Take Me With You/Sweet Replies/Soulful Tapestry/Love Peace & Soul

The 2-cd collection of the Honey Cone's four albums recently released by Edsel Records in the UK differs slightly from the 2001 Castle Music cd "Soulful Sugar: The Complete Hot Wax Recordings" in that it removes two single versions ("We Belong Together" and "Ace in the Hole"; the LP versions will have to suffice) and adds back the stereo single mix of "While You're Out Looking for Sugar", but is basically the same package, with an altered running order.The sound is somewhat better than the previous package, sharper, a bit more detailed, but this package is newer and cheaper than its counterpart, and everybody should have a little Honey Cone in their lives; yes, the girls had commercial hits, but savor the album tracks - "Sunday Morning People", a fantastic version of "Son of a Preacher Man", a take on "You've Made Me So Very Happy" that puts BS&T to shame, the gospel-infused "The Feeling's Gone", the Jackson 5-ish "Don't Count Your Chickens (Before They Hatch)", soulful takes on the Dells' "Stay In My Corner", Smokey Robinson's "Who's Lovin' You" and "Ooo Baby Baby", and much, much more.As for the hits, they are what got me buying their records when I was a kid.This is a wonderful package (the Castle Music one being out of print and commanding high used prices), a great, cheaper way to hear The Honey Cone in all their glory.

The music of this era is the music I lived as a teen and in my early twenties. Since I can only listen to a very little of Cardi B I'm very happy with the style of music on this album which is often in the same musical feel as Motown. Edna Wright had a great voice. The Honey Cone hits still stand up: Want Ads, One Monkey, Stick Up....and there are enough good songs to round out the four albums. I like and appreciate Honey Cone much more now than then because todays music...even the R&B of today....doesn't sound as good to me as this era's music.

I AM SO GLAD THAT I GOT A COPY OF THIS DOUBLE DISC. MY FAVORITE SONGS ARE TAKE ME WITH YOU, STICK UP, WANT ADS, THE DAY I FOUND MYSELF, DON'T COUNT YOUR CHICKENS (BEFORE THEY HATCH), WHILE YOU'RE OUT LOOKING FOR SUGAR,MY MIND'S ON LEAVING, BUT MY HEART WON'T LET ME GO, WE BELONG TOGETHER, TAKE MY LOVE, AND WHEN WILL IT END. THIS IS A GREAT VALUE AT $19.98. STRONGLY RECOMMENDED. I'M TALKING BARBECUE CHICKEN, COLLARD GREENS AND BLACK-EYED PEAS SOUL!!

I bought this primarily because I've always wanted an unedited, complete version of "One Monkey Don't Stop No Show" (which has one of the greatest 70's soul music orchestrations ever). Amazon's track list shows it as one track but unfortunately it's broken up in to two tracks on the CD as it has been previously released.

Edna Wright, Darlene Love's sister, and the other ladies of Honey Cone sing with so much feeling and professionalism. The emotion expressed in these recordings represents absolutely the best of the seventies era. Each of these cuts are superior in sound and have wonderful Holland-Dozier-Holland production and are enhanced by extremely talented musicians. The arrangements? Flawless. Keep singing Edna. You still have it!!! This collection rocks and is absolutely supurb in every way.

I saw this act on a recent re-run of Soul Train and liked "Want Ads" and "Stick Up". So, I buy this set, waste hard drive space ripping every song to iTunes, and (on and off over the course of a few weeks) give each selection a chance. I come away from this experience with only three decent tracks: "Stick up", "Want Ads", and "If I Can't Fly." They're only slightly more than a one-hit wonder.

At first I balked at the price of this cd set but upon receiving it I was in for a special treat. I had originally wanted to buy it for Honey Cone's usual hits (i.e "One Monkey dont stop no show" or "Want Ads") but ended up surprised at how much I enjoyed the other more obscure music. I would recommend this to anyone one looking to expand their music library with a soft souled female funk.

Both items met my needs. One lifted my spirits music haven’t heard for a while, the other my hood on my vehicle. Thanks.

This 2CD set consists of 2 hours & 31 minutes of some of the sweetest 1970's soul you're likely to hear. Collecting together Honey Cone's four studio albums and seven bonus tracks, the songs, vocals and arrangements are at times truly outstanding. Highlights include the addictive 'Stick Up' ("Help! I've been robbed!") and the superb US No.1 'Want Ads' (both the single and unedited version) and both recall the early Jackson 5 Motown sound. The initially slow-tempo 'Ooo Baby, Baby' with its mid-song tempo change and the glorious 'The Day I Found Myself' are further highlights. There's more than a few dancefloor friendly tracks amongst the slow and mid tempo ones and plenty of 1970's soul orchestration. It's not all perfect. There are two almost identical back-to-back versions of 'One Monkey Don't Stop No Show' that become tiresome during their combined playback time of almost 8 minutes and, given that this is a collection of albums and not a greatest hits set, there are some expected fillers.

HGH replacement for the Supremes. A great early 70's girl group who recorded some classic tracks that are of course featured in this comprehensive career spanning collection of their 4 Invictus albums and bonus tracks. An excellent booklet & essay on the group tells the history of the group. Amazingly Honey Cone failed to chart in the UK despite the catchy hooks of their radio friendly material. A great collection

What an absolutely fantastic release from Edsel - a completist's dream. It has all of Honey Cone's releases on Hot Wax (albums and singles) and detailed sleeves notes from Tony Rounce.If you love the work of Holland, Dozier and Holland or quality 70's pop-soul or just good music this is a must for your cd collection. Not every track is a winner but there are plenty that hit the spot; While Your Looking Out For Sugar, Girls It Ain't Easy and Want Ads being my favourites.A great value double cd.

These are four albums well worth the time of any Motown appreciator.Unfortunately, although the disk with Soulful Tapestry and Love, Peace & Soul has played without problems, the other disk with Sweet Replies and Take Me With You has terrible clipping on several songs. The unedited (and by far best) version of the iconic Want Ads suffers to the point of being virtually unlistenable, while my personal favourite song Sunday Morning People is also ruined. For some reason this only seems to affect a few songs, but it's truly disgraceful on a release of this nature. It's only by chance that I already owned their greatest hits that I knew what these songs sounded like "clean" and have been able to patch up my library accordingly. Mercifully most of the songs seem fine, but when you shell out for a set like this it's not unreasonable to expect that the audio quality will be that of the original recordings.On the whole, yes this will give you a good impression of the Honey Cone. But for heaven's sake, please don't judge any of the low-fi songs here - seek out better-quality versions which do exist and which will do justice to the fine songs they are.

WITH THE LEGENDARY HOLLAND-DOZIER-HOLLAND BEHIND THEM THE HONEY CONE COULD NOT FAIL THIS CD BRINGS ALL FOUR ALBUMS TOGETHER AS WELL AS ALL THE BIG HITS TRY TRACKS LIKE THE FEELINGS GONE, OOH BABY BABY GREAT SONGS AND VOCALS.WELL WORTH BUYING TO REPLACE MY WORN OUT VINYL.