The Parliaments - Testify! - The Best of the Early Years (1967-1969) {Complete Reviot Years}
This recordings was made by The Parliaments, as the group was named, before the drop that end s and renamed themself to simple Parliament and released Osmium on Invictus.
This is the complete Revilot singles, so here you got a soul classic, these recording is not so common even that it has been released twice on CD, once with 16 tracks without the Heart Trouble single and The Fellows B-Side, and this this one with all these track too, this is great album indeed, so just try it out.
Lot of these tracks they reworked on later albums.
Testify, All Your Goodies Are Gone and The Goose is on the second Parliament album Up For The Down Stoke,
Good Old Music is on the first Funkadelic album simple called Funkadelic,
That Was My Girl is on the Funkadelic album America Eats You Young,
Testify is even on Johnnie Taylor's Philosphy Continues,
so maybe the track is familiar with you even if the recordings don't are.
01 - (I Wanna) Testify (3:04) (Taylor/Clinton)
02 - I Can Feel The Ice Melting (2:37) (Clinton/Lewis)
03 - All Your Goodies Are Gone (3:13) (Clinton/Haskins)
04 - Don't Be Sore At Me (2:26) (Clinton/Lewis/Thomas)
05 - Little Man (2:34) (Clinton/Lewis)
06 - The Goose That Laid The Golden Egg (3:06) (Clinton/Hazel)
07 - Look At What I Almost Missed (3:14) (Clinton/Lewis)
08 - What You Been Growing (2:27) (Clinton/Harris)
09 - Good Old Music (3:16) (Clinton)
10 - Time (2:48) (Clinton/Lewis)
11 - A New Day Begins (3:07) (Clinton)
12 - I'll Wait (2:49) (Clinton/Lewis)
13 - I'll Wait (instrumental) (2:17) (Clinton/Lewis)
14 - All Your Goodies Are Gone (instrumental) (2:35) (Clinton/Haskins)
15 - Baby I Owe You Something (instrumental) (2:41) (Clinton)
16 - Let's Make It Last (The Fellows) (2:58) (Clinton/Hazel)
17 - She's Always There (The Fellows) (2:13) (C. McMurray/J. Glover)
18 - Heart Trouble (demo) (2:49)
19 - That Was My Girl (demo) (2:43) (Clinton)
Revilot 207 (I Wanna) Testify/I Can Feel The Ice Melting 06/67
Revilot 211 All Your Goodies Are Gone/Don't Be Sore At Me 10/67
Revilot 214 The Goose That Laid The Golden Egg/Little Man 02/68
Revilot 217 Look At What I Almost Missed/What You Been Growing 03/68
Revilot 222 JJ Barnes Vocal/All Your Goodies Are Gone (instrumental) 05/68
Revilot 223 Good Old Music/Time 06/68
Revilot 228 A New Day Begins/I'll Wait
Atco 6675 Reissue of Revilot 228 05/69
Solid Hit 105 Pat Lewis Vocal/I'll Wait (instrumental)
Solid Hit 109 Pat Lewis Vocal/Baby I Owe You Something (instrumental)
Solid Hit 110 Let's Make It Last (The Fellows)/She's Always There (The Fellows)
Golden World Heart Trouble/That Was My Girl 1965
They don't know if these track on this album is the Golden World single
or some other recording on the same tracks, but maybe they say that for contractial reasons.
So you see that here is all the tracks recorded for Reviot and Solit Hit
except the JJ Barnes and Pat Lewis Vocal versions.
This album is the Connoisseur press from 2000
George Clinton - Vocals
Fuzzy Haskins - Vocals
Ray Davis - Vocals
Grady Thomas - Vocals
Calvin Simon - Vocals
Eddie Hazel - Lead Guitar
Tawl Ross - Guitar
Billy Nelson - Bass
Tiki Fulwood - Drums
and uncredit Motown session men
Review by Andrew Hamilton on another press of this material
Early Golden World and Revilot Records' tracks when George Clinton, Fuzzy Haskins, Grady Thomas, Calvin Simon, and Ray Davis tried the conventional route. Clinton's bizarre lyrics grab you on "Heart Trouble" "worryation's got a hold on me, I can't think for myself." Only George appears on "I Wanna Testify" backed by the Holidays. The others couldn't afford the trek to Detroit from Plainfield, NJ that week. Clinton went every Friday to produce other acts and work on Parliament stuff. "All Your Goodies are Gone" clever lyrics' hooks you as much as the slinky vocals, and "The Goose That Layed the Golden Egg" charm lies in its sloop beat and acid inspired lyrics. They redid both numbers, strobe-light style, on Up For The Down Stroke. "Look at What I Almost Missed" sounds unfinished but it still charted on the lower rungs of the R&B chart. A rare falsetto lead carries "I Can Feel the Ice Melting," a big favorite with some. Three of the 18 tracks repeat as instrumentals. The Fellows (a pseudonym) get the credit for "Let's Make It Last." An import, so it takes some effort to find this compilation.
Biography by Adam Greenberg
The Parliaments were a doo wop group formed by George Clinton in 1955, put together in the back room of a barbershop Clinton was working at with friends Raymond Davis, Clarence Haskins, Calvin Simon, and Grady Thomas. Clinton began by modeling the group after Frankie Lymon's group, the Teenagers, but soon moved on to his own sound, which was to evolve heavily in the years to come. The group moved from label to label, releasing 45 after 45 for a time, making Poor Willie/Party Boys for APT, Lonely Island/Cry for Flip, and Heart Trouble/That Was My Girl for Golden World, all the while Clinton was making weekly trips to Detroit to produce for the likes of Roy Handy and the Pets. In 1967, the Parliaments scored a number three R&B/number 20 pop ranking on the Billboard charts with "I Wanna Testify" for Revilot, and signaled the coming changes in R&B. In 1968, the Parliaments had a dispute with Revilot and refused to continue working for the label. To avoid waiting for some kind of settlement, Clinton hastily renamed the group Funkadelic, with the only musicians listed being the original backing band for the Parliaments. Revilot soon folded and the Parliaments' contract was sold to Atlantic. At this point, Clinton permanently abandoned the doo wop style (to avoid working for Atlantic), though one Revilot recording, "A New Day Begins," was released by Atco in 1969. The group went on to form the basis for Funkadelic, later Parliament, and all things funky that were to follow.
The Parliaments as a doo wop group singing ,dancing ,frying their hair and wearing suits were as cool as you could get.The lyrics they sang and the arrangements were a forecast for the cast of funkforefathers and music in general are the most original P .It's the dna for P-Funk,and the backbone of rock/funk experimentation.Much like Sly,Smokey,or the Beatles George Clinton as a writer,producer,band leader pushes the envelope of what's said ,how you say it.He's very punny.Meanwhile the Parliaments as a group featuring the bass vocals of Ray Davis,the smooth Calvin Simon,Clarence Haskins,Grady Thomas,and a high tenor by the lead singer George Clinton.
The topics of these early Parliaments tunes are dealing a great deal with love relationships.Considering one of the main reasons why they started trying singing was seeing the girls go nuts over Frankie Lymon,it's quite natural.Many of the tunes like 'All Your Goodies Are Gone',''Good Old Music,'The Goose That Laid The Golden Egg','I'll Wait',would stand the test of time as very progressive viewpoints on a very old subject so well that the songs would resurface in updating versions spread out among the Parliament-Funkadelic Thang.These sessions are an essential part of the greatest story in music.A story that is still being written decade after decade.
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