Last summer, my wife and I went to Chicago to visit my oldest daughter. She was living in Hyde Park at the time and when we went there I had to make a stop at Hyde Park Records.
If you’re looking for some classic, long lost vinyl, you’ll find it at Hyde Park Records. I was going through the record bins when I came across Webster Lewis’s album 8 For the 80s. This was one of my favorite records because it included “Give Me Some Emotion,” a song I blasted each time it came on the radio.
8 For the 80s is one of the underrated albums from that era, and I was excited to get my hands on a copy. My excitement increased when I remembered that 8 For the 80s included two more hidden gems – “The Love You Give To Me,” which NxWorries sampled on his 2016 album Yes Land. 8 For the 80s also included the stunningly beautiful ballad “Heavenly.” Lewis brought in D.J. Rogers to sing on “Heavenly.” Rogers is best known for the ballad “Say You Love Me,” which is a Quiet Storm mainstay. “Heavenly” isn’t heard nearly enough
I could have done a Lost Gem on any of these three tunes, but I chose to feature “Give Me Some Emotion.” ˆI just connected with the soaring tenor lead vocals and those gospel tinged backing vocals. Additionally, “Give Me Some Emotion” is one the few songs that had to compete with a very good cover version while it was getting airplay.
Merry Clayton released her own version of “Emotion,” also in 1980. Perhaps the most famous example of a simultaneous cover is “I Heard it Through the Grapevine” that became a Top five hit for Gladys Knight & the Pips in 1967 and Marvin Gaye in 1968.
Neither Lewis’s original of “Give Me Some Emotion” nor Clayton’s remake achieved that level of commercial success, but soul music fans know a good song when they hear it and you cannot go wrong with either version.
By Howard Dukes
