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The Best of the Three Degrees: When Will I See You Again

Geminigirl | Philadelphia, PA United States | 04/07/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Having only heard this group's monster hit, WHEN WILL I SEE YOU AGAIN, I was really curious about their career. I enjoyed reading the liner booklet because it detailed the evolution of the group and gave me a definite frame of reference.



Every track on this disc features exceptional harmonies and musical arrangements. I never caught myself thinking about the fact that these songs were produced in the 70's and as someone who loves music, I appreciate the timeless quality of this music.



Although all tracks feature great vocals, the standouts to me are: WHEN WILL I SEE YOU AGAIN, CAN'T YOU SEE WHAT YOU'RE DOING TO ME, LONLIER ARE THE FOOLS, HERE I AM, IF AND WHEN & EVERYBODY GETS TO GO TO THE MOON



Of note are:



DIRTY OL' MAN - with its "tell it like it is" lyrics that don't seem mean-spirited



YEAR OF DECISION - although I didn't particularly care for this song, the lyrics really resonated with me as we move toward a very important presidential election



TSOP & LOVE IS THE MESSAGE - both feature exceptional MUSICAL arrangements utilizing the Three Degrees as backing vocalists



I'd highly recommend it to music fans who may be curious about the evolution of female r&b groups or just this group in particular.



"

Excellent

Bill Your 'Free Form FM Handi Cyber | Mahwah, NJ USA | 03/20/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

"If, like me, you were little in 1976, driving around with mom and food shopping in one of those gas eating Ford Country Squires--you know, those fake wood sides-you got to hear A LOT of soul. Fords only came with AM radios in those days, which is why you knew a lot more top 40 songs and did not really get to what was then FM music until you actually grew up enough to seek it out.



The problem is that a lot of these great soul hits go back and back and back into subconsious closets. Entangled in sounds of Led Zeppelin and King Crimson--and with a hard case like me, Hawkwind and Albert Ayler and a sea of other brain damaging material--you sit stumped in 2010 trying to think of WHO did that soul song way back then--now that you want to rediscover this music. You sit and sit and hurt your brain--did you ever even know?



Well, in very roundabout fashion, I got some of my answers. After recently seeing Billy Friedkin's The French Connection, I found out that when Doyle and Grasso walked into the club and that girl group was singing Jimmy Webb's "Everybody Is Going To The Moon," that girl group was a very young Three Degree.



We all know how as 1971 turned to '73 and '77, soul got glossier and a little more pop oritented. So I was suprised to find a lot of the song on here, "When Will I See You Again" rings to mind, were in fact, the Three Degrees.



This album was not the 60s-70s soul romp I was expecting, but what I got instead was just as great: with great Philly production and who I think is MFSB backing the Degrees up, this is that shiney and production are excellent, and hearing this music now--which provided a welcome pulse next to Debbie Boone and Olivia Newton John all those years ago on the old AM--reminds me this stuff sounds better now than back in the divided AM/FM 70s and 80s.





You just can't deny how good it sounds



Inncidently, if you dig on "Everyone Is Going To The Moon," check out Thelma Huston's Sunshower, the album Webb produced for her in 1969."