Happy Ending: Cherry Red Collects Albums from Yvonne Elliman and More on "Purple People Vol. 1"

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Cherry Red Records has recently been cherry-picking a number of rare treasures from the archives of Purple Records, the label formed by Deep Purple. Between 1971 and 1979, Purple Records issued music not just from its namesake band, but by other artists both inside (Elf, Hard Stuff) and outside of the hard rock sphere. Highlights from these albums have been compiled before on a compilation entitled Purple People. Now, four of the label's most unexpected offerings have been collected on CD by Cherry Red in a new box set similarly titled Purple People Vol. 1: Yvonne Elliman's Food of Love (1973); folksinger-guitarist Buddy Bohn's A Drop in the Ocean (1971); singer-guitarist Carol Hunter's The Next Voice You Hear (1973); and the offbeat television tie-in album COLDITZ Breakpoint! (1973). A number of well-known names populated these recordings including producer Rupert Hine, songwriters Jim Steinman and Roger Greenaway and Roger Cook, and Wrecking Crew musician Larry Knechtel.

Before "If I Can't Have You" but after "I Don't Know How to Love Him," Yvonne Elliman signed to the Purple Records roster for her sophomore album, Food of Love. Her first album, for Decca, had been produced by the Jesus Christ Superstar team of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice; for Food of Love, she turned to Purple's Rupert Hine. He assembled an A-list team of musicians including guitarist Caleb Quaye, bassist John Gustafson, keyboardist Peter Robinson, and even The Who's Pete Townshend, for a brave and unusual cover of that band's "I Can't Explain." Hine contributed a number of original songs, and Elliman wrote "Hawaii," named for her birthplace. Her adventurous spirit also manifested itself in a fine cover of The Band's "The Moon Struck One" and a lament spun from her famous hit ("The I Don't Know How to Love Him Blues") while the album's most lasting claim to fame might be the inclusion of a song called "Happy Ending." Its writer was the young Jim Steinman, and Elliman's recording was the future Bat Out of Hell tunesmith's first commercially-recorded song. Musically, "Happy Ending" sounds nothing like Steinman's future theatrical rock opuses, but the lyrics ("Take me away from this sledgehammer night/Take me away on a mattress of velvet in a clear modern candlelight") clearly anticipate them. A mélange of rock, pop, R&B, and soul styles all sung by a versatile artist, Elliman's Food of Love is tasty, indeed.

According to Malcolm Dome's fine liner notes, Buddy Bohn was discovered by Purple Records while opening for Bread, but his album for the label couldn't be further away from the soft rock hitmakers. Bohn's heart was in folk, and so for A Drop in the Ocean, he brought his soothing storyteller's voice to a set of mostly original songs produced by Jerry Lordan (of "Apache" fame) including the bright and infectious opener, "Piccalilli Lady," and the sadly beautiful ballad "Samuel." Roy Thomas Baker, later to produce Queen, was among the album's engineers, and the songwriting team of Roger Cook and Roger Greenaway added background vocals. A Drop, with its striking Hipgnosis cover, wasn't a standard folk set by any means, though; he incorporated orchestration to add a stately, timeless feel to the songs such as the evocative pair of "Winter Song" and "Summer Song." It adds up to a varied effort by the artist who today is known simply as Moro.

As a guitarist, Carol Hunter has been associated with a host of famous names, especially Neil Diamond both in the studio and on the concert stage. She struck out on her own with Purple Records for The Next Voice You Hear. That voice was one infused with funk, gospel, and soul overtones, and the album had a tight band feel thanks to the session greats such as Michael Botts and Larry Knechtel of The Wrecking Crew, as well as Craig Doerge on piano, Larry Carlton on guitar, and album co-producer Randy Steirling on a host of guitars. Likewise, Hunter accompanied herself on guitar and played a variety of other instruments on such striking tracks as Elton John and Bernie Taupin's "Border Song," Robbie Robertson's "Look Out Cleveland," and Gordon Lightfoot's "Song for a Winter's Night." Adding to the gospel spirit were the backing vocals by Clydie King, Vanetta Fields, and Jessie Smith. Like Clydie, Carol would go on to work with Bob Dylan, performing on his Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid soundtrack. The Next Voice You Hear concludes with an instrumental suite of songs. Both as a singer and guitarist, Hunter's Voice was an appealing one, as the joyful spirit of this funky, bluesy gem proves.

The fourth and final album in Purple People is by far the most unusual offering in the label's catalogue. Colditz Breakpoint!, helmed by Rupert Hine, was based on a then-popular BBC series set in the Colditz prisoner of war camp during World War II. Dome quotes Hine about the genesis of the project, revealing that "the idea was that we would tell a story, just by using sound effects. We had a script, like a storyboard, and we knew how each chapter was going to go, and we went through immense detail with Pat Reid [the Major whose story inspired the series] in advance." The resulting album incorporated sound effects (newly recorded at various locations) with vintage recordings by Gracie Fields, Arthur Askey, Jack Warner, Lale Anderson, George Formby, and others, as well as The Melachrino Orchestra, for a sonic collage unlike any other.

Purple People Vol. 1 is handsomely packaged within a compact clamshell case. The 20-page booklet contains notes and full credits, and each album is housed in an individual mini-LP replica jacket with original labels on the CDs. Tony Dixon at Masterpiece has remastered all four albums. This slice of Deep Purple side history is available now at the links below!

Various Artists, Purple People Vol. 1 (Purple Records/Cherry Red PURPLEBOX013, 2017) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

CD 1: Yvonne Elliman, Food of Love (Purple TPS 3504, 1973)