Tony Troutman [1975] - I Truly Love You [Gram O Phon Records #GRA-457118]

On an extraordinarily slow week for good quality new releases it's, time to dig out some rare soul gems that perhaps are not that commonly known.

One such record is this 1975 deep soul gem from Tony Troutman who is best known in rare soul circles for his modern soul classic "What's The Use" on Jerri.

His debut single "I Truly Love You" (Gram O Phon Records) reached #82 on the Billboard R&B chart in May 1975. His only other chart sortie was the title track of his 1982 album "Your Man Is Home Tonight" on his T.Main label which was reissued on CD by Good Time Records only last year.

The original vinyl version was split over two sides with a 3:12 vocal and a same length instrumental on B. However a 2012 compilation "At the Juke Joint Vol. 2" contained an extended 5:52 version of it, so I've included both versions as 3:12 simply isn't long enough to appreciate the true beauty of this superb tune. The compilation is still available digitally click album cover below.

Joel Whitburn's Top R&B Hit singles states that he was a brother of the Troutman brothers who formed Zapp but I'm not sure how accurate that is but a Thomas Troutman did feature as keyboards/vocals later with the group. However I think he may be confused with Tony (Thomas) Troutman here as the Zapp Troutmans were from Dayton, OH, and all Tony (Thomas) Troutman's recordings were on Atlanta based labels. 

THIS is what soul is! Never mind all this auto-tuned, rap ridden nonsense parading as 'soul' music which the uninitiated 'latch' onto! Music of this quality is timeless so why post/play/programme half-baked material when there are hundreds, if not thousands, of under-appreciated nuggets like this that could do with more exposure? 

Details

Rating:	9.5
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	Deep Soul
Format:	Single
Media:	7"
Label:	Gram O Phon Records
Cat No:	GRA-457118
Date:	1975
Key/BPM:	N/A
Value:	£10 approx.