Great lush soul album from Leon Ware featuring his usual top-notch vocals and songwriting. I wrote an extended history of Leon's work in the "Rockin' You Eternally" post, so have a read there, where I've just had fun updating about ten links! I could only find this album on one of those 'give-me-a-rare-album-in-return' blogs, so I thought i'd rip my own copy and add a discography.
Anyway, here's an edited excerpt from the big Leon Ware post relating to this album :
Best known for his classic album "Musical Massage" and his composition of Marvin Gaye's entire album "I Want You", Leon Ware released the self-produced "Inside Is Love", in 1979. It's a generally uptempo collection of soul numbers like "What's Your Name", and a faster version of "Inside Your Love" than the version he'd worked on with Minnie Ripperton on her album "Adventures In Paradise".
Notably, with "Love Is Such a Simple Thing", he began a collaboration with Brazilian legend Marcos Valle, who was exploring soul textures at the same time as Leon was reaching into brazilian harmonic changes. Valle began to feature Portugese versions of their collaborations on albums like 1981's "Vontade de Rever Voce" and 1983's "Marcos Valle".
Hope you enjoy this one.
TRACKLIST
01 'What's Your Name' (4:10)
(Leon Ware)
02 'Inside Your Love' (4:35)
(Minnie Ripperton - Leon Ware - Dick Rudolph)
03 'Love Is A Simple Thing' (3:31)
(Marcos Valle - Robert Lamm)
04 'Small Café' (3:43)
(Leon Ware - Ron Roker)
05 'Club Sashay' (4:17)
(Leon Ware - Melissa Manchester)
06 'Try It Out' (3:56)
(Leon Ware - Allee Willis)
07 'Love Will Run Away' (4:36)
(Leon Ware - Elkie Brooks)
08 'On The Island' (5:24)
(Leon Ware - Adrienne Anderson)
09 'Hungry' (3:56)
(Leon Ware - Adrienne Anderson - Dave Blumberg)
MUSICIANS
Guitars - David T Walker, Wah Wah Watson, Kevin Moore, Bruce Fisher
Bass - Eddie Watkins, Scott Lipsker
Piano, Electric Piano - Sonny Burke
Rhodes and vocals - Leon Ware
Synthesiser - Pete Robinson
Drums - Ed Green, Jeff Holman
Singers - Maxine Waters, Julia Waters, Owen Waters, Deborah Thomas, Melissa Manchester
Percussion - Paulinho Da Costa, Holden Raphael
Solos - Plas Johnson (tr. 3,5,7); Deborah Thomas (tr 1)
On "Small Cafe" :
Chris Rae - guitar
Graham Jarvis - Drums
Frank McDonah - bass
Criss Hall - piano
Leon Ware - rhodes
PRODUCTION DETAILS
Producer - Leon Ware for LW Productions
Track 4 produced by Leon Ware and Ron RokerProducer - Leon WareArranged By - David Blumberg , Gene Page (tracks 2-3) , Sonny Burke (tracks 4-5)
Recording Engineer - George Sloan
Second engineers - Ross Pallone, Ron Garrett, Jane Clarke, Tony Autore
Mixing Engineer - Cal Harris
Tracking Studio - Hollywood Sound Recorders
Vocal studio - Black Orpheus Recording
Orchestration Studio - A&M Recording Studios
Mixing - Motown Recording Studios
Matrix# FAB 8500-A / FAB 8500-B
(P) 1979, T.K. Productions, Inc.
Art Direction / cover concept - Mike Doud
Photography - Jeffrey Scales
Special thanks to : Ross Regan, Ron Strasner, Cholly Bassoline, Ed Mills (for creative assistance), Carol Cassano, Eduardo Sayad, and all the other people along the way ..
LEON WARE DISCOGRAPHY
1972 'Leon Ware' at ce la plume / FLAC at Avax
1974 features on "The Education Of Sonny Carson" at Blaxploitation Pride
1976 'Musical Massage' at Here only Good Music For All
1979 'Inside Is Love' at Never Enough Rhodes
1981 'Rockin' You Eternally' at Never Enough Rhodes1982 "Leon Ware" at Soulfunkjazz
1987 'Undercover'
1995 'Taste the Love'
2001 'Candelight'
2003 'Love's Drippin' at zonamusical / alternate
2004 'Deeper'
2005 'A Kiss In the Sand'
2008 'Moon Ride'
2009 'Leon Ware & Friends' (collaborations comp.) at Blak's Lair
POST CREDITS
Rip by Simon666
Pics from Discogs
Albums in post text from : Blak's Lair, Point3Recurring, The Bossa Blog, and Regalame Esta Noche.
Please thank these guys if you grab their albums.
Great! Simon, I have all of his LPs but not this one, so I'll check it out!
ReplyDeleteP.S. I don't know if you found the link to Ezy & Isaac LP, but it's in "Don't sleep on THIS one!" and the 5th track is at the end of the post... Peace...
Thanks for the Leon Ware Albums. Had a couple of the early release but to get all of them in good quality is a bonus. Much appreciated.
ReplyDeletenice album thanks
ReplyDeleteThanks a lot Simon! You are truly the best and what you do and you have magnificent taste.
ReplyDeleteWell Done!!!!
Thanks Simon! For some reason I was able to get this back when you originally posted the article but the qual was nowhere near n.e.r. standards. Top notch as always!
ReplyDeletehey cheeba -
ReplyDeleteYep had a blog link for it initially, but the blog disappeared. Glad you're enjoying it!
Looks like we need to find a boomp3 replacement yeah ? Been buggy for weeks and mostly not working ....
Today, those preview snippets you put up for "The Horse" are playing russian shortwave radio snippets instead, check it out ;)
Thanks Simon. Leon Ware just performed here in NYC though it was at The Blue Note which is super expensive so I passed it up....
ReplyDeletearrgghh so jealous! I probably would have paid ... though I'm sure you're a bit blase in NYC with great acts playing all the time. His voice still sounds great on the new albums.
ReplyDeleteblase and poor. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Simon for this & especially fr posting Rockin' You Eternally which I was missing.
ReplyDeleteMusical Message is definitely my favourite Leon Ware album. Listening to this album back to back with Marvin Gayes I Want You takes you to another place. These albums are intoxicating, the melodies and harmonies merge with the beautiful singing and subtle backing arrangements to create an exquisite listening experience that's very seductive. Or maybe it's just me;)
No it's not just you :) "Musical Massage" is my favourite one as well, I think it's my favourite 70s soul album, period - so many good tracks. Just "Holiday" for example - Marvin Gaye and Bobby Womack on backing vocals, jesus ...
ReplyDeleteThanks Simon! I'd never heard of Leon Ware until your post. I think this is what the blogosphere is about. Just great stuff, lean back with earphones on and float into the grooving love space...
ReplyDeleteGreat Album. Thanks for the post.
ReplyDeletemany thx Simon , this is one that I have never heard the full album, nice add to the Ware collective!!!\\TYTYTYTY!!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks Simon!!
ReplyDeleteI downloaded earlier and am listening right now and I have to say that's it's a wonderful record,Inside my Love is really sweet but overall,I really love it:D
Hey Simon!
ReplyDeleteHave to agree with Musical Massage but the eponymous one before is a special record for me because it's such an uplifting record.
That's hilarious about the shortwave stuff! I don't get anything, just silende. But yeah, guess we'll have to sort out an alternative pretty quick!
timeless artist and style of music.
ReplyDeletethank you Simon
had a big thing about "i want you" still have really.
ReplyDeletethis is sounding cool too.
thanks simon
Many thanks for a fabulous discography - my chance to catch some of his newer LP's !! He sounds spectacular on his latest effort btw.
ReplyDeleteJust one omission: 'The Education Of Sonny Carson' '74 soundtrack - which has some very nice vocal tracks on it, as well as a cracking score.
Come on, its 2 am, and my eyes are struggling with this dark background - that's my excuse for not seeing 'Sonny Carson' there all the time !!
ReplyDeletehaha :)
ReplyDeleteNo, it's not the drugs .... I added it after I saw your comment :)
cheeeee-seeeeeey!
ReplyDeletethanks anyway
smooth yes; cheesy no way.
ReplyDeletedefinitely got its time and place.
cheers Simon
TN
Thanks for getting Leon Ware posted. You guys do a great job!
ReplyDeleteThanks
Your blog gets better and better.
ReplyDeleteThanks for all your hard work over at Blaxploitation Pride, that's another body of work that's equally amazing.
Hi Simon666,
ReplyDeleteThis sounds superb! Thank you.
Peace, Jerome
Thanks for this great post on a great artists - I never heard this one before
ReplyDeleteDOPE
ReplyDeleteI've never even heard of this one. Great post.
ReplyDeletewhat a great post ...NER is one of my favs! thx so much, for introducing great music to me, as i knew little about most of the artists on your site! Kudos!!!! :-D
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comments guys.
ReplyDeleteI've also added a link in the discography for "Leon Ware & Friends" (2009) - a compilation of his collaborations with other artists.
Jahcisco - in comment #2 :
ReplyDeletePlease do NOT copy my links and donate them to copy/paste blogs like "Bentleyfunk".
Putting up albums from my collection is a huge amount of work, and I enjoy talking to people here about them. When you donate my links to other blogs, the conversation here dies out, and I start to think, why bother going to all this work?
PLEASE don't do this again - this is what kills blogs.
that sucks to hear this Simon because
ReplyDeleteyou're probable one of the hardest working men in blogland and I'm not saying this to point fingers at anyone who jack links but you certainly don't deserve this.
Thanks Robert -
ReplyDeleteIt's just about respect. I hope if people will enjoy the music they'll respect the work as well. This all came out yesterday when a particular blog jacked 14 of Ile Oxumare's links in one day. That's like days and days of work ... anyway back to the music :)
nice
ReplyDeleteleon always a good guy
this is a great lp, and ur site is very impressive, lots of great reading.
ReplyDeletethanks anonymous, glad you're enjoying it :)
ReplyDeletePlease Simon.
ReplyDeleteSome links are dead.
Do you can post again?
Are:
Leon Ware - Candlelight(2001)
Leon Ware - Deeper(2004)
Leon Ware - A Kiss In The Sand(2005)
Thank you and congratulations for the excellent blog.
Hi Eddye,
ReplyDeleteall back again now :)
Wowwww Simon!!!!
ReplyDeleteThank you very much for your beautiful work.
tks
No probs eddye, enjoy :)
ReplyDeleteThank you for this. When you look back on things over the years, Leon is ceetainly one of those under rated musicians with genuine talent. He always has an audience though and it's wonderful to see you posting these gems. Thanks for giving us the opportunity again. John - Atlanta, GA, USA
ReplyDeleteyou're welcome John :)
ReplyDeleteALWAYS SPECIAL THANKS !!!!!!
ReplyDeleteTWO THUMBS UPPP!!!!
Hi Simon666,
ReplyDeleteI have just discovered your wonderful blog when I was looking for this record. Unfortunately the link is broken. If you can replace it it will be nice for me. Thanks in advance.
I put a link of this is my web. If you can check it just click on my name. I'm also a Rhodes lover, my friend.
Regards from Barcelona
Jazzy
Hi there,
ReplyDeleteSure I'll try and get to the MP3s soon ... but in the meantime, the WAV links still active.
Small Café is beautiful.
ReplyDeleteyeah that's a great track :)
ReplyDeleteVery, Very Good!
ReplyDeleteFantastic!