Published on Aug 23, 1999
Chances are, if you’re like me, the extent of your knowledge of
Gladys Knight & The Pips is hearing songs like “I Heard It
Through The Grapevine” and “Midnight Train To Georgia” on the
radio. I still vaguely remember seeing Knight on “The Muppet Show”
when I was a kid. But until I got a promotional copy of the
re-released soundtrack from the 1974 film
Claudine, I didn’t own a single record from this group. (The
Pierce Memorial Archive might be vast, but it’s not perfect.)
Chances are that you’ve never heard of this movie; I know I
hadn’t. In an age of African-American films coming to the forefront
of society, this film has been called a realistic portrait of life
and love in Harlem in the ’70s. (I haven’t seen the film, and from
what I’ve been led to believe, it’s not out on video. Check out
The Internet Movie
Database for the inside skinny on the film.)
What I can say that I wasn’t ready for was hearing Knight &
The Pips perform music whose lyrical content was much rawer than
the happier-sounding material you’d find on the radio. (I know full
well that “Midnight Train To Georgia” is not a happy song, but even
that song doesn’t fully prepare you for this soundtrack.)
It’s a bit of an adjustment, and it will take several listens
before this starts to sound natural. But seeing the disc clocks in
at just over a half-hour in length, repeat listens should be no
trouble.
Two tracks on
Claudine stand out for me. The first, “Make Yours A Happy
Home,” is the track that closes the album and signifies the first
true hope on the album; for all the trouble that the family went
through to this point in the movie, this is the song that is
supposed to suggest that things are finally looking up for the
title character. As a single, it’s decent, but I tend to prefer the
album’s opener, “Mr. Welfare Man,” a song which is more bleak in
its outlook.
One other track, “On And On,” is cited many times by people who
have seen the movie, but while it was okay, I didn’t see anything
about it that wanted me to single it out for special mention. Then
again, when there are only seven tracks on the whole album, you
can’t help but talk about all the songs at some point.
I think what sets these songs apart from anything else that
Knight & The Pips did was that they were all written by Curtis
Mayfield, the same person who gave us “Superfly” and “Freddie’s
Dead”. Had Mayfield not written the lyrics, I think the music might
not have been as dark as it is. I also think that some of the
music’s power would have been lost, so even though it takes a
little time to get used to hearing Knight singing about subjects
she normally didn’t lend her voice to, in the end, I think having
Mayfield as the songwriter works better.
In this age of special editions and bonus tracks, I kind of find
it hard to believe that there weren’t any leftovers from these
sessions that they couldn’t have thrown on to pad
Claudine a little bit. I mean, a half-hour album is
incredibly short, even if it lends itself easier to repeat
listens.
So should you get
Claudine and add it to your collection? If you’re a fan of
Knight & The Pips or you like movies of this genre, I’m willing
to bet you already own this CD. If you want to hear more of Knight
than what you get on the radio, this is a definite candidate for
you – but be willing to give up some time to listen to it.