TEDDY
US Philadelphia International 36003, 1979
CD reissue by US Right Stuff / UK Edsel
1) Come Go with Me 2) Turn off the Lights 3) I'll Never See Heaven Again 4) All I Need Is You 5) If You Know Like I Know 6) Do Me 7) Set Me Free 8) Life Is a Circle
Produced by Kenneth Gamble & Leon Huff; Thom Bell; John
Whitehead & Gene McFadden; Sherman Marshall
Turn off the Lights continued in the
footsteps of Close the Door and reached # 2 on the R&B charts. This
is really the ultimate bedroom ballad: a lush arrangement with lots of strings,
erotic lyrics (”let’s take a shower together, I’ll wash your body, you wash
mine, rub me down in some hot oils baby” etc) and unbelievably ecstatic vocals
from Teddy, who seems to be on the verge of exploding with emotion. A classic
soul ballad.
The opening cut Come Go With Me is another Gamble
& Huff penned mating call, and it did reasonably well on the R&B single
charts, as well (number 14). It is apparently a Pendergrass favourite among
black music fans, judging by the fact that it has even been sampled on rap
records. I like the swaying rhythm, and the serene arrangement is stylish
despite its MOR leanings, but to tell you the truth, the lengthy dialogue at
the end of the song with Teddy singing his stuff and his object of desire
delivering her trite spoken lines tends to bore me, no matter how well Teddy
sings.
Some of the uptempo tracks reveal the influence of the
year 1979, which was the culmination of mindless disco music. The McFadden
& Whitehead contribution If You Know Like I Know is an aggressive
disco-funk plodder with prominent bass plucking, and Do Me sounds hectic
and repetitive despite the fact that the arrangement features nice details, and
Teddy sings it energetically. Life Is a Circle is melodically a cut
above these, and before the end there’s a nice bit which combines a flute solo,
percussion and Teddy’s rough vocals, but the rhythm is still far too fast-paced
for my tastes. The standout cut on side B is definitely the majestic Thom Bell
production / arrangement Set Me Free, Written by LeRoy Bell
(Thom’s nephew) and Casey James, who themselves recorded in the late 70s
as Bell & James, the tune forsakes the bland disco sounds of the day
in favour of a more typical Philly production.
Not a perfect album, but if you are a serious soul fan,
you need to have the ballads.
By now Teddy had a garage full of fancy cars and his own
jet and he was selling out arenas like Madison Square Garden. Around this time,
he was also asked to play Otis Redding in a biopic, but eventually
turned the role down.
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