Alex Henderson

Patti LaBelle
I'm in Love Again  (Expanded Edition]

Patti LaBelle was four albums into her solo career when, in 1981, she decided that a change was in order. Although the four solo albums the R&B icon had recorded for Epic Records—1977’s Patti LaBelle, 1978’s Tasty, 1979’s It’s Alright with Me and 1980’s Released—were enjoyed by her hardcore fans, they fell short of the blockbuster commercial success she enjoyed in the mid-1970s with the fiery vocal trio Labelle. So with her fifth solo album, The Spirit’s in It, LaBelle moved from Epic Records/CBS Records (now Epic Records/Sony Music) to Kenny Gamble & Leon Huff’s CBS-distributed Philadelphia International Records. It was a move that made sense in a number of ways. First, Philadelphia International was part of the CBS Records family at the time. Second, the label had enjoyed tremendous success with the O’Jays, Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes, Teddy Pendergrass, the Three Degrees, the Intruders, Billy Paul, McFadden & Whitehead and others who recorded in Philly. And third, Philly was LaBelle’s home town and the place that had put her on the map.

Born Patricia Holte on May 24, 1944, LaBelle and singers Nona Hendryx and Sarah Dash had some success in the 1960s as the Philly-based group Patti LaBelle & the Blue Belles before changing their name to Labelle, adopting a more rock-influenced sound and blowing up the charts with their 1974 smash “Lady Marmalade” (which soared to #1 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Billboard’s R&B singles chart in the United States). But despite having a passionate following, the trio broke up in late 1976—and LaBelle, Hendryx and Dash all pursued solo careers.

Peaking at #43 on Billboard’s R&B albums chart in the U.S., 1981’s The Spirit’s in It was not a huge seller. But the move to Philadelphia International seriously paid off with her sixth album, I’m in Love Again. Released in 1983, I’m in Love Again reached #4 on Billboard’s R&B albums chart, outperformed her previous solo efforts by far and was certified gold in the U.S. thanks to sales of more than half a million copies. Fueling the album’s success were the ballads “If Only You Knew” and “Love, Need and Want You.” Written and produced by Gamble, Dexter Wansel and Cynthia Biggs El, Ed.D., “If Only You Knew” spent four weeks at #1 on Billboard’s R&B singles chart in the U.S. and became one of LaBelle’s biggest solo hits. And “Love, Need and Want You” (which Gamble wrote and produced with Bunny Sigler) was an impressive seller as well, reaching #10 R&B in the U.S.

I’m in Love Again was recorded at Philly’s legendary Sigma Sound Studios, where so many Philly soul greats have recorded over the years—and with Gamble, Huff, Sigler, Biggs and Wansel on board, the credits are a who’s-who of classic Philly soul. The Philly sound is instantly recognizable on sentimental ballads such as “Love Bankrupt” and the title song (which Sigler wrote) as well as funky uptempo grooves that include “I’ll Never, Never Give Up” (a minor hit in dance clubs), “When Am I Gonna Find True Love” and “Body Language.” In addition to the eight tracks from the original I’m in Love Again LP, this reissue offers the 7” single versions of “If Only You Knew,” “Love, Need and Want You,” “I’ll Never, Never Give Up” and the title song as bonus tracks.

Another highlight of I’m in Love Again is LaBelle’s soaring performance of the melancholy Ram Ramirez standard “Lover Man,” which the great jazz singer Billie Holiday made famous in 1944. LaBelle puts her own spin on the ballad, offering a version that has one foot in vocal jazz and the other in Philly soul.  

Interviewed in April 2015, Cynthia Biggs El, Ed.D explained that this album’s success was quite ironic in light of the fact that it is full of songs that were not used on The Spirit’s In It. “What is so amazing about I’m In Love Again by Patti LaBelle is that this album, first released in November 1983, is a compilation of former album rejects,” Biggs asserts. “These songs were recorded for Patti’s first album on the Philadelphia International Records label, The Spirit’s In It, but ended up in the can for any number of reasons. ‘If Only You Knew,’ the first single from that release, was among those album rejects—and had it not been for two executives at CBS Records, New York, ‘If Only You Knew’ might very well have been just another album reject never to be heard or available to the record-buying public. Today, it is known as the song that irrefutably consummated Patti LaBelle’s musical career as a solo artist.”

Biggs added that I’m in Love Again came at a time when Philadelphia International was getting ready to leave Epic/CBS and move to EMI Records. “Around 1982,” Biggs recalls, “Kenny Gamble & Leon Huff were approaching the end of their distribution deal with CBS Records. In what can now be regarded as a sheer act of grace, top CBS administrators called for all the songs in the can on all Philadelphia International artists. The plan was to salvage as many of these tracks as possible by putting together albums of the unreleased material. This was also a last-ditch effort to recoup some of the budget dollars spent on the song productions.”

Biggs continues: “After going through the material, it was decided that there were enough songs to put together an album, and executive producers Larkin Arnold and Cecil Holmes chose ‘If Only You Knew’ as the lead-off single. They believed it was the hit, but the single was released with no promotion, no publicity and no video. The song literally was left to its own devices, and to everyone’s surprise, it took off. Radio loved it and started playing it almost immediately.”

LaBelle, now 70, maintains a busy schedule in 2015 and still lives in the Philadelphia suburbs. The veteran singer has a long list of accomplishments on her résumé, and 32 years after its original release, I’m in Love Again continues to be recognized as one of her most essential solo albums. 

 —Alex Henderson, April 2015

Alex Henderson’s work has appeared in Billboard, Spin, Salon.com, Creem, The L.A. Weekly, AlterNet, JazzTimes, Jazziz, Cash Box, HITS, CD Review, Skin Two, Black Beat, The Pasadena Weekly, Black Radio Exclusive (BRE), Music Connection, The New York City Jazz Record, Jazz Inside Magazine and many other well-known publications. Henderson (alexvhenderson.com) also contributed several thousand CD reviews to the popular Allmusic.com website and The All Music Guide’s series of music reference books.