Genre: soul
Rating: 3 stars ***
Title:  Impact
Company: ATCO
Catalog: SD 36-135
Year: 1976
Country/State: Baltimore, Maryland
Grade (cover/record): VG / VG+
Comments: still in shrink wrap (open and torn); minor creasing on right edge of front cover
Available: 1
Catalog ID: 110
Price: $20.00

Otis Harris, John Quinton Simms, Charles Timmons, and Donald Tighman started singing together in high school. Big Temptations fans, they played local talent shows and clubs, starting their recording careers billed as The Young Tempts. In 1970 they were signed to the Isley Brothers T-Neck imprint, making their recording debut with a Temptations cover:

- 1970's 'I've Been Good to You' b/w 'Too Busy Thinking About My Baby' (T-Neck catalog number TN 917)









Not a major surprise, but Motown was less than thrilled with the name, promptly filing suit against T-Neck which responded by withdrawing the single and subsequently reissuing it credited to The Young Vandals. With the addition of Billy Griffin to the line up, The Young Vandals quickly released a pair of follow-on singles:

- 1970's 'In My Opnion (Part 1)' b/w 'In My Opinion (Part 2)' (T-Neck catalog number TN 923)
- 1970's 'I'm Gonna Wait for You (Part 1)' b/w 'I'm Gonna Wait for You (Part 2)' (T-Neck catalog number TN 926)


ATCO promo photo

In one of those strange quirks of fate, 1971 saw Harris audition for The Temptations. Under the name Damon Harris he was selected to replaced Ricky Owen who had just recently replaced Eddie Kendricks. That temporarily spelled the end to The Vandals. In 1975 The Temptations and Harris went their separate ways (he was reportedly fired). Harris promptly reactivate The Young Vandals (without Billy Griffin who had replaced Smokey Robinson in The Miracles), quickly renaming the quartet Impact.

Signed by the Philadelphia based WMOT production company, they were picked up by Atlantic's ATCO subsidiary which financed a 1976 album - the cleverly titled "Impact". Produced by Bobby Eli (he also co-wrote all nine songs), tracks like 'Happy Man', ''Taboo and 'Man and Woman' clearly sought to shine the spotlight on Harris' falsetto. Comparisons to Eddie Kendricks were simply unavoidable (after all, that's why he was hired by The Temptations), and while many folks found his voice less impressive than Kendricks', I'd beg to differ. At least to my ears Harris was easily as good as Kendricks, though some of the material may not have been as strong as what Motown had given to the former. The big problems with this set were twofold. Harris had a great voice, but a falsetto tends to be an acquired taste and these guys were actually much more impressive when the spotlight was shared (check out the closer 'It Only Happens In the Movies'). That simply didn't happen enough on the album. The other problem was that the group simply lacked much of an identity. As non-writers they were 100% dependent on producer Eli's choices of material. Not a good dependency for any group. The result was the listener got to play spot-the-influence throughout the album and those influences were abundance; Temptations, Spinners, Trammps, etc. Not helping the situation, about half of the material had a disco-influenced tinge that hasn't necessarily aged all that well.

- A bouncy, disco-tinged dance number, 'Happy Man' was a perfect number for mid-1970s radio. With a catchy melody and some nice interplay between all four group members, the album version was a bit lengthy, but an abbreviated version was tapped as the lead-off single. Imagine Eddie Kendricks leading The Trammps and you'd have a feel for what this one sounded like. rating: *** stars
- A slinky, slightly ominous sounding ballad with a great title chorus, 'Taboo' has always reminded me of a good Temptations song. One of Harris' best performance ... rating: **** stars
- 'Friends' found the group retreating to a more conventional soul mode. Harris didn't handle the lead vocal (not sure who did), but the result was actually quite good - the anonymous lead singer had a nice, rugged voice that made for a pleasant change of pace compared to Harris' falsetto. One of the best songs on the LP !!! rating: **** stars
- Another disco-tinged number, 'Give a Broken Heart a Break' returned Harris to the spotlight. The first couple of times I head the track I thought it was simply a little too anonymous for my ears, but with time it grew on me. Yeah, it was a straight forward disco number, but it had a great rhythm and the lyrics were actually a hoot. rating: *^* stars
- A big, old fashioned soul ballad, all I can say about 'One Last Memory' i that it was cheesy beyond belief. Literally cringe inducing. Hardly their finest moment. rating: * star
- One of two songs co-written by Eli and Len Barry, 'Love Attack' was another dance-oriented number but unlike many of the others it had a mildly entertaining lyric to go along with the catchy melody. The song was another rarity that allowed one of the other members to handle lead vocals - would love to know who it was since they had a fantastic, rugged soul voice. rating: *** stars
- Probably the album's most overtly commercial effort, 'Winning Combination' didn't even sound like the Impacts, rather could have easily been confused for a Thom Bell produced Spinners song. The product sound nailed The Spinners mid-1970s catalog, as did the breezy pop-tinged arrangement. Always loved the call-out nod to producer Eli. rating: **** stars
- One of the album's prettiest numbers, 'Man and Woman' was a breezy ballad that also benefited from one of the better sets of lyrics. rating: **** stars
- While ATCO shined the spotlight on Harris, the fact of the matter is The Impacts were at their best when all four members were given a shot at the spotlight. Harris had a wonderful voice, but his falsetto was a niche instrument - hearing too much of it quickly grew tiresome. In contrast, on tracks like the cute 'It Only Happens In the Movies' you got to hear the give and take between the group's different voice. The result was far more entertaining than some of the sappier ballads. Great tune that should have been tapped as a single. rating: **** stars

As mentioned, the album spun off a pair of singles:


- 1976's 'Happy Man (Part 1)' b/w 'Happy Man (Part 2)' (ATCO catalog number 45-7049)
- 1976's 'Give A Broken Heart A Break' b/w 'Love Attack' (ATCO catalog number 45-7056)

12" format
- 1976's 'Happy Man (long version)' b/w 'Give A Broken Heart A Break)' (Atlantic catalog number DSKO 32219)

One of the best mid-1970s LPs to come out of he Baltimore - Washington, D.C. area.

"Impact" track listing:
(side 1)
1.) Happy Man (Bobby Eli - Charles Kelly) - 6:08
2.) Taboo (Bobby Eli - Len Barry) - 4:46
3.) Friends (Bobby Eli -Terry Collins) - 3:03
4.) Give a Broken Heart a Break (Bobby Eli - Len Barry) - 5:57

(side 2)
1.) One Last Memory (Bobby Eli - Len Barry) - 5:30
2.) Love Attack (Bobby Eli - Len Barry) - 3:30
3.) Winning Combination (Bobby Eli - Phil Hurtt) - 3:30
4.) Man and Woman (Bobby Eli - Vinnie Barret) - 4:00
5.) It Only Happens In the Movies (Bobby Eli - Lee Phillips) - 3:19