Tavares - Check It Out 1974

 Check It Out is the debut studio album by American soul/R&B group Tavares, released in 1974 on the Capitol label. 

 The album peaked at No. 20 on the R&B albums chart. It also reached No. 160 on the Billboard 200. The album features the title track, which peaked at No. 5 on the Hot Soul Singles chart and No. 35 on the Billboard Hot 100, and "That's the Sound That Lonely Makes", which reached No. 10 on the Hot Soul Singles chart and No. 70 on the Billboard Hot 100.

 From Earth, Wind & Fire and L.T.D. to the O'Jays and the Dramatics, many of the great soul outfits of the 1960s and 1970s paid more than their share of dues. None of those groups were overnight sensations, they struggled a long time before becoming huge, and the same can be said about Tavares. The Boston vocal group was formed in 1964, and it wasn't until 1973 that Tavares finally landed a deal with a major label. But there is one important difference between Tavares and those other soulsters; unlike EWF (which didn't really start to achieve supergroup status until its fifth album) or the O'Jays (which recorded its share of commercially unsuccessful records before becoming famous at Philadelphia International), Tavares made it big with its first album. Capitol didn't screw around when it signed the Tavares siblings in 1973; making sure that they hit the ground running, Capitol united them with singer/composer/producer Johnny Bristol on their debut album, Check It Out. Known for 1970s hits like "You and I" and "Hang on in There, Baby," Bristol was a master of smooth, sophisticated Northern soul, and he proves to be a major asset to Tavares on gems like "Strangers in Dark Corners," Billy Preston's "Little Girl," "That's the Sound That Lonely Makes" (a number ten R&B hit), and the romantic title song (which reached number five on the R&B singles charts). Before Check It Out, Tavares was considered a noteworthy local attraction in the Boston area. When this excellent album took off, the quintet became famous all over the U.S.