Funkytowngrooves is leaving on the midnight train to Georgia with a series of six expanded reissues from the catalogue of Gladys Knight, both solo and with the Pips. September 16 and 30 are the dates to mark for the label’s reissues of four vintage albums originally released on Buddah (Imagination, I Feel a Song, 2nd Anniversary and The One and Only…), one on Bell (In the Beginning) and three on Columbia (Gladys Knight, Visions and Life).  It’s a good time to be a fan of Gladys’ ouevre; the U.K.’s winning Big Break Records label has its own deluxe, freshly remastered reissues of Imagination and LIfe on tap, and we’ll report back on those soon, too.

Imagination (Buddah, 1973) might have been Gladys Knight and the Pips’ eleventh studio album and first since leaving Berry Gordy’s Motown empire, but it marked a rebirth for the group. Their first album for Buddah, Imagination yielded three smash hit singles. Jim Weatherly’s “Midnight Train to Georgia” topped both the R&B and Pop charts, while Jim “You’re the Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me” and Gerry Goffin and Barry Goldberg’s “I’ve Got to Use My Imagination” both topped the R&B chart and went Top 5 Pop. In addition to three more Weatherly compositions, the album also featured the group’s takes on Johnny Nash’s “I Can See Clearly Now,” Paul Williams’ “Perfect Love” and the group’s own composition “Window Raisin’ Granny.” FTG is adding both sides of the single “Midnight Train” b/w “Granny,” as well as a rare and never-before-released instrumental of “Midnight Train.”

The group next released an album of Curtis Mayfield’s songs from the film Claudine, but I Feel a Song (Buddah, 1974) was the proper studio follow-up to Imagination. Though it didn’t repeat the huge success of its predecessor, it still had much to offer. A medley of Marvin Hamlisch and Alan and Marilyn Bergman’s “The Way We Were” with Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt’s “Try to Remember” (from the musical The Fantasticks) went to No. 6 R&B/No. 11 Pop. Producer Tony Camillo, who had produced “Midnight Train” for Imagination, supplied the album’s title song, and it became a No. 1 R&B/No. 21 Pop hit. Jim Weatherly returned for a couple of songs including “Love Finds Its Own Way,” a No. 3 R&B/No. 47 Pop hit. Burt Bacharach supplied one of the album’s best and most unusual tracks, “Seconds,” which was written with playwright Neil Simon for an abortive film version of Bacharach and Hal David’s Broadway musical Promises, Promises. I Feel a Song topped the R&B chart, and FTG is expanding it with the single version of “The Way We Were/Try to Remember” and the never-on-CD singles from Claudine, “Make Yours a Happy Home” and “On and On.”

2nd Anniversary (Buddah, 1975) came next, and is third in FTG’s reissue program. Gene McDaniels’ “Money” was selected as the first single, hitting No. 4 R&B and No. 50 Pop. Bread man David Gates’ “Part Time Love” fared slightly better, also reaching No. 4 R&B but peaking at No. 22 Pop. The album also made room for Jim Weatherly’s “Where Do I Put His Memory,” a couple more songs from McDaniels’ pen including the Roberta Flack hit “Feel Like Makin’ Love,” Paul Williams and Kenny Ascher’s “You and Me Against the World,” and a cover of “Georgia on My Mind,” recalling the group’s last Georgia-themed success. FTG’s expanded edition adds three previously unreleased session outtakes, “We Don’t Look for Trouble,” “Alone Again” and “Rainbow Ride.”

FTG jumps ahead to continue with an expanded edition of The One and Only… (Buddah, 1978). Gladys Knight and the Pips’ final album for Buddah, it failed to achieve any crossover success, but Michael Masser and Pam Sawyer’s “Sorry Doesn’t Always Make It Right” managed a No. 24 R&B showing, and British songwriter Tony Macaulay’s “It’s Better Than a Good Time” making No. 16 R&B. The eclectic album also featured songs from Barry Manilow and Marty Panzer (“All the Time”), Van McCoy and Joe Cobb (“Come Back and Finish What You Started”), The Addrisi Brothers (“Don’t Say No to Me Tonight”) and Paul Williams with the Bergmans (“The One and Only”). The new reissue adds six bonus tracks: 7-inch singles of “It’s Up to You (Do What You Do),” “I’m Still Caught Up with You,” “It’s Better Than a Good Time” and “Everybody’s Got to Find a Way,” and 12-inch singles of “It’s Better Than a Good Time” and “Saved by the Grace of Your Love.”

After the jump, we have the scoop on Gladys’ Columbia years and the vintage anthology In the Beginning, plus full track listings with discography for all titles!

In 1978, Knight recorded a solo album for Buddah, Miss Gladys Knight, and then in 1979, she headed over to Columbia for one called, simply, Gladys Knight. Columbia’s Jack Gold (who had scored many successes with Johnny Mathis) produced, and Gene Page handled many of the album’s arrangements. Knight turned to a the catalogues of many well-known songwriters for her Columbia debut including Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller (the dramatic “I (Who Have Nothing),” Sam Dees (“My World”), Michael Zager (“I Just Want to Be with You”) and Johnny Bristol (“If You Ever Need Somebody”). FTG bolsters Gladys Knight with eight bonus tracks: four previously unreleased session outtakes, the 7-inch singles of “You Bring Out the Best in Me,” “Am I Too Late” and “It’s the Same Old Song,” and the 12-inch version of “You Bring Out the Best in Me.”

Knight reunited with the Pips at Columbia for a pair of albums featuring the production prowess of Ashford and Simpson, About Love (1980) and Touch (1981).  Neither title is included in FTG’s reissue program.  (Big Break Records reissued About Love in 2010, while Cherry Red sister imprint Superbird reissued Touch the same year.)  1983’s Visions featured songs from Ron Kersey, Sam Dees and Ugene Dozier, and productions from Dees, Richard Randolph and Edmund Sylvers, among others.  FTG expands it as a 2-CD set with 18 (!) bonus tracks including 10 previously unreleased session outtakes.  Life (1985) proved to be Gladys Knight and the Pips’ final Columbia album.  Gladys and Bubba Knight produced the set, emphasizing sleek eighties R&B sounds.  Sam Dees and Leon Sylvers III also made production contributions.  Life yielded the No, 16 R&B single “My Time” as well as two other chart hits.  FTG’s 2-CD reissue adds 10 bonus tracks, five of which are never-before-heard session outtakes.

The odd man out in FTG’s Knight series is the 1974 compilation album In the Beginning, originally released on Bell Records. This volume collects the sides originally released by Knight and the Pips on the Fury and Maxx labels in the first half of the 1960s, such as the stone-cold classics “Letter Full of Tears” and “Every Beat of My Heart.” Never before on CD, In the Beginning will be expanded with five bonus tracks from this era. (Collectors should take note that Bell first released In the Beginning in 1968 as Tastiest Hits, capitalizing on Knight’s Motown success.)

All titles are expected to ship on September 30 with the exception of Life, currently slated for September 16. As of this writing, however, only Imagination and Life are available on Amazon.com for pre-order. You can visit those links below, and we’ll update with more links as soon as they become active. Every title is available for pre-order, below, at Amazon U.K., and you can also order the Knight titles directly from Funkytowngrooves right here.

Gladys Knight & The Pips, Imagination: Expanded Edition (originally released as Buddah LP BDS 5141, 1973 – reissued Funkytowngrooves CD FTG-342, 2013) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

1. Midnight Train to Georgia
2. I’ve Got to Use My Imagination
3. Storms of Troubled Times
4. Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me
5. Once in a Lifetime Thing
6. Where Peaceful Waters Flow
7. I Can See Clearly Now
8. Perfect Love
9. Window Raisin’ Granny
10. Midnight Train to Georgia (7″ Version) (single A-side – Buddah BDA 383, 1973)
11. Window Raisin’ Granny (7″ Version) (single B-side – Buddah BDS 383, 1973)

Gladys Knight & The Pips, I Feel a Song: Expanded Edition (originally released as Buddah LP BDS 5612, 1974 – reissued Funkytowngrooves CD FTG-343, 2013) (Amazon U.K.)

1. I Feel a Song (in My Heart)
2. Love Finds Its Own Way
3. Seconds
4. The Going Ups and the Coming Downs
5. The Way We Were/Try to Remember
6. Better You Go Your Way
7. Don’t Burn Down the Bridge
8. The Need to Be
9. Tenderness is His Way
10. On and On (7″ Version) (single A-side – Buddah BDA 423, 1974) *
11. Make Yours a Happy Home (7″ Version) (single A-side – Buddah BDA 523, 1976) *
12. The Way We Were/Try to Remember – 7″ Version (single A-side – Buddah BDA 428, 1974)

* previously unreleased on CD. Album versions from Claudine: The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack – Buddah BDS 5602 ST, 1974)

Gladys Knight & The Pips, 2nd Anniversary: Expanded Edition (originally released as Buddah LP BDS 5639, 1975 – reissued Funkytowngrooves CD FTG-345, 2013) (Amazon U.K.)

1. Money
2. Street Brother
3. Part Time Love
4. At Every End There’s a Beginning
5. Georgia on My Mind
6. You and Me Against the World
7. Where Do I Put His Memory
8. Summer Sun
9. Feel Like Makin’ Love
10. We Don’t Look for Trouble *
11. Alone Again *
12. Rainbow Ride *

* previously unreleased session outtake

Gladys Knight & The Pips, The One and Only…: Expanded Edition (originally released as Buddah LP BDS 5701, 1978 – reissued Funkytowngrooves CD FTG-344, 2013) (Amazon U.K.)

1. Sorry Doesn’t Make It Right
2. Come Back and Finish What You Started
3. All the Time
4. It’s a Better Than Good Time
5. Butterfly
6. The One and Only
7. Saved by the Grace of Your Love
8. Don’t Say No to Me Tonight
9. Be Yourself
10. What If I Should Ever Need You
11. It’s Up to You (Do What You Do) (7″ Version) (single B-side – Buddah BDS 473 (U.K.), 1978)
12. It’s a Better Than Good Time (12″ Version) (12″ promo A-side – Buddah DSC 130 (Canada), 1979)
13. Saved by the Grace of Your Love (12″ Version) (12″ promo B-side – Buddah DSC 130 (Canada), 1979)
14. I’m Still Caught Up with You (7″ Version) (single A-side – Buddah BDS 489 (U.K.), 1979)
15. It’s a Better Than Good Time (7″ Version) (single A-side – Buddah BDA 598, 1978)
16. Everybody’s Got to Find a Way (7″ Version) (single B-side – Buddah BDA 598, 1978)

Gladys Knight & The Pips, In the Beginning: Expanded Edition (originally released as Bell LP 1323, 1974 – reissued Funkytowngrooves CD FTG-341, 2013) (Amazon U.K.)

1. Letter Full of Tears (single A-side – Fury 1054, 1961)
2. Either Way I Lose (single A-side – Maxx 331, 1964)
3. If Ever I Should Fall in Love (single A-side – Maxx 335, 1965)
4. Daybreak
5. Maybe, Maybe Baby (single A-side – Maxx 326, 1964)
6. Every Beat of My Heart (single A-side – Fury 1050, 1961)
7. Giving Up (single B-side – Maxx 326, 1964)
8. Stop and Get a Hold of Myself (single A-side – Maxx 334, 1965)
9. Lovers Always Forgive (single A-side – Maxx 329, 1964)
10. Tell Her You’re Mine (single A-side – Maxx 335, 1965)
11. Operator (single A-side – Fury 1064, 1962)
12. (There Will Never Be) Another Love (single A-side – Maxx 329, 1964)
13. The Devil in Me *
14. Why Don’t You Love Me *
15. Who Knows? (I Just Can’t Trust You) (single B-side – Maxx 334, 1965) *
16. Go Away, Stay Away (single B-side – Maxx 331, 1964) *

* bonus tracks. Tracks 1-12 first released as Tastiest Hits (Bell LP 6013, 1968)

Gladys Knight, Gladys Knight: Expanded Edition (originally released as Columbia JC 35704, 1979 – reissued Funkytowngrooves CD FTG-346, 2013) (Amazon U.K.)

1. Am I Too Late
2. You Bring Out the Best in Me
3. I Just Want to Be with You
4. If You Ever Need Somebody
5. My World
6. I (Who Have Nothing)
7. You Don’t Have to Say I Love You
8. The Best Thing We Can Do is Say Goodbye
9. It’s the Same Old Song
10. You Loved Away the Pain
11. You Bring Out the Best in Me (7″ Version) (single A-side – Columbia 3-10997, 1979)
12. You Bring Out the Best in Me (12″ Version) (12″ A-side – Columbia 23-10996, 1979)
13. Am I Too Late (7″ Version) (single A-side – CBS S-7173 (U.K.), 1979)
14. It’s the Same Old Song (7″ Version) (single B-side – CBS S-7173 (U.K.), 1979)
15. It’s Me Again *
16. Am I Losing You *
17. For All We Know *
18. Maybe Baby *

Gladys Knight & The Pips, Visions: Deluxe Edition (Funkytowngrooves FTG-348, 2013) (Amazon U.K.)

Disc 1: Original LP (released as Columbia FC FC 38205, 1983) and 12″ versions

1. When You’re Far Away
2. Just Be My Lover
3. Save the Overtime (for Me)
4. Heaven Sent
5. Don’t Make Me Run
6. Ain’t No Greater Love
7. Seconds
8. You’re Number One (in My Book)
9. Oh La De Da
10. Hero
11. Save the Overtime (for Me) (12″ Version) (12″ A-side – Columbia 44-03969, 1983)
12. When You’re Far Away (12″ Version) (12″ A-side – Columbia 44-04965, 1983)
13. Save the Overtime (for Me) (12″ Edit) (U.K. 12″ A-side – CBS TA 3314, 1983)

Disc 2: Single versions and outtakes (* denotes previously unreleased track)

1. You’re Number One (in My Book) (7″ Version) (single A-side – Columbia 38-04033, 1983)
2. When You’re Far Away (7″ Version) (single A-side – Columbia 38-04369, 1983)
3. Save the Overtime (for Me) (7″ Version) (single A-side – Columbia 38-03761, 1983)
4. When You’re Far Away (Instrumental) (12″ B-side – Columbia 44-04965, 1983)
5. Here Now *
6. Look At the Two of Us Now *
7. More, More, More *
8. Long Line *
9. You’ve Got My Word *
10. If You Live Through As Many Heartaches *
11. Kiss Away the Pain *
12. Precious Lord *
13. Take My Hand *
14. Love’s Gonna Get You *
15. Here’s That Sunny Day (from The Buddy System) (single A-side – Columbia 04333, 1984)

Gladys Knight & The Pips, Life: Deluxe Edition (Funkytowngrooves FTG-349, 2013) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Disc 1: Original LP (released as Columbia FC 39423, 1985)

1. Strivin’
2. Keep Givin’ Me Love
3. Just Let Me Love You
4. Life
5. Till I See You Again
6. My Time
7. Forever
8. Do You Wanna Have Some Fun
9. Straight Up
10. Glitter

Disc 2: bonus material (* denotes previously unreleased track)

1. My Time (Extended Instrumental) (12″ B-side – Columbia 44-05161, 1985)
2. My Time (Extended Dance Mix) (12″ A-side – Columbia 44-05161, 1985)
3. My Time (Single Version) (single A-side – Columbia 38-04761, 1985)
4. My Time (Instrumental) (single A-side – Columbia 38-04761, 1985)
5. Keep Givin’ Me Love (Single Version) (single A-side – Columbia 38-04873, 1985)
6. 100 Ways/I’m Not Going (Medley) *
7. 100 Ways *
8. How Deep is Your Love *
9. Beverly Hills *
10. Running the Race *