Yes, I’m Ready

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Yes, I’m Ready (Barbara Mason)

From the Barbara Mason artist profile at Twinn Promotions (punctuation modified):

Issued in August 1965, her self-penned “Yes, I’m Ready” blasted off to #3 on the R&B charts and #5 on the Pop charts. The song remained on the charts for some 35 weeks, jockeying with artists such as The Beatles and The Rolling Stones for number one. Engineering pioneer Joe Tarsia of Philadelphia’s legendary Sigma Studios credits “Yes, I’m Ready” as the song that originated the “Philly Sound.”

Asked about the common perception of “Yes, I’m Ready” as the first record to have “that distinct Philly-Sound” during an undated interview by Maria “Funkyflyy” Granditsky, Mason answered,

Yes, that’s what they say in some books I’ve seen too and I was awfully flattered when I read that I am the originator of the Philly-sound. Before me, there was no one that came out with that particular sound from Philadelphia. Everyone came after me; Brenda and The Tabulations, the Delfonics, The Stylistics, Blue Magic, we all used the same musicians. Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff, who later formed Philadelphia International Records, sang on my songs. Kenny did backgrounds on “Yes, I’m Ready.” He was just nineteen years old then, this was long before he became who he is today. Some think that the Philly-sound is Philadelphia International because so many artists recorded there, but the original Philly-sound began with “Yes, I’m Ready”.

In her Barbara Mason bio page, Miss Funkyflyy adds,

Interesting to note is that a nineteen year old Kenny Gamble sang backgrounds and several musicians who later would become Philly Icons, such as Bobby Eli, Earl Young, Roland Chambers and Jack Faith, played on the song.

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Barbara Mason

issued 19 March 1965 on the single Arctic 105, b/w “Keep Him” (B. Mason); peak singles chart positions: #2, R&B; #5, Hot 100 — I’ve yet to find any information on the uncredited arrangement and production of the recording, except for the label credit “A Dynodynamic Production.”

(below) lip-sync performances for television shows

from Hollywood A Go-Go, introduced by host Sam Riddle — Show 42: Season 2, Episode 6, aired on 9 October 1965 — This taped performance and the one for Shivaree (below) were both aired on the same date, 9 October 1965. The fact that she wears the same dress for each of the two suggests that they may have also been taped on the same date.

Shivaree — Show 37: Season 2, Episode 5, aired on 9 October 1965

from an unidentified show, c. 1965 — gorgeous closeups

The Royalettes — track 5, side one of their 1965 LP It’s Gonna Take a Miracle (MGM 4332)

Carla Thomas — from side one of her 1966 album Comfort Me, Stax Records STAX 706

Gladys Knight and the Pips — from their 1967 LP Everybody Needs Love*, on the Soul sublabel of Motown Records

Shirley Ellis — from the 1967 album Sugar, Let’s Shing-A-Ling, (US) Columbia CS 9479 (Stereo), Columbia CL 2679 (Mono)

The Hesitations — issued in April 1969 as the B-side of GWP Records single “Is This The Way To Treat A Girl,” GWP-504

The Ambassadors — medley: “Yes I’m Ready”/ “I’ll Try Something New” (Smokey Robinson), from the 1969 LP Soul Summit, Arctic Record Company A-LPS-1005

The Heptones — from their 1970 LP Black is Black, which was reissued under the title Ting a Ling

Denise Chandler (later known as Deniece Williams) — issued in 1970 on the single Lock Records ‎L 753-2356, b/w “You’ve Hurt Me Now”

Billy Jones and the Stars (backup vocalists: The Twinkle Stars) — issued on the 1970 LP Love is Gonna Rain On You, (Netherlands) Catfish 5C 054.24.306

Billy Jones bio at 45cat.com

The Sounds of Soul — issued in 1971 on the S.O.S. label

Tom Sullivan — issued on the 1976 single ABC-12174, b/w “This is Not My Town”

Teri Desario with K.C. — first released on Desario’s second album Moonlight Madness (Casablanca Records) on 22 October 1979; Casablanca single NB 2227 b/w “With Your Love” (Joey Carbone, Karen Tobin) was released in November 1979, and peaked at #2 (two weeks) in March 1980 on the Hot 100.

Wikipedia says,

DeSario, a vocalist from Miami, Florida, was a high school classmate of [Harry Wayne] Casey, best known as the lead vocalist and songwriter for KC and the Sunshine Band. Casey liked the original recording and wanted to record a cover version of the song, and he was producing DeSario’s second studio album, Moonlight Madness, for Casablanca Records. Neil Bogart, president of the record label, had an idea to record the song as a duet,^[1] and it was the first single released from the album in late 1979. Their version of the song spent two weeks at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in March 1980, kept from the summit by “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” by the rock group Queen.^[1]

Jeffrey Osborne — third track on the 2005 CD album From the Soul

Barbara Mason — live, 2007(?)

Barbara Mason (1965) — “Handance Mix” (Tom Moulton?), 2005

Although Discogs.com identifies the 6:40 long first track of the 2005 CD album Philly Steps, Jamie / Guyden Dist. Corp. ‎4024, as “Yes, I’m Ready (Handance Mix),” and the 9:56 long eighth track as “Yes, I’m Ready Part 2 (Moulton Mix),” there are various videos on YouTube of length 6:19-6:26 claiming to be a “Tom Moulton” mix or remix, while the first one below (length 6:39), though it sounds virtually identical, is identified as the “Handance Mix” track from the album. Also, a 10 minute video on YouTube identified by its provider as a Tom Moulton remix sounds like an extended version of the shorter track featured in the videos below. My guess is that Tom Moulton mixed both the longer and shorter “Yes, I’m Ready” tracks on the album, yet, for some unknown reason, was only credited at Discogs.com for the eighth track. Maybe he wasn’t properly credited on the CD album cover, or on the disc’s label, for the first track.

Dave and the Imaginary Band — uploaded on 14 April 2011

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* If I’m interpreting the notes on this page correctly, Discogs.com indicates that a single copy of the Gladys Kinght & the Pips album Everybody Needs Love might display three different catalog numbers found in different areas of the cover, and on the labels, as follows:

Spine: SS 706
Front and back cover: Soul 706
Label(s): SLS 706