THE TYMES – "Ms. Grace"

A nice song, no more, no less, and while it wasn’t exactly disco it was surely helped along by the disco boom. Can’t say I loved it at the time but it’s one of those songs where you look back and smile.

And the band were rather gracious themselves, by all accounts – apparently when they were doing TOTP in March that year, they went over to the Goodies to tell them how much they’d enjoyed “The Funky Gibbon”. Which would probably have made Bill Oddie’s week at least.

The unlikely second Philadelphia soul group to make number one in the UK, the Tymes were already something of an anachronism; their big American hit, “So Much In Love” fell just short of our Top 20 in 1963, then that was it until 1969 when they had a transatlantic Top 20 hit with their version of the show tune “People” – and then nothing more until 1974 when they returned with “You Little Trustmaker” and I’m sure it’s not just me who detects the hint of Kevin Ayers in those “doobie-doobie-doobie”s…

Another beneficiary of the slow month of January, “Ms Grace” is a pleasing-sounding throwback to the showy days of doo-wop with due nods to Gamble and Huff in its introduction (though it wasn’t a Philly production) and rather charming in its polite obsessiveness and natural, good-humoured swing, though I note that it hardly registered on the Billboard Hot 100.

After that they had just one more hit in Britain, with “God’s Gonna Punish You” (not as interesting as the title might suggest) and the only real qualm I have about “Ms Grace” is that it kept Gloria Gaynor’s beginning of time “Never Can Say Goodbye” at number two.

Am I the only one who insists on hearing the Tymes’s 1974 hit as “You little truss maker”?

Anyway, both that and the title under consideration are perfectly nice representatives of Philly Soul without making me feel overexcited and needing to lie dow. Or get up and dance, for that matter. I prefer the earlier one because it has associations with bopping in a steamy cellar in Manchester.

This might be the archetypal ‘5’ number 1, in that its agreeable to listen to, but no more affecting than in a mild toe-tapping sort of way. It’s certainly not a song that’s ever come unbidden into my head when I’ve been in love!

Like its immediate predecessor, the placing of “Ms Grace” at the top was a delightful surprise to me and once again Johnnie Walker purred his pleasure, calling it “an excellent record”. And so it was. A strong melody, a sing-along chorus (although for “satin, perfume and lace” I used to sing “sat in for the human race”, but there you go) and an all round fine production. I think the wind must have changed the week it hit its peak, as it arrived at number one very suddenly and then fell off from a great height seven days later, I seem to remember. Nevertheless there have been far worse number ones, although its accession to top of the heap surprised many, including The Tymes themselves, I believe.

Btw, I don’t suppose for one moment that The Tymes were aiming this at the divine and much lamented Princess of Monaco (she was still with us at that point) but it does give me an opportunity to just mention that I saw “To Catch a Thief” again a little while ago and I really defy anyone to name a more beautiful, classy and yes, graceful woman than Grace was in that picture. Simply stunning.

Bubble gum decor. Hmmmm.

The airborne melody and light easy production makes this immensely likeable but not especially loveable. There’s no jag or bur on which you can really hook your emotions. While the arrangement is quite densely packed it tries not to let on so the thing perhaps feels a touch more disposable than it needs to. Pleasant enough.

Should have a chocolatey version done by Good Friday.

Am I the only one who insists on hearing the Tymes’s 1974 hit as “You little truss maker”?

No, me too. I still think of it as that.

The Moments were another US soul harmony group who had hits in the UK that never made it back home, I think that happened to ‘Dolly My Love’ and ‘Girls’ but I could be wrong as usual.

The best of these splinter groups, I felt, were The Miracles (sans the Smokemeister). Twas they who come up with “Love Machine”, an enormous hit in the US and top three here.

Yes, by the time “Dolly My Love” was released, The Moments had indeed become detached from their Whatnauts, which sounds bloody painful to me.

Another Philly-soul hit with sumptuous production and classy soulful vocals replete with 50s style doo-wop backing. This was acutally cut in New York but did feature the TSOP strings & brass sections. Written in part by a member of the US group Orleans (of ‘Dance With Me’ fame) it’s a pleasant enough way to spend 3 minutes without necessarily wanting to spend anymore time with it.

whereas previous ‘Philly’ style number 1s largely relied on strings to create the musical setting and provide a sense of wide open space this features brass, vibes and backing vocals to provide a much denser arrangement that nevertheless combines to create a kinetic and compelling performance.

Part of me thinks I am ranking this too highly, but I just find this so appealing and pleasant. 8/10.