THE HIT HAMMER: Love Unlimited Orchestra's "Love's Theme"

(The Hit Hammer is where I'm reviewing each #1 song on the Billboard Hot 100. Starting from when the chart started in 1958 and eventually working my way to the present. To see my inspiration and more information about this blog, please CLICK HERE)

Love Unlimited Orchestra - "Love's Theme"

Hit Number 1: February 9, 1974

Stay at Number 1: 1 Week

There really isn't much, if any, difference between disco and philly soul. Regular soul music has been around since dinosaurs roamed the Earth, but philly soul was an entirely new phenomenon. It had only been around for a couple years to this point, and it was soul music that was easy to dance to. It was fun, upbeat and most of all, it was new. Philly soul has already had a couple of chart-toppers to this point, with the O'Jays' "Love Train" being the best example of that, but philly soul would later prove that it could not only be great for the dance floor, but it could also get by without any vocalists. "Love's Theme" by the Love Unlimited Orchestra is one of the few songs to ever reach #1 on the Hot 100 that's entirely orchestrated, but it's a rather groundbreaking one. It further elevated philly soul's popularity, and you can make the argument that it was a reason "disco music" would find insane popularity in the later half of the '70s. Hell, another example of a philly soul instrumental will show up in this blog very soon, but that's a story for a different time.

The Love Unlimited Orchestra is, on one hand, a one-hit wonder, but the leader of the orchestra certainly was not. That would be Barry White, one of the true gods of philly soul music and a guy who could probably sleep with any woman he wanted to just by speaking to them. (Listen to old recordings of White speaking and you'll soon see what I mean. I envy him in that regard) White's strong suit was his love songs, but they weren't ordinary love songs. I'm a straight guy, but I can admit that in true Barry White fashion, most of his songs were slow and downright sexy-sounding, and were probably played many nights in the '70s for those kind of nights. I don't need to explain what I mean by that. Anyway, if you were to dial up "Love's Theme", you'd have no idea that White had any part of this. It's a big, swooping tidal wave of a song that will drown you in philly soul. But there's no words. There's no deep, breathy words being spoken by White. Nothing about sweet, sweet love.

That wasn't always the plan though. "Love's Theme" was written by White with lyrics at first, but he decided against it once he heard the song being played before words were added. White absolutely loved what he heard (no pun intended), and so much so that he threw the lyrics out the window. He said he thought it sounded "beautiful." He even thought words might ruin the song, so it was then turned into an instrumental. I'd say that this was the right move. The instrumental was an enormous hit, peaking at #1 on the Hot 100 and being ranked as the #3 song of 1974. So I would say that there were no regrets on White's part.

It's hard for me to picture "Love's Theme" with words, though I guess there's been versions of it with them before. No version has ever even sniffed the levels of popularity the one in 1974 had though, so that makes me think they're not very good. The one from 1974 is a perfectly fine piece of music, and it's certainly pleasant to listen to, but it's one of those "background songs." It's a fine song to have on in the background if you're doing something else, but if I'm just straight listening to music, I'd have to take a pass on it. It's just a bunch of gleaming strings and over-the-top studio production, but with a wah-wah guitar sound, which is always a cool thing. There's nothing bad about it, but it's pretty generic. Again, it's just a song to play in the background. Nothing more, nothing less.

Though there's several philly soul songs I'd rather listen to than this, I respect White's craftsmanship on the song. "Love's Theme" wasn't specifically made for a movie or anything, but a lot of movies and TV shows would later use it. This song is perfect for stuff like that. So I tip my cap to White. He could write the sexiest songs on the planet while also composing an okay little instrumental. I can't deny the man's talents. We'll hear from him again in this blog.

GRADE: 5/10