Gladys Knight & Pips

With the onslaught of greatest-hits compilations available, it's hard to decipher which versions are truly thorough and definitive. However, this Gold edition is truly something special. It features not only the best of the early years when Gladys Knight & the Pips were a doo wop-styled group, it also contains a seamless transition to their tenure at Motown (where they scored some of their biggest hits), to their years on Buddah, and all the way through to their highly polished adult contemporary hits of the '80s. The sequencing and track selection is top-notch (with the Curtis Mayfield penned "The Makings of You" being the only glaring omission) and shows not only the group's evolution, but how potent and consistent a singer Knight has been over the past decades. This is an outstanding compilation which deserves a rightful place in any soul music collection, be it a die-hard soul fanatic or casual listener looking for the hits.

Gladys Knight & The Pips - Imagination (1973) (2013 Funky Town Grooves)
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 349 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 125 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 10 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1973, 2013 Bubbah / Funkytowngrooves ‎| FTG 342
R&B / Soul / Pop-Soul / Smooth Soul

The first album cut by Gladys Knight & the Pips for Buddah Records was a watershed in their history. Co-produced by the group and Tony Camillo, Imagination embodied all of what Gladys Knight & the Pips had learned in their previous six years at Motown, watching the way their records were made, combined with the maturity of the sound that they'd achieved in that time, and virtually complete freedom to choose their repertory – a factor that they were mature and sophisticated to exploit to the fullest.

In 1978, Gladys Knight & the Pips recorded one album as a group in addition to doing some recording separately. That year, Knight provided her first solo album, Miss Gladys Knight, for Buddah/Arista, while the Pips recorded Callin' (their second album without her) for Casablanca. And together, they recorded The One and Only, which didn't go down in history as one of their all-time classics but is a generally pleasant, if unspectacular, soul-pop outing. This LP finds the quartet working with various producers, including Michael Masser, Richie Wise, Tony Camillo, and the Van McCoy/Charles Kipps team.