I’m going to get some more edits/reworks uploaded in the coming months, starting off with one I did in conjunction with Henry Greenwood, a rework that was getting a major response until the pandemic went and spoilt the party.
Recorded by Brooklyn’s Linda Clifford for Curtis Mayfield's Curtom label and mixed by Jim Burgess, ‘Runaway Love’ was somewhat overshadowed by her Disco take on ‘If My Friends Could See Me Now’, from the ‘60s Broadway musical/film, ‘Sweet Charity’. Although ‘Runaway Love’ and ‘Gypsy Lady’ were also listed when the album of the same name topped the US Disco chart, ‘If My Friends Could See Me Now’ was very much the lead track. ‘Runaway Love’ however was the choice cut in the R&B realm where, having been issued as a single, it reached #3.
As big as it was in the Stateside clubs I can’t ever remember ever hearing a DJ in this country playing ‘If My Friends Could See Me Now’ – it was all about ‘Runaway Love’ here, which, from the moment the LP came in on import in ’78 the specialist DJs seized upon. It could have been a UK hit, but was only issued on the flip side of ‘If My Friends Could See Me Now’. Besides, it was all about the full-length 12” version, the truncated 7” compromising its wonderful flow and build. The single stalled at #50 – the fact it got as high as that was all to do with the B Side.
To my ears it’s a track that should be as familiar as Rufus & Chaka Khan’s ‘Ain’t Nobody’, but ‘Runaway Love’ is a hidden classic far too rarely heard. This prompted me to team up with Henry Greenwood to put together a DJ friendly rework that retained the song in all its glory, whilst providing a mix in and out and adding contemporary weight to its already infectious groove. I couldn’t have wished for a better outcome, the audience response the proof in the pudding.
The third in a trio of late-‘70s reworks I’ve collaborated on with Henry, following on from Marshall Hain ‘Dancing In The City’ & El Coco ‘Mondo Disco’, which were pressed back to back on limited vinyl as part of the A&R Edits series.
