Archie Bell & The Drells The Albums 1968 - 1979 (5-CD Box-Set)

(Robinsongs) 78 titres, boîte à couvercle coiffant, livret inclus

CD 1: Tighten Up / I Can't Stop Dancing
CD 2: There's Gonna Be A Showdown / Dance Your Troubles Away
CD 3: Where Will You Go When The Party's Over / Hard Not To Like It
CD 4: Strategy CD 5: Bonus Tracks

The first definitive box set of the complete Archie Bell & The Drells albums, plus an additional disc of bonus tracks.

With accompanying commentary by journalist Charles Waring, who writes for MOJO, Record Collector and uDiscover Music.

Archie Bell was born in Houston, Texas, in 1944 and formed the band The Drells in high school. In the mid-60s, they performed as Archie Bell & The Drells.
At the age of 22, Archie Bell was drafted into the army, but before he was shipped out, his roommate and fellow Drells member Billy Butler came into the room, turned on the radio and started dancing to the music and showing off the latest dance moves. Bell recalls, "I asked him, 'What are you doing?' He said, 'I'm doing the Tighten Up. That cheered me up and made me forget my problems with Uncle Sam. So we decided to write a song about the Tighten Up.

The record was well received and was recorded by Ahmet Ertegun of Atlantic Records, three months after Archie's two-year stint in the U.S. Army.

To capitalize on the success of the single, Atlantic wanted to release an album as soon as possible, but the group didn't have enough unreleased tracks in the can to fill an album. Fortunately, Archie Bell was granted permission to return to the US specifically for the recordings. "I traveled twice from Germany on a weekend pass because we didn't have that much material," he recalls. "I flew to New York, recorded all day on Saturday, got on the plane on Sunday and flew back to Germany before bedtime."
"Tighten Up" went to number 1 on the Hot 100 and earned the group a gold record.
But Archie Bell & The Drells were no flash in the pan, as the group's other notable hits included "(There's Gonna Be A) Showdown", "Dancing To The Music", "I Can't Stop Dancing" and "Here I Go Again" - all hits for Atlantic Records.
After working with legendary producers Gamble & Huff over the years, it made sense to switch to their label Philadelphia International, where they landed further hits such as "Let's Groove", "Soul City Walking" and "Strategy", to name but a few.