In 1975, singers Bruce Ruffin, Bobby Davis and Dave Collins, the latter of reggae duo Dave & Ansel Collins, came together to form Chain Reaction, a short-lived yet first-class soul trio. And with this reissue, Vocalion proudly presents Indebted to You, the group’s first and only album and which was recorded for the Gull label run and owned by British music industry veterans David Howells and Derek Everett. Original copies of the LP have since become highly sought by rare groove enthusiasts, and this is largely due to Chain Reaction’s blend of sweet vocal harmonies, solid, funk-inflected grooves and Motownesque arrangements. These qualities are immediately apparent in the sultry Quicksand and Hogtied, the latter title having become the album’s best-known track. And in contrast there’s the honest-to-goodness funk of guitarist Gordon Hunte’s Think I’ll Keep this Song Just Like it is and the gentle sonorities of Miss Lovely Miss Beautiful and the title track. Recorded across two sets of sessions in 1975 and 1976 at London’s The Workhouse Studios and Morgan Studios, and with arrangements by Lynton Naiff, Tony King and Manfred Mann’s Mike Hugg among others, Indebted to You really is the last word in sophisticated, funky soul. The CD reissue includes two bonus tracks: a single b-side, This Eternal Flame, and the previously unreleased Make It, both from 1976. Remastered from the original stereo master tapes.

Indebted to You
LP GULP 1021 (1977) STEREO

Never Lose Never Win (Rivers)
Why Can’t We Be Lovers? (Holland; Dozier; Holland) BR
Quicksand (Hugg)
Think I’ll Keep this Song Just Like it Is (Hunte)
Cold Steel (Hugg)
Miss Lovely Miss Beautiful (Morris)
Hogtied (Hugg) DC
Indebted to You (Ruffin)
Chase a Miracle (Ruffin; Davis; Pemberton)

Bonus tracks

This Eternal Flame (Ruffin; Davis; Pemberton) single GULS 43 (1976) STEREO
Make It previously unreleased    

Featuring: BR Bruce Ruffin; DC Dave Collins