Real Thing

We should have come out before with this but time is always tight and we wanted to put the necessary attention and care on the second number on our label from this incredible artist. It took a while also because we have put together a family job, asking Willie's daughter Lisa, who is an amazing creative self on her own, if we could use one of her creations as artwork on the pressed labels, plus Fabio had to sleep and think on how to craft the best possible graphic package, and me and Max remastered it 2 or 3 times, as usual lookin after a perfection that never lands. Green Coil guys scraped Willie's memory barrel allowing a comprehensive sleeve note that helps to frame the recording in the right athmosphere of the time. As Mr. Wright recalls, “Real Thing” was recorded "around the same time as the 'Telling The Truth” album. Though there’s no certainty on the exact year, 1976 is the best guess as to when. The track was done at a proper recording studio, but Willie deliberately staged it to sound like it was recorded live in a club, including calling out hellos to waitresses and restaurant staff, who weren't actually there. The impetus for making this recording, and for writing and playing it during those days, was the fact that disco was literally wiping out all other forms of pop music, and even big acts were having to make concessions and put out disco-like concoctions to stay "current." Some of his fellow singers and musicians occasionally teased him saying he was too much of a "folkie" to do a decent modern dance tune. At the time, Willie's club performance lists were very genre-bending, and while on the surface he appeared to make concessions to popular musical trends by including covers of many current songs, his method was to slyly transform the covers and play against type. He was a performance artist who would show up at a soul club in a tuxedo and freak them out by playing mostly Dylan, Richie Havens, obscure folk and white rock, then go to a white venue and bang out a spectacular classic soul set. “Real Thing” is an upbeat dance song with a street-rough yet groovy feeling that perfectly expresses the essence of Willie Wright.