Facts of Life

This two-CD set contains not just the complete recordings the Facts of Life made for the Kayvette label between 1975 and 1978, but everything the group recorded. That includes not just everything from their two albums (1977's Sometimes and 1978's A Matter of Fact), but also their three non-LP cuts, two of them being the B-sides "If You Can Give You Can Get" and "L-O-V-E." The other's the single version of "Did He Make Love to You?," which, unlike the version on A Matter of Fact, had Facts of Life singer Jean Davis taking all the vocals (where the LP version had Davis and Millie Jackson splitting those chores). The Facts of Life will certainly be remembered for their "cheating" songs, as "Sometimes" (which made number three R&B and the pop Top 40) was by far their biggest hit, and "Did He Make Love to You?" one of the genre's more oddball entries (albeit with a queasy hint of domestic violence). There were a few other such risqué items in their recorded repertoire (particularly "Caught in the Act (Of Gettin' It On)"), yet on the whole it's rather mainstream soul, if with more organic and more straightforward production than was in vogue in the soul world by the late 1970s. That doesn't mean this is an outstanding set, as the songs are too ordinary, and if not for their more salacious moments, the Facts of Life might not be remembered today. But their adherence to more conventional classic-style soul arrangements at a time when those were falling out of fashion might make this more appealing to soul traditionalists than many other soul records of the era. ~ Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide