Finally a box set worth owning for any fan of R&B. For those who don't know who DeBarge is, you will recognize most of their hits from songs like The Notorious B.I.G's One More Chance and 2Pac's I Ain't Mad At Cha.
DeBarge was a family R&B group on Motown Records in the early to mid 80's. El, Randy, Bunny, Mark and James DeBarge rose to super stardom with their soft singing and ability to write great and timeless classics. Sadly, Motown wanted to market El DeBarge as the next big thing, and started to distance himself from the rest of the family. Bunny ended up having one solo album after she left as well. For the rest of the brothers, they had one album after they left Motown with another DeBarge brother, Bobby. Who was in the group Switch, who were also signed to Motown in the mid to late 70's. He later died of complications from Aids in 1995, and the rest of the singing family are now suffering from addictions as well. After battling addictions and jail himself, El DeBarge released a new CD in 2010 titled Second Chance.
So what is so special about this set?
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| Limited Edition 4000 were only made! |
In a time where digital downloads are taking over record companies are somewhat trying to make boxed editions of complete discographies (Beatles, Pink Floyd and Rush come to mind). Finding all 4 DeBarge albums on vinyl is rather easy and cheap to buy. Fans were wondering, where's the CD's? They were released back in the 80's now out of print and very hard to find, first pressings can go upwards to $60 on EBay, and this is per ALBUM. Universal Japan did re-release the DeBarge albums a couple of years ago, but they too can reach up to $80 complete with the OBI.
In 2011 Universal Records with conjunction with Hip-O Select released DeBarge - Time Will Reveal The Complete Motown Albums. For the first time in history, all 4 albums digitally remastered (which sound very very good by the way) in one box set. 2 Discs of their 4 albums COMPLETE, and 1 disc with remixes and instrumentals!
With 4000 copies (SOURCE) only floating around for a great price of around $20-$40 USD depending where you shop. This is a great deal for any music fan looking for an R&B fix. DeBarge's music stands the test of time, personally I did not regret this purchase at all.
Do yourself a favor and check out songs such as Stay With Me, Time Will Reveal, Single Hearts and Who's Holding Donna Now. You'll see why they should of been a bigger than what they were.
- d.cypher LP
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