This track was a hit twice in the UK, in 1973 and 1977. The later one was a slightly speeded-up, disco-ified mix: nothing particularly wrong with that, but whoever did it had Van Gogh’s ear for an intro. The first 15 seconds of this 1972 version are absolute perfection - beautiful bass (reminiscent of the bass part in Freda Payne’s Band Of Gold) plus great guitar and drums and horns. The last thing it needed was some banal rhythm guitar over the top like in the remix.
The Detroit Emeralds started out as just The Emeralds and added the Detroit part when they moved there, not to distinguish themselves from another band as The Detroit Spinners did in the UK. It’s a three-way toss-up between those two bands and The Detroit Cobras - of the mighty Hot Dog (Watch Me Eat) - as to which band with Detroit in their name has made the best record ever.