Friday, January 19, 2007

What The World Needs Now Is Jeanne & The Darlings!

Jeanne & The Darlings - Singing About Love



Jeanne Dolphus and her Arkansas-based gospel group, the Dolphus Singers, ventured over to Stax Records in 1967 and spent the next few years doing some backup singing (they backed Rufus Thomas on "Sophisticated Sissy," for instance) and cutting six great, albeit commercially unsuccessful, soul 45s for Volt under the name "Jeanne & The Darlings." It's very unfortunate that they didn't break through, because records like "How Can You Mistreat The One You Love" (featured on Episode #4 of the "Get on Down ..." podcast), "Soul Girl" (the femme version of Sam & Dave's "Soul Man") and "It's Unbelievable (How You Control My Soul)" showcase the group's great sound. Today's selection was written by Jeanne with the Staple Singers in mind, but it instead served as her group's Volt swan song. "Singing About Love" features a friendly groove, great "message" lyrics (which are still timely today) and strong vocals by Jeanne and the group.

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