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Archie Bell and The Drells

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Archie Bell (born in Henderson, Texas on September 1, 1944) & the Drells were a Houston soul vocal group, one of the main acts on Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff’s Philadelphia International Records. The band’s hits include “Tighten Up” and “I Can’t Stop Dancing” (both 1968), “The Soul City Walk” (1976), and “Everybody Have A Good Time” (1977).

Bell, the brother of American footballer Ricky Bell (1955-1984), moved to Houston as a young boy and formed the group in 1966 with his friends James Wise, Willie Parnell and Billy Butler. They signed with local label Ovid.

After a spell in Vietnam for Archie, the group released Tighten Up, which was picked up by Atlantic for distribution and toppped both the R&B and pop charts. The song’s line “we dance just as good as we walk” was a little ironic given that Archie had been shot in the leg and was consigned to a military hospital bed at the time.

The phenomenal success of the single prompted the band to rush out an album, despite their incapacitated leader.

In 1969, after Bell had left the army, the group recorded their first full album with Gamble and Huff, I Can’t Stop Dancing, which reached number 28 on the R&B chart.

After mediocre chart showings in the late ’70s, the group split in 1980. Archie Bell later released one solo album on Beckett Records.

Tagged as:

soul, funk, oldies, rhythm and blues, 60s
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Tightening It Up: The Best of Archie Bell and The…
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There's Gonna Be a Showdown
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Where Will You Go When The Party's Over
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Tighten Up
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Top Tracks

1	Tighten Up full track	620
2	Here I Go Again	94
3	Don't Let Love Get You Down full track	82
4	Soul City Walk	77
5	I Can't Stop Dancing	42
6	Everybody Have a Good Time full track	27
7	Strategy	20
8	I Just Can't Stop Dancing	17
9	Love Will Rain on You	15
10	Girl You're Too Young	13
11	(There's Gonna Be A) Showdown	11
11	Where Will You Go When the Party's Over full track	11
11	Tighten Up, Pt. 1 (LP Version)	11
11	Let's Groove	11
15	When You Left Heartache Began	10

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Tr1xx wrote:
March 2009

shame that "Here I Go Again" isn't streamable; it should have a higher play count. Still, at least the tags are improving

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ladyintelect wrote:
November 2008

The instrumentals remind me of Brand New Heavies.... or should I say, Brand New Heavies was influenced by Archie Bell and The Drells?

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dancingfool wrote:
September 2008

tighten up that grindcore fellas.

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rough_n_tumble wrote:
August 2008

haha! brutalinski thats some funny shit

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killmoms wrote:
July 2008

I'm doing the Fishstick to "Tighten Up" right now.

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Brutalinski wrote:
November 2007

What a surprise, when I listened to grindcore tag radio those guys showed up, it changed my world ;-)

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ghindo wrote:
October 2007

the hell is up with the tags

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Tr1xx wrote:
June 2007

If yer gonna tag yer artists, don't be bloody stupid; I'd settle for soul, northern soul or funk... nowt else

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