| When Love is New | |
| Type: | Album |
| Artist: | Billy Paul |
| Cover: | When_Love_is_New.jpg |
| Released: | 1975 |
| Recorded: | 1975 |
| Studio: | Sigma Sound, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Genre: | Soul, Philadelphia soul |
| Length: | 37:33 |
| Label: | Philadelphia International |
| Producer: | Kenny Gamble & Leon Huff |
| Prev Title: | Got My Head on Straight |
| Prev Year: | 1975 |
| Next Title: | Let 'Em In |
| Next Year: | 1976 |
When Love is New is an album by soul singer Billy Paul. It was produced by Kenny Gamble & Leon Huff; arranged by Bobby Martin, Dexter Wansel, Norman Harris, and Jack Faith; and engineered by Joe Tarsia. Released in December 1975, it reached #139 on the Billboard Pop Album chart and #17 on the Soul chart. It includes the singles "Let's Make a Baby" which hit #83 on the Pop singles chart, #18 on the Soul chart, and #30 in the UK and "People Power" which reached #82 on the Soul chart and #14 on the U.S. Dance chart. The album was reissued on CD in 2010 by the U.K.'s Edsel Records. This was the final album where Paul was backed by MFSB, the house band of Philadelphia International Records (PIR).
The album was released in November 1975. Its first single, "Let's Make a Baby" performed well, breaking into the Hot 100 Pop charts and Soul top-twenty. It was also a top-40 hit in the U.K. "People Power" was Paul's second single from the album and his first and only Dance hit.
In his 3 January 1976 column for Billboard, Tom Moulton noted: "Without a doubt, the music of Philadelphia is the strongest influence on the disco market these days. A quick glimpse : The O'Jays with their recent No. 1 disco audience response record in "I Love Music" (PIR); the Mighty Clouds of Joy's current No. 1 disco record "MIGHTY HIGH" (ABC); Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes, the Salsoul Orchestra and Archie Bell & the Drells all with songs on the disco listing; and Billy Paul and Dee Dee Sharp both with records fast gaining acceptance at the club level. Indications are, too, that the city's musical influence is going to continue well through 1976.[1]
Stephen McMillian called the album "fantastic" and recounted Paul's Soul Train appearance on 4 April 1976 to promote it:
Allmusic's Andrew Hamilton reviewed the title track: "One of Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff's classiest numbers, it speaks of the joys of love in its embryonic stage -- when it's new. A standard in waiting, it reminds of '50s and '60s MOR songs done by Tony Bennett, Vic Damone, Nat King Cole, and others. Bennett detested most pop/rock songs, dismissing them as junk, but would have enjoyed wrapping his golden vocal chords around this warmer. Billy Paul gives a good account on the 1975 release with a deliberate articulation of the thoughtful, heartfelt lyrics.
Hamilton said of "Malorie": "sounds like a song suited for the big-band singers of the '40s and '50s. The light airy swinger features Paul displaying his jazz pipes -- scatting, jiving, exhorting -- as he raves about some damsel, accompanied by timely female vocals."
On the 2010 Edsel CD reissue, Joe Marchese of The Second Disc said: "While not featuring any hits the magnitude of his majestic 'Me and Mrs. Jones,' the goods are still delivered by writer/producers Gamble and Huff and arrangers including Dexter Wansel."[2]
All tracks composed by Kenny Gamble & Leon Huff; except where indicated
Side 1
Side 2
Albums
| Chart (1976) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Billboard Pop Albums[3] | 139 |
| Billboard Top Soul Albums | 17 |
Singles
| Year | Single | Chart positions[4] | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | US Soul | US Dance | UK | |||
| 1976 | "Let's Make a Baby" | 83 | 18 | - | 30 | |
| "People Power" | - | 82 | 14 | - | ||