Alex Henderson



 Gladys Knight & the Pips

Imagination [40th Anniversary Edition]

In 1973, Gladys Knight & the Pips made a major change that came as a surprise to some of their long-time fans: they left Motown Records and signed a contract with Buddah Records. The iconic soul singer and her three Pips (brother Merald “Bubba” Knight and cousins Edward Patten and William Guest) had been with Motown since 1966, enjoying a long list of hits at Berry Gordy’s powerhouse of a company—and they were closely identified with the Motown sound. But in fact, they were feeling somewhat underappreciated at Motown. Gladys Knight has asserted in various interviews that Motown considered them a second-tier act and didn’t give them the amount of promotion that Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross, Marvin Gaye or the Temptations received. So when Buddah promised them a much more aggressive promotional campaign, they liked what they heard and accepted Buddah’s offer. It was a move that paid off handsomely.

Any doubts that there could be life after Motown for Gladys Knight & the Pips were quickly put to rest by the amazing success of their first Buddah album, Imagination. Originally released in October 1973, Imagination not only performed as well as their Motown albums—it outperformed them. Imagination soared to #1 on Billboard’s R&B albums chart, peaked at #9 on Billboard’s pop albums chart and boasted no less than three #1 R&B hits: the infectious “Midnight Train to Georgia,” the funky “I’ve Got to Use My Imagination” and the sentimental ballad “Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me.” Those gems were major pop hits as well: “Midnight Train to Georgia” reached #1 on Billboard’s pop singles chart, while “Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me” made it to #3 on that chart and “I’ve Got to Use My Imagination” reached #4 pop. A fourth single, the ballad “Where Peaceful Waters Flow,” was a #6 R&B hit in Billboard.

“Midnight Train to Georgia” was more than a smash single: it became Gladys Knight & the Pips’ signature song, although they weren’t the first ones to record it. Originally titled “Midnight Plane to Houston,” the song was first recorded by its composer: singer/songwriter Jim Weatherly. His version was mellow, country-tinged soft rock along the lines of John Denver, but “Midnight Plane to Houston” received a soul makeover when, in 1972, it was renamed “Midnight Train to Georgia” and recorded by Cissy Houston (the late Whitney Houston’s mother) with slightly different lyrics. In contrast to Knight’s rousing performance, Houston’s version was gently reflective. But while Weatherly and Houston’s versions are both enjoyable, it was Knight’s version that made “Midnight Train to Georgia” so famous.

Weatherly was an important figure in Knight’s career. He wrote the melancholy ballad “Neither One of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye),” which was her last major hit before leaving Motown. And he played a crucial role on Imagination: five of the nine songs that appeared on the original 1973 LP were written by him, and that includes not only “Midnight Train to Georgia,” but also, “Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me” and “Where Peaceful Waters Flow” as well as the ballads “Once in a Lifetime Thing” and “Storms of Troubled Times.” One of the interesting things about Weatherly was his ability to reach both the soul and country markets: in addition to doing so well for Knight and her Pips, “Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me” was recorded by country star Ray Price and became a #1 country hit for him in 1973.

Meanwhile, the non-Weatherly songs on Imagination are “I’ve Got to Use My Imagination” (written by Gerry Goffin and Barry Goldberg), the ballad “Perfect Love” (written by singer/songwriter and 1970s soft rock star Paul Williams), the gritty “Window Raisin’ Granny” (which all four members of the group wrote together) and a spirited cover of Johnny Nash’s 1972 hit “I Can See Clearly Now.” The bonus tracks on this 40^th anniversary edition of Imagination include an instrumental version of “Midnight Train to Georgia” as well as the 7” single versions of that favorite and its b-side “Window Raisin’ Granny.” 

During the 1970s, there were a lot of nostalgic soul hits that fondly paid homage to family members—for example, Bill Withers’ “Grandma’s Hands,” the Intruders’ “I’ll Always Love My Mama,” the Spinners’ “Sadie,” the Godfather of Soul James Brown’s irresistibly funky “Papa Don’t Take No Mess” and Gladys Knight & the Pips’ “Daddy Could Swear, I Declare” (one of the last hits they had with Motown). And “Window Raisin’ Granny” fits right in with that wave of family-minded soul songs. Gladys Knight, however, doesn’t sing lead on either “Window Raisin’ Granny” or “I Can See Clearly Now.” Instead, she gives the Pips a chance to take center stage, which was not the norm but was not unprecedented. The Pips were quite capable of singing lead, and when Knight was on maternity leave from the group in 1964, the Pips recorded some singles on their own. They also recorded two albums on their own for Casablanca Records in the late 1970s (1977’s At Last…..The Pips and 1978 Callin’).  

Imagination was a tough act to follow. But Gladys Knight & the Pips’ winning streak at Buddah continued in 1974 with two more albums: the soundtrack for the movie Claudine (produced by Curtis Mayfield) and I Feel a Song, both of which reached #1 on Billboard’s R&B albums chart. At Buddah, they had three #1 R&B albums in a row—which is something they never accomplished at Motown. Imagination, Claudine and I Feel a Song were all certified gold in the United States for sales exceeding 500,000 units, and in 1975, their fourth Buddah album, 2^nd Anniversary, reached #4 on Billboard’s R&B albums chart. Gladys Knight & the Pips had acquired a sizeable following at Motown, but at Buddah, they managed to become even more popular.

No less than 40 years have passed since the release of the original Imagination LP, and as this reissue demonstrates, time hasn’t made these 1973 performances any less compelling or definitive. 

—Alex Henderson, August 2013

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