"Love TKO"
[Song written by Gip Noble and Cecil and Linda Womack]
That sensuous quiet storm classic ‘Love TKO' was a hit for Teddy Pendergrass in 1981. It came from the gold disc winning album ‘Its Time For Love' at a time that, although Pendergrass had no way of knowing it, represented the peak of his illustrious career. Composed by Gip Noble Jr and the prolific duo of Cecil and Linda Womack, ‘Love TKO' was both an instant hit and an enduring soul anthem that over the years has become a true Smooth Soul Survivor and in turn helped keep the name of Pendergrass alive.
"Love TKO"
[Song written by Gip Noble and Cecil and Linda Womack]
That sensuous quiet storm classic ‘Love TKO' was a hit for Teddy Pendergrass in 1981. It came from the gold disc winning album ‘Its Time For Love' at a time that, although Pendergrass had no way of knowing it, represented the peak of his illustrious career. Composed by Gip Noble Jr and the prolific duo of Cecil and Linda Womack, ‘Love TKO' was both an instant hit and an enduring soul anthem that over the years has become a true Smooth Soul Survivor and in turn helped keep the name of Pendergrass alive.
Pendergrass started out in his home city of Philadelphia as a self-taught drummer with local band The Cadillacs. The group merged with the more established Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes to become The Blue Notes but in 1970, when the band fragmented, Melvin, now very aware of the power and prowess of the Pendergrass vocals, asked him to take over as lead singer. His distinctive style brought the reformed Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes to the notice of Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff who signed them to their Philadelphia International roster.
With jewels such as ‘The Love I Lost', ‘If You Don't Know Me By Now', ‘Wake Up Everybody' and ‘Bad Luck' the hits came in torrents but the success of Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes did not sit well with Pendergrass who felt he lacked personal recognition for the bands achievements. Friction ensued and despite a change of billing to ‘Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes featuring Theodore Pendergrass' the wound could not be healed and in 1976 Pendergrass left to form his own ‘Blue Notes featuring Teddy Pendergrass'. The confusion that this obviously created was stemmed when Pendergrass disbanded his ‘own' Blue Notes in favor of a solo career while Harold Melvin's group signed a deal with Source Records.
The transition for Pendergrass was seamless. Signing with Philadelphia International Records he was quickly racking up hits from his platinum selling debut album ‘Teddy Pendergrass' that included both ‘The More I Get The More I Want' and ‘I Don't Love You Anymore'. He also clearly identified his target market with his infamous ‘Ladies Only' concerts and that, in part, helped his next three LP's, ‘Life Is A Song Worth Singing', ‘Teddy' and ‘Teddy Live (Coast To Coast)' to attain either gold or platinum status. In addition another Pendergrass classic hit single, ‘Close The Door', was featured in the movie ‘Soup For One'.
With a Grammy nomination and the 1978 American Music Award for ‘Best R&B Performer' Pendergrass ended the decade in fine style and started the 80's just as well. His fifth solo project ‘TP' was also a platinum seller. It included the single ‘Turn Off The Lights' and the 1981 follow up, ‘It's Time For Love', went gold. This was the album from which ‘Love TKO' was taken yet less than one year later Pendergrass was left wheelchair bound and paralyzed from the waist down following a car accident. It took a year of physical therapy before he could make it back onto the recording scene but, signing a deal with Elektra, produced a gold disc in 1984 with ‘Love Language'. The title track of his 1988 release ‘Joy' enjoyed two weeks at number one on the R & B chart and he continued to record through the nineties both with Elektra and on the Surefire / Wind Up label.
As far as ‘Love TKO' is concerned the term ‘often imitated but never bettered' would be an appropriate tag. Classics don't come along every day and ‘Love TKO' is all that and more yet there are still some very credible covers around. Of course the original can be found on countless compilations but Regina Belle offers up a particularly pleasing rendition on her excellent 1995 album ‘Reachin Back'. Less noteworthy offerings come from Andrew Young on his 2001 release ‘Picture Of My Life', Rory Blocks 2002 ‘I'm Every Woman' and Clive Griffins self titled CD from 1993. Bette Midler does her own thing with it on ‘Bette'. This CD was made to promote her then new television show in 2000 and Nashville based Lambchop include ‘Love TKO' on their 2001 ‘best of' effort ‘Tools In The Dryer'.
The track can also be found by The Nylons on their cleverly titled ‘Another Fine Mesh' CD from 1993 but an altogether better effort comes from Swiss born contemporary jazz keyboard player Alex Bugnon. A sensuous track like ‘Love TKO' works particularly well with a smooth jazz vibe and this is what Bugnon provides on the self evidently titled Narada compilation ‘Love Project'. Smooth jazz is also on the agenda of Eric Darius. This twenty three year old saxophonist is a real up and comer and his take on ‘Love TKO' from his debut album ‘Night On The Town' is genuinely soulful.
A new and interesting version is featured on ‘Fade Into Light' from Boz Scaggs. This intimate and understated studio album was previously released by Virgin Japan and has become a much-sought-after prize for Scaggs fans who have paid top dollar prices for the import. ‘Love TKO' has recently become the second radio single to be lifted from it. As far as personal favorites are concerned, if the original is not around a great and different interpretation comes from Hall and Oates. ‘Our Kind Of Soul' is the duo's 2004 homage to the music that underpinned their career and the way that they handle ‘Love TKO' almost re-invents it.
Time is sure to tell that ‘Love TKO' is a real Smooth Soul Survivor.
By Denis Poole