Wake Up Everybody (Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes album)

Wake Up Everybody
Studio album by
Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes
ReleasedNovember 29, 1975
StudioSigma Sound, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
GenreR&B
Length39:01
LabelPhiladelphia International
PZ 33808
ProducerKenneth Gamble & Leon Huff
Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes chronology
To Be True
(1975) 		Wake Up Everybody
(1975) 		Collectors' Item: All Their Greatest Hits!
(1976)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic [1]
Christgau's Record GuideB+[2]

Wake Up Everybody is an album released by Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes on the Philadelphia International record label in November 1975. It was produced by Kenneth Gamble & Leon Huff. This would be the last album to include Teddy Pendergrass before he left the group for a solo career.

The album features the hit singles "Wake Up Everybody" and "Tell the World How I Feel About 'Cha Baby". "Don't Leave Me This Way", which would be reinterpreted two years later by Thelma Houston, was a hit on the UK Singles Chart, peaking at #5. The lead vocal on the closing album track, "Searching for a Love", was performed virtually solo by Sharon Paige, who also performed duet duties with Pendergrass and Melvin on the song "You Know How to Make Me Feel So Good."

The album was remastered and reissued with a bonus track, a Tom Moulton remixed version of "Don't Leave Me This Way", in 2008 by Legacy Recordings.

Track listing

All tracks are written by John Whitehead, Gene McFadden and Victor Carstarphen, except where noted

Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Wake Up Everybody" 7:30
2."Keep on Lovin' You" 3:40
3."You Know How to Make Me Feel So Good"Kenneth Gamble, Leon Huff5:17
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
4."Don't Leave Me This Way"Gamble, Huff, Cary Gilbert6:08
5."Tell the World How I Feel About 'Cha Baby" 5:54
6."To Be Free to Be Who We Are" 5:09
7."I'm Searching for a Love"Gamble, Huff5:23
2008 remastered reissue bonus track
No.TitleLength
8."Don't Leave Me This Way" (A Tom Moulton Mix)7:05

Personnel

  • Harold Melvin, Teddy Pendergrass, Bernard Wilson, Lawrence Brown, Jerry Cummings – vocals
  • Sharon Paige – female vocalist on "You Know How to Make Me Feel So Good" and "I'm Searching for a Love"
  • MFSB – music
  • Edward Soyka – illustrations, artwork

Charts

Chart (1975) Peak
[3]
U.S. Billboard Top LPs 9
U.S. Billboard Top Soul LPs 1
Singles
Year Single Peak chart positions
US
[3] 		US
R&B
[3] 		US
Dance
[3] 		UK
[4]
1975 "Wake Up Everybody (Part 1)" 12 1 — 23
1976 "Tell the World How I Feel About 'Cha Baby" 94 7 4 —
1977 "Don't Leave Me This Way" — — — 5

See also

References

  1. ^ Lytle, Craig. Wake Up Everybody review at AllMusic. Retrieved 2011-10-16.
  2. ^ Christgau, Robert (1981). "Consumer Guide '70s: M". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor & Fields. ISBN 089919026X. Retrieved March 7, 2019 – via robertchristgau.com.
  3. ^ a b c d "US Charts > Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes". Allmusic. Retrieved 2013-04-21.
  4. ^ "UK Charts > Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 2013-04-21.