Satisfaction Unlimited - Think Of The Children 1972

This release by the obscure combo, Satisfaction Unlimited, has the unfortunate accolade of being the final long player release on the Hot Wax Records imprint. Formed originally by the legendary Holland-Dozier-Holland team in 1969, Hot Wax ran into financial difficulties in 1973 whereupon they concentrated their efforts on the Invictus outlet. However, the roots of the band actually pre-date the H-D-H collaboration (H-D-H’s first Motown release being ‘Dearest one’ in 1962). As The Marvels, they originated in the backstreets of Washington DC, comprising of Sam Gilbert (lead), James “Junior” Isom (second tenor), Ronald Boyd (baritone), and James Mitchell (bass). In 1958, they ventured to New York to record the skip-a-long pleaser, ‘I Shed So Many Tears’ with James Isom on lead. The ensuing rush of tumbleweed meant the band didn’t venture back to the studio for another 3 years, with the tuneful doo-wop ballad, ‘For Sentimental Reasons’, and the similarly slanted ‘Wedding Bells’ a year later, this time under the name of The Senators (just check out that crazy lazy piano playing!).
Several personnel changes later, they returned as The Satisfactions around ‘66 with a string of 45s on the Smash and Lionel labels. Some mighty fine and feisty tracks were included among these sides, including the urgent ‘Use me’ (love this!) and ‘Take it or leave it’. They finally hit paydirt with ‘This Bitter Earth’ in 1970, reaching nº36 on the R&B Charts. This was consolidated by the radiant, midtempo ‘One light, two lights’, peaking at nº21 a few months later. A gorgeous track, by the way. They changed their name to Satisfaction Unlimited a year later, the personnel now standing at Lorenzo Hines (lead tenor), James Isom (second tenor), Earl Jones (baritone), and Fletcher Lee (bass), linking up with Hot Wax in ‘72.
The years spent fortifying their sound certainly paid dividends.

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