Singer-actress Vivian Reed boasts an impressive resume: Juilliard training, two Tony Award nominations, a Drama Desk Award, a Theatre World Award, and credits on Broadway, television, film, and beyond.  Cherry Red Group's SoulMusic Records imprint has recently taken a deep look at Reed's small but sublime output for Epic Records on a new collection, Yours Until Tomorrow: The Epic Years.  At the label, Reed released one album and eight singles between 1968 and 1971 - some 20 songs, all of which are collected on this set.

With her bold, brassy and classically-trained pipes, Reed was a natural for Broadway, and that sound was evident during her tenure on Epic with such selections as "Somewhere" from West Side Story and "I've Gotta Be Me" from Golden Rainbow.  But Epic saw R&B potential in Reed's voice, and she more than lived up to the genre's finest talents.  Yet only one of these tracks charted; why the lack of commercial success as a recording artist?  She reflects in Justin Kantor's comprehensive new liner notes here, "No one wrote [specifically] for me, and I think that was the problem.  I wasn't being geared.  It helps when you have an A&R person and a producer who really know your sound."  The observation isn't only candid but truthful; there's not an overarching stylistic feel here that would have distinguished these recordings in a crowded soul landscape.  But listening back to them today, it's clear that this is a strong body of work from a powerful vocalist and a "Who's Who" of talented producers and arrangers including Thom Bell, Bobby Martin, Jimmy Wisner, Van McCoy, and Richard Perry.

An oddity opens this set: Jimmy Payne and Jim Glaser's "Baby Baby (I'll Be Your Woman Till I Die)," an answer song to the Gary Puckett and the Union Gap hit "Woman, Woman" by the same writers.  "Baby" was backed on 45 by the moody pop-soul number "I" from the team of L. Russell Brown and Gary Knight.  The Epic Years then features the entirety of the Vivian Reed LP in its original order.  Produced by Ted Cooper, Vivian Reed was largely arranged and conducted by Wisner, with a handful of cuts handled by the Bell/Martin team.

Wisner crafted typically strong productions for Reed, including her lone chart hit and the album's opening song, Carole King and Gerry Goffin's "Yours Until Tomorrow."  Introduced by Dee Dee Warwick a couple of years earlier and subsequently covered by everyone from Cher to Engelbert Humperdinck, the emotional "Yours" was perfect for Reed's dramatic touch, and she imbued the track with passion and intensity.  Goffin and King's Brill Building compatriots Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, also reliable sources of material for artists across the pop and R&B spectrums, were likewise represented by a couple of songs.  Reed blended their two Righteous Brothers smashes, "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" and "(You're My) Soul and Inspiration" into one potent medley, and transformed their movie tune "The Shape of Things to Come" from brash rock to stirring soul.

Reed's fiery vocals were stunningly showcased on Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart's "I Wanna Be Free," dramatically rearranged from the gentility of Davy Jones' Monkees original with equal parts Broadway and gospel.  The eclectic Vivian Reed also boasted a credible take on Jeannie C. Riley's hit "Harper Valley P.T.A." on which Reed savors taking aim at those Harper Valley hypocrites, and a slow, smoldering cocktail-jazz version of Walter Marks' all-time anthem "I've Gotta Be Me" (introduced by Steve Lawrence onstage in Golden Rainbow and later to be forever associated with Sammy Davis, Jr.).

A contender for the strongest track on Vivian Reed (and indeed on this collection) was "Look the Other Way," penned by Thom Bell and Miki Farrow, and arranged by Bell and Bobby Martin.  Bell's signature lush strings are here, gracing a catchy chorus and lyrical heartbreak perfectly embodied by Reed.  Martin wrote one track, too: the classy, sophisticated balladry of "Let's Fall in Love All Over," later covered by Lou Rawls.  Bell and Martin also arranged Lalo Schifrin's lightly funky "Down Here on the Ground" (a hit for Rawls, ironically) and brought Philly to Chicago with Eugene Record and Barbara Acklin's "Walk on My Side."

Seven single sides round out The Epic Years, beginning with an album B-side (the moving "Mama, Open the Door") and continuing through both sides of the three singles released by the label in 1969, 1970 and 1971.  These tracks found Epic trying to find the "right" sound for Reed; the first single - "Then I'll Be Over You" b/w "Unbelievable" - were recorded in Nashville with Epic's country guru, Billy Sherrill.  The producer, a fan of Reed's, didn't try to adapt her to his countrypolitan sound; rather, he and his versatile Music City crew produced two slices of torrid soul as strong as anything coming out of New York, Philadelphia or Chicago.  Writer-producers Van McCoy and Joe Cobb returned Vivian to the sound of orchestrated pop-soul with the beautiful "Lean on Me" (later memorably recorded by Melba Moore, whom Vivian recalls sang the background vocals on "Harper Valley P.T.A." with Nick Ashford and Valerie Simpson!) and the charming and infectious "Missing You."  Vivian's final Epic single was helmed by future superstar producer Richard Perry, whose credits already included Ella Fitzgerald, Tiny Tim, and Fats Domino.  Vivian brought a darker tone to her voice on the storming A-side, Carole King's immortal "I Feel the Earth Move," with the blazing horns arranged by Larry Muhoberac.  Perry's own "Don't Close the Door on Me" ended Vivian's Epic tenure on an appropriate note.

Nobody closed any doors on Vivian Reed, as she went on to her Broadway triumphs, further recordings for labels including Atco, and more after leaving Epic.  She's continued to perform regularly on theatrical and concert stages, launched photography and clothing companies, and bestowed her decades of wisdom as a professor at the prestigious Berklee College of Music.  Yours Until Tomorrow: The Epic Years has a booklet with Justin Kantor's notes based on a new interview with Reed, as well as an appreciation by Dr. Jason King and a reprint of the original LP liner notes from Vivian Reed.  Nick Robbins has remastered all tracks.

Yours Until Tomorrow: The Epic Years is available now at the links below!

Vivian Reed, Yours Until Tomorrow: The Epic Years (SoulMusic/Cherry Red SMCR 5147, 2016) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

1. Baby Baby (I'll Be Your Woman 'Till I Die)
2. I
3. Yours Until Tomorrow
4. I Wanna Be Free
5. Look the Other Way
6. Down Here on the Ground
7. You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling/(You're My) Soul and Inspiration
8. Harper Valley P.T.A.
9. Walk on My Side
10. Let's Fall in Love All Over
11. The Shape of Things to Come
12. I've Gotta Be Me
13. Somewhere
14. Mama Open the Door
15. Then I'll Be Over You
16. Unbelievable
17. Lean on Me
18. Missing You
19. I Feel the Earth Move
20. Don't Close the Door on Me

Tracks 1-2 from Epic single 5-10290, 1968
Tracks 3-13 from Vivian Reed, Epic LP BN 26412, 1968
Track 14 from Epic single 5-10382, 1968
Tracks 15-16 from Epic single 5-10533, 1969
Tracks 17-18 from Epic single 5-10683, 1970
Tracks 19-20 from Epic single 5-10752, 1971