Though they boasted one of the sweetest voices in
soul
music with
Eugene Record
,
the Chi-Lites
broke away from that format -- thankfully, only slightly -- for 1971's
(For God's Sake) Give More Power to the People
. Influenced by the growing social consciousness of
music during the early '70s (especially
Sly & the Family Stone
and the solo debut of fellow Chicagoan
Curtis Mayfield
),
Record
wrote a pair of songs (the title track and
"We Are Neighbors"
) evoking not only deep frustration but also a plea for hope and unity that challenging times demanded. It certainly didn't hurt that both were monster productions with raw, aggressive synthesizers, intense lead vocals, and some of the strongest, loudest harmonizing ever heard on a
record. Doubly ironic and doubly fortunate too that
also featured a pair of
' sweetest
ballads
"Have You Seen Her?"
and
"I Want to Pay You Back,"
plus the excellent strollers
"Love Uprising"
"You Got Me Walkin'."
The Chi-Lites
weren't exactly album artists, but
was a powerful example of early-'70s
and the best record they ever released. ~ John Bush