I thought SWITCH only had 3 albums???

A SWITCH MOMENT:

Some people have been surprised to know that SWITCH had 5 albums instead of 3. Of course the die-hard SWITCH fans are aware of all 5 of our records because many of these fans have posted songs from every one of our records on YouTube. It's funny saying albums because these days the term album is rarely used, it's more cd's, recordings, mp3's, etc. and the list goes on. But back in the day we worked on ALBUMS.

Here is SWITCH'S Discography: 

SWITCH

Our 1st release was back in 1978. The album was titled 'SWITCH'. This was the album that introduced our band to the world. The album went platinum and it included the hits "There'll Never Be" & "I Wanna Be Closer", which are still some of the fans favorites. Boys II Men re-recorded "There'll Never Be" and the group SWV also re-recorded "There'll Never Be" and sang it on a TV show.

SWITCH II

Our 2nd release was titled "SWITCH II", this was released back in 1979 and it reached the Gold status. The hits from this album were "Best Beat In Town" and "I Call Your Name", which has become a SWITCH classic and has been used and re-recorded by other artists. We always close our shows with "I Call Your Name". Incidentally when DeBarge, or El DeBarge, Tommy & Bobby's younger brothers, perform live they always include "I Call Your Name" and sometimes they'll do "There'll Never Be". It's sort of a tribute to their older brother Bobby who died back in 1995.

Reaching For Tomorrow

Our 3rd release was titled "Reaching For Tomorrow" which was released in 1980. The single from this album was called "Don't Take My Love Away" and one of the songs that really has also become a SWITCH favorite but was never a single was "My Friend In The Sky". If you notice on this album there aren't any pictures and the logo is slightly different. Sad to say SWITCH was going through some internal problems at the time and Motown decided not to put a picture on the cover. This album came on the charts and jumped 61 positions when it was released just based on the momentum from the other 2 records, but the momentum only carried the record so far. We lost momentum and ended up not getting a 'hit' from this particular record. Thus one of the reasons people think we only had 3 albums.

This Is My Dream

Our 4th release was titled "This Is My Dream". This album was released in 1981 and included the hit "Love Over & Over" and the 2nd single was "You & I". This album brought our momentum back, and obviously Motown decided to put the groups picture back on the cover. "Love Over & Over" reached the 10 ten on the R & B charts. After this record and our tours, Bobby DeBarge decided to leave the band, more internal problems.

SWITCH V

SWITCH V was released in 1982 and included the single "Call On Me". Again you notice pictures of the group on the record. Bobby was working on a solo career but his solo career never took off. Sometimes keeping things the way they are makes more sense. So again momentum was lost and "Call On Me" got a lot of radio play but didn't get a lot of sales. It's what's known as a 'radio hit', but the sales didn't match.

You may have noticed, the records with the pictures of the group on the cover sold more than the other 2 records with no pictures. These are the 3 that most fans remember. Our 3rd & 5th albums aren't as known to the public but to the die-hard SWITCH fans, they were aware of all of our work.

After we left Motown, back in 1982, while we were working on a 6th album, they released 'The Best Of Switch' in 1984. By this time CD's were out and so this was released on CD. This CD sold quite well and continues to do so.

20 years later, 2004, Motown re-packaged and re-released the 'Best of Switch'. It's known as the 'Best of Switch - 20th Anniversary CD'. The fact that they took the time to re-release this CD means that it's still selling.



I also found out that a company called BBR records has the rights to re-release all 5 of our albums in 2011. At this time we don't know the actual date, but we do know that the re-releasing is in the works.

So there you have it, 5 albums, and 2 'Best of Switch' CDs was released on the group and more to come in 2011. Instead of I thought SWITCH only had 3 albums, now you understand why, but also you can see, there's a lot more.

Until Next Time - Phillip