Brighter Side of Darkness was formed in 1971 at Calumet
High School in Chicago. The group consisted of Ralph Eskridge, Randolph
Murph, Larry Washington, Albert Vanderlier Roberts and their 12-year-old
lead singer Darryl Lamont.
They released their debut single "Love Jones" in Aug 1972 which peaked at #3 R&B and #16 Hot 100. On the
strength of the single, 20th Century released a full album titled "Love Jones" produced by Clarence Johnson, The second single, "Just A Little Bit", bombed and their third, "I Owe You Love", made it to #48 R&B.
It would appear that they were then released by 20th Century and signed
to Clarence Johnson's Star-Vue where they released one song from the
album, "Oh Baby", along with "Because I Love You" in 1974 which has been reissued digitally by Numero Group.
The group disbanded after this single but got back together to release a
final single "He Made You Mine" / "Disco Ball" in 1978 on Magic Touch (also reissued digitally by Numero Group in Dec '22) before breaking up for good.
Discogs lists one further single "Natually" released as The Brighter Side. The label states that it's from the album "Love Jones" which it didn't actually feature on, so perhaps it's an unreleased track Johnson released later. It's the second of only two listed singles on an 80s Chicago label Phoenix. The only other release is dated 1987 by Serenade, "La La For Love", which is a rather good mid-tempo sweet soul number, flipped with "I Like The Little Boy In You", co-written and produced by Johnson which sounds very like The Lovelites who Johnson managed in the 70s.
Click on image below for link to where you can buy from.
1 comment:
The LP was also released on CD with 2 bonus tracks, including "Because I Love You" and an unreleased "Touchdown" (P-Vine Records - PCD-18035)
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