Song of the Week: Valerie Simpson
When Valerie Simpson's first solo album was released in 1971, Rolling Stone immediately reviewed it as a neglected masterpiece, a designation not lost on the likes of Luther Vandross. She and her husband-collaborator, Nickolas Ashford already had a resume with credentials a yard long. Perhaps Motown didn't quite know what to do with the producer of Diana Ross' solo album--a producer with some obvious influence on Diana's delivery. Perhaps there was less effort put behind it than there should have been for work of this magnitude. Hard to say, but surely easy to speculate. Here are, for you, dear reader, three songs from the two solo albums she recorded before taking to the airwaves with Nick. Here is also access to some of their history:
From Warr.org
Exposed (Valerie Simpson: 1971)
At this point Simpson sings with a gospel flavor that brings her surprisingly close to fellow New Yorker Laura Nyro. Most of the tunes here are not radically different from Ashford & Simpson's Motown production: two songs are repeated from Ross' 1970 solo album, both standouts ("Can't It Wait Until Tomorrow" and "Now That There's You"), and tunes like "Love Woke Me Up This Morning" are cut from the same cloth. More interesting are tracks like the hard-hitting, Grammy-nominated "Sinner Man" (which sounds more like Aretha Franklin than anything that was coming out of Motown) or Simpson's strangely calm, string-carried version of the Beatles' "We Can Work It Out" - completely the opposite of label mate Stevie Wonder's frantic take on the tune the year before. But the album's centerpiece is the opening "I Don't Need No Help," which begins with a stirring two-minute a capella vocal and continues with just her pounding piano for accompaniment as the lyrics form a tribute to artistic self- confidence. This record was unnoticed at the time; it's available now on CD as The Best Of Valerie Simpson, together with six tracks from her self-titled followup.
Valerie Simpson (1972)
Quite solid, in the same gentle/passionate mold as Simpson's debut. Some of the high points are the gorgeous opener "Fix It Alright," the lovely soft-rocker "Keep It Coming," the pensively self-critical "Could Have Been Sweeter" and the What's Going On-style social commentary "One More Baby Child Born." There are two versions of the sarcastic anti-technology "Genius": the first is piano-based and dramatic, the second sly and funky. The single "Silly Wasn't I" is a bit overdone (with its forced "ha ha ha" refrain), but still enjoyable. Despite all this, the record flopped, and the pair soon began recording as Ashford & Simpson. Francisco Centeno made his first appearance on bass here: he would keep the gig for about a decade. Other musicians include Nat Adderley Jr and Simpson (keys); Ray Lucas, Buddy Williams and Charles E. Collins (drums); Keith Loving Illidge (guitar) and Ralph MacDonald (percussion). (DBW)
This is from David Hinckley's article from last Sunday's New York Daily News:
The music of Nick Ashford and Valerie Simpson has filled pretty much every music joint in America. From Motown anthems like "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" to their own hits like "Solid," they've written songs that are at home in football stadiums, arenas, theaters and juke joints. They're now filling Feinstein's at the Regency, where Ashford and Simpson play through Sept. 29.
"It's definitely a different kind of show," says Simpson. "When you're that close to the audience, it's like you're under a magnifying glass."
"You move differently than you do when you're filling the stage at Radio City," says Ashford. "You have to be bigger than life there. Here, the people can see every wrinkle in your face.
"When you walk off the stage, you know exactly how you did. The most beautiful feeling in the world is when you know you connected."
They're familiar with the feeling. In a world where three months is a long run, songs like "You're All I Need to Get By" have sailed through four decades, and the hits don't stop coming. Just this year Amy Winehouse recorded Ashford and Simpson's "Tears Dry on Their Own."
But Simpson says they don't write songs with the idea that they'll last forever.
"We're not thinking of longevity," she says, laughing. "We're just hoping to get a hit. We had no idea those early Motown songs would endure the way they did."
It didn't hurt that a song like "You're All I Need to Get By" got a world-class treatment from Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, but Ashford and Simpson's own rendition makes it clear the song has plenty of power all by itself.
That wasn't part of a master plan, either.
"We don't know where the songs come from," says Simpson. "We don't sit down and tell ourselves we have to write a song."
"There's no one way," says Ashford. "Valerie will play something, I'll sing some words, it can go from there. You just live your life and the music comes out of you. We write about our life, our experiences, our love."
Ashford and Simpson, a Bronx native, met at a Harlem gospel event in 1964 ... They recorded as Nick and Valerie, but found faster success as writers. Their first hit wasn't exactly a love song. It was "Let's Go Get Stoned," which Ray Charles turned into a major hit. "A lot of people don't know we wrote that," says Simpson, "When they find out, they usually say something like, 'Wow, how old are you guys?'"
They hit the charts as singers in 1973 and first scored with "It Seems to Hang On" in 1978. Besides "Solid," they also had major hits with "Found a Cure," "Count Your Blessings," "I'll Be There for You" and "Outta the World."
Meanwhile, they were the afternoon hosts for several years on WRKS (98.7 FM) and they're also restaurateurs, first with 2-0/20 and now with the Sugar Bar on W. 72nd St. Asked if the restaurant biz is harder than the music biz, Ashford laughs.
"No comparison," he says. "In music, there's just two of us. In the restaurant, you have to deal with everybody."
They're also working on a musical adaptation of E. Lynn Harris' novel "Invisible Life," with a reading planned in October. Ashford allows that it has been "a challenge," but Simpson says it's "important that this story get out there. It says things people need to hear about being gay." They also have a CD collection of their Warner Bros. material coming out soon, with some remixes of their hits. Simpson says she ordinarily dislikes remixes, "but in this case, they're well-done, by people who are really passionate about the songs." So they're keeping busy.
"We're blessed," says Simpson. "The phone still rings."
For more on Ashford & Simpson and other Motown music go here.
From Warr.org
Exposed (Valerie Simpson: 1971)
At this point Simpson sings with a gospel flavor that brings her surprisingly close to fellow New Yorker Laura Nyro. Most of the tunes here are not radically different from Ashford & Simpson's Motown production: two songs are repeated from Ross' 1970 solo album, both standouts ("Can't It Wait Until Tomorrow" and "Now That There's You"), and tunes like "Love Woke Me Up This Morning" are cut from the same cloth. More interesting are tracks like the hard-hitting, Grammy-nominated "Sinner Man" (which sounds more like Aretha Franklin than anything that was coming out of Motown) or Simpson's strangely calm, string-carried version of the Beatles' "We Can Work It Out" - completely the opposite of label mate Stevie Wonder's frantic take on the tune the year before. But the album's centerpiece is the opening "I Don't Need No Help," which begins with a stirring two-minute a capella vocal and continues with just her pounding piano for accompaniment as the lyrics form a tribute to artistic self- confidence. This record was unnoticed at the time; it's available now on CD as The Best Of Valerie Simpson, together with six tracks from her self-titled followup.
Valerie Simpson (1972)
Quite solid, in the same gentle/passionate mold as Simpson's debut. Some of the high points are the gorgeous opener "Fix It Alright," the lovely soft-rocker "Keep It Coming," the pensively self-critical "Could Have Been Sweeter" and the What's Going On-style social commentary "One More Baby Child Born." There are two versions of the sarcastic anti-technology "Genius": the first is piano-based and dramatic, the second sly and funky. The single "Silly Wasn't I" is a bit overdone (with its forced "ha ha ha" refrain), but still enjoyable. Despite all this, the record flopped, and the pair soon began recording as Ashford & Simpson. Francisco Centeno made his first appearance on bass here: he would keep the gig for about a decade. Other musicians include Nat Adderley Jr and Simpson (keys); Ray Lucas, Buddy Williams and Charles E. Collins (drums); Keith Loving Illidge (guitar) and Ralph MacDonald (percussion). (DBW)
This is from David Hinckley's article from last Sunday's New York Daily News:
The music of Nick Ashford and Valerie Simpson has filled pretty much every music joint in America. From Motown anthems like "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" to their own hits like "Solid," they've written songs that are at home in football stadiums, arenas, theaters and juke joints. They're now filling Feinstein's at the Regency, where Ashford and Simpson play through Sept. 29.
"It's definitely a different kind of show," says Simpson. "When you're that close to the audience, it's like you're under a magnifying glass."
"You move differently than you do when you're filling the stage at Radio City," says Ashford. "You have to be bigger than life there. Here, the people can see every wrinkle in your face.
"When you walk off the stage, you know exactly how you did. The most beautiful feeling in the world is when you know you connected."
They're familiar with the feeling. In a world where three months is a long run, songs like "You're All I Need to Get By" have sailed through four decades, and the hits don't stop coming. Just this year Amy Winehouse recorded Ashford and Simpson's "Tears Dry on Their Own."
But Simpson says they don't write songs with the idea that they'll last forever.
"We're not thinking of longevity," she says, laughing. "We're just hoping to get a hit. We had no idea those early Motown songs would endure the way they did."
It didn't hurt that a song like "You're All I Need to Get By" got a world-class treatment from Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, but Ashford and Simpson's own rendition makes it clear the song has plenty of power all by itself.
That wasn't part of a master plan, either.
"We don't know where the songs come from," says Simpson. "We don't sit down and tell ourselves we have to write a song."
"There's no one way," says Ashford. "Valerie will play something, I'll sing some words, it can go from there. You just live your life and the music comes out of you. We write about our life, our experiences, our love."
Ashford and Simpson, a Bronx native, met at a Harlem gospel event in 1964 ... They recorded as Nick and Valerie, but found faster success as writers. Their first hit wasn't exactly a love song. It was "Let's Go Get Stoned," which Ray Charles turned into a major hit. "A lot of people don't know we wrote that," says Simpson, "When they find out, they usually say something like, 'Wow, how old are you guys?'"
They hit the charts as singers in 1973 and first scored with "It Seems to Hang On" in 1978. Besides "Solid," they also had major hits with "Found a Cure," "Count Your Blessings," "I'll Be There for You" and "Outta the World."
Meanwhile, they were the afternoon hosts for several years on WRKS (98.7 FM) and they're also restaurateurs, first with 2-0/20 and now with the Sugar Bar on W. 72nd St. Asked if the restaurant biz is harder than the music biz, Ashford laughs.
"No comparison," he says. "In music, there's just two of us. In the restaurant, you have to deal with everybody."
They're also working on a musical adaptation of E. Lynn Harris' novel "Invisible Life," with a reading planned in October. Ashford allows that it has been "a challenge," but Simpson says it's "important that this story get out there. It says things people need to hear about being gay." They also have a CD collection of their Warner Bros. material coming out soon, with some remixes of their hits. Simpson says she ordinarily dislikes remixes, "but in this case, they're well-done, by people who are really passionate about the songs." So they're keeping busy.
"We're blessed," says Simpson. "The phone still rings."
For more on Ashford & Simpson and other Motown music go here.
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