Hailing from Liverpool, The Real Thing are bastions of British funk and soul. Formed in the early 1970s and consisting of Chris Amoo, his brother Eddy (who replaced Kenny Davis), Dave Smith, and Ray Lake, The Real Thing toured internationally with David Essex before breaking through with their UK #1 single ‘You To Me Are Everything’ in 1976.

To celebrate their 50th anniversary, BMG are releasing a Best of The Real Thing collection this coming January. The release includes the hitherto unreleased song ‘Someone Oughta Write a Song (About You Baby)’. Written by Ken Gold and Mick Denne – writers of ‘You To Me Are Everything’ and follow-up ‘Can’t Get By Without You’ – the finished song was shelved by the group after a creative decision was made to focus on their own self-written material. Gold stumbled upon the tape two years ago and worked with Pink Floyd engineer James Guthrie in salvaging and digitising the recording.

The song has the hallmarks of Gold and Denne’s earlier hits for The Real Thing: bright, joyous, and groovy.

The Best of… release will coincide with a new documentary charting the group’s turbulent journey through the music industry (trailer below). See cinema listings here.

(Image Copyright: BMG)