■ 06 January 2012 | 3:19 PM
Playing the Fool: The Tasty Soul of The Main Ingredient
Their voices floating together were so gossamer-soft they needed amplification.
Donald McPherson, Tony Silvester and Luther Simmons, collectively known as The Main Ingredient, hailed from Harlem and were schooled in the doo-wop tradition. Formed in the early ‘60s, the trio concocted a cashmere sound, crooning love songs in harmonies so smooth, haunting and hypnotic they sound like echoes in a dream.
But before they became one of pop’s biggest groups in the early ‘70s, tragedy struck. Donald, the handsome lead singer the camera loved, died of complications from leukemia. He was just 30. His voice drives the group’s first R&B Top 10 hit, 1971’s “Spinning Around (I Must Be Falling in Love).” The trio’s harmonies ride swirling strings, as Donald’s rich tenor seduces.
Soon after he was laid to rest in the summer of '71, an equally dashing singer, Cuba Gooding (yes, father of the Oscar winner), was brought in. His approach was as caramel-smooth as Donald’s, but he sang with more vitality and power. Cuba’s range was expansive, his diction impeccable. With such an irrepressible presence on lead, The Main Ingredient finally made a big splash on the pop side.
In 1972, the group released its signature, “Everybody Plays the Fool.” I remember hearing the scratchy RCA 45 as a kid. Even then, I dug the production: the strutting flute, lightly syncopated strings and Cuba’s testifying vocal. But it wasn’t until I was a grown man and had been kicked in the jewels by love that the lyrics sank in. “It may be factual/May be cruel/But everybody plays the fool/There’s no exception to the rule.” I’ve lived; I’ve learned. Amen.
This was the era when black pop rippled with the aspirations of upwardly mobile blacks trying to live like "The Jeffersons," or "Superfly," depending on the neighborhood. When songs deftly addressed the sweet sunshine and dark rainstorms of love. The Spinners told us “it takes a fool to learn that love don’t love nobody.”
The Main Ingredient’s second pop smash, 1974’s “Just Don’t Want to Be Lonely,” laid bare the vulnerabilities we all feel. We spend so much energy in denial of it or finding hollow substitutes for it. But in the end, don’t we all crave a connection, an intimacy with someone that goes well beyond the physical? “I wanna be loved and needed/Depended on to give the love I can give,” Cuba croons. And a million people ran to record stores to bear witness.
The Main Ingredient never returned to such pop heights after 1974. But the group was a mainstay on the soul side, with vibrant, tastefully orchestrated classics that showcased its vocal chemistry. “Rolling Down a Mountainside,” co-written by the great Leon Ware, brought a nascent disco pulse to an inspirational lyric. With its cinematic flourishes and swaggering groove, “Happiness is Just Around the Bend” brilliantly evokes Harlem circa 1974.
But things cooled for the group around the middle part of the ‘70s, when disco edged its way into the mainstream and soul became sleeker. Hits by the Main Ingredient were very much of their time, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The music distills an era when black pop didn’t pander too much. Grown men and women sang about issues facing grown men and women. The nuances and a little mystery enriched and enlivened the music. The lyrics engaged. The Main Ingredient made you feel OK about playing the fool. But after the record went off, you knew you wouldn’t be the same fool again.
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Maybe I've been too hard on
Maybe I've been too hard on you Rashod, as I have stated you will find no greater fan of soul music than in my"self". Watching the archives you just represented off of Soul Train was a treat. I'm new to the computer, in the past I had Dial-Up, incapable of video and audio. We lost our last great soul DJ when he left WFOS after less than a year on the job. The brother(although working for and representing a large corporate entity which I will refrain from naming) was laying it down, rare Pittsburg, Philadelphia, and all the lesser knowns and better knowns most of us almost forgot. Keep it coming, I'll try to get my Allman brothers elsewhere. You can't be everything to all people,
Still think you need to opt
Still think you need to opt a new photo of yourself. What's wit dat ?
Playing The Fool: The Main Ingredient
That album Rolling Down A Mountainside also produced one of the best love songs that most people never heard: "I Want To Make You Glad". Every time I hear Cuba Gooding's perfect pitch on that song,a tear comes from my eye. If you haven't heard it, check it out on You Tube.