Inside Tracks #34: "Mighty Love"-Jefferson, Hawes & Simmons: The Spinners, 1973, with Covers by Todd Rundgren, Stanford Mendicants, Stuff, Larry Carlton, Phil Perry

A couple of verses leads to the opportunity to stretch out on multiple choruses, while providing room for rapping, improv, and extended "disco" versions, 12" singles...and, acapella arrangements!

The prodigious hit canon of The Spinners began in 1972 with their first single that landed in the single digits of the U.S. pop chart. Oh, sure, the Detroit Spinners (as they were known in the UK) had charted hits before “I’ll Be Around,” but most hovered in the nether regions of the Billboard Hot 100.

After moving from Motown to Atlantic Records in 1972, sidling up to the Philly sound seemed to be key, as well. The musical marriage of the vocal 5-piece to Sigma Sound Studios, their MFSB (Mother Father Sister Brother) house band, and their solid core trio of creative hitmakers, songwriters/producers/arrangers Kenny Gamble, Leon Huff, and Thom Bell, was just what the program director ordered!

After beginning 1972 with the Bell-produced “How Could I Let You Get Away” (#77), the rapid follow-up turned out to be an historic game-changer which hit #3, “I’ll Be Around,” with info and covers accessible by clicking here. In fact, it turned out to be the template for an entirely new genre which all but consumed the rest of the decade:

Audio Archaeology: The Birth of Disco Uncovered--"I'll Be Around" by The Spinners, Written by Thom Bell and Phil Hurtt

The tail end of ‘72 brought about “Could It Be I’m Falling In Love,” which got to #4:

Inside Tracks #28: "Could It Be I'm Falling in Love"-Melvin & Mervin Steals: Spinners, 1972 w/Covers by Donny Osmond, Worlds Apart, Boyz II Men, Vesta Williams, Paul Stanley

In April 1973, Atlantic Records released the third of four straight singles from The Spinners’ eponymous label debut: “One of a Kind (Love Affair),” which was gently nudged away from the Top Ten, finding a final place at #11:

Inside Tracks #30: The Spinners, 1973, "One of a Kind (Love Affair)" by Joseph B. Jefferson w/covers by The MGs, The Velvelettes, Remixes

Two singles separated “One of a Kind (Love Affair)” and the release of “Mighty Love” in December 1973: “Together We Can Make Such Sweet Music” (#91) and “Ghetto Child” (#29).

“Mighty Love” (curiously appearing as the final track on the album; take note,

Mitchell Stirling

of The Run Out Grooves!) was written by The Mighty Three of Joseph B. Jefferson, Bruce Hawes, and Charles Simmons, and produced by Thom Bell (who also produced all of the above). By this time, Atlantic head, Ahmet Ertegun, had “earmarked” The Spinners to be attached, specifically to these four, at the hit. “Mighty Love” was the 4th in a string of 6 #1 U.S. R&B chart hits, all produced by Bell.

Stuff, 1979

With but a scant six covers following The Spinners’ “Mighty” debut, the first didn’t appear until five years later, an instrumental by Warner Bros. Records’ jazz/funk supergroup, Stuff, produced by Steve Cropper. Backing singers, Faith, Hope & Charity provide vocals on the choruses, occasionally substituting “mighty Stuff” for “mighty love”!:

Todd Rundgren, 1985

Mighty Todd was next, in 1985, with this stab at it, sans instruments, on his pointedly-titled, A Cappella (also on Warner Bros.). As one who has previously “played the studio” (done everything himself, including all instruments, singing, and producing, joining Roy Wood, Paul McCartney, Stevie Wonder, and Prince, to name a few off the top of my head), Todd had little to do, here, but multi-track his vocals! Done and done!

Todd tells all. While not focusing on “Mighty Love,” specifically, he explains the complicated process of recording the album:

The Stanford Mendicants, 1987

As Todd explained in the above video, there weren’t many groups doing all acapella material (now, they’re ubiquitous, largely due to the recent spate of singing-competition TV shows). He gave that as a rationale for recording his album sans instruments. He also mentioned being driven to do things in the studio no one else would do…or could do (citing, of course, his volume of production gigs, which gave him an intimate knowledge of the studio).

As it happens, in the early-’70s (when his “Hello It’s Me” and accompanying Something/Anything album dropped), many in the rock press were comparing him to other artists, Carole King, in particular. He bristled at this (nothing against King; he just wondered if this is what his career was going to be like….constantly hearing comparisons).

You can thank rock journalists, then, for driving Todd creatively into lanes he otherwise may not have wandered into…just to be doing things in the studio he knew others couldn’t replicate!

Well, Water-ya Know!

This brings us to the 15-piece Stanford University Mendicants 1987 acapella group, if not the first outfit to pull together a cover of Todd’s arrangement, were likely the first to record it (on their sly, slippery-titled album, Aquapella):

Not to be out-done (or out-sung), other schools came running, obtained the charts, and fashioned their own vocal versions: The Yale Spizzwinks came knocking in 1989, and Harvard followed in ‘93 with their Radcliffe Opportunes. None, apparently, produced recordings that are readily available online.

Phil Perry, 2007

Phil Perry broke the millennial ice, cover-wise, and was the first to record “Mighty Love” in the new century, doing so in 2007. Perry, now 72, was a member of The Montclairs from 1971-’75. Perry’s cover inspired the title of his album, A Mighty Love, produced by Chris Davis on Shanachie Records.

Larry Carlton, 2010

Carlton then (circa 1979, left) and now.

Jazz and rock session legend, Larry Carlton, became the second 21st-century “Mighty Love”-er in 2010, on his Tribute to Gamble and Huff, Larry Carlton Plays the Sound of Philadelphia album. But, well before that, Carlton (now 76) was an arranger on the 1974 debut RCA Records album by FR&B exclusive contributor, singer/songwriter/guitarist, Stephen Michael Schwartz.

That story is told here, along with Stephen’s personal account of taking one of the album’s songs, his own “Doctor’s Daughter,” and gaining an improbable audience with two eventual Rock’n’Roll Hall of Famers to hear him audition it two years before he recorded it: Jackson Browne and Joni Mitchell!

You’ll also get a peek at one of Carlton’s original rhythm charts from Stephen’s session:

Schwartz Stories #2: Jackson, Joni & Stephen Michael Schwartz, 1972-EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW