The Parliaments “Baby I Owe You Something Good” (2019 Record Store Day EP)

For Record Store Day 2019, the Detroit soul label Revilot Records issued a 10-inch EP with six tracks from The Parliaments, the George Clinton-led ‘60’s doo wop quintet which later evolved into Clinton’s ‘70’s funk collectives known as Parliament and Funkadelic (among other variations). The EP, titled Baby I Owe You Something Good, was limited to 2,000 copies.

Side A contained three tracks taken from the group’s ‘60’s doo wop singles, all of which were later redone by Clinton’s ‘70’s variations of the Parliaments. These tracks are decidedly more straightforward and more innocent soul recordings than Clinton’s later psychedelic funk experiments, but they are good early displays of his unique talents.

“All Your Goodies Are Gone” was originally released as a single in 1967 (Revilot RV 211); it was later rerecorded by Parliament for their 1974 album Up For The Down Stroke. Although this earlier doo wop version is less stylized, it has the edge in terms of real emotion. It’s an excellent song about letting go of a lover who causes pain and disillusionment. “I’ll Wait” is a soulful ballad of longing, originally released as the B-side of the 1968 single “A New Day Begins” (Revilot RV 228); it was radically rethought as “I’ll Stay”, a lengthier progressive opus by Funkadelic, for the 1974 album Standing On The Verge Of Getting It On. The original is at the very least equally as effective as the more intricate Funkadelic variation. “Baby I Owe You Something Good” is sung by Pat Lewis, and was originally released as a single under her name in 1967 (Solid Hit SH-109); it was remade by Funkadelic for their 1975 album Let’s Take It To The Stage. The Pat Lewis version comes across as a fairly standard Detroit soul number on the order of the Supremes; although it’s not a bad example of that genre by any means, it pales next to the artier Funkadelic version that followed.

The B-side of the EP contains instrumental versions of all three of the A-side tracks, which were "not originally released" in the U.S. They were, however, included on two earlier U.K. compilation CD’s: I Wanna Testify: A Historic Compilation Of Vintage Soul (Goldmine Soul Supply GSCD 52) from 1994, and Testify! – The Best Of The Early Years (Connoisseur Collection VSOP CD 286) from 2000.

According to the back cover of the EP, Revilot plans to soon release a double-album titled A New Day Begins, containing “released and unreleased material with studio chatter”.


The Parliaments - Baby I Owe You Something Good

The Parliaments “Baby I Owe You Something Good” EP (Revilot REV 1300) 2019

Track Listing:

SIDE A

1. All Your Goodies Are Gone
2. Baby I Owe You Something Good – (Vocal by Pat Lewis)
3. I’ll Wait

SIDE B

1. All Your Goodies Are Gone – (Instrumental; Not originally released)
2. Baby I Owe You Something Good – (Instrumental; Not originally released)
3. I’ll Wait – (Instrumental; Not originally released)

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