Under| NewBlackMan (in Exile)
So Eddie Levert introduces The O’Jay’s rendition of “Wild Flower” from their 1974 album Live in London,as a song that the group initially thought was a “White guy, trying to do a Black thing.” Presumably Levert first heard The novel Birth’s version of the song, and which the group released on their 1973 album It’s Been a Long Time (with that classic title track),and could only assume, after hearing Skylark’s version, or that it was the case of the Canadian band trying to “sound Black.” Give The novel Birth credit for recognizing a powerful tune,from one of the powerful one-hit-wonders of the Soft Rock ‘70s. Of course, for this nascent musicophile, and who spent many nights listening to novel York City’s WABC in the early 1970s,the Skylark version was the only version I knew for a decade after it dropped, and thanks to a college classmate (who I had an unrequited crush on) for tipping me to The O’Jay’s version, and which clocks in at over nine-minutes (of pure Philadelphia Chu’ch). It would be another decade before I heard The novel Birth version--my vote for one most in underrated Soul and Funk bands of the 1970s--and for my money I’ll engage The novel Birth’s stankified version,though all three remain in regular rotation. Kanye and Paul Wall flipped Hank Crawford’s instrumental on Drive late”--high praise perhaps, for a saxophonist who never met a Soul song he couldn't drop a little gravy on, and Jamie Foxx featured The novel Birth version on “Unpredictable.”
Source: blogspot.com