Yvonne Fair - The Bitch Is Black

Full-on, feisty femme funk finally reissued

This album’s provocative front sleeve, depicting Yvonne Fair stroking a cat o’ nine tails, is supremely ironic, given that this Virginia-born singer wasn’t given a fair crack of the whip at Motown, the company that originally released her solitary LP back in 1975.

Born Flora Yvonne Coleman in 1942, Fair joined Berry Gordy’s label in 1969 after singing with The Chantels and then performing in the soul revues of James Brown and Chuck Jackson. But, despite her obvious stentorian vocal prowess and raspy, Bettye LaVette-style timbre, Fair was put on Motown’s back burner until 1974, when a session with Temptations’ producer Norman Whitfield resulted in a hit remake of Funky Music Sho’ Nuff Turns Me On, originally cut by previous Whitfield protégés Edwin Starr and The Undisputed Truth.

This 10-track album, packed with raw, visceral funk workouts and incendiary R&B ballads, followed a year later, with Whitfield taking the lion’s share of the production credits. Fair enjoyed a Top 5 UK hit with the poignant It Should Have Been Me, but it’s the album’s ballsy, visceral funk workouts, including You Can’t Judge A Book By Its Cover, that have made this such a sought-after item with collectors. Funk-tastic!

4 stars 4 stars 4 stars 4 stars

Reel Music | B 0010056-02

Reviewed by Charles Waring
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