten footnote in Motown lore. But then he came storming back to the top of the charts with “Walk Away From Love,” the first fruits of a stellar collaboration with producer-writer-arranger Van McCoy. “Ruff” and Van cut three albums together, and they are each a glorious moment in soul: elegant productions complementing one of the greatest voices we’ve ever heard. They’re all here, in our next (and final) installment of
The Great David Ruffin: The Motown Albums.
Volume 2 collects all three of their albums together –
Who I Am,
Everything’s Coming Up Love and
In My Stride, originally released 1975-77 – in one fantastic 2-CD set. Besides “Walk Away From Love,” highlights include the emotional, personalized cover of “Statue Of A Fool,” the chart hits “Heavy Love,” “Everything’s Coming Up Love,” and “Just Let Me Hold You For A Night,” plus classic LP tracks “Questions,” “Rode By The Place,” “The Finger Pointers” and much more.
That “much more” is no false boast. This edition of Ruffin’s Motown sessions includes
an entire album’s worth of unreleased songs from the Motown vaults. These are incredible performances, great productions, classic cuts that were somehow left behind, like his unreleased album
David. The second half of our disc 2 in fact includes another outtake from the
David sessions. (It’s one we frankly missed when researching that awesome release.) Most of the tracks, cuts 10-19 on disc 2, are from the multi-producer sessions that produced
Feelin’ Good, Ruffin’s second solo LP. Producers of these include Johnny Bristol, Ashford & Simpson, Weatherspoon & Dean and Hank Cosby. “You Ought To Know Me” is one of the last McCoy/Ruffin collaborations, an unfinished track from 1977 that nonetheless is a heart-wrenching performance. Another brief bonus is a “Season’s Greetings” recorded for a U.K. promotion around the time of
In My Stride.
But the killer cut is “Make My Water Boil,” a.k.a. “Loving You Has Been So Wonderful,” a miracle find that features the once-in-a-lifetime meeting of David Ruffin and
Stevie Wonder. It was recorded circa Stevie’s
Where I’m Coming From. It’s “two masters mixing it up,” as David Ritz describes in his booklet essay, and alone it’s worth the price of admission.
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Disc 1
1. Who I Am
2. It Takes All Kinds Of People To Make A World
3. Walk Away From Love
4. I've Got Nothing But Time
5. The Finger Pointers
6. Wild Honey
7. Heavy Love
8. Statue Of A Fool
9. Love Can Be Hazardous To Your Health
10. Discover Me
11. First Round Knock Out
12. Good Good Times
13. On And Off
14. Ready Willing And Able
15. Everything's Coming Up Love
16. Let's Get Into Something
17. Until We Said Goodbye
18. Christmas Greetings
Disc 2
1. You're My Peace Of Mind
2. Just Let Me Hold You For A Night
3. I Can't Stop The Rain
4. Nightmare
5. Questions
6. I'm Jealous
7. Hey Woman
8. Hey Woman
9. Rode By The Place (Where We Used To Stay)
10. Let's Say Goodbye Tomorrow
11. Which Way To My Baby
12. I Know She's Not A Mannequin
13. Crime In The Street
14. Show Her In Another Way
15. That World I Lived In
16. Can't Get Over Losing You
17. Bring Her Back
18. Bad, Bad Weather (Til You Come Home)
19. Blackmail
20. One Lucky Day I Found You
21. Make My Water Boil (Loving You Has Been So Wonderful)
22. You Oughta Know Me
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