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artist · the jones girls
release · coming back
year · 1992
genre · soul
label · another right production
catalogue · arplp 02
date · 19-sep-2003
quality · 192kbps/44,1khz
source · vinyl
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a1 coming back 4:13
a2 when a woman's in love 4:50
a3 sweet ecstasy 3:38
a4 tell me why 4:38
a5 where is your love 4:55
b1 getting on with my own life 5:33
b2 you threw our love away 4:26
b3 somewhere alone tonight 4:04
b4 free 3:28
b5 merry go round 4:20
playtime · 00h 44m 05s
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the daughters of detroit-based gospel singer mary francis jones,
one of rca records' first gospel artists. shirley and her middle
sister brenda sang with their mother and were later joined by
younger sister valerie. during their teenage years, the sisters
turned to secular music. hooking up with manager dick scott, they
began opening for acts such as fellow detroiters the four tops,
little richard, and others who would play in detroit.
the trio first tried making their own records for the tiny fortune
label in detroit during the 1960's, with no success. they moved to
hot wax-invictus, the company formed by holland-dozier-holland,
during the later part of the decade, but sales of those records
weren't much more encouraging.
it was during this period that session work came to dominate their
activities-the jones girls were in heavy demand to sing on other
artists' singles. in 1973, they were signed to the curtom records
subsidiary imprint gemigo, a label that was originally organized
as an outlet for leroy hutson's activities as a producer and
arranger. "if you don't love me no more," their debut single,
wasn't especially popular, but it led to a follow-up record, "will
you be there," that proved extremely important. the single never
sold but its arranger, gil askey, who was working for diana ross,
recommended the jones girls as back-up singers for her tour, a
series of engagements that lasted two years and brought them
valuable exposure. ironically enough, curtom was sitting on an
entire album cut by the trio that was never released. one of the
songs from the album, "hey lucinda," was issued as a single, but
it proved less fortunate for the jones girls than it did for betty
everett, who later recorded her vocals over their backing track
for her version of the song, which did chart.
their performances with diana ross opened many doors. ross gave
them a brief interlude in her show where they would sing "if i
ever lose this heaven," a song popularized by quincy jones.
kenneth gamble of philadelphia international records and singer
patti labelle were in the audience during a philadelphia
performance, and after the show, ross introduced them to the jones
girls; the group signed with philadelphia international in early
1979.
their first philadelphia international album, 1979's "the jones
girls," included the r&b/club top 20 hit "you're gonna make me
love somebody else," which has been rapped over numerous times. (a
single from the album, "who can i run to," was a hit cover for
xscape in 1995.) during this period the group can be heard doing
background vocals on various records throughout the philadelphia
international catalog as well as on releases by leon haywood,
michael pedicin jr., and others.
1980's "at peace with woman" was their second album for
philadelphia international and boasts some of the sisters' best
work. the playful "i just love the man" and the perky 12" single
"dance turned into a romance," both written by gamble & huff, were
major hits.the jones girls are equally impressive on album tracks
that range from the nostalgic "back in the day" to an inspired
cover of the stylistics' "children of the night."
the sister's final album for philadelphia international records
containss eight dressy urban soul tracks that work well. 1982's
"get as much love as you can" features their jazzy-smooth
rendition of cynthia biggs and dexter wansel's "nights over
egypt," (featuring grover washington), which is arguably the best
song they've ever recorded. the peppery "(i found) that man of
mine" and the soulful "asap (as soon as possible)" are saucy
delights. however sales were marginal and the label decided not to
renew their contract.
quickly moving over to rca records, the jones girls released "on
target" in 1983. once again their voices were in splendid form,
but once again chart success eluded them. despite a spirited
remake of "baby i'm yours" and contemporary pop items "let's hit
it" and "win u back" the album failed and once again the sisters
were without a label.
by the time philadelphia international released "keep it comin'"
in 1984, the jones girls had already gone through their rca
records contract and were once again label-less. this album
consists of material they recorded before their departure from
kenny gamble and leon huff's label. so "keep it comin'" was an lp
of leftovers, but they're enjoyable leftovers.
most of the material sounds like it was recorded around 1982, when
r&b was becoming more keyboards-minded but wasn't as high tech as
it would become in 1983 and 1984. produced and written by gamble &
huff, "better things to do" is pure philly soul. but the songs
that were produced by kenneth m. burke or mckinley jackson tend to
be closer to the sort of things that kashif and his associates
were providing for evelyn "champagne" king in the early '80s; soul
music was evolving into urban contemporary, and tunes like "won't
let you take it back" and "you can't have my love" find the jones
girls changing with the times. it's a solid pleasing collection
that the group's hardcore fans will appreciate.