Released: October 1976
Technically any album can be a group’s greatest album.
(How’s that for philosophy and wisdom?)
But this album here?
THIS coulda been the Love Unlimited Orchestra’s greatest album.
But thanks to some curious choices it actually winds up being the worst so far. It’s still above average; and if you make the adjustments I suggest at the end of this article, you can indeed build the group’s best album.
My edits ain’t the LP that was released in 1976, though.
Things kick off with the title track, “My Sweet Summer Suite”. Some lively percussion sets the stage before the disco song rages on for about five minutes total. The song also exists in a 12” form that adds an interesting, but ultimately unnecessary, intro stretching the song out to eight minutes. It’s nice to have, but I prefer the album release that’s about five minutes long.
As the album’s only single it did better than recent Orchestra 45s by reaching #28 R&B, #48 pop, and even #30 on the adult contemporary charts.
However it was most at home in the clubs where it reached #1 on the disco charts.
Technically it reached the top of the disco dance floor with “Brazilian Love Song”, which also has a 12” version. The album version is just over four minutes while the 12” is six minutes. Go for the 12” version if you can get it. In either form, this song is a breezy blast of percussion and sparkling piano.
I can see why club goers in ‘76 went bananas when those two songs were played back-to-back.
The third titanic song here is “Strange Games & Things”. It also has two different forms. The original long version is damn near perfect despite being over eight minutes. There’s a hint of psychedelia with a fuzz guitar traipsing over the funky beat and the ominous strings. The groove here is mighty and rapturous, which is why the four-minute album version is a relative letdown.
Gimme the full 8:32.
So those are the best songs on the album, but there are still two other good ones. “Blues Concerto”, as the title suggests, melds a blues song structure with the symphonic and growing Latin percussion proclivities of the Love Unlimited Orchestra. “I’m Falling In Love With You” is at its best when the rhythm guitarist gets to just chicka chicka away on his axe.
Oh and there’s “You, I Adore” gifted to White by Tony Sepe, an associate who helped him re-write “You’re the First, the Last, My Everything”. Another good mellow dance number thanks to its repetitive/catchy flute and refrains where that fuzz guitar lightly prances. The only ding on it is that it doesn’t need to be five minutes long. The song doesn’t quite overstay its welcome, but you get the point after about three minutes.
Okay, time for the mediocre.
Frank Wilson contributed “You’ve Given Me Something”. The something he gave was meh. At least he kept it short at only 3:26.
Lastly, Barry White decided to dig up the languid ballad “Are You Sure” (which first appeared on Love Unlimited’s debut LP) and turn it into an instrumental. That song was below-average with vocals and its pure crap when Love Unlimited’s rich voices are taken away. Easliy the worst recording from the Love Unlimited Orchestra.
ALBUM GRADE: C+
I’ve sometimes gotten on Barry White’s case for making a song too long. Well here’s an instance where he should have scrapped some shorter songs and just given us the long versions of the bangers.
My fix to make this album a B+?
Completely scrap “Are You Sure” and also throw away “You’ve Given Me Something”. That’s 7:30 of bad/mediocre runtime you’ve freed up.
You know what you do with that extra space? Give it to the long versions of “Brazilian Love Song” and “Strange Games & Things” which conveniently add 6:30 of good time back to the album.
Song Scores
My Sweet Summer Suite: 8/10
Strange Games & Things: 9/10
Blues Concerto: 7/10
You, I Adore: 7.5/10
Brazilian Love Song: 8.5/10
Are You Sure: 2/10
You've Given Me Something: 5/10
I'm Falling In Love With You: 7/10