The Precisions

Listen/Download – The Precisions – If This Is Love (I’d Rather Be Lonely) MP3

Greetings all.

The end of the week is here, and so then is the Funky16Corners Radio Show podcast. You can subscribe to the show in iTunes, listen on your mobile device via the TuneIn app, dig it on Mixcloud or grab and MP3 right here at the blog.

The 45 I bring you today is one of the greatest soul records to come out of Detroit during the classic era.

It is also a genuine Northern Soul anthem and was, believe it or not, a fairly substantial hit when it was first released in 1967 (on both the R&B and Pop charts).

‘If This Is Love (I’d Rather Be Lonely)’ is one of those records that manages to encapsulate everything great about soul music in the 1960s. It is brilliantly sung by the Precisions (another group that should have been HUGE), and arranged for maximum dramatic effect by the great Mike Terry.

There aren’t many records that grab you as quickly or forcefully as ‘If This Is Love (I’d Rather Be Lonely)’, from the opening horn and string fanfare, to the celeste/piano riff that runs under the opening vocal, right into the “AAAHHHHH!” by the group that kicks off the verse, the record packs a unique power to drag people out onto the dance floor (singing along the entire time). That the opening build up is repeated at 1:33, just pumps up the record even more.

I mentioned that ‘If This Is Love (I’d Rather Be Lonely)’ was a hit (Top 30 R&B, #60 Pop) and it ought to have been much bigger, but it was released in the middle of 1967, into a radio landscape thick with huge hits and didn’t get the shine it deserved.

The Precisions Sidra, Drew and Atco 45s are all excellent, and I am confounded by the fact that there isn’t a solid comp of their best stuff in print (there was a UK comp of their Sidra/Drew sides in 2008 but it appears to be unavailable).

I hope you dig the track, and I’ll see you all on Monday.

Keep the faith

Larry

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PS Head over to Iron Leg too.