Aanvankelijk zou het bij één duet blijven, maar You're Gonna Get Next To Me was begin '77 zo'n grote hit in de Engelse clubs dat er een volledig album kwam van gelegenheidsduo Bo Kirkland & Ruth Davis, dat in thuisland Amerika (en Nederland) vreemd genoeg overigens nauwelijks succes behaalde. Het titelloze album verscheen niet eerder op cd, maar dat wordt nu goedgemaakt door Kent, aangevuld met zes extra nummers. Een terechte reissue, want The Complete Claridge Recordings staat vol met een uitstekende mix van warme, rijk gearrangeerde soul en disco.
Bo Kirkland and Ruth Davis’ ‘You’re Gonna Get Next To Me’ was one of the great dancefloor successes of the mid-70s. It ruled in clubs for months on end and brought UK fame to the duo – both of whom had careers stretching back to the 60s – when it got to #12 on our pop charts in 1977 without so much as a single Top Of The Pops appearance or doing much at all on the charts back home in the USA.
Apart from one appearance on CD in 2001, this clubland anthem has never been reissued, nor have the majority of the other tracks Mike James “Bo” Kirkland and Ruth Jean Davis cut for Frank Slay’s Claridge label between 1975 and 1978. This highly welcome CD remedies that by including every one of them in a package that will please fans of quality dance music and exceptional soul harmony alike.
As well as the 12 tracks they cut together – including their biggest US hit, a revival of country star Freddie Hart’s ‘Easy Loving’ – the collection features a solo single by each of the duo. Other highlights include their take on the much-revived ‘Loving Arms’ and a full-length version of the club-friendly ‘Stay By My Side’ which does not appear to have been released commercially before (the Claridge 45 was an edit).
Bo Kirkland and Ruth Davis each have many fans among the soul fraternity – he for his many solo recordings as Mike James Kirkland and with Mike and the Censations, she as a member of northern soul favourites the Sequins. Virtually all the pre-Claridge recordings by these two fine singers have been released on CD. It’s a pleasure to finally fill in the missing pieces of their story with “You’re Gonna Get Next To Me: The Complete Claridge Recordings”.
