Here is where
@ohnostalgia gets her revenge and that first 10 of mine gets kicked off by you heathens! I didn’t necessarily have high hopes this track would break the top 10 but seeing so little love for it as middling scores came rolling in one after another was very surprising.
Walkin’ In The Rain (With The One That I Love) is actually one of the most modern or rather timeless songs from the older eras on the song list, so I had assumed it would do better here. The soft soul harmonies, the unrelenting beautiful beat in the instrumental, the lush arrangement in general, the rain drop sound effect, the seductive spoken interlude – what a sumptuous trip this whole affair was to my ears!
Love Unlimited were a trio which included
Goldean & Linda James (sisters) along with their cousin
Diane Taylor (who unfortunately passed away from cancer in 1985). They were created by
Barry White (he would later marry Goldean James, the lead vocalist) and he features as the male voice in parts of the song with his signature deep brassy tones, accentuating an already amazing record in the way today’s rap features wish they’d add quality to records!
Walkin’ In The Train was a true debut as it was
Love Unlimited’s first song and was a hit record reaching #14 on both
UK & the
US Billboard Chart. The record also achieved gold status, selling over a million copies. Were we rating Barry White’s debut, this might have qualified too as this track preceded his eventual career by a year.
Love Unlimited would go on to have a few more hits for the next few years but eventually became best known in later years for providing backing vocals on Barry’s albums and concerts.
There isn't much else to discuss here, considering you were all presented with straight forward beauty and you extinguished it. Grrrrr!
Let’s hear from the audience!
Zar-Unity (7)
shows great taste - Like the spoken story narration. Tech: 4 Taste: 3 = 7 points.
Kermit_The_Frog (9)
has the right attitude but got it as wrong as I did in regards to the timeline of which came first… - I knew of Love Unlimited Orchestra (Barry White’s band) but didn’t know that this was a girl-group spin-off. Amazing - they’ve just found themselves a new fan…
Saviodxl (8.3)
base some great pointers, let’s hope a girl band follows his advice, although it’s a steep climb to get as good as this! - If any girlgroup decides to do a cover of this, they would have a hit for sure!
Filippa (5)
is actually being generous by her standards! - Well I like it well enough. I like the voices. But all in all, it’s a bit boring.
Trouble In Paradise (8)
probably closed his eyes and just got in the mood like I did! - What a mood this song makes.
Empty Shoebox (4)
is not quite right at all… - All the talking ruins this.
Sprockrooster (10)
sees god! - When that chorus kicks in after that intro, I am touching heaven.
DominoDancing (7)
knows better but can’t really resist - The jazzy easy-listening harmonies sure make it obvious that we're in the 70s now! I like the chorus, but overall this is a bit too...slick for me.
Iheartpoptarts (7.5)
is having a good time bring the jokester of the rate - Innovators! They don’t have a “The”!
Ufint (1)
has one of those moments where I find myself in complete disagreement - I’m sure it’s meant to be real romantic, but I’d rather just take a Zopiclone and go to sleep. Strike that. I just need this song. Wake me up when it’s over.
Unnameable (6)
doesn’t have much to say - reasonable effort.
DJHazey (6)
doesn’t do phone sex! - The chorus is enchanting enough but it could do without so much commentary in the song.
Now, with this elimination, we are really cutting into the more Soul sounding records from the list, there are still a few R&B tracks but pure soul a little harder to come by, so if you liked this – definitely try more of
Love Unlimited. The Supremes are still around the corner so see you soon with more on them!