Denise Keeble: Giving It Up In More Ways than One

This is a follow-up to a post I did last October on Denise Keeble's Pelican single "Chain On My Thing" b/w "Before It Falls Apart". Right around the time I featured those sides, I found a nice copy of her only other known single and am finally getting around to featuring it. Please refer to that earlier post for what little background I have on Ms Keeble and those songs.



"Love School" (E. Small -M. Cottrell)
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If you thought Wardell Quezergue's Pelican label was obscure, B.F.W. has it beat, with seemingly only this one release to its credit. Probably the only reason this 45 came out on a newly minted imprint was the hope that it would get some airplay and attract the interest of a larger label that could give it a push into national markets. A hope that didn't happen.

Big Q. produced and arranged these sides, as he did on her other record; and, from the sound, I am sure all the sessions were done at Malaco in Jackson, MS around 1970-1971, during the very productive days when Quezergue was first using the studio and it's fine young studio band, creating big hits right off the bat for Jean Knight and King Floyd. Obviously, "Love School" is done in the style of Knight's massive "Mr. Big Stuff", which was written by members of the producer's songwriting team, Joe Broussard, Carol Washington, and Ralph Williams. Another member of that team, Elliott Small, co-wrote "Love School" with Milton Cottrell; and, while it has a pretty funny concept and some of the funky bounce of Knight's hit, it pales by comparison. Part of the problem is that Keeble just doesn't have the same sass and stand-out vocal chops to deliver the goods. Even if Knight had done it, though, this would have been at best a B-side or album cut. Still, Quezergue's signature tight arrangement of syncopated parts grooves enough to make it all worth hearing. The predominant, percolating bass line focuses the track on the booty and is what makes me come back for more education.

As with Keeble's other single, I find the B-side more impressive, which is why I am including it.



"Giving Up" (V. McCoy)
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Written by Van McCoy, a great songwriter and producer of soul/pop, for Gladys Knight in 1964, "Giving Up", in Quezergue's deft hands, outshines McCoy's own production on Knight's original Maxx single. Dramatic and musically sophisticated, it's just the kind of thing a talent like the Big Q could run with. He issued forth a flowing, lush, well-paced and rhythmically gripping arrangement that uplifts Denise Keeble's vocals and allows her to show her strengths; and she holds her own, although she is nowhere near the league of Gladys Knight. Imagine what Knight could have done with this version. To listen deeply into this song is to behold and relish Quezergue's gifts in all their glory - and on a B-side at that. I have all four songs from Keeble's 45s on the Funky Delicacies CD, Wardell Quezergue's Funky Funky New Orleans, but totally forgot about this one until I got the single. That's a true record collecting pay-off right there.

Interestingly, around the same time that Keeble did her version, Donny Hathaway also recorded an interpretation of "Giving Up" that took the song somewhere else; but, neither his take nor Keeble's caught a commercial break. Subsequently, Keeble either gave up on the business, or it gave up on her, because, as far as I can tell, she did not record again.