Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes, Bad Luck | Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶

In the 73^rd edition of Throwback Vibez (2024), we recollect and reflect on “Bad Luck” by Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes, Bad Luck featuring Teddy Pendergrass.

The vibes, the vibes, those Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶! Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 is a column that celebrates awesome songs from the past.  The records that grace this column are older, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re ancient – no fossils 🦴! All genres of music are welcome. In the 73^rd edition of Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 (2024), we recollect and reflect on “Bad Luck” performed by Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes.

“Losin’ out on everything you might try to do / Bad luck, fella’s got a hold on you.” Ooh-wee! Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes earned some hits back in the day.  Of course, a key reason for the soul collective’s success was their lead vocalist, the late, great Teddy Pendergrass (1950 – 2010). Pendergrass delivers an engaging lead vocal on “Bad Luck” which appeared as the seventh track on the 1974, gold-certified album, To Be True.  Specifically, the single had success on the pop charts, peaking at no. 15 on the Billboard Hot 100.  Who penned this infectious, six-and-a-half-minute soul gem? That would be Gene McFadden, John Whitehead, and Victor Castarphen.  Adding to the elite credits are the producers: Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff. ICONIC!

“Bad luck (That’s what you got, that’s what you got).” Perhaps, Teddy, Harold, and Blue Notes, but there is nothing unlucky about “Bad Luck” the song, despite what the marvelous chorus suggests.  It thrives on its quick tempo and sunny backdrop. The groove is nothing short of superb.  Furthermore, those instrumental riffs – the rhythm section and orchestra – are terrific! Of course, the star, Teddy, brings that swagger to the track. It was always easy to buy what the handsome baritone was selling. “You played that number ‘cause that number’s hot / ‘Stead the bookies get you for every cent you’ve got,” he sings in the second verse, adding, “Walk around in a daze with your pockets bare / Go see your woman, and she ain’t ever there.” Ugh, well, SUGAR HONEY ICED TEA! Bringing poise early on, as “Bad Luck” progresses, he shows off the full capabilities of his gifted baritone.  What more is there to be said? This Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes + Teddy Pendergrass classic speaks for itself. “Bad Luck” never sounded so good!

Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes // To Be True // Sony Music Entertainment // 1974

Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes, Bad Luck: Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 No. 73 (2024) [📷: Brent Faulkner / The Musical Hype; Sony Music Entertainment; OpenClipart-Vectors, Speedy McVroom via  Pixabay]