Disco/Not Disco Pt2 – Eddie Kendricks – Girl You Need A Change of Mind
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Eddie Kendricks
Listen/Download – Eddie Kendricks – Girl You Need a Change of Mind
Greetings all.
As I write this, I still can’t feel the lower right side of my face, having spent the morning with the dentist and her assistant rummaging in my mouth like it was an old sofa and they’d lost a hundred dollar bill. I even got soup for lunch and STILL managed to bite my lip. Fortunately, the good doctor informs me that aside from an extraction, my dental worries for the year are at an end (until next year and the insurance starts paying again).
A look out the window at the foot or so of snow on the lawn is bad enough, but the weatherman is now forecasting another foot or so for tonight into tomorrow. Once again I ask, WTF? I don’t mind the weather as much as I’m terrified of venturing out onto the roads, alongside the large number of New Jersey residents who have no idea how to drive in the snow. Half of them are going way too slow, and the other half, cruising around in their gas sucking luxury behemoths are going way too fast, thus making the NJ highways – already a gauntlet of sorts – into a veritable death trap. With any luck, the wife and kids will have the day off, so we can stay home and sit beside the fire.
That said, it’s time to continue our week long tribute to David Mancuso and the records he played at the Loft.
Earlier this week, not long after I finished writing the post about Booker T & the MGs, it occurred to me that the vibe I got when reading about Mancuso, and his work as a DJ reminded me of a phrase I learned from a friend many years ago.
Back in the day, though (wisely) I never set foot on a surfboard, I became fascinated with the history of the sport – especially the big wave riders – and I had a couple of friends (thanks to living and working by the beach) who actually surfed. Now, the “waves” (quotes added for sarcasm) at the Jersey Shore rarely rise above a height considered safe for small children and old ladies (aside from those whipped up by the occasional Nor’Easter or hurricane). Despite this fact, no matter what time of year it is, if I take a ride along the beach –especially in the morning – there are surfers out there, making the best of what the ocean has to offer.
Why do I mention this? Because, (also) back in the day, my buddy Joe introduced me to the concept of the ‘soul surfer’. Obvious puns aside, what this refers to is an individual who is technically adept enough to compete with the big dogs, yet rides the waves solely for the sheer pleasure of it, making it into a spiritual endeavor. The more I thought about Mancuso, the Loft and the ideas he brought to the game (and how he inspired me) the more it occurred to me that it made sense to apply that term to Mancuso and those that follow(ed) in his footsteps.
I realize that there are all kinds of DJs out there, separated not only by genre, but also by their approach to spinning (though god knows the cats that actually use records are becoming an endangered species). Ideally, when you enter the DJ booth, your ultimate goal ought to be that the folks dancing, listening or both, have a good time. How good a time they have is dependent on a number of factors, the most important being the quality of the music, and the way you (the DJ) present it to the crowd.
The corner of the musical universe I tend to kick around in is generally concerned with soul and funk, of the vintage persuasion. The folks that come to hear and dance to this music are usually a mix of aficionados, i.e. your Mods and soulies that know their way around and are probably already acquainted with some of the rarer discs in my record box, and regular folks who just want to hear something they can dance to.
It probably goes without saying (but I’ll say it anyway) that the vast majority of DJs in this field are – like myself – what our friends in the UK refer to as anoraks and trainspotters, i.e. detail-oriented obsessives with an eye turned to the rare an obscure. The duty of this type of DJ is to balance their own love for the obscure against the true quality of the records in question (on account of the rarity of a record often- not always – has an inverse relation to the quality), and to offer up a playlist that is interesting, but ultimately satisfying to the largest possible number of people. Finding this balance isn’t always easy. I’ve seen people with incredible record collections step up to the tables and drop one ultra-rare stinkbomb after another. I’ve also seen people with less impressive crates (but spectacular taste) light up a dancefloor with dollar bin wonders.
Today’s selection from the Loft, Eddie Kendricks’ mighty ‘Girl You Need a Change of Mind’ is from the less-obscure end of the spectrum. The song appeared on Kendricks’ landmark 1972 LP ‘People Hold On’, and though it wasn’t a hit*, he was well known from his years in the Temptations, and had scored a chart hit with that album’s opening track ‘If You Let Me’. Like Monday’s tune ‘Melting Pot’, I first heard ‘Girl You Need a Change of Mind’ as a 45 edit. Unlike ‘Melting Pot’, ‘Girl…’ made an impact on me, even in its shortened version.
Written by Motown legend Frank Wilson and Anita Poree (though the 45 credits it to Poree and ex-Radiant Leonard Caston, who co-wrote a number of other songs on ‘People Hold On’), ‘Girl You Need a Change of Mind’ is the ultimate illustration of the ‘disco/not disco’ tag.
Eddie Kendricks is unquestionably one of the fathers of what came to be known as disco. The two years after ‘People Hold On’ saw him have big hits with two of the genre’s important early songs, ‘Keep On Truckin’ and ‘Boogie Down’. While ‘Girl…’ isn’t quite as explicitly “disco” as either of those tracks, all of the stylistic cues are present, albeit not fully formed. Like ‘Melting Pot’, ‘Girl…’ contains multitudes in its seven and a half minute span. Though it works wonders as a three and a half minute soul single, it passes over into the realm of dance floor epic in the album version.
The opening riff, with a simple piano riff over spare percussion – soon joined by snare drum and horn flourishes, opens up into a relatively slow (yet danceable) verse. It’s around the two and a half minute mark, with Kendricks repeated ‘What you say to that?’ refrain, that the tempo escalates, backed by a muscular rhythm guitar (right about where the 45 version fades out). Things change again around 3:45, where everything except the lead guitar and tambourine drop out, the band gradually coming back in (the piano and rhythm guitar are especially sweet here) until the drums come in strong at about 5:10. It’s at this point where the picture of ‘Girl You Need a Change of Mind’ as dance floor epic comes into full focus. Unlike many 12” singles that would drop in the coming years, ‘Girl…’ is both song enough for the radio, and (in it’s LP form) long enough for the dancers.
Things change yet again at 5:55 – and again this must have been absolutely magical over the Loft’s sound system – as we’re left with just the congas and Kendrick’s falsetto, followed in short order by the band returning to full power by the end of the record (sounding – at this stage – several years ahead of its time).
Interestingly enough, as proto-disco goes, it’s another ‘People Hold On’ track, ‘Date With the Rain’ – another big hit in the clubs that failed to score on the radio – a remarkable (but tragically short, at 2:40) dance record, that more closely fits the mold. It is also available (but much rarer) on 45.
I hope you dig the track(s), and I’ll be back on Friday with another great record.
Peace
Larry
*CORRECTION – I just dug out my Billboard R&B Chart book, and discovered that ‘Girl You Need a Change of Mind Pt1’ (the 45 edit) was in fact a Top 20 R&B hit.
PS: Don’t forget this Wed 2/10 at Master Groove @ Forbidden City – DJ BlueWater, DJ Prime Mundo, DJ Prestige
Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press
PS Head over to Iron Leg for something by the Beach Boys
PSS Check out Paperback Rider too.
Themocracy