David Ruffin's unreleased 1971 album has finally been remastered and issued by Hip-O Select after 3 decades in the vaults. What sucks is that you can ONLY buy it at http://www.hip-oselect.com/

CD edition limited to 3500 individually numbered copies.

David Ruffin is one of the greatest soul singers of all time.

If you know that, you need to get this album.

If you don’t, you really need to get this album:

DAVID, David Ruffin’s extraordinary, unreleased third solo album, finally unleashed from deep in the Motown vault. Included on this exclusive limited edition are the original 12 tracks scheduled for release as Motown 733, plus seven amazing bonus tracks from the album sessions, and the mono single mixes of the four songs issued as singles in 1971.

It’s the great David Ruffin in his prime, with Motown’s Funk Brothers band in full flower and the company’s producers and arrangers on their game – left behind, until now.

It’s late 1969. David Ruffin is having a good year, following a bad one. His album and single, “My Whole World Ended,” are smash hits, with a second album, appropriately titled Feeling Good, hitting stores. The slender “Ruff” seems to have overcome the nastiness of the year before, when he’d had a volatile split with the Temptations, for whom he’d sung memorable leads on timeless songs like “My Girl” and “Ain’t Too Proud To Beg.”

Ruffin, 28 years old, begins work on a third album, with Motown producers Clay McMurray, Johnny Bristol, Henry Cosby, Ivy Jo Hunter, Smokey Robinson and Duke Browner lining up with hot tracks: originals like “Each Day Is A Lifetime,” the proposed album’s first single; the dramatic “I Can’t Be Hurt Anymore”; the upbeat “Anything That You Ask For”; the mournful “Let Somebody Love Me”; the intensely exciting “It’s Gonna Take A Whole Lot Of Doing”; and stunning covers of recent hits, “I Want You Back,” “Rainy Night In Georgia” and, with a swaying choir, “Heaven Help Us All.”

Ruffin is simultaneously recording duet tracks with his brother, Jimmy, for the eventual 1970 LP release, I Am My Brother’s Keeper. Jimmy’s solo album, Groove Governor, is released in the fall of 1970. Eddie Kendricks, David Ruffin’s high tenor counterpart in the Temptations, is planning to leave the group, just as their hit, “Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me,” featuring his near-perfect lead, hits #1. Eddie’s solo album All By Myself, and the Temptations’ Sky’s The Limit, are released April 1971. David’s album David is scheduled for release a few months later. “Don’t Stop Lovin’ Me,” Browner’s B-side to Cosby’s “Each Day Is A Lifetime,” hits the lower rung of the Pop charts. You Can Come Right Back To Me” b/w “Dinah,” both Smokey co-productions, are issued as a second single.

In a move that ranks high among the many Motown mysteries, the album is never released. The performances, many of them new compositions, are never heard again, not even as filler for future albums. David Ruffin’s next solo album is released in 1973, meaning he had four years between official LP releases.

But the tapes survived. The stories remain fresh. The sound of David Ruffin at the height of his powers can now be heard, 33 years later. The packaging faithfully reproduces artwork of the era, including rare photographs, an essay detailing the sessions and the moment, and full track annotations.

Track Listing

Orginal LP -
1. Each Day Is A Lifetime
2. I Want You Back
3. Out In The Country
4. You Can Come Right Back To Me
5. I Can't Be Hurt Anymore
6. Rainy Night In Georgia
7. I've Got A Need For You
8. Anything That You Ask For
9. Let Somebody Love Me
10. For The Shelter Of Your Love
11. Dinah
12. Don't Stop Lovin’ Me
Bonus Tracks
13. It’s Gonna Take A Whole Lot Of Doin’
14. I Want Her To Say It Again
15. Your Heartaches I Can Surely Heal
16. Get Away Heartbreak (Keep On Moving)
17. You Make Me Do Things I Don't Want To Do
18. Mountain Of Memories
19. Heaven Help Us All
Mono Single Mixes
20. Each Day Is A Lifetime
21. Don't Stop Lovin’ Me
22. You Can Come Right Back To Me
23. Dinah
[Edited 10/1/04 6:36am]

It absolutely blows my mind how many unreleased albums there are by the Motown artists! Berry Gordy kept ALOT of stuff in the vaults.And we all know that he was hesitant to release Marvin Gaye's 'What's Going On' album,because he didn't feel that it was "commercial" enough.

VoicesCarry said:

That really bugs me. Why must it be THAT low-run.

CinisterCee said:

I guess they figure that's how many copies they can sell.

Thanks for the headsup on the release and the site in general.
The Virtual Record Store Clerk function is pretty slick.
Next time you're over there, check out Howard Tate's Get It While You Can.



Wow, they've even got Expressway To Your Skull
(Buddy Miles Express debut album)

They've got a few unique things there but the prices are outrageous.
Well, at least they've got them.

tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...rmusic.htm

theAudience said:

Their prices are a bit high. But they have 2 Syreeta albums remastered on one disc for only $20.

They even have Sonny Charles & The Checkmates Love Is All We Have To Give on CD! I've been looking for that forever.

VoicesCarry said:

I saw that
Some cool selections for sure.

tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...rmusic.htm

What do you guys think about his story-flick in that Temptation movie? Do you think the writer was dirty-ing up his name too much?

VoicesCarry said:

Now that's actually a bargain - I picked those Syreeta's up.
(I saw the link earlier this year but I think they were selling each album separately at the time?) Anyway, thanks for mentioning that, VC.