Best Of My Love: The Best Of The Emotions CD

The Emotions: Wanda Hutchinson, Sheila Hutchinson, Jeanette Hutchinson.
Additional personnel includes: Earth, Wind & Fire.
This is part of Legacy's Rhythm & Soul series.
Personnel: Joe Hutchinson, Jon Lind, Keith Henderson, Al McKay, Roland Bautista , Marlo Henderson, Greg Moore , Carlos Rios (guitar); Dorothy Ashby (harp); Don Myrick, Fred Jackson, Jr. , George Patterson, Richard Brown , Bill Greene, Jerome Richardson (flute, saxophone); Chuck Findley, Elmer Brown, Gary Grant, Jerry Hey, Judd Miller, Michael Harris, Nolan Andrew Smith, Oscar Brashear, Steve Madaio, Bobby Bryant , Bobby Rodriguez, Rahmlee Michael Davis (trumpet); Richard Perissi, Marilyn Robinson, Gale Robinson, Barbara Korn, Sidney Muldrow, Vincent DeRosa, Alan Robinson (French horn); George Bohannon, Garnett Brown, Slyde Hyde, Bill Reichenbach Jr. , George Thatcher, Maurice Spears, Louis Satterfield, Lew McCreary, Bob Payne (trombone); Billy Meyers (alto horn, keyboards); Benjamin Wright (alto horn); Rick Kelly (organ, synthesizer); Richard Kelly (organ); Clarence McDonald, David Paich, Garry Glenn, Jerry Peters, Larry Dunn, Skip Scarborough, Tennyson Stephens, Terry Marshall, Wayne Vaughn, David Foster (keyboards); Victor Feldman (vibraphone, vibraslap); Fred White (drums, percussion); James Gadson, Donzelle Davis, Maurice White, Leon "Ndugu" Chancler, Ricky Lawson, Steve Ferrone (drums); Paulinho Da Costa, Earl DeRouen (percussion).
Recording information: Davlen Sound Studios; George Massenburg Stu; Wally Heider Studio 3, Hollywood Sound Recorders, Kendu.
Director: Adam Block.
Unknown Contributor Role: Paulinho Da Costa.
This 16-track, 69-minute disc surveys the Emotions' five-year, five-album stay on Columbia Records (and the custom label ARC), which was the group's most successful period, featuring the gold number one hit "Best of My Love" and the gold Top Ten hit "Boogie Wonderland" (on which the Emotions backed their mentors, Earth, Wind & Fire), both of which are heard here, along with four other songs that saw action on the pop charts. Surprisingly, the Emotions' five singles that only made the R&B charts are excluded in favor of album tracks. Unlike their earlier period at Stax, at Columbia the Emotions were essentially an adjunct to EW&F and its leader, Maurice White, and since EW&F featured tenor and falsetto vocals, the similarity was often heightened, especially on "Boogie Wonderland." Nevertheless, the sisters sang well over the horns and disco rhythms that characterized the pop/R&B music of the period. ~ William Ruhlmann