Chirpin'

Chirpin'
Studio album by
the Persuasions
Released1977
Recorded1977
GenreA capella, R&B
Length34:22
LabelElektra[1]
ProducerDavid Dashev
The Persuasions chronology
More Than Before
(1974) 		Chirpin'
(1977) 		Comin' at Ya
(1979)

Chirpin' is an album by the American musical group the Persuasions, released in 1977.[2][3] It was rereleased in 1990, following the success of the PBS documentary Spike Lee & Company: Do It a Cappella.[4]

Production

The album was produced by David Dashev.[5] After two albums that contained instrumental accompaniment, Chiripin' was a return to an a capella style, albeit without member Jayotis Washington.[1]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[6]
Christgau's Record GuideB+[7]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music[8]
The Rolling Stone Record Guide[9]

The Richmond Times-Dispatch praised the "rich, gutsy and romantic harmonies," and considered Chirpin' the group's best album.[10]

Greil Marcus, in The Village Voice, wrote of "Willie and Laura Mae Jones": "'That was another place, and another time,' runs the last line of Tony Joe White’s chorus; as the Persuasions sing it, it is full of dignity, close to bitter, and empty of regret. I don’t know that I have heard new black music this strong since the days that followed Sly Stone’s There’s a Riot Goin’ On."[11] He later listed the album as one of the ten best of the 1970s.[12]

Track listing

Side 1
  1. "Papa Oom Mow Mow" (Al Frazier, Carl White, Turner Wilson, John Harris) – 2:18
  2. "Willie and Laura Mae Jones" (Tony Joe White) – 3:15
  3. "Moonlight and Music" (Leroy Fann) – 3:00
  4. "Johnny Porter" (Bobby Ray Appleberry, Bill Cuomo) – 4:34
  5. "Looking for an Echo" (Richard Reicheg) – 4:11
Side 2
  2. "Women and Drinkin'" (Jerry Lawson, David Dashev) – 6:53
  3. "Sixty Minute Man" (Billy Ward) – 2:00
  4. "Win Your Love (For Me)" (Sam Cooke) – 3:32
  5. "It's Gonna Rain Again" (Charles Johnson) – 2:22
  6. "To Be Loved" (Tyran Carlo, Gwen Gordy Fuqua, Berry Gordy)– 2:32

Details

  • Produced by David Dashev.
  • Recorded and mixed at The Hit Factory, New York.
  • Engineered by Michael Getlin.
  • Released in 1977 by Elektra.

References

  1. ^ a b Pitilli, Lawrence (August 2, 2016). Doo-Wop Acappella: A Story of Street Corners, Echoes, and Three-Part Harmonies. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 9781442244306.
  2. ^ "The Persuasions | Biography & History". AllMusic.
  3. ^ Whitlock, Jennifer (8 August 1993). "The Persuasions Are in Harmony with the Present". The Morning Call.
  4. ^ Heim, Chris (5 Oct 1990). "Record labels turn on a shower of collections". Friday. Chicago Tribune. p. S.
  5. ^ "'Sweet Joe' Russell dies at 72; singer with the Persuasions". Los Angeles Times. May 13, 2012.
  6. ^ Chirpin' at AllMusic
  7. ^ Christgau, Robert (1981). "Consumer Guide '70s: P". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor & Fields. ISBN 089919026X. Retrieved March 10, 2019.
  8. ^ Larkin, Colin (2006). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Vol. 6. MUZE. p. 496.
  9. ^ Marsh, Dave; Swenson, John (Editors). The Rolling Stone Record Guide, 1st edition, Random House/Rolling Stone Press, 1979, p. 291.
  10. ^ Bustard, C.A. (Apr 20, 1977). "Chirpin', the Persuasions". Richmond Times-Dispatch. p. A12.
  11. ^ "The Persuasions, 'Chirpin" (05/76)". The Village Voice. November 25, 2014.
  12. ^ "Rock in the 1970s: Journey Through the Past". The Village Voice. 11 December 2019. Retrieved 9 June 2021.