Be For Real: The P.I.R. Recordings 1972-1975

Three CD set. Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes were one of the very first groups to achieve global success for Philadelphia International Records within it's first year as a CBS-distributed label. The 1972 release of two consecutive 'tell-it-like-it-is' ballads - 'I Miss You' and 'If You Don't Know Me By Now' - marked the start of a four-year association that yielded some of the most enduring recordings in contemporary soul music. Mainstays of the popular lounge circuit, Melvin had hired Theodore Pendergrass as the new drummer for the group's touring band in 1970 and by the time the quintet joined the fledgling roster at P. I. R., he had emerged as the lead singer; it was Pendergrass' gospel-honed passion-filled vocals that were front-and-centre of the four gold-certified albums that formed the legacy of treasured recordings included in this glorious 36-track set. Disc 1 comprises the 1972 LP, I Miss You and the 1973 set, Black & Blue. Disc 2 features two albums released in 1975: To Be True and Wake Up Everybody. Disc 3 consists of various bonus tracks: the group's cover of Nilsson's 'Everybody's Talkin' from The Philadelphia All-Stars' 1977 LP, Let's Clean Up The Ghetto LP; two dance mixes by legendary remix pioneer Tom Moulton, "Bad Luck" and an eleven-minute version of 'Don't Leave Me This Way', originally a track from the group's final P. I. R. LP - never issued as a U. S. single (but covered by Motown's Thelma Houston for whom it became a global smash); and three 'live' recordings from the group's performance at a CBS Records' 1973 convention.