Victor Willis [2015] - Follow Through [Harlem West Records #HWRCD 1001]

I don't think you would ever guess from this song that Victor Willis was a member of the Village People (he was the one dressed as a Police/Naval officer).  There was no such group initially as it was a studio project formed by a couple of French producers who recruited Willis to sing background vocals on some songs they had written. They released the first eponymously titled album Village People (taking the name from the Manhattan's Greenwich Village) and such was it's success that they they had to find members for live appearances and several dancers were recruited to dance around Willis.

The song "Follow Through" is from his only solo album "Solo Man" released on CD in 2015. However it was a previously unreleased album recorded for Casablanca in 1979 after he left Village People. You have to ask how on earth something of this quality could be left in the can for 36 years? It still sounds fresh to me now 43 years later!

It seems that after Willis' departure from the group, who were also signed to Casablanca, their sales plummeted and the label dropped them. Willis' contract was still with Village People and apparently the album got caught up in the contractual wrangles. Willis eventually got the rights to the tapes in 1981 and then they went missing reappearing in 2007.

Whilst the album was eventually released in 2015, as of 2019 it is no longer available on CD or digital, so to find one you'll need to search the second hand market (none currently available on Discogs). There are another three half decent ballads ("I Struck It Rich", "Could It Be You" and "Yes I Can"), but the rest of the material, as you may expect, is quite lame disco stuff.

The sound clip from YouTube is the full 5:54 album version. I believe that a sub 4 min Radio Edit may have been released.

Thanks to Gary Van Den Bussche for playing this on his lunchtime Starpoint Radio show last week which is what has prompted its posting.

Details

Rating:	9
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	Slow Jam
Format:	Album Track
Media:	CD
Label:	Harlem West Records
Cat No:	HWRCD 1001
Date:	2015
Key/BPM:	N/A
Price:	£25 approx.

Copyright © 2009-2022 SoulStrutter All Rights Reserved