David Ruffin Solo Albums Vol. 2

[tempfan]

THE GREAT DAVID RUFFIN: THE MOTOWN SOLO ALBUMS VOL. 2
RELEASE DATE: October 13th 2006
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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[Tasha]

I love David's On & Off and Walk Away From Love I'm gonna purchase this as soon as I can! And of course The Thin Man's also![/size]

[Beej]

In My Stride is easily the best album of the three. Aside from the title track, Everything's Coming Up Love could've remained on the shelf, IMO. There's a limit to how much of the "Van McCoy sound" one can take in a single sitting.

Then again, I hated disco.

For me, the orchestration just gets obnoxious after awhile and David's vocals were somewhat lazy and tiresome compared to his earlier work. By no means is this the same David Ruffin who returned to a solo career -- guns-a-blazin' -- after having been confined by the limits of a group for more than four years.

I think Ruff's work in the years immediately following his departure from the Tempts -- circa Feelin' Good and the unreleased David -- is far superior to any of the Van McCoy productions. In my mind, David was at his peak between 1970-1973; his voice during that span made his work with the Temptations look like amateur night at the Apollo...simply brilliant.

The "Lost & Found" tracks are a nice addition to this compilation, but -- with only a couple possible exceptions -- they quickly show why they were "lost" in the first place.

"Make My Water Boil (Loving You Has Been So Wonderful)" is a neat pairing of two Motown heavyweights. It's something you wouldn't ordinarily hear David sing...quirky and odd. To be perfectly honest, it's really not a very good song at all, but the novelty of hearing David sing over a prototypical Stevie groove makes it kinda cool.

Of the Hip-O titles, I'd put the previously-unreleased (and currently unavailable) David at the top of the list, followed closely by The Great David Ruffin: The Motown Solo Albums Vol. 1. This one, however, falls to a distant third. Unless you're a fan of "all things David" like me, you could get by just fine without this 2-disc set. The best songs here can already be found on Greatest Hits compilations and iTunes for a lot less money.

[nostalgicman]

i think im gonna have to disagree with you a little bit here...i thought "who i am" and "in my stride" were equally impressive. however, i do agree that the "everythings coming up love" album is the weakest, yet still a decent album. also, the van mccoy sound can be a little monotonous, but you just have to take it for what it is. i appreciate these albums because they did bring david back into the mainstream and provided him with a few hits. and any david ruffin music is good music in my book. hell, its a whole lot better than nothing.