Artist: The Real Thing
Title: Children of the Ghetto: The Pye Anthology
Year Of Release: 1999
Label: Castle Communications
Genre: Soul, Funk, Disco
Quality: FLAC (tracks,cue,m3u,full scans)
Total Time: 02:39:04
Total Size: 1.10 GB
Album Info
A far-reaching 36 track anthology that wraps up (almost) everything one could need to know about the Real Thing, beginning with the nine UK hit singles they scored during their stint with Pye during the late 1970s. Necessarily absent, therefore, are the group's early singles for EMI and Bell, but the appearance of "Watch Out Carolina" and "I Want you Back" is a definite plus -- soon after signing with Pye, the Real Thing came to the attention of the then-red hot David Essex, appearing on several of his period records and stage shows. He repaid them by writing and producing their debut single, available here for the first time in 25 years. From there, Children Of the Ghetto takes a measured journey through all four of the band's albums, generally designed to showcase the vibrant consistency of the Chris and Eddie Amoo songwriting team. Although Real Thing's best remembered numbers tended to be covers (including their ill-starred collaboration with producer Biddu, "Let's Go Disco"), the brothers were responsible for much of the best of Real Thing's output, with eight of their debut's ten tracks restating that disc's long-standing claim to be their finest hour. From 1978's Four From Eight, however, the courageously lengthy (11+ minutes) "Liverpool Medley" readily disputes that belief, while the inclusion of five tracks from the band's disappointing final LP, 1979's Can you Feel the Force, ensures that Children Of the Ghetto at least remains even-handed. Both sides of the group's final sequence of singles, too, make their CD debut and deservedly so. While only "She's A Groovy Freak" charted, both "I Believe In You" and a remake of Johnny Bristol's classic "Love Takes Tears" are well worth hearing. Among the most commonly quoted of Real Thing's achievements is their status as the best-selling Black British band of the late 1970s, a ranking readily documented by the various Real Thing greatest hits collections that have appeared over the years. In displaying also the group's self-contained versatility, and often-heroic bucking of their pop-tinged reputation, Children Of the Ghetto's greatest accomplishment lies in proving that they were so much more than that.
CD1
01. You To Me Are Everything
02. Can't Get By Without You
03. Watch Out Caroline
04. I Want You Back
05. Hallelujah Man
06. (He's Just A) Moneymaker
07. Young and Foolish
08. Flash
09. Keep an Eye (On Your Best Friend)
10. You'll Never Know What You're Missing
11. Love Is a Playground
12. Love's Such a Wonderful Thing
13. Lovin' You Is Like a Dream
14. Down To The Way We Feel
15. Plastic Man
16. Lightning Strikes Again
17. Liverpool Medley: Liverpool Eight / Children of the Ghetto / Stanhope Street
18. Dance With Me
19. Whenever You Want My Love
20. Let's Go Disco
CD2
01. Can You Feel the Force
02. Rainin' Through My Sunshine
03. Lady, I Love You All The Time
04. Whatcha Say, Whatcha Do
05. Give Me The Chance
06. (We Gotta Take It to the) Second Stage
07. Boogie Down (Get Funky Now)
08. Saint or Sinner
09. The Story Of My Life
10. You Can't Force the Funk
11. She's a Groovy Freak
12. It's the Real Thing
13. You're My Number One
14. I Believe (In You)
15. Foot Tappin'
16. Love Takes Tears
