581 Goodbye The Pips * - Love Overboard

( * Gladys  Knight  and  the ... )

Chart  entered : 16  January  1988

Chart  peak : 42


This  was  a  comeback  hit , the  group's  first  in  eight  years  although  Gladys  had  had  a  couple  in  other  collaborations  in  the  meantime.  The  group  had  left  Motown  in  the  mid-seventies  but  had  bigger  hits  for  Buddah  in  the  second  half  of  the  decade  with  both  "The  Way  We Were-Try  To  Remember"  and  "Baby  Don't  Change  Your  Mind"  reaching  number  4  in  the  UK. By  the  end  of  the  decade  they  were  faltering  and  could  only  muster  a  couple  of   lesser  hits  for  CBS  in  1980. They  signed  for  MCA  in  1987

"Love   Overboard"  was  the  lead  single  from  their  final  album  "All  Our  Love". It  was written  by  Reggie  Calloway  from  the   Midnight  Star. It's  a  competent  but  unexciting  contemporary  R  &  B  record. Gladys  and  the  boys  sound  comfortable  enough  as  the   beat  isn't  too  in  your  face  and  it's  moderately  catchy. I'd  have  to  deduct  a  point  for  the  cliched  lyrics  though.  It  was  a  major  hit  in  the  U.S.  reaching  number  13, their  first  Top  20  hit  since  1975  and  winning  a  Grammy. The  album  reached  number  80  in  the  UK, their  first  to  chart  since  1977.

Unfortunately  the  follow  up  "Lovin'  On  Next  To  Nothin'  "  didn't  find  as  much  favour. The  chattering  electronic  percussion  track  is  too  high  in  the  mix  and  masks  the  song. It  only  bubbled  under  here  and  missed  the  US  chart  altogether. Their  final  single  "It's  Gonna  Take  All  Our  Love"  is  a  mellower  track  , like  one  of  their  seventies  ballads  given  a  contemporary  production,   but  it's  a  bit  mutton  dressed  as  lamb. Gladys's  passion  sounds like  she;s  trying  too  hard  to  inflate  a   mediocre  song.

In  1988  they  embarked  on  a  final  tour  then  Gladys  decided  to  go  solo. The  Pips  had  recorded  a  couple  of  albums  without  her  in  the  late  seventies  but  there  seems  to  have  been  no  thought  of  continuing  without  her  now,

Edward  Patten  and  William  Guest  formed  their  oewn  production  company  in  Detroit  which  became  the  Crew  Entertainment  Company. Edward  was  later  struck  down  by  diabetes. He  had  to  have  both  legs  amputated  and  died  in  2005. William  continued  running  the  company  alongside  Edward's  heirs.  He  published  his  autobiography  in  2013  and  died  two  years  later  of  congestive  heart  failure.

Merald  "Bubba "  Knight  remains  involved  in  his  sister's  career  as  her  tour  manager  and  sometimes  joins  her  on  stage.