Tower of Power, So Very Hard To Go | Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶

In the 54^th edition of Throwback Vibez (2023), we recollect and reflect on “So Very Hard To Go” by Tower of Power. 

“Iknew the time would come / I’d have to pay for my mistake / I can’t blame you for what you’re doin’ to me girl / Even though my heart aches…” 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 54^th edition of Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 (2023), we recollect and reflect on 🎵 “So Very Hard To Go”, performed by 🎙 Tower of Power. 

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“Ain’t nothin’ I can say / Nothin’ I can do / I feel so bad, yeah / I feel so blue.” When 🎙 Lenny Williams was the lead singer for 🎙 Tower of Power (1973 – 1974), it was a special time – an understatement!  Williams has an incredible voice – heaven-sent by all means.  His tenor delivers the heat on 🎵 “So Very Hard To Go”, a highlight from the collective’s self-titled, 1973 album.  Not only is “So Very Hard to Go” the song to beat on 💿 Tower of Power, it is the most successful song of the R&B collective’s career.  “So Very Hard To Go” peaked at no. 17 on the Billboard Hot 100, making it a pop hit. Impressive.

“‘Cause I could never make you unhappy / No, I couldn’t do that, girl,” Williams asserts in the chorus, continuing, “Only wish I didn’t love you so / Makes it so, so very hard to go.” Indeed, indeed! Besides illustrating how difficult love is, particularly “stepping aside” from it, the music is marvelous.  Williams says it best: “It ain’t easy to walk away when a man loves somebody.” FACTS! Besides that, soul oozes from the band, including a tight rhythm section and bright, biting horns.  All of these brilliant musical attributes make 🎵 “So Very Hard To Go”, which was written by 🎼 ✍ Stephen Kupka and Emilio Castillo,  utterly stupendous, fifty years after its release.

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🎙 Tower of Power • 💿 Tower of Power • 🏷 Warner • 🗓 1973

Tower of Power, “So Very Hard To Go”: Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 No. 54 (2023) [📷: Brent Faulkner / The Musical Hype; Warner; John Alan Sperry, PIRO via  Pixabay]