GWP - NYC - TLC Vol 2 (2011)

Tracklist
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01. Detour - The Persians
02. Without Your Love - BobPenn
03. My Life Is No Better - Larry Banks & Jaibi
04. Go Away - The Hesitations
05. Never Gonna Let Him Know - Debbie Taylor
06. I Don't Care What He's Done - The Devonnes
07. All In My Mind - Benny Gordon
08. Good To Me (As I Am To You) - The Hesitations
09. You Hit Me (Right Where It Hurt Me) - Alice Clark
10. Changes - Lilly Fields
11. Tennessee Waltz - Little Rose Little
12. Momma, Look Sharp (from the new Broadway musical comedy "1776") - Debbie Taylor & The Hesitations
13. Here It Comes - The Persians
14. So Much In Love - The Exceptions
15. How Long Can This Last - Debbie Taylor
16. It Was Like A Nightmare - Jaibi aka Joan Bates
17. Never Give Up On Love - Benny Gordon
18. I Really Love You - Larry Banks
19. Stop - Debbie Taylor
20. Happiest Girl In The World - Plus 4
21. I Won't Be Such A Fool Anymore - The Modettes
22. Yes I'm Ready - The Hesitations
23. Don't Let Your Mind Go Wild - Benny Gordon
24. You Got Me - Jaibi

GWP productions and the GWP label worked with a host of soul performers based in New York and Detroit, though as the liner notes to this compilation frankly note, their "successes were few and far between." This 24-track CD has a couple dozen tracks cut under their direction from the late '60s and early '70s, half of them previously unreleased. A reissue with an unwieldy title such as GWP NYC TLC Vol. 2 is obviously geared toward the collector market, though even soul specialists might not view it as a jump-off-the-shelf item owing to the pretty average level of the music and the obscurity of most of the performers. Of the numerous artists here, only the Hesitations made a commercial impact, and a mild one at that, though some might recognize Larry Banks as the composer of the early soul classic "Go Now" (made into a British Invasion hit by the Moody Blues). As a composite, the CD is the sound of a company casting about for a hit, knowing what it's doing production-wise, and recruiting skilled performers, but not having that something special needed to make either a commercial or artistic impact. It sure tried a lot of approaches, tending toward the slightly glossier soul style of the period, though some bluesiness creeps into the efforts by Banks and Benny Gordon. Occasionally a track stands out as worthy of closer attention than most, like the Hesitations' lusciously harmonized cover of Barbara Mason's hit "Yes I'm Ready" or "How Long Can This Last" by Debbie Taylor, whose despondent wailing vocals have an urgency missing from many of these artists. Influences are sometimes pretty obvious for those who like music of a certain type, Alice Clark's "You Hit Me (Right Where It Hurt Me)" sounding a great deal like an end-of-'60s Motown production.

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