AN IMPROVEMENT OVER THE FIRST ALBUM
5
By JLeeJr
On their second Warner Brothers album, Ashford and Simpson upped the mood from 1973's somewhat mellow GIMME SOMETHING REAL. While that album was excellent, I WANNA BE SELFISH trumps it by offering shorter, more precise songs, more spirited performances by Nick and Valerie, and great uptempo tunes including the catchy, r&b top-40 single "Main Line", considered one of the prototypes of a disco recording according to historians.
Other recording artists back in the day must have been listening to this album because four songs here have been covered by others: "Everybody's Got To Give It Up" (covered by the Fifth Dimension), the beautiful "I Had A Love" (covered by Ben E. King), "Ain't Nothing But A Maybe" (covered by Rufus featurng Chaka Khan, and Diana Ross), and "Take All The Time You Need" (covered by Roy Ayers on his breakthrough 1975 album MYSTIC VOYAGE).
Criminally overlooked at the time of release and out-of-print for over thirty years, I WANNA BE SELFISH is a treasure waiting to be discovered again. This album demonstrates r&b songwriting at its best.