The Spinners
For a variety of reasons, the male vocal harmony ensemble fell out of favor as a means of expression in youth-driven rhythm and blues. But because it made such an indelible mark when it was popular, groups such as The Spinners can fill venues as big as the BMO Harris Pavilion as they did on Friday, July 5.
Though The Spinners got together in the mid-1950s, they found their greatest popularity throughout the ’70s and early ’80s. During that time, they exemplified the expansively efficient Philadelphia soul sound that prefigured disco’s decadent swells of strings, brass, beats and bass. Lyrics navigating romantic joy and jiltedness coalesced amid tight harmonies and all luxe musical backing to be a consistent commercial force for about a decade.
In their current iteration, the enormity of sound that marks their biggest hits has been refit with a four-piece band who ably hone in on the funk undercurrents in the songs’ original arrangements. As for The Spinners themselves, most have only been with the ensemble since 2009. Still, the relative newcomers to The Spinners’ fold put on an entertaining run through some of the ’70s and early ’80s best pop crossover soul.
And in loose turquoise suits that allowed for ample movement, the group exhibited the kind of choreography for which many male R&B harmonizers were known. Those moves accentuated the uptempo numbers comprising the majority of their Summerfest set, such as “Mighty Love,” “One of a Kind Love Affair” and, one of the greatest songs about hoping for a second chance at love with a parting paramour, “I'll Be Around.”
Sharp as they were at those more pulsating numbers, they arguably shone even brighter as the pace slowed for their ballads. Charlton Washington, perhaps the oldest Spinner on stage, was arguably their secret slow jam weapon, bringing compassion to the tale of hard-working mother “Sadie” and pathos to “Love Don’t Love Nobody” and the Willie Nelson song Joe Hinton made a pop hit, “Funny How Timer Slips Away.” And in a spoken word break, when he said that he’s never been much of a rapper, the understanding was that he spoke of the time before hip-hop, when rapping meant something more conversational and less rhythmically boastful.
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Alas, the quartet’s last three numbers, including 1974 chart-topper “Then Came You,” were turned into a medley. Making up some for the abbreviated song lengths were the body-encompassing rubber bands each Spinner danced in throughout much of—what else?—"Rubberband Man.” The elasticized straps were flung into the audience as The Spinners left the stage and the band played on a few minutes longer.
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