Darling Baby

Darling Baby is the debut studio album released by the Motown group The Elgins.

Details

The LP features female singer Saundra Edwards (previously on a solo contract with Motown) on leads, with Cleo "Duke" Miller, Robert Fleming and Johnny Dawson (who previously recorded for Motown as The Downbeats) on backing vocals. Released on Motown's V.I.P. subsidiary in 1966, the album contains the group's first two singles for Motown, "Darling Baby" and "Heaven Must Have Sent You", which were both Top Ten hits on the US R&B Charts, peaking at #4 and #9, respectively. Both were minor hits on the Pop Charts as well (#72 and #50), and the B-Side of "Darling Baby", "Put Yourself In My Place", made a separate chart entry and reached #92 on the Billboard Hot 100.

After one further single, "I Understand My Man" , in 1967, Saundra Edwards left the group and was replaced by Yvonne Vernee Allen. She recorded with the group at Motown but nothing more was released, except for several Tamla Motown reissues in Britain. One of these, a 1971 reissue of "Heaven Must Have Sent You", became a massive UK hit (#3) thanks to its popularity on the Northern Soul scene, and its follow-up, "Put Yourself In My Place", made the charts (#28) as well. Yvonne Vernee performed with the group on their subsequent UK tour.

The Elgins performed occasionally throughout the 1970s and 1980s, and a renewed version of the group recorded two albums for Ian Levine's Motorcity Records, the first of which, Take The Train, was released some 24 years after this one.

Track listing

1. "Darling Baby" (Holland-Dozier-Holland) 2:34
2. "In The Midnight Hour" (Steve Cropper, Wilson Pickett) 2:12
3. "Heaven Must Have Sent You" (Holland-Dozier-Holland) 2:40
4. "I Understand My Man" (Holland-Dozier-Holland) 3:07
5. "Good Lovin'" (Arthur Resnick, Rudy Clark) 2:38
6. "It's Gonna Be Hard Times" (Berry Gordy) 2:23
7. "Put Yourself In My Place" (Holland-Dozier-Holland, John Thornton) 2:25
8. "634-5789" (Eddie Floyd, Steve Cropper) 2:25
9. "No Time For Tears" (Eddie Holland, Norman Whitfield) 2:53
10. "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)" (Holland-Dozier-Holland) 2:52
11. "Stay In My Lonely Arms" (Holland-Dozier-Holland) 3:01
12. "When A Man Loves A Woman" (Andrew Wright, Calvin Lewis) 3:08