My Love Is Free: The Salsoul Recordings 1976-1979 in Bloomington, MN

It isn't complete, lacking 7" edits of "Ten Percent" and "My Love Is Free" available on other compilations, but this four-disc boxed set from
SoulMusic
and
Second Disc Records
is the most comprehensive
Double Exposure
anthology by far. Each of the vocal group's three albums is expanded with contemporaneous 7" and 12" mixes. The fourth disc gathers retrospective edits and mixes that reach back to 1993 for the superb
Masters at Work
remix of "Ten Percent." While the muscular and fleet "Ten Percent" is
's signature song -- their 1976 debut, it almost topped Billboard's disco chart with help from
Walter Gibbons
' extra-stimulating remix, the first commercial 12" single -- their like-titled album contained two additional dancer-friendly charting singles in "My Love Is Free" and "Everyman." Moreover, commanding ballads such as "Just Can't Say Hello" and "Pick Me" showed that they were multidimensional. (Indeed, the church-bred singers had been together since the early '60s, and earlier in the '70s recorded for
Stax
subsidiary
Volt
as
United Image
.) Member
Joe Harris
contends in the liners that
Salsoul
didn't give
Ten Percent
enough of a push at radio -- "Ten Percent" itself should have crossed over as much as, say, "Bad Luck," by fellow Philadelphians'
Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes
-- and that the label waited too long to get the group back in the studio. Perhaps as a consequence, 1978's
Fourplay
and 1979's
Locker Room
were comparative retail nonstarters despite offering some solid soul-rooted disco. The stomping and swaying "I Got the Hots for Ya," selected from the latter, gave
their highest placement on the R&B chart at number 33. In addition to the wealth of full-bodied production work from
Norman Harris
,
B-H-Y
associates
Ron Baker
Earl Young
, and several other Philly notables, the set thankfully adds the
Bert Reid
-produced 1983 solo single from
Jimmy Williams
, "All of My Lovin'," a deep boogie gem. ~ Andy Kellman