Rarely has a group's name been as befitting as that of The Emotions.  Sisters Sheila, Wanda and Jeanette Hutchinson couldn't help but touch a wide spectrum of emotions with their spirited, soulful recordings.  Blessed: The Emotions Anthology 1969-1985, released earlier this year on Cherry Red Group's Big Break Records imprint, is a deliciously comprehensive, 2-CD, 40-track collection drawing on the vaults of Stax/Volt, Columbia/ARC, Red Label and Motown to paint the fullest portrait of The Emotions yet.

Lead singer Sheila Hutchinson, graced with a voice redolent of Minnie Riperton or her onetime ARC labelmate Deniece Williams in its stratospheric range, would have been an asset to any group.  But when Sheila joined her voice with the honeyed harmonies of her sisters, the result was pure magic.  The group had honed its sweet but commanding style singing in church and at local events around their native Chicago area before signing to the small Brainstorm label.  After several singles on Brainstorm and its successor Twin Stacks, The Emotions were signed to the venerable Stax label's Volt arm.

Though Blessed is sequenced thematically rather than strictly chronologically, the Stax/Volt productions feature prominently on the first disc.  In the wake of the death of Otis Redding and the severing of ties from Atlantic Records, Stax often struggled to regain its footing in the music industry.  But that didn't keep the label from releasing music every bit as thrilling as in its earlier, halcyon days.  Blessed has The Emotions' brassy debut Volt single, "So I Can Love You."  Written by Sheila, it found a sweet spot between the girls' smooth sound and the label's harder-edged southern soul stylings.  "So I Can Love You" proved to be an auspicious start, peaking within the Pop top 40 and the R&B top 5.  Other Volt treats here include the tougher rhythms of "My Honey and Me" (previously recorded by Luther Ingram), sassy "From Toys to Boys," and a number of songs from Stax legends Isaac Hayes and David Porter.  The duo supplied the shoulda-been-a-hit "Stealin' Love," the swooning "The Best Part of a Love Affair," and the sultry "Show Me How."

Most atypical of the Stax-era cuts may well be The Emotions' sublime rendering of Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter's pure pop nugget "Put a Little Love Away," which was also recorded by Maureen McGovern and Sergio Mendes and Brasil '77.  (The version here is taken from the 1977 album Sunshine, issued after The Emotions' move to Columbia.  The single had originally been issued in 1974 in a different mix.)  "Baby I'm Through," another cut from Sunshine first released as a single in 1974, saw The Emotions pointing the way towards the sleek sound with which they would earn their breakthrough.  The similarity in sound, of course, was heightened by the 1977 remix.

In retrospect, perhaps The Emotions were just a bit too smooth and polished for Stax.  The company's dwindling fortunes - it shuttered in 1975, only to be reactivated two years later under the auspices of Fantasy Records, still its parent today under the Concord Music Group umbrella - didn't help the group, either.  Earth, Wind and Fire founder Maurice White and producer-arranger Charles Stepney saw the potential in The Emotions, however.  The trio made its Columbia debut via White's Kalimba Productions with 1976's Flowers.  Al McKay and White's lithe, shimmering title track was just one of the many delights on the LP (produced by White and Charles Stepney) including Wanda's "How Can You Stop Loving Someone" and "I Don't Wanna Lose Your Love" (the latter co-written with Jeanette) and Deniece Williams, Lani Groves and Clarence McDonald's "Special Part."  (The songwriters' funky "How'd I Know That Love Would Slip Away," introduced on Williams' Kalimba debut This is Niecy was reprised by The Emotions on 1977's Rejoice, and is also on this set.)

Blessed boasts strong selections from each of The Emotions' five Columbia and ARC platters.  1977 sophomore set Rejoice (on which Hutchinson sister Pamela stepped in for Jeanette) introduced the song which is still most closely associated with the trio today: McKay and White's "Best of My Love."  The bold, bubbly and effervescent dancer went all the way to No. 1 Pop and R&B, and propelled Rejoice to pole position on the R&B chart and No. 5 on the Billboard 200.    Rejoice featured a number of other Emotions classics including the lilting waltz "Key to My Heart" penned by Maurice's brother Verdine White, and Maurice and Jerry Peters' affecting "Blessed" which lends Big Break's compendium its title.  Wanda was among the co-writers of the inspirational "Rejoice," which like "Blessed," returned The Emotions to their spiritual roots in beautiful fashion.

The band's guiding light, Maurice White also supplied "Smile" with McKay for 1978's Sunbeam, the follow-up to Rejoice.  R&B veteran Skip Scarborough joined Maurice to write the smooth "Walking the Line," while "Smile" plays like a slightly more funked-up version of "Best of My Love."  "Smile" earned The Emotions another Top 10 R&B hit.  The rousing, funk-jazz brew of "Love Vibes" from Sunbeam is one of the many tracks to betray the Earth, Wind and Fire influence, so naturally a full-fledged "team up" between the two groups was in order.  The joyous dancefloor explosion of Jon Lind and Allee Willis' "Boogie Wonderland" arrived in April 1979 on EWF's I Am album.  Released one month later as a single, it was another triumph for both groundbreaking groups, reaching No. 6 Pop and No. 2 R&B.

The propulsive floor-filler "I Should Be Dancing" is just one of four highlights plucked from the oft-overlooked Come Into Our World.  The power trio of Maurice White, Allee Willis and David Foster was responsible for the upbeat "What's the Name of Your Love," but even their combined strengths didn't help the album find favor on the Pop side.  Despite its Top 40 R&B placement, Come Into Our World barely cracked the top 100 of the Billboard 200.  Only one more album would follow for ARC/Columbia, 1981's New Affair.  Maurice ceded production to Billy Meyers for tracks like the mellow "Now That I Know," though he helmed the presciently-titled "There'll Never Be Another Moment" himself.  Two uptempo cuts, "Turn It Out" and "All Night, Alright," were produced by Wanda and her husband, Wayne Vaughn.

The Emotions' move to the independent Red Label for 1984's Sincerely found the group embracing 1980s production values on such tracks as "You're the One" and  the synthpop-esque "You're the Best."  Though scuttled by the label's limited resources, Sincerely had some attractive music, particularly the radio-friendly pop ballad "Are You Through with My Heart."  The group's final album to date, 1985's If Only I Knew, arrived on the Motown label.  Adrianne Harris replaced Jeanette on the LP from which Blessed has culled one track: the atypically rocking, Tina Turner-esque "Miss Your Love."

Rather than presenting the artistic evolution of the group in chronological order, compilation producer Wayne Dickson has emphasized through his well-crafted song sequence the sound of The Emotions - romantic, soulful, joyous, and spiritual - as it remained consistent from Stax to Motown.  Blessed is housed in an attractively-designed digipak.  It contains a 22-page color booklet featuring Christian John Wikane's exhaustively detailed liner notes, based on his fresh interviews with Wanda (Hutchinson) Vaughn, Al McKay and the late Maurice White.

Today, the music of The Emotions continues to resonate.  Blessed: The Emotions Anthology sheds light on their lesser-known Stax recordings while giving new context to their timeless 1970s grooves and beyond.  That's reason enough to rejoice!

The Emotions, Blessed: The Emotions Anthology 1969-1985 (Big Break CDBBRXD 0333, 2016) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

CD 1

1. So I Can Love You
2. Flowers
3. My Honey and Me
4. Baby I'm Through
5. From Toys to Boys
6. Blind Alley
7. Stealing Love
8. The Best Part of a Love Affair
9. Show Me How
10. How Can You Stop Loving Someone
11. Special Part
12. Love Vibes
13. Shouting Out Love
14. Whole Lot of Shakin'
15. How'd I Know That Love Would Slip Away
16. Walking the Line
17. Don't Ask My Neighbors
18. Put a Little Love Away
19. Where is Your Love
20. Key to My Heart
21. We Go Through Changes

CD 2

1. Turn It Out
2. Best of My Love
3. I Don't Wanna Lose Your Love
4. Smile
5. Boogie Wonderland - Earth, Wind & Fire with The Emotions
6. I Should Be Dancing
7. What's the Name of Your Love
8. Rejoice
9. Changes
10. Now That I Know
11. You're the One
12. Miss Your Love
13. You're the Best
14. All Night, Alright
15. Time is Passing By
16. Come Into My World
17. There'll Never Be Another Moment
18. Are You Through with My Heart
19. Blessed

CD 1, Tracks 1 & 8 from So I Can Love You, Volt VOS-6008, 1969
CD 1, Tracks 2, 10, 11, 15 & 21 and CD 2, Track 3 from Flowers, Columbia PC 34163, 1976
CD 1, Tracks 3 & 5 from Songs of Innocence and Experience, scheduled as Volt VOS-6021, 1972
CD 1, Tracks 4, 13 & 18 from Sunshine, Stax STX-410, 1977
CD 1, Track 6 from Volt single 4077-B, 1972
CD 1, Track 7 from Volt single 4031-A, 1969
CD 1, Track 9 from Untouched, Volt VOS-6015, 1971
CD 1, Tracks 12, 14 & 16 and CD 2, Tracks 4 & 15 from Sunbeam, Columbia JC 35385, 1978
CD 1, Tracks 17 & 20 and CD 2, Tracks 2, 8 & 19 from Rejoice, Columbia PC 34762, 1977
CD 1, Track 19 and CD 2, Tracks 6, 7 & 16 from Come Into Our World, Columbia/ARC JC 36149, 1979
CD 2, Tracks 1, 10, 14 & 17 from New Affair, Columbia/ARC FC 37456, 1981
CD 2, Track 5 from Earth, Wind & Fire, I Am, Columbia/ARC 10956, 1979
CD 2, Track 9 from Columbia single 10791-B, 1978
CD 2, Tracks 11, 13 & 18 from Sincerely, Red Label RLLP-001-1, 1984
CD 2, Track 12 from If Only I Knew, Motown ML 6136, 1985