Question regarding Harold Melvin's "Bad Luck"

[Funky Dude]

In the "very first disco song" thread discosavvy said:

Outsider: "Bad Luck" by Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes is indeed one of the FIRST disco songs - it was recorded in 1972 even though it wasn't released till early 1975.

I was just wondering out of interest, when they recorded it in 1972 did it sound exactly the same as the 1975 release or did it have a more primitive sound to it??? If it sounded exactly the same then I can easily say they are years ahead of their time with that song as it sounds like the Philly-soul disco standard for 1975/76.

_______________________________________________
AUSSIE AUSSIE AUSSIE!!! OI OI OI!!! :D :D :D

[efunk_adelic]

i've been waiting for someone to step forward also... I'm also curious :-? Funkydude, I will guess that it is the original... it sounds very much like the love I lost. I'm just wondering why they waited...

[originalbigm]

Curious as to where Outsider got this information according to the US Copyright office the copyright for this song was originally registered on Mar 04/75 by the original composers of this song Victor Carstarphen, Gene McFadden & John Whitehead . It's highly unlikely that they would have written the song in 1972 and allowed someone to record it and not copywrote it till three years later.

[discosavvy]

I have been asked to provide more information about BAD LUCK's recording in 1972 and why it was not released sooner. I hereby refer you to the forthcoming book "Love Saves the Day: A History of American Dance Music Culture, 1970-1979" by Tim Lawrence, pages 119-121 and 168. I am not allowed to quote it prior to its publication next month, but I can say that Gamble and Huff deliberately held BAD LUCK in the vaults to concentrate on THE LOVE I LOST. Initially, THE LOVE I LOST was conceived as a slow soul song, but the band decided that the song really needed to be faster to work.

Part 1 of the 1975 BAD LUCK radio single promo was released by March 1975 and its full 7" (45RPM) release came by June 1975 from Philadelphia International Records (PIR). BAD LUCK got released as a 12" single by Columbia Matrix in 1979...yet another delay!

I presume the 1972 recording is identical to the 1975 release. BAD LUCK does sound more like a 1972/1973 era recording than a year 1975 recording...I actually wondered about this years ago and now my suspicion is confirmed.

Is Atlanta Disco Band's remake of BAD LUCK any good? I would love to hear that. And what about Cedar Walton's version?

[markydefad]

I find this hard to believe...maybe the "song" was actually written earlier ( sometime in 1972, after they wrote "Back Stabbers"?)...but I think the "recording" of "Bad Luck" that was released was recorded in late 1974/early 1975. This song was sooooo contemporaneous with the mood and style of music in early 1975---and the talk of rising gas prices, etc. was the topic of the time. Again, I don't actually know...BUT I find it hard to believe that the "Bad Luck" released in early 1975 was actually recorded in 1972 and held for release for 3 years. They just didn't do things that way back in tha day. If they had a hit on their hands...they released it PRONTO!!!!!!

AMG REVIEW: Bad luck was what a lot of people kept having during the recession-racked '70s as they waited in long lines at gas stations, felt the crunch of the energy crisis, and suffered through permanent "temporary" layoffs. For those unfamiliar with those times, check out the reruns of the early episodes of the CBS-TV sitcom Good Times. After co-writing with Leon Huff the million-selling "Back Stabbers" for the O'Jays, the songwriting team of Gene McFadden and John Whitehead were assigned to work with Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes, another act signed to Gamble & Huff's Philadelphia International Records. Reflecting on the timbre of the times, Whitehead improvised some lyrics as co-writer/pianist Victor Carstarphen played a chord progression. Featuring the Instant Funk rhythm section, "Bad Luck" was a bold, brassy piece of energetic Philly soul that has some show-stopping accents and a huge disco hit. Lead singer Teddy Pendergrass, who became an ordained minister at age ten, puts his sermonizing skills to good use during the closing minutes of the track. From the group's gold number one R&B LP To Be True, "Bad Luck" hit number four R&B/number 15 pop in spring 1975. — Ed Hogan

[originalbigm]

I hereby refer you to the forthcoming book "Love Saves the Day: A History of American Dance Music Culture, 1970-1979" by Tim Lawrence, pages 119-121 and 168. I am not allowed to quote it prior to its publication next month, but I can say that Gamble and Huff deliberately held BAD LUCK in the vaults to concentrate on THE LOVE I LOST.

I presume the 1972 recording is identical to the 1975 release. BAD LUCK does sound more like a 1972/1973 era recording than a year 1975 recording...I actually wondered about this years ago and now my suspicion is confirmed.

Well it will be interesting to see where Tim Lawrence got his info as I can't believe that a song is written and recorded without copyright protection three years prior to it's release.
Just not a wise move.Even so would the composers of the song allow their song to be recorded without copyright which is clearly established as not being done till Mar 04/75.Maybe someone who has greater knowledge of the song composing business can add some info in this regard.

[discosavvy]

Is it possible, then, that what Tim Lawrence meant by "1972 recording" was referencing only the instrumental portion, and the lyrics were written afterward and Teddy's vocals were recorded a year or two later? I can't speak for him but could ask for clarification.

Some points we've raised, then, that have to be considered:

* The Arab oil embargo occurred October 1973 to February 1974 and gas and oil prices started to increase in 1973 as far as I know (along with economic troubles in general that resulted from this). The lyrics may have been written and/or modified to account for this event.

* The sound of BAD LUCK is similar to that of THE LOVE I LOST - maybe they were recorded only a few weeks or months apart.

* The style and recording quality of the instrumentals and vocals resembles that of the classic soul years of 1972 and 1973 moreso than the more perfect recordings of 1975+. Changes to audio quality over the years are subtle yet detectable. Listen also to the sound of the strings and compare it to strings from 1979 (and I don't mean the synthesized or looped strings either). Contrast: Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes' PRAYIN' from 1979 sounds a *little* more modern production-wise even with the same Philly sound.

* The BAD LUCK lyrics were copyrighted in March 1975 shortly before the song's release to radio stations. (Is March 4, 1975 what it says at Copyright.gov's searchable database? It's down this weekend so I can't yet confirm what you said.)

It's also possible that the author made a chronological typo and meant to say 1973. Or maybe Earl Young or someone else misspoke.

[efunk_adelic]

Is Atlanta Disco Band's remake of BAD LUCK any good? I would love to hear that. And what about Cedar Walton's version?

savvy,

Atlanta Disco Band's remake was instrumental... I'm almost 100% positive on my information. I have the recording and it doesn't hold a candle up to Harold Melvin's version, however it isn't horrible.

maybe we're listening to a re-recording of the song... who know's :roll: whatever the case maybe... I'm happy the way things turned out.

[discosavvy]

I just realized something:
The energy crisis began October 17, 1973.
THE LOVE I LOST was released at the beginning of December 1973.
That leaves a narrow window of time between BAD LUCK's lyrics referencing the energy crisis and the begin of work on THE LOVE I LOST, if the scenario depicted in Tim Lawrence's book is accurate and if the vocals for BAD LUCK weren't laid down till 1973. That would mean that THE LOVE I LOST was recorded in November 1973 right after BAD LUCK was shelved, right?

The words of the BAD LUCK song include "The way crisis has been goin’ on, oh, babe" - I assume that's what we're talking about here, right?

Oh, and check this next lyric out: "Saw the President of the United States, huh, The man said he was gonna give it up ... They say they got another man to take his place" Isn't that about Nixon in 1974? That can't be from 1972 eh? The Nixon troubles surfaced in 1972, but were they thinking about possibly replacing Nixon before 1973? And anyway Nixon announced his resignation in August 1974.

How then can BAD LUCK be recorded in its entirety in 1972? It can't. At least not Part 2 which references events of 1973 and 1974. Just the instrumental portion then could be from 1972, if at all.

[originalbigm]

* The sound of BAD LUCK is similar to that of THE LOVE I LOST - maybe they were recorded only a few weeks or months apart.

* The BAD LUCK lyrics were copyrighted in March 1975 shortly before the song's release to radio stations. (Is March 4, 1975 what it says at Copyright.gov's searchable database? It's down this weekend so I can't yet confirm what you said.)

.

What do you mean by the sound similarity.They both had the Gamble & Huff sound stamp on them namely the Philly sound.But they were two completely different songs melody and tempo wise.Both had the MFSB orchestration so in these aspects they came from the same melting pot.

From The US Copyright database:
"Registered Works Database (Title Search)

Search For: BAD LUCK
1 Item
1. Registration Number: RE-875-386
Title: Bad luck.
Note: Words & music.
Claimant: [Author and claimant] Victor Carstarphen, acGene McFadden, acJohn Whitehead [Author]
Effective Registration Date: 31Dec02
Original Registration Date: 4Mar75;
Original Registration Number: EU560453.
Original Class: E

However I did come across some interesting information from the copyright that further contributes to our mystery.
Quote
"Copyright protection subsists from the time the work is created in fixed form. The copyright in the work of authorship immediately becomes the property of the author who created the work. Only the author or those deriving their rights through the author can rightfully claim copyright."
In other words the minute the three authors of the song put it down on paper, i.e. sheet music,it became copyright.

Quote
"Mere ownership of a book, manuscript, painting, or any other copy or phonorecord does not give the possessor the copyright. The law provides that transfer of ownership of any material object that embodies a protected work does not of itself convey any rights in the copyright."

The song could have been recorded right after it was written since the authors had already established copyright by merely penning the song.

Quote
"In general, copyright registration is a legal formality intended to make a public record of the basic facts of a particular copyright. However, registration is not a condition of copyright protection."

So in fact the song could have been recorded prior to the date of registration since it was in fact already protected by copyright.

I love it when you learn new things from questions like this.

[discosavvy]

originalbigm asked: "What do you mean by the sound similarity.They both had the Gamble & Huff sound stamp on them namely the Philly sound."

What I am referring to here is the quality of the equipment that recorded the orchestra and vocals and the way in which the strings in particular therefore sound. During the 1970s major advancements were made in audio quality, and as you know songs like NEVER CAN SAY GOODBYE, DREAM WORLD, and THE LOVE I LOST are slightly more primitive in recording quality than AIN'T NO STOPPIN' US NOW and PRAYIN' even though Philly-style instrumentation is common to both. It's usually easy to find out which songs were recorded in 1972-1974 and which came from 1979-1980, with the middle years being an upward transition (BRAZIL, TURN THE BEAT AROUND, etc.). By 1980 the clarity on most recordings is incredible - TAKE YOUR TIME (DO IT RIGHT) for instance couldn't have been recorded like that a few years earlier (and not just because of the keyboards). I suggest that THE LOVE I LOST and BAD LUCK both have the late-1972/1973 sound which in turn is better than what was being released in 1969-1971.

[efunk_adelic]

originalbigm asked: "What do you mean by the sound similarity.They both had the Gamble & Huff sound stamp on them namely the Philly sound."

What I am referring to here is the quality of the equipment that recorded the orchestra and vocals and the way in which the strings in particular therefore sound.


I suggest that THE LOVE I LOST and BAD LUCK both have the late-1972/1973 sound which in turn is better than what was being released in 1969-1971.

I agree with you savvy on your opinion on when it could have been recorded. This definitely will be interesting to find out what the truth is... can't wait for that book to come out. :roll:

[Funky Dude]

Wow, lots of detective work here pinpointing the exact date of "Bad Luck".

Anyhow thanks for the in depth info regarding this song, very interesting facts indeed :D !

Now disregarding the audio recording quality, the early Philly disco sound to me was groundbreaking for the early 70s 1973 in particular. I reckon it really helped paved the way for the pure disco sound. A lot of the other 1973 dance songs I heard are more funk/R&B based and a bit slower e.g. "Love's Theme" by Barry White. Anyhow the early Philly disco sounds a little more mid 70s than early 70s to me.

Now discosavvy, Atlanta Disco Band's version of "Bad Luck" is instrumental and sounds similar but shorter in length opposed to the 12" of The Blue Notes "Bad Luck". It's a nice instrumental version with as much uptempo as the Blue Notes one.

Now another question, what year was The Blue Notes other song "Tell The World How I Feel About 'cha Baby" REALLY recorded? Was it recorded in 1975 or was it recorded earlier around the same time as "Bad Luck" and "The Love I Lost"?

_______________________________________________
AUSSIE AUSSIE AUSSIE!!!! OI OI OI!!!! :D :D :D :D