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There Was A Balm In Philadelphia To Make The Wounded Whole: “You Make Me Feel Brand New” by The Stylistics

By Marcello Carlin


It was the group’s last Thom Bell collaboration, their last American top ten hit and probably their most famous record. Bell then concentrated on working with The Spinners, leaving The Stylistics in the merciless candyflossed hands of Hugo and Luigi, under whose direction they went on to score most of their biggest hits in Britain (because of Britain being Britain). Originally appearing in its full length on their third album, 1973’s Rockin’ Roll Baby, a slightly edited version was deposited in the middle of their fourth album, 1974’s otherwise Hugo and Luigi-dominant Let’s Put It All Together, and promptly put all else on that record to shame.

I have really nothing more to say about the record except to note in passing that here we have two very carefully-enunciating voices which sing different parts of the same song but never connect – hence, the voice is both ego and id, Cupid and Psyche – and that a somewhat clunky lyric sung with serene but truthful conviction will always trump devious lyrical couplets whose accompanying tune you forget while it’s still playing. This could so easily be a Hallmark greetings card, but with the subtlest of touches Bell and the singers turn it into a morning in the life of Monet’s Rouen Cathedral series.


Date Record Made Number Two: 15 June 1974
Number Of Weeks At Number Two: 2
Record At Number One: “Billy, Don’t Be A Hero” by Bo Donaldson and The Heywoods
UK Chart Position: 2

Comments

  1. Mark G17 April 2018 at 05:59

    In the UK this came out as the b-side to "Only for the children" and they appeared on TOTP with that one first - but it got nowhere. Someone flipped it, it took off, and I guess that's why it got added to the forthcoming album even though it had already appeared on the previous one. It used to happen a lot, using a previous album as b-side sources - see also Kraftwerk and "The Model"

    ReplyDelete
  2. David Ellis17 April 2018 at 13:25

    A truly great song 😊

    ReplyDelete

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