Willie Hutch @ Motown

Willie McKinley Hutchinson recorded singles and albums for ABC and RCA in the 1960s before a chance invitation to work at Motown in the early '70s writing for the Jackson Five. Afterwards he was signed up by Motown, initially as a songwriter and producer, working with the likes of Smokey Robinson (co-producing his first post-Miracles album), Marvin Gaye, G C Cameron, and The Sisters Love, amongst others. Between 1973 and 1977, Willie recorded, produced and arranged [such is the talent of the man] eight solo albums for Motown, some of which rank against the greatest soul albums recorded in that period.

Willie Hutch's 1970's Motown album discography:

The Mack OST (1973) Willie's first album on Motown was the soundtrack to the blaxploitation movie 'The Mack', and continued the trend in the genre where the quality of the music overshadowed that of the film. A classic score which contained the funky monster "Brother's Gonna Work It Out" and soulful classic "I Choose You" (later covered to great effect by the Chicago Gangsters).

Fully Exposed (1973) Willie's first studio album for Motown contains the awesome real soul floater "Sunshine Lady", a sweet version of Leon Ware's "I Wanna Be Where You Are", and his seven-minute epic "California My Way" (later recorded by the Main Ingredient).

Foxy Brown OST (1974) Another blaxploitation movie score with the classic title-theme, the cosmic bass-driven groover "Out There" and the funky soul classic "Give Me Some Of That Good Old Love".

Mark Of The Beast (1974) This is perhaps Willie's most overlooked album in that it is only mentioned by those 'in the know' and over-shadowed by the more 'hip' blaxploitation soundtracks. For me, alongside his next album, Ode To My Lady, this is surely Willie's strongest LP. The first side kicks off with the funky groover "Get Ready For The Get Down" and runs through to the soulful street-funk classic "Life's No Fun Living In The Ghetto", which wouldn't sound out of place on one of Willie's blaxploitation outings. A trio of real soul treasures can be found on the second side of this gem of an album. The warm opening of "I'm Gonna Stay" is trailed by the beautifully haunting "Woman You Touched Me" and the honest deep soul of "Do The Thing That's Best For You". Soul with a capital 'S'!

Ode To My Lady (1975) A beautifully slick album and probably Willie's most consistent, Ode To My Lady should have been huge. The two singles which open sides A and B, "Party Down" and "Love Power" respectively, weren't catchy enough to dent to the charts and bring people's attention to the rest of this LP, which is a shame as it is packed with real soul classics. There are many highlights, I will give special mention to "Just Another Day", "Talk To Me", "Love Me Back", and "(I'm Gonna) Hold On" - real soul bliss. Willie's rendition of the classic "The Way We Were" is well worth checking out too, as indeed is the whole album.

Concert In Blues (1976) Deceptively titled, this is not a live album, and is also not as strong as its predecessors. Though it does contain the beautiful heartfelt number "Baby, Come Home", and Willie's sweet take on "Stormy Weather".

Color Her Sunshine (1976) Willie was again unable to recreate the brilliance of his earlier offerings but the mellow title-track and "I Love Everything About You" are exceptionally soulful cuts.

Havin' A House Party (1977) Willie's final Motown album of the 1970's showed a return to form. The stand-out track here has to be the awesome midtempo groover "I Can Sho' Give You Love" - do they make soul music like this anymore?

After these albums, Willie had a stint at Whitfield Records before returning to Motown in the early 1980's. A true soul legend. Rest in peace, Willie.