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Originally published in MusicHound R&B: The Essential Album Guide,
Gary Graff, Josh Freedom du Lac, and Jim McFarlin (eds.); Visible Ink
Press (Detroit, MI): 1998.
Born Eugene Dixon, July 6, 1937, Chicago, Illinois
Gene Chandler's association with his first and biggest hit, the perennial
oldies-station favorite "Duke of Earl", tends to overshadow
a long and fruitful career as a consistently effective Chicago pop/soul
stylist. Chandler's instantly recognizable, anguished tenor, polished
by his years in doo-wop with the Dukays, proved to be a perfect vehicle
for the urbane love songs of Chicago's greatest pop/soul composer, Curtis
Mayfield. Chandler, Mayfield, and producer Carl Davis collaborated on
a string of hits for the Constellation label in the mid 1960s, beginning
with "Rainbow," Chandler's most overtly soulful offering, and
continuing with "Man's Temptation," "Just Be True,"
"What Now," "You Can't Hurt Me No More," and "Nothing
Can Stop Me," among others. Later Davis/Chandler collaborations on
the Brunswick and Checker labels also produced outstanding R&B hits,
many written or co-written by Chandler.
In 1970, Chandler's self-produced LP for Mercury yielded another oldies-station
perennial, "Groovy Situation," lighter and more pop-oriented
than his 1960s material, but nonetheless irresistable. Again collaborating
with Carl Davis at Davis' new label, Chi-Sound, Chandler scored two more
dance-oriented hit records--"Get Down" (1978, completed by Davis
and released while Chandler was in prison serving time for a drug-related
conviction) and "Does She Have a Friend?" (1980).
Buy first: [Nothing Can Stop Me: Gene Chandler's Greatest
Hits] (Varese Sarabande, 1994, prod. Various) (4 bones) is the most complete
and well documented of many available collections of Chandler's recordings.
It spans Chandler's entire career and includes "Duke of Earl,"
"Does She Have a Friend," and most of the big hits in between.
Buy next:
- [Live at the Regal] (originally released as [Gene Chandler Live on
Stage in '65], Constellation, 1965 / Charly, 1986 / Collectables, 1986,
prod. Bill Sheppard) (4 1/2 bones) is a reissue of a 1965 performance
at this Chicago theatre, on the heels of James Brown's groundbreaking
[Live at the Apollo] LP. This disc captures one of the greatest live
performances ever committed to audio tape, "Rainbow '65,"
which was released as a 45 from the LP and gave Chandler his second
hit with this Curtis Mayfield song. "Rainbox '65" shows a
side of Chandler's talents that his pop/soul records only hinted at.
The interplay between Chandler and his admiring (mostly female) audience,
as he builds ever so slowly to the song's cathartic climax, is positively
scandalous.
- [Greatest Hits] (Collectables, 1994, prod. Various) (3 bones) contains
some of Chandler's early hits for Vee-Jay and Constellation.
Avoid: None
The rest:
- [Just Be True] (Constellation, 1964, prod. Carl Davis) (4 bones)
- [Greatest Hits by Gene Chandler] (Constellation, 1964, prod. Carl
Davis) (4 bones)
- [Gene Chandler] (Checker, 1967, prod. Carl Davis) (4 bones)
- [The Girl Don't Care] (Brunswick, 1967, prod. Carl Davis) (4 bones)
- [There Was a Time] (Brunswick, 1968, prod. Carl Davis) (4 bones)
- [Two Sides of Gene Chandler] (Brunswick, 1969, prod. Carl Davis) (3
1/2 bones)
- [Duke of Earl] (Collectables, 1976, prod. Various) (3 bones)
- [When You're #1] (20th Century/Chi-Sound, 1979, prod. Carl Davis)
(2 bones)
- [Get Down] (20th Century/Chi-Sound, 1979, prod. Carl Davis) (2 bones)
- [Gene Chandler] (20th Century/Chi-Sound, 1980, prod. Carl Davis) (2
bones)
- ['80] (20th Century/Chi-Sound, 1980, prod. Carl Davis) (2 bones)
- [Nothing Can Stop Me] (Charly, 1980, prod. Various) (4 bones)
- [Here's to Love] (20th Century/Chi-Sound, 1981, prod. Gene Chandler)
(2 bones)
- [Duke of Soul] (Chess, 1984, prod. Various) (4 bones)
- [60s Soul Brother] (Kent, 1986, prod. Various) (4 bones)
- [Duke of Earl] (Vee Jay, 1993, prod. Various) (4 bones)
- [Gene Chandler] (Vee Jay, 1994, prod. Various) (4 bones)
- [Rainbow '80] (Collectable, 1994, prod. Carl Davis) (2 1/2 bones)
- [The Duke] (Gene Chandler/The Dukays) (Vee Jay, 1995, prod. Various)
(3 bones)
- [Soul Master] (MCA Special Products, 1995, prod. Various) (3 bones)
- [Tell it Like it Is] (Black Tiger, 1995, prod. unknown) (2 bones)
- [Soul of Gene Chandler] (Brunswick, 1996, prod. Various) (3 bones)
Worth searching for: Much of Chandler's work remains
available only in vinyl.
- [The Gene Chandler Situation] (Mercury, 1970, prod. Gene Chandler)
(3 1/2 bones) is an excellent pop record produced by Chandler that includes
"Groovy Situation."
- Also on Mercury from 1971 is [Gene & Jerry: One on One] (Mercury,
1971, prod. Jerry Butler) (3 bones), a fine collaboration between Chandler
and Jerry Butler.
Influenced by: Curtis Mayfield, Jerry Butler,
Billy Stewart, Pookie Hudson
Influenced: The Chi-lites
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