Brothers By Choice

Brothers By Choice - Take A Little More - Ala - 1978

She Puts The Ease Back Into Easy; Baby, You Really Got Me Going; Girl I Need You Too; Young Single and Free; Take A Little More; I've Got What You Need; She Puts The Ease Back In To Easy (Part 2); You Keep My Love Alive
Produced By: E. J. Gurren, Barnett Williams & Stan Ross

Brothers By Choice is basically Chuck Higgins with Patty Brooks & Patsy Powell on backing vocals on some tracks. Recorded at the famous Phil Spector venue Gold Star Studios, part owned by producer Stan Ross and opened in 1950 (picture below, note distinctive reflex horn speakers). On guitar is my very favorite David T. Walker with Clay Drayton. Bass is provided by Henry Fields & Clay Drayton. Great Horn section provided by Quipman Dennis, Chuck Findley & Ronn Star.

The album cover is untitled but the vinyl is titled 'She Puts The Ease In To Easy?" so not surprisingly there is confusion, it looks like they forgot to put the title on the cover! So dealers selling un-opened copies are calling it a self titled album. I'm thinking this may be the Chuck Higgins who is also from Los Angeles and recorded for Combo/Dootone in the late 50's, if so he would have been about 54 when this album was made! If so he was a famous horn honker and track one is horn led, but no credit is given in the sleeve notes. It may even be Chuck Higgins Jr. as he did backing vocals for two of his fathers 1979 disco LP's.

The first single from this set I think was the catchy "She Puts The Ease Back Into Easy" and has been a hard single to find. The album though is quite rare and comes along about once a year on Ebay and also has two other nice 2-Steppers as well as today's featured song; "Baby You Really Got Me going, & "She Puts The...,
The first thing that strikes you about today's featured song is the nice wide percussive sound provided by Gary Coleman with a nice string introduction. It's always nice when a tune has a good beginning, middle & end, and this song ticks all three box's. Girl I Need You Too has Northern appeal with lots of horns, kinda like the old Stafford sound in fact Young Single & Free is in the same vain but sadly no lyrics. The group were previously known as The Gliders and the producer on some of the album tracks is Barnett Williams and he was a percussionist in Gil-Scott-Heron's backing group, The Midnight Band, for a number of years from about 1974, so Dave Allen tells me!

Brothers by choice discography:
(as Gliders:)
alva 112 no time/lonely cities & one way streets (1974)

southern sound 103 baby come on/school days *

fantasy 681 barefoot boy/is this what i need*

As Brothers By Choice
fretone034 - no time/lonely cities & one way streets (1975)
ALA
103 - she put's the ease into easy (part 1)/part 2 (1978)
104 - baby you really got me going/take a little more time (1978)
105 - young single and free/girl i need you 12" (1979)
108 - oh darlin'/why can't you make up your mind (1980)
110 - how much I feel/ (1980)

new world
105 - Got to get you home/Get up and dance *(1979)
LP's
ala 1983 - she put's the ease into easy ALA (1978)

Photos: Sure Microphones. *may be another group