If I Were Your Woman (Remastered) Gladys Knight & The Pips

• 1 If I Were Your Woman (Single Version) 03:12
• 2 Feeling Alright (Album Version) 03:42
• 3 One Less Bell To Answer (Album Version) 03:22
• 4 Let It Be 03:35
• 5 I Don't Want To Do Wrong (Single Version) 03:16
• 6 One Step Away 03:30
• 7 Here I Am Again 03:33
• 8 How Can You Say That Ain't Love 02:28
• 9 Is There A Place (In This Heart For Me) 03:26
• 10 Everybody Is A Star 03:26
• 11 Signed Gladys (Album Version) 02:59
• 12 Your Love's Been Good For Me 03:29
• Total Runtime 39:58

Info for If I Were Your Woman (Remastered)

Gladys Knight and the Pips spent the whole of the 1960s polishing their reputation as one of the most luminous jewels in the Motown crown. As the decade turned, their relationship with the company may only have had another three years or so to run, but their soulful standards remained sky-high, as underlined by the brilliance of the ballad we remember today, their final Motown R&B No. 1 “If I Were Your Woman.”

After an initial breakthrough on Vee-Jay in 1961 with the chart-topping “Every Beat Of My Heart,” the family group from Atlanta bestowed Berry Gordy’s empire with a succession of glorious recordings. They included the pre-Marvin Gaye, 1967 No. 1 version of “I Heard It Through The Grapevine” and numerous other major R&B and crossover hits including “The End Of Our Road,” “The Nitty Gritty” and “Friendship Train.”

1970 had already provided Knight and the Pips with a top three success via “You Need Love Like I Do (Don’t You),” when a song that chimed in with the then-current rise of the Women’s Lib movement arrived circuitously at their door. “If I Were Your Woman” was a stirring ballad written by the prolific composer Pam Sawyer and writer-artist Gloria Jones, best known for her original version (and Northern Soul hymn) of “Tainted Love” (and, later, for being Marc Bolan’s partner).

The backing track for “Woman” was recorded in February 1970 and Jones added a demo vocal some weeks later. When, as The Complete Motown Singles Vol. 10 recounts, they took it to producer-engineer Clay McMurray, his first choice to cut it was Sondra ‘Blinky’ Williams, and his second the Supremes, then getting used to life without Diana Ross.

The man who pointed the song in Knight’s direction was Norman Whitfield, who was producing and (with Barrett Strong) co-writing the group’s hits of the time. The lyrical sentiment was, at first, a little too strident for the singer’s liking, but thankfully she relented. With her spine-chilling vocal performance and the Pips as dependably soulful as ever, the song entered the R&B chart on 28 November 1970.

"Two of Gladys Knight & the Pips' most dramatic recordings, "If I Were Your Woman" and "I Don't Want to Do Wrong," provided the juice to send this LP all the way to #35 on Billboard's album chart. The former has evolved into an R&B classic, with remakes too numerous to mention, the most famous by Stephanie Mills. "Signed Gladys" is reminiscent of "A Letter from Tina," an old Sue Record side by Ike & Tina Turner. Also included are two poles-apart remakes: the Fifth Dimension's "One Less Bell to Answer," done magnificently by the group; and an excursion into funk on Sly Stone's "Thank You (Falettin Me Be Mice Elf Agin)." The rest consists of average material upgraded by the recording skills of Gladys and her guys." (Andrew Hamilton, AMG)

Gladys Knight & The Pips

Digitally remastered

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