The Emotions – Blind Alley
The Emotions – Boss Love Maker
The Emotions – Take Me Back
A little while ago I was obsessively trying to get a solid copy of The Emotions “Blind Alley” on 45. Ever since I first found out this was the sample behind Big Daddy Kane’s “Ain’t No Half Steppin'” I’ve been in love with this track. I always promise myself to pick it up and never do. Well, as I was mentioning, earlier in the year I was tired of not having this in my collection. But I ran into unusually bad luck securing a copy. I’d run into it when I didn’t have any money, and it would be gone from stores when I did have the dough. I’d scope the “perfect” copy on Ebay and sniped or taken away just before the auction closed or I’d forget my phone. It was comical how many times I missed this 45.
At some point I realized that the song was also on a LP, and since I’m much more of an LP guy it made more since to go there. The copy I did secure actually cost less than most of the 45s, but it did come with a price, “Blind Alley” had probably the most surface noise of any track on the LP. So, I’ll likely “Mint-Up” on this one at some point, but it’s still nice to have. I wasn’t aware that Dale Warren (who produced one of my favorite projects of all-time 24-Carat Black) was involved on this particular production, but you hear his influence (as well as Isaac Hayes) on “Take It Back” and a few other tracks. Overall great sound from Muscle Shoals and eveyone else involved, Untouched is definitely worth a look.
Cheers,
Michael