Thelma Houston: The Devil In Me / Ready To Roll / Ride To The Rainbow / Reachin’ All Around, Four Original Classic Motown Albums On 2CD Set

SoulMusic Records is very proud to present its latest reissue of classic recordings from the globally ever- popular Motown catalogue, four stellar albums (with two additional bonus tracks) by the super-talented Thelma Houston, a mainstay artist at Motown from 1971-1979, worthy additions to previous SMR reissues of Thelma’s Motown work, including expanded editions of “The MoWest Album”, “Any Way You Like It” and two albums with Jerry Butler, “Thelma & Jerry/Two To One”.

THE DEVIL IN ME (1977), READY TO ROLL (1978) and RIDE TO THE RAINBOW (1979) focus on her work in the wake of the international success of her timeless cover of ‘Don’t Leave Me This Way’, which catapulted Thelma to worldwide mainstream recognition.

Like READY TO ROLL, the album REACHIN’ ALL AROUND (a 1982 collection of material released after Thelma left Motown in 1979) is making its worldwide first release on CD. Included on the (37) musically-satisfying tracks featured here are the charted hits, ‘I’m Here Again’ and ‘Saturday Night, Sunday Morning’ (Reissue producer’s note: the original READY TO ROLL LP included an edited version of this track; time restrictions did not allow its inclusion on this reissue).

Also included, two bonus tracks, 1977’s ‘If You Won’t Let Me Walk On The Water’, a non-album ‘B’ side and 1978’s ‘Love Masterpiece’, from the soundtrack of the popular movie, “Thank God It’s Friday”.

Working with top producers including Hal Davis, Michael Masser, Van McCoy and Brian Holland, Thelma demonstrated her distinctive vocal style in full effect on a range of material from her covers of The Miracles’ ‘Love Machine’ to an imaginative medley of ‘Stormy Weather’ and Ann Peebles’ ‘I Can’t Stand The Rain’ to the Stevie Wonder-Syreeta- penned ‘Just A Little Piece Of You’ and key tracks such as ‘Memories’, ‘Rhythm Of Love’, ‘Your Eyes’, ‘Imaginary Paradise’, ‘Am I Expecting Too Much’ and ‘Don’t Wonder Why’.

Liner notes by SMR’s David Nathan include 2018 commentary from Thelma along with superb CHERRY RED RECORDS * Tel 0208 9 mastering by Nick Robbins and great artwork by Roger Williams.

DISC ONE: THE DEVIL IN ME / READY TO ROLL
THE DEVIL IN ME
1. I'M HERE AGAIN
2. IT'S JUST ME FEELING GOOD
3. I CAN'T GO ON LIVING WITHOUT YOUR LOVE
4. TRIFLIN'
5. GIVE ME SOMETHING TO BELIEVE IN
6. MEMORIES
7. I'VE GOT THE DEVIL IN ME
8. BABY, I LOVE YOU TOO MUCH
9. YOUR EYES
BONUS TRACK
10. IF YOU WON'T LET ME WALK ON THE WATER (NON-ALBUM 'B' SIDE) READY TO ROLL
11.LOVE IS COMIN' ON
12.I WANNA START MY LIFE ALL OVER AGAIN
13.MIDNIGHT MONA
14.PARDON ME
15.EVERYBODY'S GOT A STORY
16.STRANGE
17.AM I EXPECTING TOO MUCH
18.CAN'T WE TRY

DISC TWO: RIDE TO THE RAINBOW / REACHIN’ ALL AROUND
RIDE TO THE RAINBOW
1. SATURDAY NIGHT, SUNDAY MORNING
2. I WANNA BE BACK IN LOVE AGAIN
3. LOVE MACHINE
4. IMAGINARY PARADISE
5. JUST A LITTLE PIECE OF YOU
6. RIDE TO THE RAINBOW
7. PAYING FOR IT WITH MY HEART
8. GIVEITTOME REACHIN’ ALL AROUND
9. YOU NEVER WERE MY FRIEND
10.REACHIN' ALL AROUND MY LOVE
11.I CAN'T GO HOME AGAIN
12.LIES
13.DON'T WONDER WHY
14.I NEVER TOOK NO FOR AN ANSWER
15.RHYTHM OF LOVE
16.(I'VE GIVEN YOU) THE BEST YEARS OF MY LIFE
17.LITTLE BIT OF HEAVEN AND A LITTLE BIT OF HELL
18.MEDLEY: STORMY WEATHER/I CAN'T STAND THE RAIN BONUS TRACK
19. LOVE MASTERPIECE (FROM 'THANK GOD IT'S FRIDAY' O/S/T)