IF I WERE YOUR WOMAN + STANDING OVATION (9841942)

Gladys Knight and The Pips’ fifth Motown album, If I Were Your Woman was released in April 1971. Production duties fell to Clay McMurray, Joe Hinton and Johnny Bristol. The songwriting itself was near to perfection. The opener and title track, a fine collaboration between Pam Sawyer, Clay McMurray and Gloria Jones it was the perfect vehicle for Gladys’ gospel infused artistry. “We knew from the moment it was written that it was going to be a hit,” Gloria expands. “What a joy it was to write it with Pam. I remember singing the demo and realizing its potential. It was nominated for a Grammy in 1971 for Best Rhythm And Blues Song and Best R&B Performance by a duo or a group which was a great thrill.” The album also featured classic reinterpretations: Sly And The Family Stones’ Everybody Is A Star, the Beatles’ Let It Be and the Fifth Dimension’s One Less Bell To Answer. But it is a stupendous cover of Traffic’s Feelin’ Alright that lights up the first half of the record.

Standing Ovation released in December 1971. Standouts include their sensual rendition of Kris Kristofferson’s Help Me Make It Through The Night, which landed them their biggest Motown hit in the UK peaking at Number 11 and staying on the charts for 17 weeks. Elsewhere there are further covers - of James Taylor’s Fire And Rain, the Beatles’ Long And Winding Road, a medley of the Hollies’ He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother and Simon and Garfunkel’s Bridge Over Troubled Water. But it is the Clay McMurray-penned delicious, Make Me The Woman That You Go Home To that hints at what was to come when they left the label with its smooth vocal artistry. The album landed in the US R&B Top 15 in ’71 and Gladys was hailed as Aretha, the queen of soul’s main rival.