Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes: Be For Real - The P.I.R. Recordings (1972-1975), 3CD Clamshell Boxset

• Four albums plus bonus tracks from Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes.

• One of the very first groups to achieve global success for Philadelphia International Records within its first year as a CBS-distributed label.

• With informative notes by renowned US writer Kevin Goins (including 2019 quotes from group member Jeremiah Cummings) and personal reflections by re-issue producer and SoulMusic.com founder David Nathan.

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, in the process creating – with label founders Kenny Gamble & Leon Huff and a burgeoning coterie of talented songwriters, arrangers and musicians - a handful of timeless dance music classics including ‘The Love I Lost’, ‘Bad Luck’ and ‘Don’t Leave Me This Way’.

A Philadelphia-based group (The Charlemagnes) became ‘The Blue Notes’ after Harold Melvin joined them in the mid-50s and after a number of personnel changes, Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes achieved their first US Top R&B hit in 1965 with ‘Get Out (And Cry)’. 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 Teddy 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, 3-CD box set.

TRACK LISTING

DISC ONE
I MISS YOU / BLACK & BLUE
1. I MISS YOU
2. EBONY WOMAN
3. YESTERDAY I HAD THE BLUES
4. IF YOU DON'T KNOW ME BY NOW
5. BE FOR REAL
6. LET ME INTO YOUR WORLD
7. LET IT BE YOU
8. CABARET
9. THE LOVE I LOST
10. IT ALL DEPENDS ON YOU
11. CONCENTRATE ON ME
12. SATISFACTION GUARANTEED (OR TAKE YOUR LOVE BACK)
13. IS THERE A PLACE FOR ME?
14. I'M WEAK FOR YOU
15. I'M COMING HOME TOMORROW

DISC TWO
TO BE TRUE / WAKE UP EVERYBODY
1. WHERE ARE ALL MY FRIENDS
2. TO BE TRUE
3. PRETTY FLOWER
4. HOPE THAT WE CAN BE TOGETHER SOON - Sharon Paige And Harold Melvin And The Blue Notes
5. NOBODY COULD TAKE YOUR PLACE
6. SOMEWHERE DOWN THE LINE
7. BAD LUCK
8. IT'S ALL BECAUSE OF A WOMAN
9. WAKE UP EVERYBODY
10. KEEP ON LOVIN' YOU
11. YOU KNOW HOW TO MAKE ME FEEL SO GOOD - Featuring Sharon Paige
12. DON'T LEAVE ME THIS WAY
13. TELL THE WORLD HOW I FEEL ABOUT 'CHA BABY
14. TO BE FREE TO BE WHO WE ARE
15. I'M SEARCHING FOR A LOVE -Featuring Sharon Paige

DISC THREE
VARIOUS BONUS TRACKS
1. EVERYBODY'S TALKIN'
2. BAD LUCK (TOM MOULTON MIX)
3. DON'T LEAVE ME THIS WAY (TOM MOULTON MIX)
4. THE LOVE I LOST (LIVE)
5. IF YOU DON'T KNOW ME BY NOW (LIVE)
6. I MISS YOU (LIVE)