Ashford & Simpson
The Warner Bros. Years
hits, remixes, & rarities
Warner/Rhino
UK Issue March 2008

Long overdue and a real pleasure to review. Husband and wife team Nicholas Ashford and Valerie Simpson finally get a double CD issue of their Warner Bros. outings of the late 70's and early 80's where they commanded healthy record sales and critical acclaim from the music press for their no-nonsense love and dance flavoured records. The pair, although recording some great sides during the aforementioned period had been around a lot longer as songwriters initially joining berry Gordy's Motown empire in late 1966, where they were put to work on writing and producing for Marvin Gaye who at that time was being paired with another Motown diva Tammi Terrell and it was this partnership that yielded the most commercial success for Marvin on his duets. Go back as far as 1967 and check out Marvin & Tammi's 'Your Precious Love' 'Ain't No Mountain High Enough' 'If I Could Build My Whole World Around You' 'The Onion Song' 'Your All I Need To Get By' and 'Ain't Nothing Like The real Thing' but to name just a few were all songs penned and arranged by Ashford & Simpson together with the respective albums. Diana Ross enjoyed success in her own right with 'Ain't No Mountain High Enough' early in the 1970's and Valerie herself enjoyed her own solo Motown LP soon after entitled 'Exposed'.

Fast forward to the middle of the decade and the couple had parted company with Mr. Gordy and decided on a career in front of the microphone and the rest is history as they say. The next eight years produced some of the most memorable music ever laid down in a record groove. At a time when soul music was running alongside the 'disco' groove of the late seventies Ashford & Simpson delivered their own brand of dance music and their uptempo grooves 'Don't Cost You Nothing' 'It Seems To Hang On' and 'Found A Cure' racked up healthy record sales and high chart placings on the UK/US club charts.

These weren't just dance grooves but a mixture of swirling strings and very tight harmonies making each new recording and absolute must have at the time. For me personally the track 'Love Don't Always Make It Right' will always be my all-time favourite whilst video wise, one of my most precious memories is 'Found A Cure' set in a glitzy nightclub setting. If you've heard Glady's Knight's recording of 'Bourgie Bourgie' they you'll love the original version by the couple featured here as well as the original version of 'Over & Over' which scored well on the club scene for the late gay singer Sylvester who used it as his follow up to 'Mighty Real'.

If your not already familiar with the superb modern soul dance track 'Top Of The Stairs' then you have to buy this CD just for this track alone. Covered by other artists there are a couple of versions used on the northern modern scene and one listen to this masterpiece and its not hard to see why. Ashford & Simpson were the true giants of early eighties soul grooves and set the pace where others followed. After their departure from Warner Bros. they enjoyed continuing success with Capitol Records where 'Solid' became their most productive chart record ever and their Street Corner Symphony continued the run.

Nick and Valerie are unique in every way imaginable. How many artists can you name as master songwriters, arrangers, and singers? Perhaps Lamont Dozier, Smokey Robinson, Stevie Wonder spring to mind but very few are in this class. This latest release is a two CD release with the second disc featuring and array of remixes courtesy of Tom Moulton, Joey Negro, and Dimitri but to name a few. For me, the original recordings are the business and you'll have to buy the CD to experience the magic of disc two.

Make no mistake this is 2008's best release by far.

Rating 10/10.