Next up is  a 'battle' suggested by Stevie Hay aka @Steviehay

He's put forward the below 3 version of this classic

Susan Rafey - Hurt So Bad

Little Anthony & The Imperials - Hurt So Bad

Philly Devotions - Hurt So Bad

As before all you need to do is have a think and if needed a listen below, then just choose which of the 3 versions you prefer...

Battle will run for 5-7 days

 

Susan Rafey Hurt So Bad

 

Little Anthony & The Imperials - Hurt So Bad

 

Philly Devotions - Hurt So Bad

 

As always feel free to talk about versions, other takes, history, related trivia & stories etc etc below 👍

all 3 are very very different the upbeat of Susan's version,the haunting little Anthony,& the discoFied voices of the devotions very hard to put 1 first but Susan for me takes it ,thanks for choosing these 3 tunes have fun peeps 

No competition here - Little Anthony's masterclass in soulful intensity wins hands down. 

Susan Rafey is nice middle of the road 60s pop with a classic 4/4, chop-chop beat. And the Philly Devotion, well, great for a wedding disco, but not much more.

17 minutes ago, Amsterdam Russ said:

No competition here - Little Anthony's masterclass in soulful intensity wins hands down. 

Susan Rafey is nice middle of the road 60s pop with a classic 4/4, chop-chop beat. And the Philly Devotion, well, great for a wedding disco, but not much more.

I totally agree with your analysis, however I still couldn't resist voting for Susan Rafey due to the 'Northernness' factor 😉 

Personally: for me it is the Philly Devotions - but what do I know ?
Great piece of Philly Soul IMHO.
So maybe I'd be the only person on that wedding dance floor or anywhere else for that matter.
Would not be the first time either; I love being "that only person".

 

Have all 3 of these (and a few more), one of my favourite songs of all time.  

Little Anthony is the Gold medal Winner for me. 😉 

Dave 

Great song.
Susan Rafey is nice but lacks a bit of soul, the Philly Devotions is a good Philly dancer but the best has to be Little Anthony and the Imperials.
This live version is superb:

 

Susan out of those three...but I prefer this modern twist for the song itself.

Ed

 

Little Anthony for me, just love his voice, you cant beat it... although I like them all obviously..

3 hours ago, Amsterdam Russ said:

No competition here - Little Anthony's masterclass in soulful intensity wins hands down. 

Susan Rafey is nice middle of the road 60s pop with a classic 4/4, chop-chop beat. And the Philly Devotion, well, great for a wedding disco, but not much more.

I think you are being a tad harsh on the Philly Devotions but agree that Little Anthony takes top honours this week.

The Delfonics did a great version too;

 

Edited January 12, 20223 yr by Soulfusion

Clear winner for me.

Little Anthony by a street. Susan Rafey is a lightweight singer packing no punch and the Philly Devotions version is over produced.

The Alicia Keys version is quite nice.

Completely agree with Westender , I have all three versions, they all have their plus points but if push comes to shove , its Little Anthony all the way.

Little Anthony & the Imperials clearly for me

2 hours ago, Tomangoes said:

Susan out of those three...but I prefer this modern twist for the song itself.

Ed

 

Wow I like that......

Little Anthony for me out of the ones quoted. So soulful.

 

Edited January 12, 20223 yr by Mssoulie

Little Anthony easily a classic.  Philly devotions ok, Susan Raffey not for me.  Alicia Keys nowhere near her best.

Cathy Carlson version's not too shabby

Although my vote went to Little Anthony

Kirsty

Susan Rafey for me, played it as an ender when I spin a few, great track that builds up right to the end. Arthur Prysock also did a version, bit slow for me mind. 

Must agree with "Gold Band" that the Cathy Carlson is the one for me, superb vocal and dramatic production/arrangement. However, out the 3 it's Little Anthony I voted for, the live version is fantastic.

Got to be Little Anthony for me, though Cathy Carlson a good effort, new to me

My second favourite version probably this one:-

 

24 minutes ago, Chris Turnbull said:

Got to be Little Anthony for me, though Cathy Carlson a good effort, new to me

My second favourite version probably this one:-

 

Great shout on this - forgotten just how good it sounds.
Was due for a UK silver chess release on CRS8051 (B side to Day Tripper) but nobody has
ever seen a copy ?    Mick Smith said "never released".   But Hey ! Ho ! who knows (remember D.B. on London!)

 

Little Anthony for me..just oozes soul

None of the above .............. DELFONICS version easily the best by a country mile in my humble opinion !!

 

Edited January 13, 20223 yr by Smudger

Brilliant song.

I found a copy of Little Anthony in a joke shop (off all places) when first getting into soul. Bought it blind and have loved it ever since. So obviously Little Anthony for me, but not forgetting Teddy Randazzo’s production on it.

Baby Washington just cleaned up.

I dont think i've heard that version before but frankly she wipes the floor with everyone else.

Just remembered this version from Willie Hutch - again a decent effort, though to be fair he could sing the phone book and make it sound great:-

 

Nice latin version

the latin dimentions hurt so bad

To complete the list, Nancy Holloway s version on the Hello Dolly LP.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=e2b0f-zR7VI

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=e2b0f-zR7VNancy Hollow

On 12/01/2022 at 19:42, Gold Band said:

Cathy Carlson version's not too shabby

Although my vote went to Little Anthony

Kirsty

Cathy Carlson is a great choice and the only version I've played out. My favourite version by far and I wasn't inclined to vote as it wasn't included, but begrudgingly will vote for Little Anthony.

- Kev

Ok, didn’t listen to the OP video of Little Anthony due to being so familiar with it, but just listened to it and it sounds to me either a slightly different mix or slowed down version of the DCP release. This is the one I’m familiar with.

 

29 minutes ago, El Corol said:

Ok, didn’t listen to the OP video of Little Anthony due to being so familiar with it, but just listened to it and it sounds to me either a slightly different mix or slowed down version of the DCP release. This is the one I’m familiar with.

You're right. Same as you, I didn't need to listen to Little Anthony to know how good it is, but listening to it now based on what you've said, it's clearly a different version. Perhaps a re-recording/reworking done later on in his career? It certainly ain't his original release.

I've always known Little Anthony's version from the album.  It's an immense Teddy Randazzo production.  But more than that, I've always felt there's a haunting element to the vocal that lifts it up further.  It may of come naturally to Little Anthony, it may not of been intended - but there are nuances in his performance of this in that version on the album, that I can still recall and were they on replaying this morning.  I like other versions, the Delfonics is good as said. Always want to hear Willie Hutch or Baby Washington, but it's the Little Anthony version that's stayed with me.

It was a close call for me.  

Love Susan Rafey's version cause it takes me back to the early 80s.  But little Anthony puts so much emotion in his singing it wins hands down 

Little Anthony for me from this poll.

If this version was there I may have had to think again.

Cheers Paul

Little Anthony for me! It’s a great version and the Dutch picture sleeve is lovely. I do appreciate the Philly Devotions’ one if I want to shuffle my feet.

If any of you had heard the Delfonics version blasting out of the 100 club speakers the other year (Courtesy of the Pinch Bros), you would appreciate how great this song is taken at an uptempo storming soulful dance floor destroyer mode !!

20 hours ago, Soul Shrews said:

Little Anthony for me from this poll.

If this version was there I may have had to think again.

Cheers Paul

i had nominated this one but asked to narrow it down to 3 so unfortunately nancy got hurt !!

 

Little Anthony and The Imperials for me simply outstanding...

2 hours ago, Steviehay said:

i had nominated this one but asked to narrow it down to 3 so unfortunately nancy got hurt !!

 

Ouch !!!

On 12/01/2022 at 16:27, Soulfusion said:

I think you are being a tad harsh on the Philly Devotions but agree that Little Anthony takes top honours this week.

The Delfonics did a great version too;

 

 

All great versions of a great song, Delfonics has always been my favourite version

Some great versions posted, but imho you just can't touch Little Anthony. With a great arrangement and such an emotional vocal, you feel that he is really hurting. This is the version that I like to listen to

Lorraine 😁 

last 24 hours  - closing tomorrow am

 

all over, final scores

1. Which Version does it for you?

Susan Rafey  20%

Little Anthony & Imperials  72%

Philly Devotions  8%

The people's choice was

 

 thanks to @Steviehay for the suggestion

the next poll will be along shortly

 

As at the end are there any takes of the result?

 

won without a doubt must be the randazzo effect