I've Got So Much to Give

After nearly 40 years, Barry White remains the Maestro of Love. He burst on the scene in 1973, an unlikely sex symbol with the deepest voice in creation. His debut album, I've Got So Much To Give, was just five songs long - deep, meditative, original funk with an ear for the bedroom, highlighted by the hit single "I'm Gonna Love You Just A Little More, Baby." Yet that album, which also included a striking cover of the Four Tops' "Standing in the Shadows Of Love," has been cruelly out of print for far too long. Now, on the heels of the acclaimed box set, Unlimited, Hip-oSelect.com proudly re-releases Barry White's classic debut on CD, this time with two rare bonus cuts: the original instrumental mixes of "I'm Gonna Love You Just A Little More, Baby" and "I've Got So Much To Give," which were previously available only as single B-sides. Supervised by longtime White musical director Jack Perry, the disc is newly remastered and includes in its booklet a brief introductory essay by Perry, who writes:

"Barry wrote these songs for a yet-to-be-discovered artist he was going to produce. When he cut them with his own voice for reference, BW realized that he was that artist. The rest is history: the opening of a door to the genius of Barry White."

When Barry White first burst onto the music scene in 1973--seemingly out of nowhere--he was dismissed by some critics as an Isaac Hayes imitator. Like Hayes (a chart maker since 1969), White had a deep baritone that made him a natural musical "lover man," and even though his physique was a real contrast to the sexy image of Marvin Gaye or an early-'70s Al Green, the multitalented producer, songwriter, and artist knew that he had the kind of vocal style to win over a primarily female audience.

With this, his very first album, White's music clearly had plenty of bedroom appeal. Using the same technique as Hayes, with extended songs that lasted several minutes, White helped put a lock on midnight love anthems. In addition to the pop and R&B smash "I'm Gonna Love You Just a Little More Baby" and his own standouts, "Back My Yesterday" and "I've Found Someone," White took the Four Tops' "Standing in the Shadows of Love" and turned it into a veritable opus. With swirling strings, arrangements courtesy of Gene Page, and his own Love Unlimited vocal trio providing back up, White's first album was just a taste of what was to come. --David Nathan