Right Back Where We Started From (album)

Right Back Where We Started From is the debut album by British R&B and soul music singer Maxine Nightingale recorded and released in 1976 by United Artists.

Right Back Where We Started From
Studio album by Maxine Nightingale
Released	June 1976
Recorded	1975, March 1976
Genre	R&B, soul
Label	United Artists
Producer	Pierre Tubbs
Maxine Nightingale chronology
Right Back Where We Started From (1976) Night Life (also known as Love Hit Me) (1977)

Background and recording

The title track was released as a single in the summer of 1975 reaching #8 in the UK: subsequent to its year-end US release the track would reach #5 in Adult Contemporary, #9 in Dance Music/Club Play, #46 in R&B singles and #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. Nightingale, spending time with her husband in Japan at the time her single gained popularity, ignored advisements from United Artists that she return to London to cut an album, accepting that advice only as the single moved up the upper half of the Billboard Hot 100 in March 1976.[1][2]

The initial recording of the "Right Back Where We Started From" single had been in a session at Central Sound a small demo studio on Denmark Street in Camden: the basic track had then been augmented at London studios Olympic Sound, Morgan Studios, and Island Studios. The tracks to complete the Right Back Where We Started From album were recorded at Eden Studios in Chiswick.

Release and reception

Released in June 1976 - concurrent with the single "Gotta Be the One" - , the Right Back Where We Started From album drew little evident critical notice. Dave Marsh of Rolling Stone in his syndicated capsule review column, while praising the title cut as "one of the most engaging singles of the current Top 40", opined that the album overall "fumbles through mild, unexciting ballads (a little like those Natalie Cole does so well) and the [expected] listless disco forays.[3] Lynn Short of the Morristown Daily Record agreed: "'Right Back Where We Started From' is definitely a cut above the average Top 40 song. Unfortunately it's also a cut above...the rest of the album [which consists of] uninspired upbeat tunes ('I Think I Wanna Possess You') and semi-ballads which range from not bad ('Reasons') to definitely bad ('Life Has Just Begun'). It's fairly clear this is an album that was quickly assembled to cash in on a hit single."[4]

The single "Gotta Be the One" would prove to be a Top 40 shortfall peaking at #53 on the Billboard Hot 100 (and faring less well in the other US music trade magazines: the Cashbox singles chart afforded "Gotta Be the One" a #84 peak while the track failed to reach the top 100 Singles Chart in Record World peaking at #102 on the Singles Chart 101-150. Another album track: "(I Think I Wanna) Possess You", had an unsuccessful single release in September 1976. Without the momentum of a current major hit single, the Right Back Where We Started From album rose no higher than #65 on the Billboard album charts. Nightingale herself would later state (in 1979) that the Right Back Where We Started From album (Maxine Nightingale:)"came out too long after the [title] single and [therefore] was unsuccessful."[1]

Track listing

Side 1

1. "(I Think I Wanna) Possess You" (Tim Moore) – 3:29
2. "Bless You" (John Lennon) – 4:30
3. "Right Back Where We Started From" (Pierre Tubbs, Vince Edwards) – 3:14
4. "In Love We Grow" (Dennis Belfield) – 3:35 (Timed @ 2:35 on LP)
5. "Gotta Be the One" (Pierre Tubbs) – 2:55
6. "One Last Ride" (Pierre Tubbs) – 2:33
7. "Reasons" (Maurice White, Charles Stepney, Philip Bailey) – 4:27

Side 2

1. "If I Ever Lose This Heaven" (Leon Ware, Pam Sawyer) – 4:01
2. "Love Enough" (Tim Moore) – 3:35
3. "You Got the Love" (Chaka Khan, Ray Parker Jr.) – 4:37
4. "Life Has Just Begun" (Glenn Nightingale) – 3:38
5. "Everytime I See a Butterfly" (Tiny Barge) – 3:43
6. "Good-Bye Again" (Pierre Tubbs, Vince Edwards) – 3:25 [5]

Personnel

• Mick Barker - Guitars
• Glenn Nightingale - Guitars, Cabasa
• Pierre Tubbs - Guitars, Elka Synthesizer, Percussion, Retzina, Vocals
• Mike de Albuquerque - Bass
• Theo Thunder - Drums
• Pete Kershaw - Drums
• Bob Andrews - Clavinet, Piano, Roland Synthesizer, Fender Rhodes, Percussion, Vocals
• Lynton Naiff - Piano, Fender Rhodes, Clavinet, Marimba, Mellotron
• Dave Ulm - Percussion, Congas, Bongos, Tambourine
• Raphael Ravenscroft, Bill Skeat - brass arrangements
• Tony Rivers, John Perry, Ken Gold, Vince Edwards, Al Matthews, Pete Kershaw, Pierre Tubbs, Maxine Nightingale, Liza Strike, Helen Chappell - backing vocals
• Frank Ricotti - Vibraphone
• Gerry Shury, Wilf Gibson - strings Arrangements, Conducted
• Wilf Gibson- Violin
• Peter Hughes - Baritone Saxophone
• Vince Edwards: Percussion, Vocals
• Raphael “Earl” Ravenscroft - Baritone Saxophone, Flute Saxophone
• Ronji Southern - Percussion, Vocals
• Kenny Wheeler - Flugelhorn, Trumpet
• Bernado Ball - timbales
• Ian Harrison - Percussion
• Jeff Seopardie - Drums
• Tony Wolbrom - Piranas [5]

Production

• Produced by: Pierre Tubbs
• Recorded and Mixed at: Eden Studios (except side 1, track 3), Chiswick, London & Central Sound, Olympic Sound, Morgan Studios, Island Studios (side 1, track 3)
• Engineers: Mike Gardner assisted by Roger Bechirian
• Rhythm Tracks disorganised by Lynton Naiff
• Album cover concept: Pierre Tubbs, Derek Richards
• Album art direction: Dave Murphy
• Album photography: Derek Richards
• Album design: Bob Searles [5]

References

1. Los Angeles Times (Calendar) 2 September 1979 "Unlike Peers, Singer Blasts Big Business" by Dennis Hunt p.74
2. The Atlanta Constitution 19 May 1976 "She Has a 'Hit' Without Trying" by Mary Campbell p.13-A
3. Asbury Park Press 27 June 1976 "Record Previews" by Dave Marsh p.C8
4. Morristown Daily Record 18 July 1976 "This is Soul? Some Music We Could Do Without" by Lynn Short p.J16
5. Original album sleeve notes