This record is Deep. It’s not for everybody. It’s not for DJ’s looking for the fastest, loudest drum breaks. It’s not for collectors who want to impress their friends. It’s not for kicking off dance parties or cutting into samples for your friends to make beats with. This is a record for lovers. For people who remember what it meant to be in love when they were seventeen. For Romeos and Juliet’s and for high school kids who stay up all night thinking about how good each other smell.
The A-side is the bittersweet lament of a young man who doesn’t have all the hip clothes or the callous attitude of the “cool”, but knows in his heart that his love for his girl is right. “If that’s what it takes Darlin’”, he tells her, “I can be cool…” The flip is a MoDo side that has never been previously issued. “You Don’t Need Me” is an artfully constructed, Jackson-5-esque, midtempo track with an intro and an outro that would be worth the price of admission alone. The recording is very rough, but as always, Bob & Gene’s message cuts straight to the heart.
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AVAILABLE NOW! (CD/LP)
(CD includes an 8 page booklet complete with bio, photos and more.)
In Soul’s prime, Darrell Banks, Donnie Elbert, Dyke and the Blazers, and Jimmie Raye all left their home town of BUFFALO, NY. Resident WILLIAM NUNN stayed behind with good faith in the ground under his feet. During the fall of 1967 Nunn began assembling a recording studio in the basement of his house and opened a club in the city. Both outlets would give young resident talent as well as touring Soul stars an opportunity to record and perform
in his home town. Today, an untold mass of brittle and profound Soul and Gospel recordings remain. Self-made, close to home and close to heart; the recording’s on William’s MO DO imprint playback with unconventional humanity and anomalous presence.
Though both only fifteen at the time, William’s son BOBBY NUNN and friend EUGENE COPLIN from down the street, would give Mo Do Records it’s first vinyl outing with their stirring single “YOU GAVE ME LOVE”. Over the next few years, BOB & GENE’s name would appear beneath the Mo Do label on a handful of some of the deepest and sweetest Soul sides ever car ved into wax. MoDo was truly WILLIAM NUNN’s treasure and BOB & GENE, his most prized gems. Sadly, their full length album would never make it to press during William’s lifetime.
Shortly before his death last year, William entrusted his dusty library of tapes to DAVID GRIFFITHS, a passionate young record collector and Buffalo Soul fanatic, who in turn brought the tapes to DAPTONE RECORDS. Now, after endless hours of exploration and restoration, we are proud to present in its entirety for the first time BOB & GENE’s full length album “IF THIS WORLD WERE MINE . . .”
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Bob & Gene "You Gave Me Love" b/w "Your Name" First single off of "If This World Were Mine..."
Thank you for adding me! I just got If This World Were Mine, and it's fantastic. Songs this heartfully sung and carefully crafted should be played on every 60s-format radio station in America. . .
So I got that cd in the mail yesterday. And started playin for my people, at the bar where i Dj and they were all blown away. As i was. I love it. Thank you so much. And i will continue to play it and spread the love for you guys.
