Today’s classic song of the day is a stoned soul Motown classic from a band called the Undisputed Truth. Released as a single in May of 1971, “Smiling Faces Sometimes” went all the way #3 on the Billboard Hot 100, #1 on the Cash Box Top 100, and #2 on Billboard’s R&B/Soul chart.
“Smiling Faces Sometimes” was written by the Motown hit-making team of Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong and reflected the psychedelic soul style of the early ’70s. They originally had the Temptations record it but that 12-minute version stayed on the group’s Sky’s the Limit album and never got a single release. (The Temptations had their own psychedelic soul hits with “Psychedelic Shack” in 1970, “Ball of Confusion (That’s What the World is Today),” also in 1970, and “Papa Was a Rolling Stone” in 1972.)
Producer Whitfield then decided to give it to his latest proteges, a trio that called themselves the Undisputed Truth. Joe “Pep” Harris was the group’s lead singer, accompanied by Billie Rae Calvin and Brenda Joyce Evans. “Smiling Faces Sometimes” was their only Top 40 hit, which makes them a one-hit wonder.
The session musicians on this track were the same Funk Brothers Whitfield used on most of his hits of the time. Dennis Coffey was on guitar, Bob Babbitt was on bass, and the drummer was either Uriel Jones or Pistol Allen, or maybe both of them. (Whitfield used the two of them a lot, and often together.)
And here’s today’s daily bonus video of the day, the Undisputed Truth doing “Smiling Faces Sometimes” on the August 28, 1971, episode of American Bandstand. Can you dig it?
