Bobby Glenn -

Bobby Glenn is an American soul singer who released the 1976 album Shout it Out on Koala Records.

Profile

Bobby Glenn emerged in Los Angles and linked with Koala, a short-lived label that also signed Main Street, David Nunez, and the John Wagner Coalition. Glenn recorded his album with a large cast that included four-ninths of the current Earth Wind & Fire lineup: conguero Philip Bailey, drummer Ralph Johnson, guitarist Al McKay, and keyboardist Larry Dunn.

Shout It Out!

Bobby Glenn released his debut album, Shout It Out!, in 1976 on Koala.

The album blends soul-funk rhythm tracks with string and horn arrangements, performed by Glenn with drummer-percussionists Ralph Johnson and John Raines, conga player Phillip Bailey, bassist Henry Davis, guitarists Al McKay and Rick Severson, harpist Dorothy Ashby, and keyboardists Larry Dunn, Bob Farrell, Douglas Gibbs, and Kenny Moore. Glenn sings against clavinet figures, conga accents, electric-piano parts, horn charts, and string passages. The album contains seven Gibbs originals or co-writes, one Charles May title, and one Carol Carmichael title.

“Sounds Like a Love Song” glides from Dorothy Ashby’s harp into Glenn’s high lead and repeats a four-bar title figure. “Hey Love!” pivots on sitar color and bright vocal lift. “Ask” lingers over sparkling glissandos and a supple bass pattern while woodwind lines answer Glenn’s sustained upper-register phrases. “Put Yourself in My Place, Friend” darkens through pizzicato strings, tom fills, a closed-hat pulse, and recurrent vibraslap accents. The instrumental middle opens suspenseful cadences before Glenn’s ad-libs rise over a denser final section with sustained synthetic tone.

A1. “Must Be Funk” (3:45) – Johnson, Gibbs
A2. “Hey Love!” (3:20) – Johnson, Gibbs, Bailey
A3. “Lady, Lady, Lady” (3:32) – Gibbs, Crowder
A4. “Sounds Like a Love Song” (4:42) – Johnson, Gibbs
A5. “Shout It Out!” (4:35) – May

B1. “Morning Song” (4:27) – Gibbs
B2. “Shake a Hand” (3:06) – Carmichael
B3. “Ask” (4:15) – Johnson, Gibbs
B4. “Put Yourself in My Place, Friend / Return of Funk (Reprise)” (6:57) – Johnson, Gibbs

Glenn worked with producers Glen Scott, Gibbs, and Johnson and executive producer Irv Kessler. Gibbs and Johnson arranged the album. Skip Lane arranged horns. Ray Jackson arranged and conducted horns and strings. Engineers John Walker, Christina Hersch, and Larry Rebhun recorded the sessions at Sunset Recording Studios and United Artists Recording Studios in Los Angeles and Dot Recording Studios in Santa Barbara.

Carole Woodward created the cover art, whose image uses red, yellow, and pink spin-art rings inside a black border. Woody Woodward directed the package art. Phil Moore photographed the back-sleeve portrait, which shows Glenn standing beside a tree.

Koala lifted “Must Be Funk” as a 1976 single (b/w “Sounds Like a Love Song”).

Discography: