Get Ready (Lookin’ For Love)
Patti Labelle
Released, 1980
Epic Records
I found this song recently and played it in my set at the I Love Vinyl party this Saturday. I feel like Patti Labelle gets an especially bad rep with people young enough to only know the corny 80′s duets and over-the-top tv/awards show performances but she’s done some really good (and really out there) stuff.
With Labelle (the group, with Nona Hendryx and Sarah Dash) she did made some really interesting mixes of funky soul and…(seemingly unrelated) space suits – see the video below. During this period they worked with New Orleans veteran Allen Toussaint a fair amount. He also produced the eternally sampled Meters who played on several of Labelle’s records. 1980 found Toussaint still working with Patti in her solo career. The Meters were not in the band at that point but David Barard’s prominent bass line really takes this song from good to great. It sounds even better at body shaking volume levels as I found Saturday.
Songs are available for two weeks.
