Rockin' Roll Baby

Rockin' Roll Baby is the third studio album recorded by American R&B group The Stylistics, released in November 1973 on the Avco label. It was produced by Thom Bell and recorded at Sigma Sound Studio North in Philadelphia. This was the group's last album produced by Bell.

Rockin' Roll Baby
Studio album by The Stylistics
Released	November 1973
Studio	Sigma Sound, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Genre	R&B, soul
Length	42:36
Label	Avco
Producer	Thom Bell
The Stylistics chronology
Round 2 (1972) Rockin' Roll Baby (1973) Let's Put It All Together (1974)
Singles from Rockin' Roll Baby
"Rockin' Roll Baby" Released: 1973

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]
Christgau's Record Guide	C+[2]

Lead vocals are by Russell Thompkins, Jr.

Background

While on Avco, they began working with producer/songwriter Thom Bell, and along with songwriter Linda Creed created a bunch of hit singles that used lavish production backing the lead vocals of Russell Thompkins, Jr. Every single that Bell produced was a hit.^[3] The album includes the original full version of the song, "You Make Me Feel Brand New".

Chart performance

The album reached No. 66 on the Billboard LPs chart and No. 5 on the R&B albums chart. The title track reached No. 14 on the Billboard Hot 100, No. 3 on the R&B singles chart, and No. 6 on the UK Singles Chart.

Track listing

Side one

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Only for the Children"		4:38
2.	"Could This Be the End?"	Joseph B. Jefferson, Bruce Hawes, Charles Simmons	4:09
3.	"Let Them Work It Out"		3:58
4.	"Make It Last"		2:59
5.	"Pay Back Is a Dog"	Thom Bell, Kenneth Gamble	4:31

All tracks are written by Thom Bell and Linda Creed, except where noted

Side two

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
6.	"Love Comes Easy"		4:58
7.	"There's No Reason"	Joseph B. Jefferson, Bruce Hawes	3:58
8.	"Rockin' Roll Baby"		4:27
9.	"You Make Me Feel Brand New" (long version, not the 1974 hit single version)		5:30
10.	"I Won't Give You Up"	Charles Simmons, Bruce Hawes, Joseph B. Jefferson	3:38

Personnel

• Russell Thompkins, Jr. – lead vocals, backing vocals
• Airrion Love – backing vocals, lead vocals on "You Make Me Feel Brand New"
• James Smith, Herb Murrell, James Dunn – backing vocals
• Linda Creed, Barbara Ingram, Evette Benton, Carla Benson – additional backing vocals
• Norman Harris, Bobby Eli – guitar
• Ronnie Baker – bass
• Earl Young – drums
• Larry Washington – timbales, congas, bongos
• Vince Montana – percussion
• Thom Bell – keyboards
• Joseph DeAngelis, Milton Fipps – French horn
• Jack Faith – alto saxophone, flute
• John Davis – tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone
• Bobby Hartzell, Rocco Bene – trumpet, flugelhorn, piccolo trumpet
• Freddy Joiner, Bobby Moore – tenor trombone
• Richard Genevese – bass trombone
• Walter File – harp
• Don Renaldo and His Swinging Strings – strings

Charts

Chart (1973–74)	Peak position
Australia (Kent Music Report)[4]	43
U.S. Billboard Top LPs[5]	66
U.S. Billboard Top Soul LPs[5]	5
UK Albums Chart[6]	42

Singles

Year	Single	Peak chart positions
		US [5]	US R&B [5]	US A/C [5]	UK [6]
1973	"Rockin' Roll Baby"	14	3	44	6

References

1. Hamilton, Andrew. Rockin' Roll Baby review at AllMusic. Retrieved 2011-10-16.
2. Christgau, Robert (1981). "Consumer Guide '70s: S". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor & Fields. ISBN 089919026X. Retrieved March 13, 2019 – via robertchristgau.com.
3. "Stylists All Music Bio". AllMusic. Retrieved 5 August 2016.
4. Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 299. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
5. "US Charts > The Stylistics". Allmusic. Retrieved 2012-11-21.
6. "UK Charts > The Stylistics". The Official Charts Company. Retrieved 2011-09-29.

External links

• Rockin' Roll Baby at Discogs (list of releases)