Magazine

Soul Source music magazine feature.

For those growing up in the early to mid 80's, with little knowledge of "Northern Soul" Kent Records introduced many great sounds to young eager lads and lasses eager to hear more of the music. Who would have thought Kent Records would still be here today and still introducing many great previously unheard records to not so young lads and lasses and to the next generation of "soulies" eager to see and hear what the fuss is all about.
Northern Soul is still the greatest underground music scene in the UK although it does garner a lot of publicity today. It is thanks to the likes of Ace/Kent Records that many artists are still getting the recognition they never got when the records were laid down in the studio, ignored by the US market at the time only to be picked up by the UK youth (and not so young) many years later.
This year marks the 30th Anniversary of Kent Records, from the very first LP compiled by Harboro Horace aka Ady Croasdell, "For Dancers Only" to the 100's of releases on vinyl, LP and 7 inch, to all the CD's featuring many of the greats of the Rare Soul Scene, King Records, Detroit's Dave Hamilton, the fantastic Fame series, many unreleased Motown, LA Soul from Kent Harris, Ty Karim, New Yorks Big City Soul, Lou Johnson, GWP and Harlem Soul, Getting' To Me, Goldwax, Money, Spring…the superb unreleased RCA Masters which unleashed many great records to the UK dance floors , Luther Ingram, Tommy Tate, Eddie and Ernie, Memphis Soul, Kent Modern, Jackie Day, Phiily Soul from Ben Lee and the rarest of them all the Shrine Story. the list goes on and on, too many to mention here but it cannot be denied that it is an unrivalled list of releases that has maintained the interest of soul fans world wide. I for one look forward to many more releases including the forthcoming Pied Piper Masters.
Here is what Harboro Horace has to say about Kent
(source Kent Records Website http://acerecords.co.uk/kent-label)
Way back in 1982 a callow northern youth would visit Ted Carroll’s Rock On record stall on Golborne Road in West London. He used to buy the 60s soul singles that the old vinyl merchant had plundered from warehouses and old shop stock on his travels. This interest in a music that was not particularly cherished in London at that time led to Ted asking this son of Market Harborough to stick together 15 singles from Los Angeles’ Kent and Modern labels and come up with an LP. That would satisfy all those pesky young mods who pestered Ted for some “soul like what all the original mods used to lissen to”. Pinching the title from a popular Popcorn single of the time, the soul brother, we’ll call him Horace, came up with “For Dancers Only” a selection of Northern Soul stompers, girl group floaters, male vocal harmonies and low down Rhythm & Blues.
Horace was then asked to rattle off a follow-up, when his first attempt flew out of the shops like shale off a shovel. That was the imaginatively named “For Dancers Also” and with sleevenotes full of wit of that calibre, allied to a crusading enthusiasm and passion for the music, the public were hooked. A deep soul LP came next, followed by a collection of 60s soul classics, an LP of pure Northern Soul dancers, 70s soul sounds and many more sides of soul music’s polyhedron. "¨"¨Thirty years on, we are still coming up with black music compilations from the 60s and 70s that soul fans continue to support and enjoy. These days the CD notes tell you more about the artists than the colour of DJ and LP sleeve designer Ian Clark’s odd socks.
We have grown in knowledge and inquisitiveness and have almost run out of bad jokes."¨"¨Getting eventual access to all the major record labels has given us music from the Okeh, Chess, RCA, Atlantic and even the mighty Tamla Motown. This has meant our supply of sounds from this golden era is virtually limitless. Hugely influential independent labels like Stax, Goldwax, Fame, Westbound, Carnival, Mirwood, King, Scepter/Wand and others have learned to trust our integrity and have thrown open their doors saying “go ahead tell it like it was”. Smaller indies such as Sounds Of Memphis, Dave Hamilton’s Detroit productions and GWP have come up with iceberg sized vaults lying under the water level and have delivered superb soul music that had frequently unheard since its creation."¨"¨Then there are the series like Mod Jazz, Modern Masterpieces, Northern’s Classiest, New Breed R&B et al that just keep on coming.
Chasing one lead will bring us a handful of tracks that we didn’t even know about and the label owner’s ex-partner will sometimes chip in with half a dozen tunes too. We’ve got solo CDs from acts as big as the Impressions, James Carr, Candi Staton and the Staples Singers all the way through runaway successes such as Doris Duke, Sam Dees, Spencer Wiggins, who were previously only known by the cognoscenti, on to O.C. Tolbert, Jackie Day, the Minits and Vernon Garrett who weren’t that well known on their blocks."¨"¨The continued penchant for vinyl has left us with a handful of bendy LPs and a growing 45s discography that will soon be enough to fill a DJs box: what a great set would be played from it too.
Then there’s yer actual downloads, T shirts and beer-mats; further evidence of world domination."¨"¨In the pipeline is a brilliant set of 60s Detroit soul productions from the legendary Pied Piper outfit, further Fame, more Motown, a new trawl of King, Kent Harris’ R&B and soul productions, Darrow Fletcher’s separate 60s and 70s CDs and deals that I dream of even as I type."¨
HARBORO HORACE
****************************************************************
To mark the occasion Kent release the CD:
"Kent 30: The Best Of Kent Northern 1982-2012)"
Pre order from Ace Free delivery in the UK
30 tracks covering the 30 years of kent Records, some classics form that time but as you would expect some "newies" with the Pied Piper Band, Marva Holiday (which I can't wait to hear) and an alternative vocal to the one record that epitomises Kent and one of the greatest discoveries of the last 30 years Melba Moore's Magic Touch.
Listen to a brief clip of Melba Moore and Darrow Fletcher:
http://soundcloud.com/chalkster/cdkend384-03
01. OOH IT HURTS ME - The Pied Piper Players
02. BEAUTY IS JUST SKIN DEEP - The Sweethearts
03. BABY WITHOUT YOU - Gene & Gary
04. LOVE KEEPS ME CRYING - Walter Wilson
05. IT'S TORTURE - Maxine Brown
06. I'D BE A MILLIONAIRE - Chuck Jackson
07. HAVE FAITH IN ME - Sugar & The Spices
08. YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE - Lorraine Chandler
09. I'M STEPPING OUT OF THE PICTURE - Johnny Maestro & The Crests
10. GETTIN' TO ME - Ben E King
11. WHAT SHOULD I DO - Little Ann
12. RISING HIGHER - Marva Holiday
13. TRY MY LOVE - Toni & The Showmen
14. TOO MUCH FOR YOU - Bobby Angelle
15. TWO WRONGS DON'T MAKE A RIGHT - The Mayberry Movement
16. THE MAGIC TOUCH - Melba Moore
17. HANDWRITING ON THE WALL - Bobby Wisdom
18. OH, MY DARLIN' - Jackie Lee
19. THINK SMART - The Fiestas
20. (JUST A LITTLE) FAITH AND UNDERSTANDING - The Magicians
21. WE CAN DO IT - The Shaladons
22. I'M SHOOTING HIGH (I REACH FOR THE SKY) - O.C. Tolbert
23. I WANNA THANK YOU - The Quotations
24. NO LIMIT - Darrow Fletcher
25. OH BABY DON'T YOU WEEP - Luther Ingram
26. WITHOUT YOUR LOVE - Bobby Penn
27. THE PANIC IS ON - Lou Johnson
28. (TRUE LOVE IS) IN THE HEART - Alexander Patton
29. CHANGES Lilly Fields
30. SORRY AIN T THE WORD The Paramount Four
This CD is a look at the Kent label’s Northern Soul history, heritage and future. There’s more to Kent than just Northern Soul, but that’s how we started in 1982 when Mary Love’s ‘You Turned My Bitter Into Sweet’ kicked off the “For Dancers Only” vinyl album. We covered the ballad side recently on “Deep Shadows: The Best Of Kent Ballads” CDKEND 342.
The “For Dancers Only” LP gets a nod with Gene & Gary’s duet of Danny Monday’s ‘Baby Without You’, here on CD for the first time. There is a host of exclusives, several not issued in any format before: Alexander Patton’s ‘True Love (Is In The Heart)’ will open traditional Northern fans’ eyes and ears the most, being from the same session and of a similar feel to his classic ‘A Lil Lovin’ Sometimes’, and Marva Holiday’s ‘Rising Higher’ is a fabulous Sherlie Matthews’ song that will be admired by progressive Northern fans.
Modern soul has been a part of the Kent landscape since 1984’s “Moving On Up” album. We celebrate that branch of our music with Darrow Fletcher’s ‘No Limit’ and the Paramount Four’s anthemic ‘Sorry Ain’t The Word’, both debuting on CD. 70s soul fans may well buy the CD for these two alone.
Our forthcoming Pied Piper spring range is launched with the original alternate take of Lorraine Chandler’s 60s Detroit opus ‘You Only Live Twice’; the song that gave birth to Yvonne Baker’s ‘You Didn’t Say A Word’. From the same stable comes the Pied Piper Players (aka Motown’s Funk Brothers) on ‘Ooh It Hurts Me’, a massive 60s newie of recent years as a stunning, unheard instrumental.
Representing the Dave Hamilton chapter are O.C. Tolbert and Little Ann’s rare soul classics, both presented in mixes different from our previous releases. Ben E King with ‘Gettin’ To Me’ heads our legendary discoveries section. Melba Moore, Chuck Jackson and Maxine Brown’s unissued recordings that re-floated the grounded SS Northern Soul in the 80s are here, as are the Magicians, whose vocal to ‘Double Cookin’’ shook up the Northern nation.
There are vinyl-finding tales of two of the biggest big beat ballads of them all and a story concerning picking up a handful of sleeveless singles in a producer’s house and seeing an undocumented Wand label for Walter Wilson’s 60s stomper which had been assumed to exist as tape only. Luther Ingram supplies the mother of all R&B/Northern crossover numbers, while Bobby Wisdom preens over his potential price tag of £4000; if you can find one.
There are classy crowd-pleasers from Toni & the Showmen, Sugar & the Spices, the Fiestas and the Sweethearts that have been marooned on Kent label stories, neglected by all but the pure in heart.
Advances in technology mean that the audio is vastly improved on tracks we first released 10 or 15 years ago. On some titles we were able to access superior quality multi-track masters and in Melba Moore’s case we even found an alternative vocal take. It is the first time the 45 mix of Johnny Maestro’s dramatic ‘I’m Stepping Out Of The Picture’ has been reissued. The quality of Chuck Jackson’s ‘Millionaire’ in particular is awesome, while the Magicians now has a potentially life-threatening dynamic.
The booklet contains 9,000 words of wisdom, re-telling the Kent Northern saga for long-term inmates or explaining where it all came form for the more recent converts. That’s 30 stunning soul sounds; one for each glorious year. It is not only a celebration but a revelation too; we hope you enjoy the hyperbole.
By Ady Croasdell
Kent also has a Birthday Party planned. It will be at the home of the 6t's Rhythm and Soul Club, The 100 CLub and feature's live from the USofA Darrow Fletcher. 8pm until 2pm with Darrow live on stage at around 11pm.
All details can be found at www.acerecords.com or www.6ts.info

By Chalky in News Archives · October 21, 201212 yr

Oliver Cheatham: Forever Saturday Night.

Native Detroiter Oliver Cheatham was born February 24th 1948 into a family of eight other children. It was his gospel trained mother, Maddie that encouraged her son to sing. Oliver was a shy child who would only sing to other people from behind the sofa. He was a keen sportsman who harboured thoughts of becoming a professional Baseball player with the Detroit Tigers. This changed one night when his sister Jackie recommended him to her then boyfriend Allen Cocker a member of the group known as The Young Sirs who just happened to be a man short for a forthcoming show. On his sister’s recommendation Oliver deputised and thus became a permanent member of the Young Sirs. The Young Sirs big break eventually came while they were performing at a local cabaret show. Unbeknown to the group Barbara Burt was in the audience. Barbara Burt together with her husband Ernest operated the Magic City label located at 8912 Grand River, the former home of Correc-Tone Records which they had purchased from its former owner Wilbert Golden in 1965.Upon Barbara’s recommendation The Young Sirs signed to Magic City where they recorded the mellifluous, “There’s Something The Matter (With Your Heart)/African Love” (MC 010).With Oliver by now assuming the role of lead singer. The groups others members were Oliver’s by now brother in law Allen Coker, Van Johnson and his nephew Mike Johnson and the group’s bass vocalist Ronald Noel. While at Magic City Oliver was asked by Ernest Burt to chaperone a group of guys some five years younger than himself who recorded under the name Mad Dog And The Pups, Although never strictly regarded as a member of the group Oliver did provide some of the backing vocals and occasional the lead vocals when his young protégés’ were found wanting."¨

Photo:- from left to right are: Mike Johnson, Allen Cocker, Oliver Cheatham, Ronald Noel & Van Johnson.

As the 1970’s dawned Oliver signed up with Marvin Higgins who placed him under the guidance of the highly respected record producer George McGregor. Oliver’s first McGregor, production “I’m Only A Man/Out Off My Hands” was released on the Black Rock Label (2002) under the pseudonym of Butch & The Newports. With” Butch “being Oliver’s nickname and The Newports being Allen Coker, Curtis “Kippy” Henderson."¨

A name change followed with Butch & The Newports now becoming The Gaslight with the addition of a fourth member Michael Eatmon. With three further 45 single releases appearing on Higgin’s Grand Junction logo. Firstly “I Can’t Tell A Lie/Here’s Missing You (1001), then” If You See Her/Drifting Away” (1002) followed by a second issue of “I’m Only A Man” but with a different flip side to the Black Rock release “I’m Gonna Get You” (GJ-1100)"¨"¨The Gaslight’s next release “Just Because Of You/It’s Just Like Magic” first gained a release on the tiny independent T.E.A.I. label which was owned by Chuck Armstrong, a former road manager of the Dramatics. This release was later picked up for national distribution by the major Polydor label. It would appear that a second Gaslight release on T.E.A.I. may quite possibly exist. A track entitled “Hard Times” with “It’’s Just Like Magic” on the flip (See below)."¨

At this juncture the all too common drug culture then prevalent throughout the recording industry began to lead to problems amongst the Gaslight which eventually saw the clean living Oliver leave. It was at this particular juncture that Oliver who by now was considering a solo career, began to do some production work of his own with his cousin Bill Miller. Together they bought some studio time at the United Sounds Studio and it was from these sessions that they wrote produced and recorded the recently discovered tracks “Don’t Pop The Question (If You Can’t Take The Answer)” and “Good Guys Don’t Make Good Lovers” amongst others."¨"¨Oliver was then invited by an old acquaintance Jerome Barnes to join his group, Oliver initially refused as he was still considering pursuing a solo career. But eventually Jerome persuaded Oliver to change his mind thus Oliver became a member of The Sins Of Satin."¨

Following three album releases the Sins Of Satin went through a change of both personal and direction at the suggestion of their producer the influential Detroit radio DJ Al “The Perculator” Perkins. Now renamed “Roundtrip “ the group grew to eight members, Jerome Barnes, Oliver Cheatham, Jimmy Johnson, Kenny Jackson, Angelo Loric, Ila Coates, Kim Warren and Sharlo. Perkins plan was to build the group around the lead vocals of Oliver. A further name change followed with the group becoming known as just “Oliver”. During his time with Perkins Oliver’s lesser known trait as a roofer was called upon to repair the studio roof. A skill he had learnt while working with his Uncle in Cleveland during the summer holidays. "¨

Al Perkins in conjunction with his wife Irene ran a stable of several artists under their Perk’s Music Production Company. One such act was the group, One Way who included a multi-talented musician and later producer in his own right Kevin McCord. In collaboration with Kevin McCord Oliver co-wrote what is regarded as his all time signature tune the much covered 1983 dance floor hit “Get Down Saturday Night” which eventually reaching number 37on billboards R&B charts, and remains a popular radio play to this day. In 1985/86 two further Oliver Cheatham releases appeared on the UK based Move label “Mama Said/Look Of Love” (MSS3) and” Turning Point/Play Me Trade Me “ on the Move subsidiary label Champion (MSS6). The “Turning point” release also featured the vocals of Oliver’s daughter Tania. Both Move releases were owned by Vee Allen (aka Velma Perkins sister of Al Perkins) and produced through her Leland production company. Leland is the name of the Town in Mississippi where Vee was born."¨

Oliver continued to score chart success throughout the remainder of the 1980’s and into the 90’s with such songs of note as “SOS”, “Celebrate Our Love” followed by two duets with Jocelyn Brown “Turn Out The Lights” and “Mind Buster”. Further chart success came in 2003 when Oliver featured as the guest vocalist on Room 5’s UK No1 hit “Make Luv “ which incidentally sampled Oliver’s “Get Down Saturday Night”. Oliver at this juncture was residing in England and had previously recorded a Garage version of the old standard “Our Day Will Come” with the London based band, Native Soul. Oliver’s popularity on the European dance scene means that he’s a frequent visitor to the continent with a huge following in both France and Germany."¨

The elusive “Hard Times” track is proving to something of a conundrum as it has appeared in several Oliver Cheatham articles but nobody has ever seemed to have seen it. What we do know is the track was recorded thanks to Andy Rix’s acetate. Both Oliver and the records producer George McGregor claim it was released? With George also stating that it featured “ It’s Just Like Magic” on the flip?"¨"¨So could a previous interviewer have made a typing error writing down Tier instead of T.E.A.I.?"¨"¨Or were there two T.E.A.I. releases of “It’s Just Like Magic” with different flipsides?"¨"¨Unfortunately George McGregor is hospitalized at this moment and unable to check his paperwork so the jury will have to remain out on this one for now."¨

Words by David Welding"¨"¨

Acknowledgements to: Oliver Cheatham, Bill Miller, Anthony Jones (aka A.J.Sparks), Cynthia Girty, Irene Perkins, Vee Allen, Janet Wright and George McGregor."¨

Photographs: Bob Abrahamian, John Smith, Andrew Whitmore, Craig Lane and Oliver Cheatham."¨

Label Scans: Bob Abrahamian, Andrew Whitmore, Andrew Rix, Trevor Polnyj and David Welding.

Checkout the Story and details of the new Soul Junction release of Oliver's unreleased 70's Gem "Don't Pop The Question" b/w "Good Guy's Don't Make Good Lovers" at: Soul Junction Finally Pop The Question

By Louise in News Archives · October 13, 201212 yr

Oliver Cheatham: “Soul Junction Finally Pop The Question”

Listen to ‘Don’t Pop The Question’:
http://soundcloud.com/chalkster/oliver-cheatham-dont-pop-the

Listen to ‘Good Guys Don’t Make Good Lovers’:
http://soundcloud.com/chalkster/oliver-cheatham-good-guys-dont

Some of you while listening to your favourite internet radio soul shows over the last couple of years may have heard a great little uptempo 70’s dancer track reputedly by a female artist by name of Pam Jackson (a name purely based on a assumption). At long last the true identity of both the artist and the track has eventually been found, the full story continues below:

The origins of the track came from a un-credited acetate that was won on E-bay by Italian collector Marco Cavenaghi. The acetate contained six tracks with the only information to be found being the name Pam Jackson which had been handwritten on the sleeve. Marco gave a cut of one the tracks to his friend Olindo Di Tizio to play on his radio show. It was Olindo who later passed a cut of the track which by now people were calling ‘Don’t Pop The Question’ to the following UK dj’s Bob Smith, Kevin Oxberry, Steve Plumb and Wayne Arbon, in the vain hope that through greater exposure someone would come forward and recognise the track thus revealing it’s true identity. Chat room discussions also failed to uncover any further evidence. Although a school of thought did arise that a possible candidate could be Detroiter Oliver Cheatham (who was renowned for his falsetto vocals) and that the track could be a previously unissued Magic City release.

In March of this year (2012) during a conversation between myself and Kevin Oxberry (Kevin had previously spoken to me about the track) the subject of the elusive Pam Jackson track was raised again. Kevin stated that he and the other guys had exhausted all their avenues of enquiry and two years on were still none the wiser and had all but given up. At this point I volunteered Soul Junction’s services to track the real artist down. First of all I contacted A.J. Sparks, A.J had been a session drummer at Magic City and had played on most of the sessions but he didn’t recognise the track, this was followed up by talking to Cynthia Girty Of Cynthia And The Imaginations/ Imaginary Three, thus eliminating any remote chance of Pam Jackson being an alias or real name of one of the girls.

My own gut feeling was indeed that the real singer was in fact Oliver Cheatham after comparing the track against his Polydor and Grand Junction releases etc. So next up I called Janet ‘Pixie’ Wright a former session singer at Magic City and a close friend of Oliver’s who still tours as a session singer with him and Jocelyn Brown to this day.
Janet gave me Oliver’s telephone number, now Oliver a regular commuter (between Detroit and France) was actually in Detroit at that very moment. So I gave Oliver a call and explained what was on my mind and then proceeded to play him “Don’t Pop The Question” down the phone. After about 20 seconds in Oliver was singing along and excitedly shouting ‘man that’s my song that’s” Don’t Pop The Question (If You Can’t Take The Answer)” the songs real and full title.

This was the first time Oliver had heard the song in nearly forty years. So after he eventually calmed down I played all the other tracks from the acetate to him. He instantly recognised a second track the beautiful sweet soul ballad “Good Guys Don’t Make Good Lovers”. “Great! We’ve got an A and B side how’s about leasing them to Soul Junction for a 45 release Oliver?” Say’s I, “yes!” Came the reply, “but I need to remember when and where I recorded them?” Say’s Oliver.

A day later Oliver called me to say after much thought he remembered recorded the tracks in circa 1974/75 and that he co -wrote both songs with his cousin Bill Miller and that Bill may well be the songs producer. As a precaution we systematically contacted all the people who Oliver recorded for in and around this time to see if they had any claim on the tracks, one by one they all came back with the answer no! At this point things began to look doubtful and Oliver still hadn’t located the elusive Bill. A month passed before one night out of the blue I eventually received a call from Bill Miller.

Bill a former Vietnam veteran and’ purple heart’ medal holder apologised for not contacting me sooner but his current business commitments involved a lot of travelling throughout the United States. He first off wanted to know how we got hold of the songs (see above) and then he confirmed to me that he was the producer on both tracks. He went on to Explain, that at the time (circa 74/75) nothing was really happening for him and Oliver having just left the Gaslight was considering a solo career, so they both clubbed together and bought some studio time at United Sound Studio’s In Detroit. This being where Bill produced some of their songs on Oliver (as well as some other artists). Bill then later received an invitation to a Producer’s party which the Motown Corporation were hosting to discover new local talent.
Billy got a couple of studio acetates cut to take to the party which featured Oliver singing ‘Don’t Pop The Question’ and ‘Good Guys Don’t Make Good Lovers’ plus two other funk tracks by him. The acetate also feature two tracks by a female artist presumably the mysterious Pam Jackson (Bill has still yet to definitely confirm this). Subsequently Billy was signed by Motown as an arranger, producer and songwriter going on to work with the Commodores as well as the blue-eyed Ohio funk band Wild Cherry of ‘Play That Funky Music White Boy’ fame. Bill lost track of the acetates and now assumes that may have been left behind at United Sound studios when he removed his tapes and were probably sold off when the studio closed down? What ever happened, both copies eventually found their way on to the open market via E-bay.

David Welding

Oliver Cheatham’s “Don’t Pop The Question (If You Can’t Take The Answer)/Good Guys Don’t Make Good Lovers” Soul Junction (SJ518) is due for general release on Monday October 15th 2012. The A-side is the joyous dance track “Don’t Pop The Question (If You Can’t Take The Answer)” which once heard leaves the songs unforgettable hook firmly inside your head. While the B-side is the beautiful sweet soul ballad “Good Guys Don’t Make Good Lovers” which showcases Oliver’s falsetto vocals to perfection and is so reminiscent of his earlier 1970’s Grand Junction and Polydor releases.

For those of you who are not familiar with the songs please take a listen to the sound clips on the Soul Junction website: www.souljunctionrecords.co.uk

Acknowledgements to:
Oliver Cheatham, Bill Miller, Janet Wright, Irene Perkins, Vee Allen, George McGregor, Cynthia Girty, Anthony Jones (aka A.J.Sparks), Marco Cavenaghi, Olindo Di Tizio, Bob Smith (Uptight Records) Kevin Oxberry and Nick Robbins (Sound Mastering Ltd)

Press Release: Oliver Cheatham “Don’t Pop The Question (If You Can’t Take The Answer)/ Good Guys Don’t Make Good Lovers” Soul Junction 518

Release Date: Monday October 15th 2012

Oliver Cheatham will forever be remembered for his timeless 1983 R & B hit “Get Down Saturday Night” on MCA records, which he co-wrote with fellow Detroit musician Kevin McCord. But Oliver’s career began way back in the mid 1960’s when his future brother in law Allen Cocker invited Oliver to join his group The Young Sirs.
The Young Sirs eventually joined Ernest and Barbara Burt’s Magic City label where they recorded the mellifluous “There’s Something The Matter (With Your Heart)” with Oliver now being regarded as the groups lead singer.

Into the 70’s the Young Sirs became The Gaslight who recorded several excellent 45’s for Marvin Higgins’ Grand Junction label. With their “Just Because Of You/It’s Just Like Magic” later being picked up for national distribution by Polydor Records.

Under the guidance of influential Detroit radio DJ and record producer Al Perkins, Oliver firstly became the lead singer of the group Sins Of Satin later re-named Roundtrip and then following a further re-naming just becoming known as Oliver.

Following on from “Get Down Saturday Night” Oliver continued to score chart success with “SOS”, “Celebrate Our Love” followed by two duets with Jocelyn Brown “Turn Out The Lights” and “Mind Buster”. Further chart success came in 2003 when Oliver featured as a guest vocalist on Room 5’s UK No1 hit “Make Luv” which incidentally sampled Oliver’s “Get Down Saturday Night”. Oliver at this juncture was residing in England and had previously recorded a garage version of the old standard “Our Day Will Come” with the London based band, Native Soul.

And so to the present, 2012 will see Oliver return to the fore with the eventual discovery of two great previously unissued 70’s soul tracks found on a once lost and forgotten acetate. The A-side is the joyous dance track “Don’t Pop The Question (If You Can’t Take The Answer)” which once heard leaves the song’s unforgettable hook line firmly in your head. While the B-side is the beautiful sweet soul ballad “Good Guys Don’t Make Good Lovers” which
showcases Oliver’s falsetto vocals and is so reminiscent of his earlier 1970’s Grand Junction and Polydor releases. 2012 will also see Oliver return on a vanity project of his own with the forthcoming “Enjoy” cd album.

For further information please contact John Anderson or Dave Welding
Tel: +44 (0)121 602 8115 E-mail sales@souljunctionrecords.co.uk

By Louise in News Archives · October 13, 201212 yr

OK, it may not be up everybody's street, but there's some seriously great stuff within this beautiful package.....

Harmless Records proudly present another superlative box set celebrating the 25th anniversary of one of the most iconic UK independent labels of all time…

Acid Jazz, the brainchild of Eddie Piller and Giles Peterson was born in 1987 and immediately hit a chord in the UK by appealing to a cross section of serious fans from old school Jazzers, serious Jazz-Funkers, passionate Soulboys, sharp-dressed Mods, nodding Hip-Hoppers and even laid back Dreadas.

Before long the tentacles of the Acid Jazz movement were spreading throughout the world and what began as a bedroom label between two mates soon became a mecca for various tribes who had become disenfranchised from other scenes. From international breakthrough successes like the Brand New Heavies, Jamiroquai and the Totally Wired series, Acid Jazz cemented it’s image as one of the most iconic and unique UK record labels of the last 3 decades.

Harmless Records is proud to present a beautiful collectors box set featuring:-

1 x square secure box with the Acid Jazz logo in embossed silver foil * 4 x Audio CD’s + wallets * 1 x video DVD + wallet featuring an exclusive interview with Eddie Piller & Dean Rudland plus 12 vintage Acid Jazz promotional videos * 1 x 20 page booklet featuring the Acid Jazz story with unique pictures written by Dean Rudland and Eddie Piller * 1 x 52 page booklet featuring the Acid Jazz artwork throughout the last 25 years * 1 x 7” vinyl record featuring 2 unreleased original Acid Jazz recordings exclusive to the box set

Amazon Link:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B009DW5Z2Y/ref=s9_simh_bw_p15_d1_i1?pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=0AJETA6F38J1Y4P5TNB4&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=323735287&pf_rd_i=229816

Eddie Piller & Dean Rudland have compiled over 5 hours of music across several genres which scans the key periods in Acid Jazz history……

Track Listing

CD1 — Put It All Together and What Do You Get

1. Golden Lady - Jose Feliciano
Original Album Version 4.20
2. Love The One You’re With - The Isley Brothers
Original Album Version 3.39
3. Lady Day & John Coltrane - Gil Scott Heron
Original Album Version 3.34
4. Is It Something You Got - Tyrone Davis
Original 7” Single Version 2.34
5. Don’t You Care - Alice Clark
Original Album Version 2.48
6. You - Spanky Wilson
Original 7” Version 2.10
7. Light My Fire - Erma Franklin
Original Album Version 2.39
8. Right On - Clarence Wheeler & The Enforcers
Original Album Version 4.39
9. Bert's Apple Crumble - The Quik
Original 7” Version 2.11
10. Who's Afraid Of Virginia Wolfe Part 2 - Jimmy Smith
Original Album Version 4.58
11. Milestones - Mark Murphy
Original Album Version 2.27
12. Smokey Joe’s La La - Googie Rene
Original 7” Version 2.53
13. Black Whip - Boogaloo Joe Jones
Original Album Version 6.46
14. Murriley - Charles Earland
Original Album Version 6.28
15. Expansions - Lonnie Liston-Smith
Original Album Version 6.05
16. Go Bang # 5 - Dinosaur L
Original Francois K 12” Mix 7.33
17. I’m A Man - Chicago
Original Album Version 7.38
18. I Can’t Dance With You - Small Faces
Original 7” Version 3.11
19. I Don’t Do This (To Every Girl I Meet) - Sydney Joe Qualls
Original Album Version 3.12

CD2 — Something Happening At The Dance

1. Blacker - Ballistic Brothers
Original Album Version 6.09
2. The Masterplan - Diana Brown & Barry Sharpe
Original 12” Version 7.05
3. Hot Music - S.O.H.O.
Original 12” Jazz Version 5.06
4. Know How - Young MC
Original 12” Mix 4.01
5. Don’t Scandalize Mine - Sugar Bear
Original 12” Version 4.13
6. The Nervous Track - Nuyorican Soul
Original 12” Ballsy Mix 6.28
7. Earthly Powers - A Man Called Adam
Original 7” Mix 4.55
8. I'm Gonna Love You - Jestofunk
Original MC Turbo 12” Sax Mix 4.20
9. Super Strut - The Apostles
Original Album Version 4.20
10. Jazzy John's Freestyle - Stonebridge
Original 12” Dub Mix 3.38
11. Helping Hand - Arthur Miles
Original 12” Mix 4.39
12. From The Ghetto - Dread Flimstone
Original 7” Version 4.35
13. Bonita Manana - Espiritu
Original 12” Mix 4.06
14. If The Papes Come - A Tribe Called Quest
Original 12” Mix 4.14
15. BNH - Brand New Heavies
Original Album Version 5.52
16. Frederick Lies Still - Galliano
Original 7” Version 4.59

CD3 — How’d We Get Us Here…?

1. Jazz Thing - Gang Starr
Original 12” Mix 4.48
2. Get Yourself Together - Young Disciples
Original 12” Mix 5.23
3. Dream Come True - Brand New Heavies
Original 12” Mix 3.45
4. Love Will Keep Us Together - The James Taylor Quartet
Original Ian Green 7” Mix 3.41
5. The New Avengers - Snowboy
Original 12” Mix 4.32
6. Fresh In My Mind - A Forest Mighty Black
Original 12” Mix 4.38
7. Oh Shit - Pharcyde
Original Album Version 4.29
8. Black Whip - Chapter & Verse
Original 12” Mix 3.59
9. Back By Dope Demand - King Bee
Original 12” Mix 3.35
10. Theme From Starsky & Hutch - James Taylor Quarter
Original 12” Mix 5.52
11. Always There - Incognito
Original John Morales 12” Edit 3.34
12. Too Young To Die - Jamiroquai
Original Album Version 6.03
13. Apple Green - Mother Earth
Original Album Version 4.24
14. Love Sick - The Night Trains
Original 12” Mix 4.26
15. Beads Things & Flowers - Humble Souls
Original 12” Mix 4.05
16. The Ladder - One Creed
Original Album Version 5.03
17. Funky Jam - Primal Scream
Original 12” Mix 5.25

CD4 — Smokers Delight

1. Cosmos SX 2000 - Paul Weller
Original 12” Dub Mix 7.19
2. Non Corporealness - Mother Earth
Original Album Version 6.04
3. Rassellas - Mr Scruff V Manasseh
Original Album Version 5.55
4. Movements In Dub (Roots) - Roots Radics meets the Scientist
Original Album Version 5.08
5. Render Your Heart - Dread Flimstone
Original 12” Mix 5.02
6. Chase The Devil - Max Romeo
Original 7” Version 3.27
7. You Never Get Away - Delroy Wilson
Original 12” Dub Mix 7.22
8. Leaders & Believers - Emperors New Clothes
Original UNKLE Album Mix 5.14
9. Astralisation - Snowboy
Original 12” Mix 6.10
10. The Groove - Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince Original 12” Instrumental Mix 5.33 feat Grover Washington Jr
11. I Wanna Get High - Cypress Hill
Original 12” Mix 2.56
12. Galactica Rush - Jhelisa
Original 12” Instrumental Mix 6.01
13. Nothing - Sandals
Original 12” Dub Version 8.02

Out on Bonfire Night — 5th November 2012. Should be fireworks!

Ian D

By Ian Dewhirst in News Archives · October 9, 201212 yr

Soul Music Legend Leon Ware is making three appearances in the UK in early 2013. The venues are London's Islington Assembly Hall on Friday 1st February, Manchester's Band On The Wall on Friday 8th February and Newcastle's Hoochie Coochie Club Saturday 9th February 2013.

Some info taken from the Band On The Wall website:

http://bandonthewall.org/events/3709/

The great American soul singer Leon Ware visits Band on the Wall celebrating 50 years of producing hugely influential and beautiful music that's been etched into the hearts of fans of superbly crafted, timeless love songs across the world.
Ware’s gorgeously romantic groove and timeless vibe has been seducing lovers’ earlobes over the generations and has been the songwriter of choice for some of the globe's biggest stars - think Michael Jackson crying his heart out on the AM radio gem and Ware penned I Wanna Be Where You Are from his very first solo LP. Indeed it gives you a sense of the his longevity when you realise 2012 marks that particular music milestone’s 40th Anniversary.
Marvin Gaye defined seduction and desire on the Grammy-nominated masterstroke I Want You, a song suite — also featuring After the Dance, Come Live With Me Angel and Since I Had You — which was originally a Leon Ware album that Marvin begged to be his. From Minnie Riperton’s rapturous Inside My Love to Donny Hathaway’s reverent I Know it’s You, Ware’s magic carpet ride of influence resonates right on into today - whether collaborating with Quincy Jones on Body Heat (also featuring If I Ever Lose This Heaven - both sung by Leon) or Maxwell on his sumptuous debut Sumthin’ Sumthin’, rap icons 2Pac and A Tribe Called Quest sampling his Wares, jazz giants Gato Barbieri and Fourplay melting into his melodies, and pop-rock superstars Madonna and Todd Rundgren covering his classics.

Add to these the acclaimed album recordings of his own including Musical Massage, Love’s Drippin’, Taste the Love, Moon Ride, Candlelight (with jazz man Don Grusin) and the provocatively prophetic Rockin’ You Eternally, and you realise Leon Ware has an immensely impressive back catalogue to draw upon for this much-anticipated anniversary tour.
Draw the blinds, pour the wine, pull back the bed sheets and head down to Band on the Wall to fall in love with this wonderful artist all over again. Advance booking strongly recommended.
This event will begin at 8.30pm but our Picture House Cafe Bar is open from 5.30pm for delicious food and drinks.

For tickets for Islington visit:

http://www.songkick....n-assembly-hall

https://agmp.ticketa...ents/leon-ware/

For tickets for Manchester visit:

http://bandonthewall.org/events/3709/

http://www.songkick....and-on-the-wall

For Newcastle's Hoochie Coochie Club visit:

http://www.hoochiecoochie.co.uk/event/artist/leon-ware/

By Chalky in Event News · October 6, 201212 yr

Tucked away on the Ace subsidiary and sister label to Kent is a Funk compilation by Dean Rudland that may have slipped under the radar of many. Titled Royal Grooves the compilation is made up of 23 tracks from the famed Cincinnati King label. Funk might not be to everyone's taste but the cd does contain some great vocal performances, Barbara Burton and The Messengers and Willy Wiley's early 70's outing "Just Be Glad" two personal favourites. Gloria Edwards should need no introduction with the excellent (Need Nobody To help me) Keep up With My Man" and Connie Austin and the superb "Ball Of Fire" two more artists that should be well known to the wider Soul Scene and to the Northern Soul Scene, the same also for the Coasters with a funked up latin take of "Cool Jerk". Overall the cd is an excellent introduction to this genre and more than worth the 10 or 11 quid it will take to purchase.

As you would expect from all ACE releases there are comprehensive sleeve notes from Dean Rudland, I would pay for the sleeve notes as they are always a really good and informative read. I do wish Ace/Kent and the related labels would put a book out containing the sleeve notes of all the releases, it would be essential reading and a great history of some of soul musics greats as well as the many lesser known soul artists that have played their part in R&B and Soul Music.

Here is what Dean says about the release;

In the late 60s King Records was in the midst of a funk revolution. This upheaval was spearheaded by James Brown who, on his return to the label in 1965, after a couple of years away, had changed the course of music with the groundbreaking single ‘Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag’. This may not have been pure funk but it was certainly a large step towards it. Over the course of the next two years he honed the style until he stormed to an R&B #1 position (and Top 10 Pop) with ‘Cold Sweat’, the opening salvo in a torrent of hits that marked him indelibly as Soul Brother #1. He became the only artist that really counted at the label. If King wasn’t releasing records by Brown himself, they were releasing the work of his entourage, or records that were trying to sound like him. King became the home of funk with a healthy dose of soul and the label never really recovered when he left to join Polydor.

“Royal Grooves” examines this latter period of King’s existence, from the glorious point in the late 60s when the money from their most successful artist allowed a vast array of records to be made and released, to the desperate search for the next big thing in the early part of the next decade."¨"¨The collection contains James Brown productions by Wendy Lynn, Kay Robinson and Leon Austin which have had collectors salivating for years, and even harder to find unrelated 45s by artists such as Elaine Armstrong, whose ‘Sad But True’ has only recently made it onto the radar. We also have a spectacular single by the Brownettes (previously and subsequently known as the Jewels) and a couple of 45s from the Indiana funk-masters the Presidents. If you’ve heard King Coleman’s ‘Boo Boo Song’ and thought it was a mindless novelty, you have the chance to check out ‘Pt 2’ and change your mind. "¨"¨From the post-James Brown period we have the Coasters with their latin-ised version of ‘Cool Jerk’ and the wonderful Texas soul of Gloria Edwards. Best of all is Barbara Burton & the Messengers who as the Messengers Unlimited and with Sonny Morrison as lead singer released the rare “Soulful Proclamation” album. For their one single on De Luxe Barbara was put upfront on ‘Love’s Sweet Water’, a smouldering funk masterpiece. "¨"¨King was a label of many facets and we try to cover most of them here. This is high quality soul and funk.

"¨"¨By Dean Rudland

CD Description:

* In the late 60s King Records were buoyed and inspired by their number one artist James Brown. The recordings that went down at their Cincinnati headquarters were a vibrant expression of funk & soul captured in BGP's 23-track compilation.

* Many of the tracks BGP have selected had direct James Brown involvement. Productions by him or his team include the super-rare single by the Brownettes, Clay Tyson's proto rap `Man On The Moon', the brilliant Wendy Lynn's `I Can Remember' - direct from master tape. In addition we've included classics by Kay Robinson, Hank Ballard, King Coleman and Leon Austin that have become increasingly difficult to find.

* Pure funk by Kastle, the Presidents and Bill Doggett show the funk influence went further than James Brown and his crowd. BGP are especially pleased to be able to include a couple of super-rare singles issued on DeLuxe: `Do What You Wanna Do' by Frank Howard & The Continentals and Barbara Burton & The Messengers' `Love's Sweet Water'. This is so rare that it may never have been issued officially and it's such a great piece of groovy soul.

Buy the CD:

Buy from Ace Free delivery in the UK

Listen to a sampler of tracks 4, 12 &14:
http://soundcloud.com/chalkster/royal-grooves-sample

01. Getting Down With Hoss - Kastle
02. Love's Sweet Water - Barbara Burton And The Messengers
03. Lord Will Make A Way (Pt1) - Kay Robinson
04. Sad But True - Elaine Armstrong
05. Baby Don't You Know - Brownettes
06. Somewhere Down The Line - Albert Washington
07. Shoe Shine (Inst) - The Presidents
08. Do What You Wanna Do (Pt 1) - Frank Howard & The Continentals
09. Man On The Moon - Clay Tyson
10. Steal Away - Leon Austin
11. I Can Remember - Wendy Lynn
12. You Keep Me Hanging On - Bonnie & Sheila
13. Ball Of Fire - Connie Austin
14. Just Be Glad - Willy Wiley
15. (Need Nobody Help Me) Keep Up With My Man - Gloria Edwards
16. Cool Jerk - The Coasters
17. Peter Rabbit - The Presidents
18. Looking For A Woman - Robert Moore
19. The Boo Boo Song (Pt 2) - King Coleman
20. Unwind Yourself - Hank Ballard
21. Shoe Shine - The Presidents
22. Wet & Satisfied (Tk 5) - Bill Doggett
23. Push And Shove - Willy Wiley

http://acerecords.co.uk

By Chalky in News Archives · October 6, 201212 yr

It has been confirmed by a family member that R B Greaves (age 68) has passed away.
R B Greaves spent much of the 1960's in the UK where under the name of Sonny Childe he fronted the TNT who were a top live mod / soul act in clubs here.
He returned to the US around 1969, changed he performing name to R B Greaves and had a couple of big hits ("Take A Letter Maria" being the biggest of these).

By Roburt in News Archives · October 4, 201212 yr

Well, you have seen the Village Soul compilations and heard of its reputation.......come and find out why-

"VILLAGE SOUL"is back on NOV 3!

A [very] brief outline:
The Norfolk Village [our original venue] in East London's Shoreditch area retains a special place in the hearts of all the Soul Fans who attended right through from Terry Jones` original Friday night residency from the 70`s onwards through to the 80s & 90s Saturday night specials with the guest DJ`s. For years now, Terry and myself had discussed the possibilities of starting something up again down South but there always seemed to be something getting in the way. The fantastic reception at last years "VILLAGE SOUL" special at the 6Ts Cleethorpes Weekender on Saturday afternoon spurred us on to do something about it...

So,for the first time in over 17 years [!], the original Saturday night "Norfolk Village" residents are back together for a very special "VILLAGE SOUL"!

Dj`s on the night will be:

Terry Jones
Ivor Jones
Chris Forrest
Mark "Binsy" Taylor

and our very special guest:

Andy "Tats" Taylor.

Our original "Norfolk Village" venue was sadly pulled down some years ago to make way for the Shoreditch rail link so a new venue was required. We felt that collectively,the music and vibe of "VILLAGE SOUL" was so totally unique, it didn't matter so much about keeping it in that particular area. Our new venue is the Holiday Inn at Bexley, Kent. As many travel long distances these days to venues we also thought it a good idea to have a ready supply of rooms for those wanting overnight accommodation....nice.

Ivors View.....

Though its kinda been covered over by the sands of time, our attitude to the music, has, i feel, been copied by many others since as the way forward for our scene. The "Norfolk Village" was always a forward thinking venue with its roots firmly in Soul Music. When many others went off on a tangent and ended up leaving the scene, we stayed firm. We just love the music,see. The "Norfolk Village" meant everything to me at the time and i was gutted when it closed. If i had to sum up the music played there i would just say it was quality,pure and simple as that. Soul music from all era`s played with passion. All styles as well. Ballads. Everything.

The Village regulars were the most friendly and knowledgable bunch as well.Plus, we all have one thing seemingly absent from some on the scene......We all like a laugh! All the DJ`s involved in this gig have never stopped collecting,playing and enjoying the music that inspired us all individually all those years ago, so musically, you can expect "VILLAGE SOUL" classics and plenty of future "VILLAGE SOUL" classics ! We are dusting off the "Village Choir" and we`re gonna carry on where we left off.....REWIND !
All with an eye on the dance-floor of course. I cant wait now !

We have also secured the services of Andy "Tats" Taylor as our special guest DJ,who,apart from being a personal friend of all of us,has,in my view, an unparalleled reputation as the finest of Real Soul selectors...Go Tats !
There`s already a massive buzz on this gig, with bookings from Scotland and all over the North, tickets are already selling fast so please don't miss out,its gonna be special !

Your presence is required......

Here`s the details on the official flyer:

By Guest Ivor Jones in Event News · October 3, 201212 yr

An old article (now updated) that I wrote about 16 years back .................

Roger Hatcher was a member of a very musical family, apart from his brothers Will and Roosevelt, his cousin was of course the most famous Hatcher, Charles (Edwin Starr). Roger had been involved in the music business for many years without ever having enjoyed the level of success that Edwin gained. However in 1996, he did get to enjoy the most comprehensive release of his entire career when the U.K. CD 'The Roger Hatcher Collection' (16 tracks) was released by Expansion. Roger was always a very difficult guy to deal with and this fact must have been a major reason why he jumped from label to label throughout his career. No doubt, if he had established a more trusting relationship with some of the people who signed him to record contracts, he would have been more successful.

Roger was born in Birmingham, Alabama on September 29, 1946. His brothers were his inspiration and he wanted to follow in their footsteps, playing sax as Roosevelt did or singing like Will. He was brought up in an area that was a musical hotbed. Other gospel / soul singers from the area included Alex Bradford, Mitty Collier, Eddie Kendricks, Paul Williams, Kell Osborne, Frederick Knight, Barbara Joyce Lomas (of B.T. Express), Bill Spoon, Richard and Jessie Fisher. At Butler Elementary School his music teacher, Mrs Cullum, complimented him on his fine voice and gave him a lot of encouragement and help. He continued to develop his singing technique in the choir at Healing Spring Baptist Church in East Avondale and at Hayes High School. Roger wrote his first song, "I Need Someone", at high school where after lessons had finished for the day he would go to the music room and develop tunes on the piano. Roger wrote by ear as he couldn't (and indeed never learnt to) read music and the song was inspired by his girlfriend, Linda Doyle. At times, he would get together to write songs with his neighbour, and long-time friend, William Bell (Bill Spoon).

Roger had great ambitions but unfortunately he didn't yet realise that you had to rehearse a song many times before you became proficient at performing it. He entered a high school variety show and decided he would sing Jackie Wilson's "Work Out" but his performance was a disaster. He messed up so badly his school sweetheart, Linda Doyle, said if he ever tried to sing on a show again she would leave him. It took quite a while for him to live the experience down but it taught him a lesson. Before the next year’s show he rehearsed James Brown's "Please, Please, Please" with a band. His girlfriend’s threat was still hanging over him but he went ahead and performed on the show and his improvement pleasantly surprised quite a lot of the audience on the night. Roger’s favourite singers at the time were David Ruffin, Curtis Mayfield, Sam Cooke and Johnnie Taylor in that order.

After completing school in 1964, Roger moved to Detroit. Here he went straight to Golden World Records to try to land a recording contract. The folks there liked what they heard and told him to come back the following week. But the following Monday it was snowing heavily and his girlfriend talked him out of going downtown to the studios. Roger always said this was the biggest mistake he ever made. Golden World signed a lot of artists in the 1960’s (including Edwin, the Holidays and Shades Of Blue) and lots of them had big national hits. Even more of the singles the company released in that period went on to become local hits. As Roger had missed out at Golden World, he had to sign with a much smaller (and not as well financed) label. He had written "Get A Hold Of Yourself” and “I Need You”. After he had signed with Clifford ‘Sonny’ Marshall’s Dotty's Records, these were recorded and released as by 'Little' Roger Hatcher. Copies of the track escaped on the Del-La-Northern label but Roger always contended that it was Dotty’s that he was signed to (Del-La-Northern was co-owned by Clifford Marshall; so he could well have arranged with Johnnie Mae Matthews for it to escape on that label instead).

Whatever was the case, the 45 was only promoted in Detroit and even there it failed to break through. Strangely, a miss-pressing of the tracks came out on the Ten High label, whilst a Lee Jennings track (“I Been A Fool” - which used the backing track to Roger’s "Get A Hold Of Yourself”) exists on a Dotty’s 45 miss-press. Anyway, Roger cut a new self-written song; "Party Over Yonder". This track was used as the flip to "I Need You", which was released again becoming his follow up single. Dotty's didn't have the necessary resources or expertise to promote their releases effectively and so Roger’s records failed to make the impact he had hoped for (It mattered little after Sonny Marshall was arrested, tried and jailed in the summer of 1968).

Roger had travelled home to Birmingham for Christmas (1967?) and as his bus journey took him through Nashville he made the decision to call in on Nashboro Records while he was there. His visit proved successful and he was signed to a record contract by Shannon Williams. When he returned to Nashville for his first recording session with Excello, Bob Holmes went through Roger's file of self-written songs (about 300 in all) and selected two of them for him to cut. So "I'm Gonna Dedicate My Song To You" and "Sweetest Girl In The World" were recorded and a single was released in June 1968 (Excello 2297). Bob Holmes did the musical arrangement for the songs and the backing singers on the session were another Excello group, the Avons (of "Since I Met You Baby" fame). Roger had again written "Sweetest Girl..." for his high school sweetheart, Linda Doyle. The A side,"Im Gonna Dedicate My Song To You" sold well and became a hit in various regions. However due to the company’s lack of co-ordinated national promotion, this success occurred over a period of some months. By the time the record was becoming popular in one major market, it was going down the local charts in others. Because of this, it never made the Billboard national soul chart. Its sales in America did however lead to a U.K. release for the track (b/w a Freddie North track) on President. However "Sweetest Girl In The World", which wasn't issued here, was the side which was to go on to become a favourite with U.K. NS fans.

Roger wasn't happy that he had missed out on a national hit and wanted to be with a bigger label and so he asked for (and was granted) a release from his contract. At Nashboro he had got to know Bob Holmes and although Roger moved to Cleveland in 1968, the two kept in touch. Eventually they managed to get back together, again this being down in Nashville. Bob was developing a tune, the melody of which Roger thought was perfect for a love song. But Bob had written lyrics for it on a sexual theme, the title being "Looking For Some Quick Action". Roger worked on Bob and was allowed to come up with an alternative set of lyrics, the result being "I Dedicate My Life To You". The pair then amended the melody slightly to suit the new lyrics and Roger went into the studio to cut it. As he didn't have a record company at the time, Roger financed the recording session himself. He invested everything he had except for $200 to fund the studio session. In all four songs were cut, "I Dedicate ...", "Gonna Make Love To Somebody’s Old Lady", "Call Mr Sweetback" and "You Got The Wrong Number". Bob was a music lecturer at the local university and used to get a large number of his students to help him out on sessions. As a result of this Roger was backed by 21 instruments on the tracks; strings, flutes, horns, etc., everyone playing live with no overdubbing being used.

It was essential that Roger sold the tracks to a label to get his money back so instead of returning to Cleveland he went down to Memphis. His first port of call there was Hi Records, but the song wasn't to Willie Mitchell's liking. Moving on, he next visited Stax Records. The company's A & R man, Carl Smith listened to the tape but also wasn't impressed enough to buy it. However (Stax engineer) Henry Bush had also listened to the tape and he thought the tracks had commercial potential. So Henry advised Smith to sign Roger. Smith wouldn't change his mind but Roger had mentioned that he knew Don Davis, so he was advised to go and see Don. Don was in the McLemore Avenue studio doing some work for the company, so Roger immediately went to see him. Roger had earlier written "Girl, Come On Home" which Don had cut on Major Lance in Muscle Shoals (Major insisting on having half credit for writing the song before he would cut it). Major's track had been issued in October 1971 (Volt 4069), so Don was already familiar with Rogers work. The two talked and Don took his tape to listen to along with a number of others he had to assess. After keeping Roger waiting for 30 minutes while he played the other tapes, he got around to Rogers and was shocked to find himself listening to fully completed tracks and not just sparse demo versions. He was very impressed with "I Dedicate My Life To You" and so he signed Roger to his Groovesville Productions company. The song was leased to Stax who released it in June 1972 (Volt 4084) backed by "Gonna Make Love To...".

However Don wasn't infamous for his business wheeling and dealing without cause. His major act at the time was the Dramatics (also signed to Stax) and Don played them Roger’s song. Like Don they thought the song would be perfect for them and so Don swung a plan into action. Roger stated that Don arranged for Stax to stop pressing up copies of his single when the initial stocks had sold out. Within no time the company's warehouse ran out of copies, orders were left unfilled and the record died on its feet. The Dramatics worked on the song and in 1973 Don cut an alternative version of it on the group and this was released on their 'Dramatically Yours' L.P. (Volt 9501). Needless to say with a big groups name now attached to the song, it promoted itself and went on to gain wide radio exposure. (the above is purely Roger's version of events and he was notorious for his deep felt opinions and disputes with his record companies). Deeply hurt, as he thought that the proceedings had robbed him of the chance of breaking through with his song himself, Roger had a big row with Don. As a result, no more product on Roger himself was released by Stax and the two men became enemies for many years. [Don must have thought it was a good ploy though and he used it again at times. Another example of this being in the 80's when he signed Ronnie McNeir so he could cut some of his songs on L.J.Reynolds for Capital]. Don had also wanted to add his name to Roger's tracks as co-producer, which he obviously wasn't (the tracks being complete when Don first got to hear them). Roger was so disgusted at all Don's actions that he asked (yet again) to be released from his contract with the record company.

After this had occurred, Roger cut another of his songs back in Nashville. "Caught Making Love" was intended for release on a small label Roger had set up himself in Cleveland, Black Soul. Roger pressed up 1000 copies of the single in 1973 ("Do Not Disturb" being the B side), the majority of which were sent to radio stations and shopped around major labels. Bob Holmes was responsible for the arrangement on the track and it also featured Virginia Davis, who made noises appropriate to the song’s theme halfway through. Roger went to New York to try and land a major deal on his single. Columbia Records weren't interested but Scepter Records liked it and said they would get back to him. Two weeks passed and Roger was contacted back in Cleveland and told that the company had changed its mind and wouldn't license the record. So Roger pressed up another 5000 copies (Black Soul 101) and started to promote it; in no time it was selling really well locally. He returned to New York with the sales figures and Mickey Eichner at Columbia Records was so impressed by the figures that he picked up the record for release by the label. They issued it, as Columbia #45993, in February 1974. Unfortunately Virginia's performance on the track was just too life-like for the radio stations and it was banned by many, so killing its chances of reaching a wider audience. The song's potential wasn't lost on those people who did get to hear it though and one such person was Clarence Carter. He added a rap to the lyrics and under the revised title of "I Got Caught" cut it for ABC Records in 1975 (ABC-12130). Clarence acted as producer on his own version, using Mike Terry as the arranger, and with ABC promoting it correctly it became a big hit.

Undaunted, Roger got on with his life and career. The next thing he wrote was "We Gonna Make It". When it was cut, Roger co-produced the track with Bob Holmes and Ted Jarrett. Because he was broke at the time, they arranged for Audio Media to pay for the Nashville recording session. However, when the record was released in the U.K., Roger wasn't credited on the label for his production work and Bob Holmes' name had mysteriously appeared as co-writer. That’s the record business for you; it isn't what you do that you get paid for, it's what you can get credited with. In the U.S. the track was released on the Brown Dog label, backed with "High Blood Pressure which Bob Holmes had helped Roger to write. As stated this single gained a U.K. release, coming out in February 1976 on Mint (Chew 5). With the song being published by Holmes Publishing Company, Roger stated that he never received any royalties for all his efforts. The experience taught him a lesson and Roger decided not to co-produce anything again, to help ensure he retained control over his work.

Roger's career went through a quiet period but in 1986 the Platters version of his old song "Get A Hold On Yourself" was released in Europe by Deluxe Records. In 1987 he released "I Want Your Love" c/w "Let Your Love Shine On Me" on his Superbad Record label. The former track being cut at Boddies Studio, with the later at Snyders (both in Cleveland). His labels base was Suite 8, 4768 Walford Road, Warrensville Heights, Cleveland and from here Roger had plans to record both himself and other artists (Sugar Taylor being one of these). He would also try to promote the product himself to try and thus increase its chances of finding success. His personal life was however in turmoil as, at the time, he was going through a divorce from his second wife, Janice. So his labels (Black Soul, Black Magic) and career weren't the most important thing to him at the time. When he did get back to his career he went into Boddies Studio again and cut 3 self-written songs; "Disco Queen", "Gonna Rock You Like A Baby" and "The Baby Woun’t Go To Sleep". These tracks were the first that Roger had arranged himself and marked the point at which he assumed total control over his recorded work. "Gonna Rock You Like A Baby" was intended to be the title track of a proposed L.P. but unfortunately the project was never completed and so the song remained unissued.

Roger continued to create product and he shopped it around in an effort to get a deal. As part of this process he would send out master tapes of his tracks and on many occasions he wasn't aware what became of these. This situation resulted in Roge’rs most infamous release, his ultra-rare and collectable Guinness L.P. This record was totally unofficial and was released without Rogers permission or knowledge. In fact it was only a number of years later, when contacted by British collectors trying to obtain copies of the LP, that he became aware of its existence. Amongst the tracks included on that album were "You Must Have Come From Heaven", "Your Love Is A Masterpiece" and a reworking of "Let Your Love Shine On Me". The illegitimate origins of the L.P. are betrayed by the lack of background information included on the sleeve and also by the inclusion on it of 2 non Roger Hatcher tracks. Later in 1987 Roger relocated to Los Angeles and the area was to be his last home base. He continued to record after moving there (using studios like Hit City) but didn't have the necessary finances to release much of the product.
He worked with other artists and one of these was a group named Black Pepper (about who very little is known. Roger had written a song that he thought ideal for them; “You Keep Running Out of Gas”. He produced and arranged the risqué song on them and it escaped on the Golden Wax label. In 1991 he pressed up some 12" copies of one of his songs, "Stormy Love Affair", and shipped these over to the U.K. to sell. In 1995, he landed a deal which resulted in "The Best Of Roger Hatcher" C.D. (containing 13 tracks he had cut over a period of years) being released in Japan. He followed up in 1996 by signing a deal with Expansion Records here in the U.K. They released the most comprehensive collection of his recorded work, putting it out on the CD, 'The Roger Hatcher Collection'. This included tracks such as "She’s All I Got", "Stormy Love Affair", "Warm And Tender Love", etc. with some of the tracks being previously unissued. Roger hoped to use the release to re-launch his career back in the U.S. and so asked for many copies of the CD to be sent to him (posting them out as promo items to US contacts). He continued working with other artists in addition to recording new tracks himself. He was desperate to come over to the UK to promote his CD and to repay his loyal U.K. followers by performing live here. Unfortunately this never occurred and Roger's career began to slip away.

He died in 2002 in San Bernardino, California and is now just a distant memory to everyone except members of his family and the most ardent of soul fans. Perhaps if his demeanour hadn't been so combative and he had teamed up with supportive music biz people in his early years, things would have turned out differently. Unfortunately, now, we will never know what he could have achieved given a more settled relationship with a major record company
J 'Roburt' S

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By Roburt in Articles · October 2, 201212 yr

Kent Harris, well known to those who collect Rare Soul records because of his wife Ty Karim and his record label Romark. But there is more to the man than many will probably realise and this CD gives us an insight into just what an influence he was on the Los Angeles R&B music scene. A must have purchase for lovers of R&B.

As Boogaloo & His Gallant Crew, Kent Harris cut the original version of Bo Diddley's `Cops and Robbers' and shot to prominence when it was proved that his version of `Shoppin' For Clothes' was the original one, purloined by Leiber and Stoller for the Coasters. He was a major mover in black music in LA, appearing as DJ Stumblin' Blue on XERB, Wolfman Jack's station. He also had a string of record shops called Target Records in southern California.
His family included three sisters: Marcene ("Dimples"), Beverly and Betty who performed as the Harris Sisters. Dimples was the most prominent and it was on the flip of two of her 45s for the Trend label in 1954 that Kent first sang as Ducky Drake. Then came the Boogaloo 45s. Dimples continued to record under several different names and is featured on `Love Came Tumbling Down' which she wrote with husband Harold Jackson who is also featured on the stunning `Freedom Riders'; both are very in-demand 45s for the new R&B dance crowd.
Kent Harris concentrated on discovering and managing talent and recording them for different labels until he formed Romark in the early 60s. His protégés included Brenda Holloway and the Mighty Hannibal. He worked with LA recording stalwarts Young Jessie, Ray Agee and Jimmie Preacher Ellis as well as having his own acts: the Francettes, the Philips Sisters, the Lon-Genes and his wife Ty Karim.
This CD features a great cross-section of those artists and some previously unissued gems from the vaults. The whole family's remarkable story is told in the extensive notes.
Further reading from Ady Croasdell…
Kent Harris’ strong point was undoubtedly his witty and topical lyrics, allied to having his ear to the ground for the latest trends in black music. His most famous work — ‘Clothes Line’, recorded under his alias Boogaloo & His Gallant Crew — was plundered by Leiber and Stoller for the Coasters’ ‘Shoppin’ For Clothes’ and is already out on an Ace compilation. All four of his Crest sides are humorous, streetwise and down with the groove of the day. ‘Big Fat Lie’ concerns a visit to the pawnbrokers, which a lot of black audiences could relate to in the 50s.
Other novelty songs include ‘Big Chief Hug-Um An’ Kiss-Um’ by James Shaw, later to be known more grandly as the Mighty Hannibal, and the newly-discovered Boogaloo recording ‘I’m In The Dog House Again’. He’s so late back his woman won’t let him into the house and he has to kip down with the dog. ‘Double Locks’, which Kent wrote for Johnny Gosey, deals with an angry landlady putting locks on the tenant’s crib until the back rent is paid.
Kent’s arrangements were innovative too. On the Francettes’ ‘He’s So Sweet’, he and group manager Frances Gray combined to get the backing girls calling and responding and throwing in their own seemingly ad-libbed comments rather than just filling in the harmony.
The CD embraces the whole of the Harris family and the notes describe what an influential Los Angeles clan they were. The much missed sister Dimples is a major contributor, rocking it up with her sisters on ‘Kissin’ Bug’ from 1955 and also recording solo and accompanying her big brother under his pseudonym of Ducky Drake. She cut as a solo under her married name of Dimples Jackson in 1960 and with her new husband Harold, helping him out on his astonishing ‘The Freedom Riders’ 45. New Breed R&B lovers will appreciate Dimples’ ‘Love Came Tumbling Down’, while the new version of Donoman’s ‘I’m The Only One’ by the Phillips Sisters is a big bonus. The whole mysterious Donoman / Cry Baby Curtis story is related in the booklet. His ‘Monday Is Too Late’ has a New Orleans meets ‘Turn On You Lovelight’ vibe that will thrill traditional R&B lovers.

Though Kent Harris had many high quality soul productions (they’ll feature on a future Kent CD) he always had a bias towards the blues and you feel that the ‘You Ain’t Right’ wailer from Faye Ross was the side the musicians had their hearts in, rather than the Motown-esque ‘Faith, Hope And Trust’. Kent’s partner, and love of his life, Ty Karim, was primarily a soul singer but when they worked on a blues like ‘Take It Easy Baby’, it was as intense as anything they cut together. "¨"¨Vocal group collectors will be pleased with the new version of ‘Diddy Bop’ that predates the Valaquons’ Rayco release and the splendid Lon-Genes provide an incredibly rare harmony ballad as well as a new twist on an old dance craze. "¨"¨We have chased tapes, 45s and label scans all across the world to get the productions and recording facts of a seriously overlooked R&B producer into an accurate history. Though a large amount of information has been discovered, we are positive there are more obscure 45s out there featuring Kent’s work. If you know of any, please do let us know.

Footnote: I’ve been chasing the missing Romark 103 release by the Phillips Sisters ‘After Tonight’ / ‘The Wiggle’ for months but only tracked down a copy after this CD’s deadline had gone. I clicked on the soundfile with great hope of finding a previously unissued R&B gem, but sadly it was a disappointment. The vocals on ‘After Tonight’ leave a lot to be desired on an, at best, average song while the flip is an instrumental; at least it’s not a crucial omission on here. "¨"¨
By Ady Croasdell
Buy from Ace Free delivery in the UK

Take a listen to a sample of tracks 3, 5 & 12

http://soundcloud.com/chalkster/kent-harris-sample
1. Lover Supreme - Kent Harris
2. I'm In The Dog House Again - Boogaloo And His Gallent Crew
3. Don't Just Stand There - Cry Baby Curtis
4. Long Lean Lanky Jukebox - Dimples Harris & Her Combo
5. Love Came Tumbling Down - Dimples Jackson
6. Monday Is Too Late - Donoman
7. Saint Or Sinner - Ducky Drake With Dimples Harris & Her Combo
8. Pay & Be On My Way - Eddie Bridges
9. You Ain't Right - Faye Ross
10. He's So Sweet - Francettes
11. You Stayed Away Too Long - Francettes
12. Kissin' Bug - Harris Sisters
13. Big Chief Hug 'um And Kiss 'um - Jimmy Shaw
14. Double Locks - Johnny Gosey
15. Show Me How To Shake Like That - Lon-Genes
16. Our Love Is Like The Sea - Lon-Genes
17. I Ain't Talkin' - Pat Hunt
18. I'm The Only One - Phillips Sisters
19. Someday I Won't Be Blue - Phillips Sisters
20. It's A Helluva Thing - Ray Agee
21. Freedom Riders - Harold Jackson & The Jackson Brothers
22. Don't Make Me Do Wrong Or Take It Easy Baby - Ty Karim
23. So Far Away - Hi Tensions Demo Of 45
24. Diddy Bop - Valaquons
25. Getting Down With The Game / Do It - Adolph Jacobs
26. Cops And Robbers - Boogaloo And His Gallent Crew

By Chalky in Articles · October 1, 201212 yr

Darrow Fletcher: CrossOver Soul: 1975-1979 Los Angeles Sessions

One of the most anticipated releases from Kent for some time has hit the selves. There are 17 tracks of some great 70's soul from his time at the Crossover Label in Los Angeles including the tracks from the unissued LP from his spell with the label make this a must have CD.

Here is what Ady Croasdell has to say about Darrow and the CD release.

There was a dilemma with compiling a CD of Darrow Fletcher’s recorded output in that he had two very distinctive periods to his career. The first part was the records he made in Chicago between 1965 and 1970, and then the handful of singles cut in Los Angeles in the second half of the 70s. As he was only 14 when he started recording, the two eras had quite a different feel.

In researching the 70s recordings Darrow made for Ray Charles’ Crossover label in Los Angeles, we turned up a cache of fully produced, previously unissued tracks. These included the complete tape of the unissued “Why Don’t We Try Something Brand New” album. Apart from longer versions of the four titles that came out on Crossover singles, there were five brand new songs. These were mainly from the pens of the Zane Grey and Len Ron Hanks team or Joel Webster; who had also provided the released songs. They were of a similar superb quality to the singles, the best dance track being ‘Secret Weapon’, written by Grey and Hanks with Jerry Butler. ‘(What Are We Gonna Do About) This Mess’ is another high quality groove, while ‘(And A) Love Song’ is a tender melodic ballad. ‘Together’ is a bluesier down-tempo tune and ‘(People Are Not) Wind-Up Toys’ is a pretty mid-paced number with a message, so prevalent in the mid-70s.

I am sure Crossover saw Darrow as a similar artist to Stevie Wonder during his mid 70s pomp; the funkier Joel Webster numbers in particular were in this vein. Although his two career stages were clearly defined geographically and historically, there were similarities. Zane Grey had grown up with Darrow inChicagowhich was where he and his writing partner Len Ron Hanks hailed from. Their first composition was Darrow’s penultimate 45 cut in Chicago, ‘Changing By The Minute’. Several of the Grey and Hanks Crossover tracks were written in Chicago prior to the duo following Darrow out to LA where the songs were cut. Darrow’s 60s fans will find plenty to admire in his later output as the songs are well crafted and produced with no expense spared. Despite the five year hiatus they can be seen as a progression of his maturity since the 60s.

Ray Charles seemed to take young Darrow under his wing and the notes describe a particularly poignant moment when the two appeared on stage together in Chicago. It is a mystery why the album never appeared as the label was quite adept at issuing music in this format, often on relatively little known acts such as Joel Webster himself. Darrow specifically mentioned versions of ‘Sunny’ and ‘Fever’ in recalling his time at Crossover. These tracks were actually cut after the LP and raise the possibility of a second album featuring them, the two Atlantic/Atco singles and other numbers such as the social commentary song ‘Election Day’ and the funky dancer ‘How Can You Live Without Love’.

All of the cherished 70s singles are here. Together with the unissued gems they give more than an hour of top quality modern soul from an artist whose excellent body of work is at last being recognised.

By Ady Croasdell

Buy the Cd from Kent at http://acerecords.co...ngeles-sessions

Listen to samples of tracks 1,3 and 7:

http://soundcloud.com/chalkster/darrow-fletcher-samples

Don't forget Darrow hits these shores in November with three dates.

Darrow at Cleethorpes in 2006

Thurs Nov 1st, 8pm - 2am @ The 100 Club - Darrow Fletcher is playing live with backing band for the celebration of 30 years of Kent Records. DJs Ady Croasdell, Tony Rounce and more. Tickets £18.00 will go on sale at the 33rd Anniversary allnighter on September 29th, and by post from Oct 1st (details will be announced in September). www.6ts.info

Nov 2nd. — 4th at the Scottish Soulful Weekender at the superb 3 star Cairndale Hotel in Dumfries. Darrow Fletcher is playing live on Saturday Night with backing band. Full details are available at www.scottishsoulfulweekender.com

Darrow will be supported at both these concerts by a great backing band — Push.

After that hectic weekend, Darrow will take a few days off before taking the stage again in good old West Yorkshire. Before returning home to Chicago

Saturday Nov 10th 9pm - 3am at the Wilton - Wheatsheaf Conference & Banqueting Complex in Castleford, home for almost 20 years of the famed Wilton Allnighters.

The Wilton guys Mouse & Boxy are staging their second Soulful Sessions Night, and are so proud to have Darrow performing to specially made backing tracks, some made from the original master tapes: a selection of his ‘70s songs from the CD and a few ‘60s classics at the venue.

DJ support from Arthur Fenn — Mike Charlton and residents Boxy & Mouse, should make a cracking night. So come on guys, if you can’t travel to London or Scotland, then here’s your chance to see Darrow for the very first time in Yorkshire.

Advance tickets £12.00 will be on sale at our next allnighter on the 21st September and are now available online by Paypal & Credit Card at the Wheatsheaf website http://www.wheatsheaf.com/allnighter or £15.00 otd.

Read a full interview of dave Box with Darrow:
Darrow Fletcher - The Interview - The Full Story

01 Honey Can I"¨
02 (What Are We Gonna Do About) This Mess
"¨03 (Love Is My) Secret Weapon"¨
04 Try Something New
"¨05 This Time (I'll Be The Fool)"¨
06 The Rising Cost Of Love"¨
07 (And A) Love Song
"¨08 Sunny
"¨09 We've Got To Get An Understanding"¨
10 How Can You Live Without Love"¨
11 Let's Get Together"¨
12 It's No Mistake"¨
13 Election Day"¨
14 Fever"¨
15 Together
"¨16 Improve"¨
17 (People Are Not) Wind Up Toys

By Chalky in News Archives · September 29, 201212 yr

Thanks go to Andy Rix for making this article available to all. Originally written and published to accompany the fairly recent auction (2009) of the 45 via John Manship and for inclusion in a special catalogue that was distributed to those who subscribed, given the recent sad news regarding the passing on of Frank Wilson yesterday Andy had passed on what could be called the 'definite' story ...
‘Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)’ — The Story
“Music has always been part of my life. In 1960, I lost my athletic scholarship after participating in the civil rights sit-in demonstrations in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and thought I had sacrificed my big chance to escape an ordinary existence. I was given a ticket to Los Angeles by the Congress Of Racial Equality. Yet when I arrived there, I never imagined, ‘This is the place where my dreams will be fulfilled.’ I now know each step was directed; meeting Hal Davis, Marc Gordon, Brenda Holloway and Berry Gordy Jr. Interestingly, when I went into the studio to record 'Do I Love You' it was just another day at work. I was excited to be in the studio doing anything and getting paid to do it, but I have learned that God moves in mysterious ways. That one day at work spent recording ‘Do I Love You’ essentially as a demo, was soon forgotten, and yet, it turned out to be a life changing experience. I am proud of what I did and humbled by the affection shown to me by so many people from all over the world.”
Frank Wilson
March 2009
Frank Wilson — Do I Love You (Indeed I Do) — Soul 35019
As Motown celebrates its 50th anniversary there could not be a better time for their rarest, and most coveted, record to come to the market. The big question is, that given its status as the most expensive soul 45 ever sold, how much will it sell for on this occasion. The last time it traded hands, over a decade ago, It achieved a price tag of £15 000.
It is almost beyond belief that a song, which didn’t get a commercial release until some 14 years after it was recorded, now finds itself sitting alongside million-sellers on the Motown 50 CD. The featured tracks were chosen by public vote, and the inclusion of ‘Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)’, which has never achieved chart success, clearly demonstrates the significance the song now holds for fans of the Motown Sound.
For Motown collectors this 45rpm record is the ultimate Holy Grail and only two genuine original copies, as far as can be established, are known to still exist.
As a rare Motown record it does not stand alone; there are others that approach, or even match, its scarcity. 45s by Patrice Holloway (VIP 25001), The Charters (Mel-o-dy 104) and The Andantes (VIP 25006) have eluded virtually every Motown collector for a lifetime. Yet none of them have reached the iconic status that has been achieved by Frank Wilson and none of them are desired as much as this one.
The story of the journey that ‘Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)’ has taken to reach this exalted position could not have been written by even the most gifted of authors. It is a story surrounded by mystery, and myth, which has, over the years, become legend.
Frank Wilson was born December 5th 1940 and moved, from Houston, to Los Angeles at the age of 18. His initial passion was gospel music and he became a member of a local group called the Angelaires.
As Frank recalled, when interviewed by Bill Dahl, he decided to turn secular upon hearing Brenda Holloway. “Brenda’s voice is what inspired me to start writing pop music … up until then, I had been writing all contemporary gospel. But when I heard Brenda Holloway singing, I… decided that I would like to write a song for [her]”.
When Berry Gordy decided to open a West Coast Motown office, following his visit there to attend a disc jockey convention in 1963, he asked L.A. veterans Hal Davis, and Marc Gordon to take charge. Frank had already done some work with this dynamic duo and when they offered him the opportunity to become part of the team, he didn’t think twice. It must have been a good trip as he also signed Brenda Holloway after seeing her perform, dressed to kill, in her tight gold pantsuit.
From this moment on Frank became integral to the progress being made on the West Coast. His compositions for Jobete, the publishing arm of Motown, increased at a prolific rate and he was rewarded when the first record released from the West Coast connection, the aforementioned Patrice Holloway 45 in December 1963, featured his name on the writing credit.
During 1964-65 Frank saw an increasing number of his compositions being released either on Motown artists or by other independent companies; Mary Love, The Ikettes. Jeanie King and Connie Clark were just some that benefited.
Frank cut a few singles of his own but preferred to adopt a fictitious identity on every occasion. He released 45s as Sonny Daye (Power), a duet with Sherlie Matthews credited to Sherl Matthews & Sonny Daye (Power), Eddie Wilson (Tollie) and Chester St. Anthony (A&M); they remain collectors’ items to this day.
Frank was eager to learn all he could and soon found himself assisting in producing, and supervising recording sessions. In addition he cut most of his own songs as guide vocals for others. As he recalled, “(I) often became the vocal vehicle for my own material”. Both Brenda Holloway and Chris Clark recalled using these demos to learn the songs; when Brenda was asked about ‘Just Look What You’ve Done’ she replied, “I listened to Frank's version ….his (demos) were the best. I loved Frank Wilson's voice. I loved his delivery, his phrasing and everything… I loved recording all of his songs”.
At some point in 1965 the decision was taken to launch Frank Wilson as a Motown artist in his own right. At the latter end of the year, almost certainly during October, he went into Armin Steiner’s 8 track Sound Recorders studio, in Los Angeles, to cut some songs. This recording session, one of so many, would soon be forgotten, as other developments took priority. Years later what happened on that day would make an impact on the lives of a new generation thousands of miles away.
Frank had composed ‘Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)’ and decided to cut this track in addition to ‘Sweeter As The Days Go By’, which he had co-written with Marc Gordon.

Frank Wilson, Hal Davis and Chris Clark
Chris Clark recalls she listened to Frank’s cut of ‘Sweeter As The Days Go By’ to learn the words prior to recording her own version on December 5th 1965. That rendition eventually surfaced on her Soul Sounds album released in 1967
Chris went on to record her own version of ‘Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)’ soon after. Her initial vocal was overdubbed on Frank’s track on January 2nd 1966, again on January 19th 1966, and for a third time on August 7th 1967. It was scheduled as her next 45 but was cancelled. It finally got a commercial release on the CD Tamla Motown Connoisseurs, in 2001.
The session musicians for the day were pulled from the studio regulars that included Billy Strange, Glen Campbell, Hal Blaine, Al De Lory, Carol Kaye and Tommy Tedesco. Frank seems to think that he played keyboard but clearly recalls that he sang backing vocals with the help of Brenda and Patrice Holloway. Both tracks were produced by Hal Davis and Marc Gordon.
As far as it can be established the tapes were dispatched to Detroit, at the beginning of November 1965, where they were mixed by Lawrence Horn for submission to Billie Jean Brown. As Head of Quality Control, Billie would decide if a song was up to par; if it was she would take it to the infamous Friday morning product evaluation meeting. It was here that a vote was taken to decide what would get released, and what would remain in the can.
Frank’s songs obviously got the vote as the next stage of the process, preparing for a release, went ahead. It is from this point that determining the chronology of events becomes a little more difficult.
There has been much debate about the proposed release date for Soul 35019. In his discography Don Waller suggested 31st December 1965: his source for that date cannot be established. In the Sharon Davis book, Motown: The History, the former head of Tamla Motown in the UK, Gordon Frewin, simply indicates December 65. Given the amount of archive research conducted by Gordon, on his frequent visits to the Los Angeles tape library in the 1980s, it is highly likely that he had sight of paperwork that is no longer available.
Extensive research conducted by the team responsible for The Complete Motown Singles CD compilations were unable to add anything more of substance. In essence there was nothing left to find.
When looking at the chronology of release dates Soul 35018 was issued on November 29th 1965, and Soul 35020 was issued on March 11th 1966. Any date between those two would be plausible for Soul 35019, but so would any other date — they didn’t issue the singles in numerical order at all. As Frank recalls “release dates for singles were changed all the time”.
However, it is relevant that the Soul logo design was updated with effect from Soul 35020 and all copies of the Frank Wilson 45 adopt the original design.
What is known is that the record was pressed in November 1965. The Motown ‘Quality Control’ file copy has the date 11/23/65 written on the label, which was a Tuesday, and the annotation ‘ok’ alongside the initials of Norman Whitfield. It is highly likely that this is the copy heard at the infamous ‘Quality Control Committee’, the aforementioned product evaluation meetings. This fits into the time frame for the allocated RCA pressing reference number which is stamped into the dead wax of the record.
Frank was elated that he was about to get his first Motown release, but in the blink of an eye everything changed. His recollection of all that occurred, over 40 years ago, is a little hazy, but he seems to think he visited Detroit for a short time before making a permanent move there in 1966. It was almost certainly during this visit that the life-changing conversation with Berry Gordy took place
“I went to Detroit, and I hadn’t been in town more than a week”, Frank said. “We were standing backstage at the Fox Theater, [where] they were having a Motown Revue, and [berry] said, ‘Frank, now you know I’m getting ready to release this record on you. We’re excited about it. But I want to ask you a question. Do you really want to be an artist, or do you want to be a writer and a producer?’. And it was right then and there I told him I wanted to be a writer and a producer. And it was decided that he would not release that record on me”.
Berry was aware of Frank’s growing ability as a songwriter and producer. As Frank recalled, “Berry Gordy came out several times (to L.A.) and during that brief period of time, I got to know him, and I began to write for Motown. And then, I guess, it was a year later, Berry and I and Hal and Marc, we were taking Mr. Gordy to the airport, and I said, ‘Hey, Mr. Gordy, how about a producer's contract?’, and he said, ‘What makes you think you can produce?’, I said, ‘Because I've been producing much of the stuff that you've been hearing’. So he turned to Marc and Hal. He said, ‘Is that right?’ And they said, ‘Yes, that's right’”.
Just prior to his move to Detroit, the West Coast office, where Frank worked as an office worker for $50 a week, was closed down but Frank stayed on the payroll. Berry “wanted to know if I’d stay on and work out of my house, and they would raise my salary …About six months later the legal team came back out, and mentioned that Berry Gordy wanted to know if I’d be interested in moving to Detroit. And I agreed to do that”.
Within a few days of being in Detroit Frank made an immediate impression when he wrote, and produced, ‘Whole Lot Of Shakin' In My Heart (Since I Met You)’ for The Miracles. Recorded on 11th May 1966 the track became their next single.
The story should have ended there but sometimes the strangest things can happen.
It’s the 1970s and in England the Northern Soul scene is firmly established. Up and down the country thousands spend their weekends, at all night dance clubs, where they worship discarded soul records from 1960s America.
The need to constantly find previously unknown records, to feed the dancers, is a full time job and Simon Soussan is a master at doing just that.
It’s 1977, and in Los Angeles, Simon has just been introduced to Tom de Pierro by the celebrated Northern Soul DJ, Ian ‘Frank’ Dewhirst. Tom is on staff at Motown working on a project that would result in the release of an album of previously unreleased recordings called From The Vaults. Motown are considering signing Shalamar, who would soon hit with their Motown-medley ‘Uptown Festival’. Simon, Ian and Neil Rushton are all involved in the project.
A few people had been privileged enough to see the immaculate archive where copies of all the Motown records were stored. It is believed that two copies of the Frank Wilson 45 were there: one in the Motown Record File, and the other in the Jobete Music Record File. It would appear that by 1979 both were missing.
We will never truly know what took place but, by fair means or foul, Simon Soussan became the new custodian of Soul 35019.
The record was perfect for the Northern Soul scene and Simon, who had been a long time supplier of records to many of the top DJs, knew exactly what to do with his latest ‘discovery’.
He cut some acetates of the track, at a slightly faster speed and sent them over to select DJs. In order to protect the origin of the record, and not for the first time, Simon invented a whole new identity for the track. Those who received it were led to believe the singer was Eddie Foster, a West Coast artist, whose ‘I Never Knew’ on ‘In Records’ had been a very popular spin. Simon knew that using a known name would bring instant recognition and interest.
‘Eddie Foster’ made his debut in November 1977 and was greeted with wild enthusiasm by dancers and collectors alike. Repeated exposure across the country, and particularly at Wigan Casino, turned it into one of the most in-demand sounds of the day.
Simon had frequently bootlegged records, from his base in L.A., shipping them over to UK record dealers to satisfy the demand that had built up in the clubs. He made no exception on this occasion, and in February 1978 copies of ‘Eddie Foster’ became available to the masses to buy for £1.25.
The cover-up had worked as nobody had any idea that this was a Motown recording. Had it been cut in Detroit we might have had our suspicions raised, but without Benny Benjamin’s drum roll, James Jamerson’s bass or a Mike Terry sax break our points of reference were missing.
As time went on rumours began to circulate that all was not as it seemed. Every week a new theory was put forward about the real identity of ‘Eddie Foster’; some said it was definitely Lou Ragland, others countered claiming it was an unreleased recording by the Servicemen, many believed, myself included, that it had been rescued from the Mirwood vaults. Nobody connected it to Motown. It would be July before the truth began to emerge.
Simon decided to sell his record collection to Les McCutcheon, a UK based record dealer and collector and, as Neil Rushton recalled “Just about the last record he was handed was ‘Do I Love you (Indeed I Do)’…Les is said to have gone white with shock when he saw it was a Motown recording. He did not realise he had unwittingly been selling a bootleg as Simon, as was his way, had lied convincingly”. At last the truth was out.
The Motown ‘Quality Control’ copy was now a British resident and over the years it has been owned by various people. In 1979 it was put up for sale, by Jonathan Woodliffe, for £500. Kev Roberts eventually acquired the record for £350 worth of funk/soul albums and 12” records. In 1989 Kev sold it to its current owner Tim Brown, a highly respected collector and dealer, for £5 000.
Despite the fact that the ‘Eddie Foster’ bootleg had sold thousands of copies, UK Tamla Motown decided to issue the record.
The original tapes for both sides of Soul 35019 were requested to be sent to London from America. However, when the tapes were received, they were stereo masters and not the original mono masters. UK Tamla Motown label manager, Gordon Frewin, instantly spotted the technical differences and corrected them at Abbey Road Studios, with the help of his engineer Chris Blair, and the benefit of a copy of the ‘Eddie Foster’ 45 taken to the studio by Motown collector John Lester. TMG 1170 was thus taken from stereo masters but folded into mono for its eventual release on 9th November 1979. The DJ copies were presented in a special promotional sleeve. The stereo master version of ‘Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)’ was eventually issued in 1997 on the UK-issued CD Soul Survivors. Meanwhile, an alternate vocal take appeared as a bonus track in 1995 on the USA issued CD The Sound Of Young America — 1966. The original mono versions of both ‘Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)’, and ‘Sweeter As The Days Go By’, are both featured on the award winning The Complete Motown Singles Vol. 5: 1965, issued in 2006.
Frank Wilson had finally got his first solo commercial release as a Motown artist, although at the time he knew nothing about it.
It was around the time of the UK release that Motown took steps to try and recover their lost record. Despite trying they were unable to locate it and eventually gave up. In Los Angeles Tom de Pierro waited for Simon to return the record. He died prematurely refusing to believe that Simon had sold it.
For many years the ‘Quality Control’ copy remained a one-off but, as often happens, another copy surfaced.
The late Ron Murphy was a legendary Detroit-based record label owner, producer, engineer and avid record collector. Over the years he had assembled one of the best Motown collections in the world. He told the story of his find on the Soulful Detroit Music Forum.
“The prime pressing plant for Motown was American Record Pressing (ARP) located in Owosso, Michigan…now this plant was destroyed by a fire in 1971 but later in the early 80's I contacted some of the former employees to see if they still had saved any of the records pressed there”.
“Well I got lucky and found a few thousand records pressed at ARP starting from 1952 when the plant started right up to 1971. I visited and purchased records from about 25 former workers, (then) one day I received a call from a former manager saying he had about 300 records to sell and this guy ended up having the best Motown items
“Included in those boxes were the Frank Wilson (Soul 35019) and a test pressing of VIP 25034 a ‘MISSING’ number which was the Chris Clark version of the same Frank Wilson song, which had Clark overdubbing her lead vocal over Wilson's track”.
Now here is exactly what he told me when I asked him how he had all these mint records including the Frank Wilson on Soul: “We would press six copies and send three to Motown for approval and keep the other three copies on file”.
Then he said one day the owner told him to get rid of all the older records on file because they were taking up a lot of space BUT instead of throwing away all three copies he saved ONE copy of each and took those home, “and that's what I got”.
“So IF the former ARP manager that I got my copy from was correct”, Ron continued, “and the other two copies the plant had were destroyed then besides the one copy stolen from Motown's files that would leave only two possible other copies to exist”.
Ron eventually sold his entire collection, in 1994, to Martin Koppel, a record dealer based in Canada. It is from this collection that Kenny Burrell purchased an original copy of ‘Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)’ for £15 000.
Exactly how many copies were originally pressed has been debated at length for years. Many refuse to believe that Motown would go to the trouble of just pressing six copies but no concrete evidence has ever been presented to contradict the story as told by Ron.
The fact that cannot be disputed is that the two known copies come from a primary source; both are clearly related to the initial stage of the production of the record. No other copy has surfaced, outside of this inner circle, despite thousands of collectors searching everywhere, through millions of records, for the past 30 years.
Despite this there have been numerous reports of more copies: Berry Gordy allegedly has one, so does Billie Jean Brown, a Motown collector in London, a record dealer in Detroit and another in the Carolinas. Frank certainly never had a copy: “I had NO idea an original even existed!”
Marc Gordon, who co-produced the track, also confirmed that he had never had a copy.
The possibility that more exist cannot be totally, and absolutely, refuted but until these reports are confirmed, with hard evidence, they have to remain as unsubstantiated claims. If we believe that only six copies were pressed then two remain unaccounted for.
The popularity of ‘Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)’ has grown steadily over the years. It has been featured on numerous compilations and generated a further surge of interest when used by KFC for a national advertising campaign. As previously mentioned, the song eventually gained a USA release, in 1995, when it was included in The Sound Of Young America CD series as a bonus track on the 1966 volume. The version used featured an alternate vocal take.
The auction of ‘Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)’ is about to add another chapter to one of the most incredible stories ever told and as Frank has said, “I consider it one of my life's greatest achievements!”.
I don’t think any of us would disagree with that.
Footnote: The 45 sold for £25 742 to an anonymous bidder.
Andrew Rix
March 2009
AndyRix@aol.com
@Andy Rix

The following are thanked for their contribution: Frank Wilson, Brenda Holloway, Chris Clark and Marc Gordon.
Keith Hughes, Bill Dahl and Harry Weinger - The Complete Motown Singles Volume 5.
Chris Jenner, John Lester, Paul Nixon, Neil Rushton, Ian Dewhirst, Robb K, Stuart Cosgrove, Tim Brown and Ian Levine.
With additional thanks to the members of http://www.soul-souce.co.uk http://www.soulfuldetroit.com and release.at/projekte/motown50
Special thanks to Keith Hughes and the incredible ‘Don’t Forget the Motor City’ http://www.dftmc.info
And finally to Donna, for her support, encouragement and love

Frank Wilson
5th Dec 1940 - 27th Sep 2012
RIP
https://www.soul-source.co.uk/articles/soul-artists-sad-news/sad-news-frank-wilson-has-died-r2563/

motown music

By Andy Rix in Articles · September 28, 201212 yr

Word from the mainstream of a online series of documentary on youth culture by Don Letts from Fred Perry via their subculture setup

Soul Power which may be most peoples first port of call is episode 4

The fourth episode in the series explores the Soul Boy subculture that hit the scene in Britain during the 1970s. Features interviews with Norman Jay and Russ Winstanley.

In the mid-70s, one of the later outcrops of the Mod emerged: The Soul Boy. Clothes- and dance music- obsessed, with a geographical divide between the Northern and the Southern Soul Boys. The Northern Soul scene was rooted in The North West, in Manchester and Wigan, and had a wild, backwards looking enthusiasm about classic 60s soul, whereas the Southern Soul Boys in Essex and Kent were more interested in contemporary soul. Loose fitting clothes were important, the work hard and dance hard ethos was all part of this subculture that never left the council estates. Multi-culturalism was embraced with both black and white working-class celebrating music together through dance and shared tastes.

http://www.fredperry...7297/soul-power

Episodes are about 11 mins long and while they do follow the familar format of talking heads and from what seen familar clips, and maybe some views are a bit too generic or indeed familar, from what I have viewed so far it does make entertaining viewing

All 6 episodes covering british street culture can be found via the main page...
http://www.fredperrysubculture.com/

list of all episodes follows...

Born to be wild
Episode 1
The first episode in the series looks at the birth of British youth subculture with the arrival of Teddy Boys and Rockers. Features interviews with Phill Jupitus and Robert Elms.

This is a modern world
Episode 2
The second film in the series explores the Mod subculture that exploded onto the London scene in the late 1950s and includes contributions from Jeff Dexter and Eddie Piller.

Made in England
Episode 3
The third instalment focuses on the Skinhead subculture that emerged in Britain during the 1960s and explores how it was influenced by Jamaican Rude Boys. Featuring contributions from Kevin Rowland and Lynval Golding.

Soul Power
Episode 4
The fourth episode in the series explores the Soul Boy subculture that hit the scene in Britain during the 1970s. Features interviews with Norman Jay and Russ Winstanley.

Black n white riot
Episode 5
The fifth documentary in the series focuses on the Punk and Two-Tone subcultures, which kicked off in the UK in the late 1970s. Includes contributions from Viv Albertine and Pauline Black.

Beaten Generation
Episode 6
The final film in the series discusses the casual, rave and Britpop scenes of the 1980s and 1990s, and asks what the future holds for British subculture. Features contributions from Steve Mason and Wayne Hemingway.

By Mike in News Archives · September 28, 201212 yr

H B Barnum told me he had passed in the last hour or so.
Ady
added by site

He was born to James Wilson and Samantha Gibbs. While still in his teens, he moved to Los Angeles, California.
In 1965, Berry Gordy asked the producers Hal Davis and Marc Gordon to set up an office of Motown in Los Angeles. Wilson accepted an offer to join the team. In December 1965, "Stevie" by Patrice Holloway (V.I.P. 25001) was the first single released from the West Coast operation and featured Wilson in the songwriting credits. Asked by Gordy to re-locate to Detroit, Wilson went on to write and produce hit records for Brenda Holloway, Marvin Gaye, The Supremes, The Miracles, the Four Tops, The Temptations, Eddie Kendricks, and more. Additionally, after leaving Motown, Wilson produced a gold disc earning album by Lenny Williams, former lead singer for Tower of Power, Marilyn McCoo & Billy Davis Jr, Alton McClain & Destiny, New Birth and the Grammy nominated album, Motown Comes Home.
He also launched his own publishing firms, Traco Music and Specolite Music, Ascap and BMI companies. During the next four years, Wilson recorded, released and published more than 40 copyrighted compositions, including, "It Must Be Love", "Stare and Whisper", "Star Love" and "You Got Me Running." Earlier, Wilson had also tried his hand at being a recording artist himself, recording the single “Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)" for release on the Motown subsidiary label 'Soul.' Supposedly 250 demo 45s were pressed, but by that time Wilson decided he would rather focus on producing and he had the demos trashed. Somehow at least two known copies survived, one of which fetched over £25,000 in May 2009
Wilson left Motown in 1976 and became a born again Christian. He is now a minister, traveling and writing books with his wife Bunny Wilson, and is also involved in the production of gospel music as well. In 2004, was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Divinity from Vision International University in Ramona, California and founded the New Dawn Christian Village in Los Angeles.
Some of the books he has authored includes, The Master Degree-Majoring in Your Marriage and Unmasking the Lone Ranger, a best seller for men. Both were published by Harvest House Publishers. He conducted Unmasking the Lone Ranger and Master's Degree seminars nationally and internationally based upon his books. Wilson has also appeared on numerous television talk shows including, Two on the Town, The Other Half, and The Oprah Winfrey Show.
Wilson passed away on September 27, 2012 after a long battle with prostate cancer.
source
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Wilson_(musician

By Ady Croasdell in News Archives · September 27, 201212 yr

Latest news is that have been informed by Pontins management that after our request for day passes etc. we can offer day passes @£15 also full weekend passes ( no accommodation) for £25.

Which is great news!!!!

From Pontins Website

Once again Pontins opens it’s doors the soul fraternity giving you classic SOUL from current floor fillers Stafford monsters to Wigan anthems bringing you the best in our SOUL.
We have some of the top soul spinners
Soul Sam
Mick Smith
Chris King
Dave Rivers
Snowy
Phill Threlfall
Ted Massey
and loads more…

Soul Source Event guide plus latest comments

Pontins Website - Northern Soul
http://www.pontins.c.../northern-soul/

By Guest cloth ears in Event News · September 26, 201212 yr

Billy Nichols has now been involved with the music biz for about 50 years and he's still going strong. Down the years, he has sung gospel, soul and blues plus played the guitar and drums. He's worked for Motown and played on Chess recording sessions. He's been in house bands in Cleveland and New York plus played most of the top chitlin circuit venues of the 1960's. He's produced and arranged numerous tracks for other artists and cut tracks in his own right. However it's for his song writing that he is best known and which has given him his biggest successes. Born in the south, he has had spells living in Connecticut, Detroit, Cleveland and New York and it's the Big Apple where he is based today.

William was born in 1940 to Laura Bell and Tom Sanders Nichols in a small town called Carrollton in the northern hills of Mississippi. Eventually he was one of the younger ones of nine children, his father being a farmer. Though Billy’s father worked the fields by day, in the evening after supper he would pick his guitar up and all of the family would gather on the front porch to hear him play the blues. His father was a talented blues musician and Billy would always try to stay up as long as he was allowed, listening to his dad play and sing the blues. Back then, there would always be a radio playing in the house and the sounds Billy would hear really inspired a deep fascination within him. He soon developed a strong interest in blues, big band, country and gospel music. Being one of the younger of the children in the family, he did not get much opportunity to learn first-hand from his father. His older siblings did enjoy that privilege, however it wasn’t until Billy was around ten years old that he was even allowed to touch his father’s guitar. But when most of the family were off working together in the fields and Billy was home baby-sitting his little brother, he would sneak into the bedroom where his dad's guitar was kept and try to mimic the sounds he heard on the radio. His favourite artists back then included Muddy Waters, Ray Charles, Sam Cooke, Louis Jordan, Hank Williams and the Blind Boys of Mississippi.
Shortly after Billy’s fourteenth birthday, the family left the South and moved to Springfield in Massachusetts. It was here that Billy began to hone his skills as a musician. Initially he joined his high school band and on the weekends he would play in a local band with his brother Ernest, Lyn Perry and Bob Burgess. After he graduated from High School, he joined a gospel group; the Bells of Harmony and they would perform in local churches. Billy did get himself a nine-to-five job but his heart was still totally into the music. Luckily, that Spring, the opportunity to join an established local band presented itself and Billy jumped at the chance of forging a career in the music business.

The group was called Jimmy Vick and The Victors and its members were Curly (the organist), Buck (the drummer), Jimmy Vick (vocalist), William 'Billy' Nichols (bass) and Charles Ramsey (guitar) — left to right in picture shown on record ad

In summer 1963 they recorded some tracks and had a 45 released. "Take A Trip With Me" & "I Need Someone" were the songs the group cut and Billy played bass on both tracks. Seeing this as an important milestone, Billy quit his day job. The group's 45 had been cut at Chime Recording Studio in Hartford (Connecticut) and the studio had its own in-house label; Cherry Records. As the label was quite new and hadn't yet forged links that could ensure the group's record got noticed (& radio airplay) outside their home area, ads for their 45 were placed in Billboard Magazine in September & October 1963. The record did get a decent amount of radio airplay on one radio station; WALT getting behind the release. But it failed to break through anywhere else. By November the group had broken up and this left Billy jobless. He was somewhat discouraged but wasn't yet willing to give up on a music career. So Billy got his mother to arrange for her brother (who lived in Detroit) to give him a place to stay.

With $20 to his name, a guitar, a bag of clothes and an amp, Billy Nichol set out for Detroit in January 1964. He soon introduced himself to local musicians and after a few months he was able to move out of his uncle’s house. He was now sharing a place with one of his musician friends, Tony Newton (bass player). The pair managed to get an audition as 'road musicians' at Motown Records. They went over to West Grand Boulevard and found around fifteen to twenty musicians waiting outside the front of the Hitsville buildings. They were ushered inside by Henry Cosby (who told them to call him Hank) and taken downstairs into the recording studio. In the studio there were chairs and music stands set up for all of them & Hank Cosby then went through to the control room (separated from the studio by a shield of clear plexiglass). Each of the musicians had microphones placed near their instruments and sheet music had been placed on the music stands. The music was mostly Motown songs. Next, Choker Campbell came in and after briefly speaking with Hank told the assembled musicians that those selected would be going on the road to back up Motown acts or going out on a upcoming Motown Revue tour. They were told that they must be able to stay on tour for at least one month. The music they played that day was the music that they would perform for the artists on the tour. The order of the songs was established and the audition commenced. By the end, the musicians had played through the full list of songs, this taking about forty five minutes. Hank then came out of the control room and started pointing at particular guys, "you, you, you". Tony and Billy were the first two chosen and they were hired on the spot. Some rehearsals with Choker's band were organised for them and after a few of these, they were deemed ready. Billy's first Motown job was with Martha and the Vandellas, whilst his friend Tony got a job with the Miracles.

Billy's first gig was in Cleveland at a club called the Music Box. The package was a Motortown Review and on the show were the Four Tops, the Spinners, Martha & The Vandellas, the Marvelettes, the Temptations, Shorty Long plus Willie Tyler & Lester. The ensemble played at the club for 10 days before moving on their next booking. After the tour, Hank hooked Billy up with the Martha & Vandellas and they played the Howard Theater in DC (on a bill that also included the Impressions, Gladys Knight & The Pips, Freddie Scott, the Isley Brothers and Moms Mabley). While Billy was with Choker Campbell's band he also played the Apollo Theater with the same line-up except that Smokey & the Miracles plus Marvin Gaye were added to the bill. Billy toured with the Vandellas for about a month and Martha was very much in charge of all things with regard to the shows. He already knew all the songs,, so little or no rehearsals with the group needed to be undertaken. Billy himself was made responsible for the band's sheet music and he led any rehearsals the musicians thought necessary. The group's newest hit record at the time was “Dancing In The Street” and that had to be learnt and included in the live shows. Billy was also in charge on the sound checks undertaken ahead of all their live shows. After that engagement, Hank hooked Billy up with the Marvelettes (that posting also lasting for about a month). Rehearsals were needed to learn the Marvelettes songs though and these were held in the basement at Wanda & Roger Moore's home.
Billy's friend Tony Newton had gotten the best deal of the two of them; Hank had hooked him up with The Miracles and he stayed with them for about twelve years. Billy had to be more versatile as he got to back up many different Motown acts (Stevie Wonder, the Spinners, etc). Members of the Spinners really loved Billy's playing and wanted him to become a more permanent fixture with them. However at that time the Spinners had only the one hit, "That's What Girls Are Made For" and that had been some time earlier. It was Billy Henderson of the Spinners that named him 'Billy' as he had been known as William (Nichols) up till then. But Billy Henderson thought that far too formal and insisted he call himself Billy Nichols. But this then caused confusion, there now being two 'Billys'. So their names within Motown circles then became 'Billy Guitar' and 'Billy Spinner'.

Next Billy became Marvin Gaye's band leader around late April 1965. He got to rehearse with Marvin Gaye at the Motown studio itself, this being a kind of audition for Marvin's benefit. Woody, who had till then been Marvin's band leader had suffered an accident which left him unable continue in the job and Marvin selected Billy as his replacement. Billy's initial gig with Marvin was in Bermuda in May, where Marvin had been booked for a ten day stint at the Forty Thieves Club. When the ensemble returned to the USA, they played gigs at the Apollo Theater (NYC), the Uptown Theater in Philadelphia, the Regal Theater in Chicago and many other major city venues. One gig Billy remembers playing was in Atlanta Ga. at the Peach Tree Lounge. He also got to meet Colonel Sanders (the Kentucky Fried Chicken guy) at a gig in Louisville Kentucky. However, Billy wasn't allowed to record in the studio with Marvin Gaye, but he did play on a couple of live gigs that were recorded. He found Marvin Gaye to be very intelligent, with a great sense of humor and a fully rounded musician. Strangely, their relationship was actually better before Billy had become his bandleader. Billy wasn't fully satisfied though as he wanted to get more into writing songs & studio work. This wasn't going to happen with Motown as they already had an embarrassment of riches on their books. So he left Detroit after a last Marvin Gaye gig to take up a new opportunity in Cleveland.

Billy had received a call from Gerry Baxter in Cleveland, Ohio. Gerry remembered him from the Choker Campbell band and offered him a gig playing at a Cleveland club. So Billy moved to Cleveland. The club was the Music Box (located in a basement) and many R&B act played there at the time. Billy can't actually remember the name the band went by but it was 4 strong; Joe on bass, Stanley on tenor sax, Gerry on drums (sometimes on guitar) with Billy on guitar (sometimes drums). They started the house band engagement in August 1965 and Billy recalls that the O'Jays were in the club almost every night at that time. The outfit played six nights a week backing up all the acts that came to perform at the club. These artists included Mabel John, Fontella Bass, The Toys, Sam & Bill, Johnny Nash, Kim Tolliver and many others. Although they were the house band, some acts came in with their own band & then Billy and the others didn't work. In December 1965 Billy Stewart came to the Music Box with his own band and so Billy and the guys were off. Billy was at home when he got a call saying that Billy Stewart needed a guitar player, so could he come straight down to the club. When he arrived there, Billy Stewart was already on stage playing the piano and singing. His band were hot and Billy loved what he was hearing. At break time, the two Billys had a meeting in Mr. Stewarts dressing room, his band leader Raggs (the bass player) also attending. They talked and went over a couple of his songs before Billy went on stage with the band to play the next set. The show was funky and Billy loved being a part of it. He thought that their drummer Beau James Wright was great, there were two horn players (trombone & tenor sax), Raggs on bass, Billy Stewart on piano and Billy himself on guitar. The next day the band called for a rehearsal and when Billy showed up, they offered him the job as their band leader. Billy was a little reluctant at first but Billy Stewart promising that he would record some of Billy's songs 'tipped the scales'. Billy Stewart's booking at the Music Box lasted for ten days. After it ended, Billy was on the road with 'Fat Boy' Stewart. It was now January 1966 and Chicago was to their first stop. After they arrived in the 'Windy City', Billy got to go into Chess Records, this for him was like entering heaven. He walked down a long hallway which was lined with gold records by Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Sonny Boy Williamson, Etta James, Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley and the experience really brought home the opportunities that now lay before him.

They stayed in Chicago for two weeks and during that time Billy participated (playing guitar) on a recording session for three songs. Billy had written two of them; "To Love, To Love" (this was utilised as the B side to Billy's massive hit “Summertime”) and "Why Am I Lonely".

Another song that was recorded at that time was "Love Me" and Billy with the rest of Stewart's road band also played on that track. With Billy, he basically toured the same R&B circuit (theatres and clubs) that he had played with the Motown acts. However Billy was soon disenchanted with roadwork again. One night after a show at the Apollo Theatre in Harlem, a gentleman approached him and asked if he would like to form and lead the house band at the Crystal Ballroom (which the guy owned). To Billy this was just the chance that he had been waiting for; an opportunity to get his music heard. The band was named Billy Nichols and the Soul Swingers and they played at the ballroom for around three years. During that time, many top artists performed at the ballroom with his band; Otis Redding, Al Green, Wilson Pickett, Joe Tex and Bobby Womack. It was during his stint at the ballroom that Billy first met up with Flame N King & the Bold Ones. The group were impressed with Billy’s musical abilities and they wanted to cut some tracks with him. They did get together and recorded a song called "Big Bad Shing a Ling” but it failed to gain release. However, Billy and the group were to team up again in the 1970’s. Billy also met up with another set of musicians who worked mainly as ‘session players’. This set had played on hundreds of soul 'hits' cut in New York City and they opened his eyes to yet more opportunities. Billy soon became acquainted withJuggy Murray, the owner of Sue Records, who operated out of a two story building on 54th Street (between Broadway and 8th Avenue). On the second floor of the building was his recording studio, which was 8 track at the time. It was there that Billy got to meet Inez & Charlie Fox, Baby Washington, the Soul Sisters, Jimmy McGriff and many others. Juggy gave him the chance to write songs and also taught him how to produce records. During the day, they would work in his office and around 7pm they would head up to the studio and would work there right through the night. They got to record many songs, with Billy usually playing his guitar on them (sessions with Tina Britt, the Soul Sisters & Joe Ponds being some he recalls). Billy also got to lay down some tracks of his own; "Shake A Leg" and "Can't Fool The Fool" being two of these cuts.

Billy's confidence had been bolstered by all this work and this helped enhance his song writing efforts. He moved on, commencing recording work for other companies and submitting his compositions for consideration by other recording artists. Towards the very end of the 1960's, he wrote & recorded a song titled "Treat Your Neighbour” and this was picked up for release by Mercury Records. Coupled with the old Soul Survivors hit "Expressway To Your Heart" (which Billy picked and arranged himself), "Treat Your Neighbor” was issued by Mercury on 45 in February 1970 (credited to Billy Nichols & Funk).

Around the same time, he wrote "A Little Bit Of Something" and it was recorded by Millie Jackson for MGM Records. On one of his recording sessions Galt MacDermot approached Billy. Galt, the composer and writer of the hit musical 'Hair', asked Billy if he would be interested in working with him on a new musical being produced by Joseph Papp. It was to be staged at the Shakespeare Theatre in Central Park and was titled 'Two Gentlemen of Verona'. Having no experience in musical theatre (or any other theatre for that matter), Billy took the job. His task was to rehearse the fledgling actors and to get them accustomed to singing to the sound of an electric guitar instead of a piano. The actors involved were Clifton Davis, Raul Julia, Jonelle Allen, Diana Davila plus a cast and ensemble of singers and dancers, which included such people as the then unknown Jeff Goldblum. To this day Billy has no idea why Galt entrusted him with the job, but he will be eternally grateful for the opportunity that he was given. The play opened in Central Park in the summer of 1971, from there it went on to Broadway in the fall and it won the 'Tony' in 1972 for best music in a play. Billy played guitar on the show and during the run, he developed a strong friendship with Louie Risbrook (a/k/a Jamal Rasool) who was also involved (playing bass). In 1971, he also got to play with a number of well-respected jazz musicians; Pretty Purdie and John Hammond being amongst these.

Even while 'Two Gentlemen of Verona' was running, Billy continued writing songs. He got to enjoy his first hit song in 1972; “Ask Me What You Want”. Recorded by Millie Jackson, this reached the Top 10 soul and Top 30 pop charts in March 1972. Not one to ignore a talent that had brought her a big hit, Millie was soon cutting more of Billy's songs. She had already cut “I Just Can't Stand It” and this was followed by “Good To The Very Last Drop”, “Close My Eyes” and in 1976 “I Can't Say Goodbye”. Billy joined a local group, the Invaders that played cover songs in clubs around the New York area. Willie Collins was the lead vocalist with the group which stayed together for a couple of years. During that time they were signed to Brunswick Records and changed their name to B.W. & The Next Addition. They cut "Stay With Me Baby” & “Peace Of Mind” and these tracks were released back to back on a Dakar 45 in 1973. “Work, Work, Work” (which Billy also arranged) followed on Dakar in 1974. Billy & Willie would continue to work together on & off through to the mid 1980’s, after which they drifted apart.

Billy’s friend from the play, Louie Risbrook was a member of a similar group; the King Davis House Rockers (they had earlier cut for Verve). Both groups played on the same local circuit and were even on the same bill one night at a show held in a local ballroom. Billy hadn't given up on his own recording career and he cut the song "Do It (Till You're Satisfied)" and shopped this around but was unable to land a record deal. Early in 1974, Louie called Billy to ask if he had any songs available because a doctor (Abie Bay) had offered to put up some money to record the House Rockers. Louie lived in Brooklyn at the time, whilst Billy lived in Manhattan. Billy confirmed he did have some songs, so Louie came over and Billy played him four of them; "That's What I Want For You Baby", "If I Don't Turn On", "Do It" and “Turn On”. Louie loved the songs but he thought that "Do It" didn't have enough lyrics. Billy explained that the song originally had more lyrics but that he had taken some out. Billy told him the song's full lyrics and Louie was suitably impressed. He performed the songs and they were recorded onto a cassette. About a week later, Louie called Billy and told him that the doctor loved "Do It". Next, he got a call from the doctor himself and the guy was really excited. He said that he was convinced "Do It" was a hit song and that he was going pay for studio time to allow the King Davis House Rockers to record it.

Everyone, including Billy, Allan Williams (who co-wrote songs with Billy), the group's manager King Davis & the doctor, went into the studio (in Hemstead, Long Island) in 1974 and two songs were recorded; "Do It" and "Everything Good To You".

Billy got to meet Jeff Lane (the group's producer) and he played lead & fuzz guitar on the session. Group members involved that night included Barbara Joyce (who played the tambourine), Dennis Rowe (conga) and their keyboard player Michael Jones (later to be better known as Kashif), everyone in attendance being called upon to provide hand claps. The tracks were shopped around and Scepter picked them up for release. For the record's release, the group were re-named B. T. Express and the 45 did really well from day one. The single entered the national soul charts in August 1974 and it rose to reach No.1 on 19th October. It also made No.2 on the US pop charts and the success of the 45 resulted in more tracks being cut and an album getting released. Billy was upset to see that his name was only mentioned on the album as a song writer and that his efforts on some of the actual tracks hadn't been acknowledged

A big party was given to celebrate the group's success but both Billy and the doctor found themselves left standing outside as their names hadn't been put on the invite list. Though never actually a member of the group, Billy had contributed in a major way to their success. Chastened by the experience, he had no input at all on the tracks laid down for the group's second LP. He got on with his life and by 1976 (with the success of lots of his songs) he had been appointed a staff writer with Blackwood Music. That year, B.T. Express got back in touch with him. Putting past events behind him, Billy let the group cut (at Ultra-Sonic Recordings Studios, Hempstead) his song "Can't Stop Groovin Right Now". He again played lead guitar on the track which was released on 45 and also included on the group's 'Energy To Burn' LP.

In 1977, Billy got a call from Fred Frank, the owner of Road Show Records (the label B.T. Express had always been signed to). The group’s records (& the Road Show label) were now being distributed by Columbia Records and the group needed an album asap. By then Billy had become an accomplished producer and as the group knew all about his capabilities , Fred asked him if he was available to work on the new album. Billy had some songs that he thought would prove suitable and so was invited down to the record label’s office where Fred listened to his songs. He liked the songs and so Billy was appointed producer and work on the album commenced straight away. Studio time was booked at O.D.O. Recording Studio on West 54th. St in NYC and the first song to be recorded was "Shout It Out". Five other songs were quickly written as collaborative efforts and three further songs were sourced from the group itself. With everything in place, the album project was soon finished. Titled ‘Shout It Out’, the LP was released in the fall of 1977 but received little promotion.

Fred and Billy were in dispute anyway; cash advances for Billy's work had proved a big problem and publishing percentages on the songs Billy had penned was also a big issue. "Shout It Out" was however released on a 45 and this track sold well enough to take the group back into the US soul singles Top 20.

With the success Millie Jackson was having with Billy’s songs in the early to mid 70's, Spring records had also been cutting other artists on his songs. Act 1 had cut “Party Hardy People” which escaped on both 45 & LP in 1974 and Garland Green recorded “You And I Go Good Together”. Other labels had also followed Spring’s example; “I Don't Know What's On Your Mind” was used by Spiders Web in 1976. 1977 proved to be a productive year for him; “Out Of Work” was cut by Jesse Gould & “Do Bad” by Donny Burks (Billy producing & arranging both of these), “It's In Your Blood” was done by Linda Hopkins and “So Far Away” by Willy Bridges. Billy also produced Reality who cut his songs “Standing Beside You” & “Make Love, Not War”. JuggyJones came back into his life and recorded “Come On Do It Some More” along with ”I'll See You Through” (1978). Billy also worked again with Flame N King & the Bold Ones. He produced “Ho Happy Day”for them, the track being coupled with his composition “Ain't Nobody Jivin” on release. Billy was also reunited with Willie Collins in 1976. They collaborated on “Don’t Fight The Feelin” (also produced by Billy) which escaped on Mercury credited to Will Collins & Willpower. Ten years later (1986) the partnership was renewed yet again when Billy produced 6 tracks that were included on Willie’s Capitol LP ‘Where You Gonna Be Tonight’ (Willie was singing gospel last Billy heard).

Billy also worked with a number of other artists, one of these being Eddie McLoyd. Eddie and Billy had known each other for many years. In the 1950's, they had attended the same junior high school; Buckingham Junior High in Springfield. At that time, they were both in a do-wop group called the Satellites. Eddie didn’t only sing, he also played the piano. Billy produced his “It’s Good To Me” (a song he also wrote) that was issued on the Panic label. He also wrote and produced Eddie’s “Baby Get Down” released by Spring. The partnership continued and in 1975 Brunswick picked up “Once You Fall In Love” which Billy again had written and produced (they are still good friends today and talk on a regular basis). Billy also produced some tracks on L J Waiters & the Electrifiers. “If You Ain’t Getting Your Thing” was initially released on La Shawn before being picked up by Phi-La-of-Soul. “Can You Deal With It” came next, this again being issued by Phi-La-of-Soul. In 1977, Billy produced “Chase Your Blues Away” by Funkhouse Express which was issued on Roxbury. Disco was now in full swing and Billy decided to return to the recording studio himself to see if he could get some personal success in this field. His first outing was “Give Your Body Up To The Music" which West End Records put out in 1979. The track, which was was also released in Italy, enjoyed a good degree of club success (making it onto the Top 50 of the US disco chart that August). West End wanted a follow-up and so in 1980, “Diamond Ring” was released on 7” & 12” singles, Billy having played bass and guitar on both the songs.

“Diamond Ring” didn't prove as popular with US club goers but it was played on the UK Modern Soul scene.

Sensing a change in the music field, Billy moved on. He produced two rap records that have gone on to be recognised as hip-hop classics. “The Adventures of Super Rhymes” by Jimmy Spicer and “Rhythm Rap Rock” by Count Coolout (issued on Billy’s own Boss Records before being picked up by WMOT) are now acknowledged as being pioneering rap tracks. Other artists he worked with in the 1980’s included Full Force (“Turn You On”), Mary Clark, Mel Sheppard, Rena Romano, Jesse Gee (Gould), Paul Ives, P.C. Crew, Fantasy Force and Charles T Hudson. His musical talents, experience and knowledge of the music industry helped keep him busy through those years. Billy next re-embarked on his own solo recording career. In the middle of the decade he re-activated his Boss Record label and issued the 12” “Whip Your Body / "Never Get Enough"

The business had changed by then and the record got no radio play but was promoted via the clubs. Again, as well as singing, Billy played on the cuts which were recorded at Right Track Recording Studio in New York. Things went quiet for a few years before he released a CD album entitled ‘Love Stuff’ in 2003. For this 13 track album, Billy reworked “Never Get Enough”. A second CD album followed on Boss Records in 2007; ‘Same, Same Game’. This also contained 13 tracks; “Take Back Your Life”, “Sho Nuff Man” & “Step To The Jam” being amongst these (all the songs on both the CD's were self-penned by Billy). Today, he is still writing, singing and recording. He has recently been working on tracks to go on a proposed new CD release; the man certainly has got staying power.

J.Roburt.S. -- September 2012

artists

By Roburt in Articles · September 23, 201212 yr

Further to the two articles I've previously posted about the early Blues & Soul Magazine I've dug out my copy of the Jazz Scene Magazine from August 1962, I was a sprightly 15 year old at that time. It cost me one shilling and sixpence!

I bought it because Ray Charles was on the cover. I've recently re-read the Alexis Korner article ‘Tin Pan Alleleujah’ and I thought it was interesting because he was clearly trying to come up with a word for the fusion of Gospel & R&B that became known as ‘Soul’ and came up with ‘Gospop’!

Thankfully it didn't last and ‘Soul’ stuck!

I think the article is a good example of how the birth of Soul was being delivered in the media. I was buying Record Mirror at the time and Norman Jopling in particular was championing the ‘new sound’ in the mainstream press and highlighting artists such as The Isley Bros & James Brown in his articles.

Record Mirror used to have an annual poll of favourite artists and the winners of the Best Female Group in 1962/3 was The Miracles! At least people were listening to their records.

Anyway I hope you enjoy reading about the early beginnings of this scene we love so much.

Cheers, John

By slimharpo in Articles · September 22, 201212 yr

Just seen this in the local press. If anyone in Essex is not busy Vajazzling the cat and short of something to do on Fri 12th Oct it could be worth a butchers.

During the mid-1960s, Street performed with a Motown act called The Monitors, who had only one minor hit, 1966's "Greetings (This is Uncle Sam)", to its name."¨ Street knew the Temptations and Otis Williams, in particular, having worked for Motown in quality control and through his vocal work with the Distants and the Monitors. By the late-1960s, Street was being called upon to travel with The Temptations and sing Paul Williams' parts from off-stage, while Paul Williams, who suffered from both alcoholism and sickle-cell disease, danced and lip-synchedonstage. Street officially replaced Paul Williams in mid-1971, after both he and Eddie Kendricks left the group."¨"¨

Taff

http://www.towngatet...?articleid=4265

http://www.richardstreet.net

http://www.richardst...early_years.asp

During the mid-1960s, Street performed with a Motown act called The Monitors, who had only one minor hit, 1966's "Greetings (This is Uncle Sam)", to its name."¨Street knew the Temptations and Otis Williams, in particular, having worked for Motown in quality control and through his vocal work with the Distants and the Monitors. By the late-1960s, Street was being called upon to travel with The Temptations and sing Paul Williams' parts from off-stage, while Paul Williams, who suffered from both alcoholism and sickle-cell disease, danced and lip-synchedonstage. Street officially replaced Paul Williams in mid-1971, after both he and Eddie Kendricks left the group."¨"¨Taff

Born and raised in Motor City, Detroit, Richard Street began his musical career at the tender age of 12, playing piano and singing with his mother's encouragement and support. Since then he has been a professional entertainer for over 47 years.
Well known as an incredible vocalist, in the early days of Motown Richard lent his tenor to sweeten vocal tracks, but stayed away from the public eye. This placed him in the unique setting of being the voice behind many of the leads in The Temptations; although, no one saw him in the group. He was on the microphone in the wings as the vocalist on stage lip-synched to his vocals, frequently receiving a standing ovation.
In 1971, through the orchestration of God's hand, Richard assumed his rightful place with The Temptations as a full time member.

The group undertook a notable shift in direction and within a few years The Temptations were tracking topical subjects such as the Vietnam War and urban poverty. Richard delighted television, stage, radio and record-buying audiences with his leads on songs like 'Heavenly', 'The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face', 'Firefly', 'Hey Girl', 'Masterpiece', 'Every Time I Close My Eyes', 'I'll Keep My Light In My Window', 'Super Star', 'Show Me Your Love', 'Bare Back', 'Standing On the Top', 'Love and many more.

Among the awards Richard has received are three Grammy Awards, two American Music Awards, and an NAACP Award. He was also there when The Temptations were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989.
For over 22 years as a member of The Temptations Richard performed hundreds of shows and along with other members past and present, they visited over 40 countries worldwide. Now, with all but one of the original members of the original Temptations having passed on, Richard presents the music of The Temptations in its original 5 man group format with a group lineup consisting of Lawrence Jones (originally from Detroit now resident in Las Vegas), together with current Detroit native Eddie Watkins, Larry Johnson and Bob Henley 111. Presenting all of The Temptations best-loved hits.

Richard and his group are a "must see" musical journey in time ... the way it used to be!

By Saxafone in Event News · September 21, 201212 yr

Native Detroiter Ivy Jo Hunter was born Ivy George Hunter on August 28th 1940. As a child his parents sent him to music classes where he learned to play the Trumpet and Euphonium. Which pre-teens saw him perform with the Detroit City Youth Orchestra. Ivy’s mother told her son that being a professional musician was a very unsecure future and persuaded him to take up art at High School. Upon leaving High School Ivy also realized the life of an artist was tough going so he joined the army as an electrical engineer. "¨"¨After four years in the service Ivy returned to civilian life and decided to follow his first love and become a full time musician. After a stint of working several different clubs Ivy eventually wound up at one of Detroit’s most renowned clubs, The Phelps Lounge. It was a chance meeting there one afternoon that changed Ivy’s life around. Ivy was rehearsing with the clubs resident band and giving them their instructions as he had done many times before, when a guy who was just having an afternoon drink stepped out the audience and introduced himself as Hank Cosby."¨"¨Cosby liked what he saw Ivy doing and invited him down to the Motown studios. So in 1963 Ivy Jo Hunter signed four contracts as a writer, producer, artist and artist manager with Motown Records. Cosby was also responsible for introducing Ivy to William “Mickey” Stevenson and thus forming one of Motown’s most accomplished song writing and producing teams of the 60’s."¨"¨Ivy’s song writing credits can be found on a multitude of songs that achieved top 100 status both in the USA and throughout the world. Some of the highlights being such timeless classics as the Four Tops “Just Ask The Lonely”, The Spinners “I’ll Always Love You”, The Marvelettes “ I’ll Keep Holding On” and the Martha Reeves & The Vandellas seminal anthem “Dancing In The Street”.

“Dancing In The Street” was initially composed as a ballad but Ivy and Mickey struggled to come up with a suitable title. That was until Marvin Gaye intervened, Marvin was chilling out smoking a cigarette in the studio at the time and was listening in to what the guys were doing. He then made the suggestion to call the song “Dancing In The Street” and to make it a up tempo dance number. Thus in doing so earned himself 25% of the song writing royalties."¨"¨While “Dancing In The Street” was recorded as a innocent dance record it also became an unofficial civil rights anthem with many young disillusioned black activists claiming the title was a call to riot. This was vehemently denied by both Martha Reeves and Berry Gordy. Although “Dancing In The Street” is regarded as Martha & The Vandellas signature tune, other Ivy Jo compositions on the Vandellas included the sublime “My Baby Loves Me” and the driving “You’ve Been In Love To Long” (later covered by Barbara Acklin)."¨"¨Towards the end of his tenure with Motown Ivy was placed with the company’s V.I.P subsidiary. The V.I.P logo had the reputation of being somewhat of a graveyard label for artists and writers who had fallen out of favour with Berry Gordy (even though some of Motown’s finest releases can be found on the label). Here Ivy recorded two 45’s “I Remember When (Dedicated To Beverley) / Sorry Is A Sorry Word (V.I.P 25055) and “I’d Still Love You / I Can Feel The Pain” (V.I.P 25063). An album release was also planned although given a release number (V.I.P.S 406) and a title Ivy Jo’s “In This Bag” no release ever materialized. Ivy was to eventually leave Motown in late 1970."¨"¨After leaving Motown Ivy later joined forces with his brother John Maxey (who’s day job was that of a special needs teacher) to form the Independent Detroit based Probe 1 Production Company in 1972. Throughout the 70’s and into the 80’s the brothers continued to produce and record releases on many local Detroit groups, The Citations (five former pupils of John’s) Empulse and North By Northeast amongst others. Most would appear on the labels that Ivy and John operated through Probe1 Productions, Redline, Probe 1 and Midwest International etc

Ivy himself recorded solo outings such as “Ain’t No Black & White In Music / When Does The Loving Start” (Red Line PRL-01) and “ Everytime I See You It’s Hello / Anthem (Midwest 011087) as well as singing lead vocals on North By Northeast’s “Pain Of City Living / Slave Of Society” (Probe 1)."¨"¨Probe 1 Productions did manage to achieve some limited national attention. Firstly with the mellifluous “Two On A Cloud / Grown Up Fairy Tale” (Buddah 556) recorded by Curt Darin (a.k.a Curtis Gadson) but this release coincided with 20th Century’s buy out of Buddah records and the record failed to make any major impact. Other releases on Gadson (whom Ivy and John actually discovered) included “In The Middle OF The Night” (Midwest International 8150) and the heavily synthesised “Fire It Up” which they released in conjunction with fellow Detroit entrepreneur Ernest Kelley. This was later followed by the song “Hold On To Your Dreams” that Ivy Jo co-wrote with Vernon Bullock. “Hold on To Your Dreams” was recorded on former Dramatics vocalist the late William Howard and was released on the local Detroit Ju-Par label, based on Eight Mile Road. Howard recorded the song under his High School nickname of “Weegee”. The song became a big local hit, and through Ernest Kelley’s long time association with Henry Allen the song was soon picked up by Atlantic records and released on their subsidiary Cottilion label. The deal also included an album release using “Hold On To Your Dreams” as the title track. The album was recorded at the Sound Suite in Detroit under Vernon Bullock’s direction. (“Hold On To Your Dreams” was also later covered by The Staple Singers)."¨"¨A further collaboration between Probe1 and Ernest Kelley in 1981 produced the disco influenced “Coast To Coast” (MT 9710) which was recorded on a local Detroit act by the name of Solid State. This release came out on the Independent Music Town label. A previous Music Town release by Solid State “I’m Gonna Make You Mine”(MT9709) had no production connections with Probe 1."¨"¨1981 also saw the release of the Ivy Jo penned “Love Won’t You Hurry / Open Up Your Mind (To My Mind)” and was recorded by three male singers known as “Suade” this was released on Red Line (101042).

Released back in May this 45 is well worth another shout as it is simply so good.

Ivy Jo Hunter in collaboration with William “Mickey” Stevenson formed one of the most formidable song writing teams of the Motown stable during the 1960’s. Ivy’s writer’s credits can be found on a multitude of songs that achieved a top 100 status both in the USA as well as around the world."¨"¨Towards the end of his tenure with Motown Ivy was placed with the company’s V.I.P subsidiary. Here he recorded two 45’s “I Remember When (Dedicated To Beverley) / Sorry Is A Sorry Word (V.I.P 25055) and “I’d Still Love You / I Can Feel The Pain” (V.I.P 25063). An album release was also planned and although given a release number (V.I.P.S 406) with the title of Ivy Jo’s “In This Bag” no release ever materialized."¨"¨Some of the highlights from his eight year association with Motown include such timeless classic’s as The Four Tops “Just Ask The Lonely”, The Spinners “I’ll Always Love You”, The Marvelettes “I’ll Keep Holding On” and the Martha Reeves & The Vandellas seminal anthem “Dancing In The Street”."¨"¨After leaving Motown Ivy joined forces with his brother John Maxey to form the Independent Detroit based Probe 1 Production Company. Throughout the 70’s and into the 80’s the brothers continued to produce and record releases on many Detroit groups and solo artists which appeared on several of their labels. Ivy himself recorded several solo outings such as “Ain’t No Black & White In Music / When Does The Loving Start” (Red Line PRL-01) and “ Everytime I See You It’s Hello / Anthem (Midwest 011087) as well as singing lead vocals on North By Northeast’s “Pain Of City Living/Slave Of Society (Probe 1)."¨"¨Their only releases to break out of Detroit nationally were the mellifluous “Two On A Cloud / Grown Up Fairy Tale” (Buddah 556) recorded by Curt Darin (a.k.a Curtis Gadson) but this release coincided with 20th Century’s buy out of Buddah records and the record failed to make any major impact. Followed by ex Dramatic Willie “Weegee” Howards local Detroit hit for Ju-Par Records “Hold On To Your Dreams” which was later picked up by the major Cottilion label. Ivy eventually hit paydirt when in 1985 David Bowie and Mick Jagger covered “Dancing In The Street” as their contribution to the Live Aid Appeal. "¨"¨And so to the present, for this release Soul Junction have selected two previously unissued tracks from circa 1979 that Ivy Jo cut for Probe 1 productions. The excellent mid paced dancer “See You Around” b/w the sublime ballad “Yea, Yea, Yea” which showcases Ivy’s vocal talents to perfection.

By Louise in Articles · September 21, 201212 yr

Released today on Streetsoul Records.The Ultimate 45!!

Bobby Boyd "Why Are You Crying" from the ultra rare 1976 album b/w the previously unreleased "I Went Along With Your Program" Killer real soul!

First time on a 45 for this.

Go to www.streetsoulrecords.com

Listen to this at http://www.streetsou....com/page44.htm

Also available from Crazy Beat, Simply Soul, John Manship, Northern Soul Direct,
Soul Brother & many others.

This is a Limited Press.

By Guest Andyd in News Archives · September 19, 201212 yr

There is an interview with The Dells in the October edition (out now) of Record Collector.

Here is what the Record Collector website has to say....you must either buy the mag or subscribe to read the whole article at the following link:

You must be a subscriber to view the full article, subscribe now for full access to all online content.

Already a Magazine Subscriber? Register now for online access.

The greatest vocal group to have ever opened their mouths are calling it a day — after six decades of groundbreaking, heartrending records. The Dells bare their souls to Garth Cartwright

Let’s make things clear from the start: I believe The Dells possess the richest, most distinctive vocal blend in American music history. The drama of their sound involves a gospel force-field matched with the emotional engagements of a keen and loving heart. In song their voices weave and climb — a vocal basketball team of sorts, lots of deft passing and rim shots — gathering around Marvin Junior, who delivers the final slam dunk. For dramatic, complex, emotionally drenched harmonies, The Dells are 20th Century masters.

2012 finds The Dells celebrating their diamond jubilee — 60 years as a group — and also announcing their retirement. This is not a huge surprise; the group has not performed or recorded since lead tenor Johnny Carter was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2008. Carter, who joined The Dells in 1961 when original lead tenor Johnny Funches declined to return to the road, had previously enjoyed success with The Flamingos: thus he was one of the rare individuals to enter the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame in two separate groups. He died on 21 August 2009. Since then soul music’s most golden voices have remained silent.
I travelled to Chicago in 2006 to interview The Dells for my book More Miles Than Money: Journeys Through American Music (Serpent’s Tail) and enjoyed an afternoon in the company of …

Also in the edition is an e-bay oMeter article listing the top 10 big sales in records for the past month. It shows 5 out of the 10 were Northern Soul 45's including The Professionals That's Why I Love You on Groove City (£1932).

All the 5 were not in mint condition and article asks imagine what the price would have been if mint, and how many classic Northern Soul 45's have survived in such condition?

First posting to Soul Source, I hope it is of interest.

By Soulwolf in News Archives · September 18, 201212 yr

Soul Up North

Issue 76 out now...

CLARENCE REID on the bright orange cover, inside..

£3... plus £1.40 postage paypal.... Use gift option to avoid fees...

Email stevecato64@yahoo.co.uk or drop us a message on here....

or visit the website at http://www.soulupnorth.co.uk

Inside this issue...

‘Blood, Sweat & Staples (pt3)
Dave McCadadden’s fanzines ‘It’s The Beat’ Martin Scragg
Funk In Yo’ Face , Clarence Reid Howard Priestley
An Interview with members of ‘The Detroit Soul’ — SoulmanJan, Willie West (pt2) — Dan Phillips
Bearsouls b-sides
Hitting the decks.. Wayne Hudson
Venue reports....Andy Bellwood
Cd reviews
Spotlight on soul intentions lable.. Phil Dick
What is northern....Phillip Bolton
Collecting British
LPs are good too.. Daryl Scott
Soulful 70s.. Steve Plumb
Spotlight on soul junction lable..
Modern musings... Mark Randal
Deep soul corner
Carl Davis RIP..
Double siders... Martyn Bird
Niter planner

etc.....

By Little-stevie in News Archives · September 17, 201212 yr

Friday 21st September event is the last scheduled Wilton allnighter for 2012, and the next and final allnighter will be arranged around the 20th Anniversary sometime in March 2013. It is with deep regret that we have no alternative but to close the Wilton allnighter. The event is just not viable; the books don’t balance. For the first time in 19 years, the last anniversary night lost money (£470). We have tried everything to make it work, but the facts are simple: if people don’t attend in sufficient numbers to balance the books, we just can’t continue.

We have had some fantastic nights over the years, and we would like to thank you, the fans, for your support; also our regular and guest DJ’s who have continued to find new records and put together some fantastic sets.

We have finally come to the end of the road. The number of fans on the soul scene has exploded over the last five years but not in our direction. Increased numbers of allnighters, soul nights, and weekenders have taken their toll. In some respects, the Wilton has become a victim of its own success for several reasons: Our original music policy is now used at other venues all over the UK, so we are not special any more; we don’t get the travellers any more, they now choose their local venues; fuel costs have compounded the problem; many of our regulars are now promoting their own venues, which doesn’t help our situation; Saturday night events will always take preference to Friday’s; the list goes on. There’s nothing we can do about the situation apart from take our final bow at our 20th Anniversary in March 2013.

We hope to continue with our Soulful Sessions Nights next year if we can secure dates from the management.

The success of the next Soulful Session Night on Saturday, 10th November, with a special live performance from Darrow Fletcher, is crucial to us securing dates for 2013. We need all the support we can get for Darrow Fletcher, and the future of soul at the Wilton.

Tickets for this special event are available online at
www.wheatsheaf.com/allnighter or on Friday at the allnighter.

Thank you for being part of our lives for 20 soulful years. Mouse — Boxy & Val

By Boxy in Event News · September 17, 201212 yr

A ten-year gap in this three-part CD series has given Kent time to root out the final Northern Soul treasures from this most prolific and mysterious group of black music labels. Great tracks come from the connoisseur' s favourites Charles Spurling, James Duncan and Mary Johnson proving their work to be substantially more than flashes in pans. Pioneers of black music Hank Ballard, Little Willie John and Otis Williams venture into the soul years with three excellent offerings, while Royal Flush and the Presidents Band dip their toes into the 70s to great effect. Willie Hatcher and Mill Evans are Detroit and Chicago legends and these two lesser-known numbers show how consistently solid their performances were.

All the King labels licensed tracks-in from around the USA but Hollywood was a later acquisition which not surprisingly issued mainly West Coast recordings. It would have been remiss of Kent not to include great singers Northern Soul favourites such as Hal Hardy & Freddie Williams, Marva Whitney and Robert Moore and their appearances further strengthen this disc.

But probably the biggest buzz for discerning collectors will be to hear out of left field releases such as William Patton's slightly stoned It Hurts Me and Mike Williams grammatically intriguing and rhythmically irresistible Something You Didn't Done .

The following is what Ady Croasdell has to say about the release:

The King group of labels — Federal, DeLuxe, Hollywood etc — were hugely productive throughout the soul era, so there are hundreds of releases which have taken years to locate. Hence the 10-year gap since “King Northern Soul Vol 2” was released.

Northern Soul collectors used to see the blue King label, immediately think “funky”, skip by it and continue the search for an “arranged by Mike Terry” denotation. There is no doubt that a drab grey label such as DeLuxe (as the Dave & Vee 45 from 1969) discourages the listener even before the needle drops. The mainly monochrome aspects of these labels could never compete with the colourful splashes of Groovesville, Giant, Tayster, Pzazz etc in building up the listener’s expectations; inevitably the music was undermined. We have mainly got over those prejudices now, but it is still a shock to hear how good some of those collected tracks sound on CD.

The more obvious big Northern sounds were featured on the first two volumes of this series but there are some great numbers here that have become very collectible over the years. Charles Spurling’s ‘That’s My Zone’ and his song ‘Unwind Yourself’ for Marva Whitney both sound very cutting edge for today’s funk-edged fans, as do the Brownettes and Charles’ super-groove ‘Popcorn Charlie’. There are some terrific tracks from long-serving King acts, such as Hank Ballard’s Rudy Clark-penned ‘I’m Just A Fool’, Otis Williams’ ‘When We Get Together’ and Little Willie John’s Drifters-inspired ‘Until Again My Love’.

The lesser-known Hollywood label is responsible for four excellent tracks from Robert Moore (who would go on to sing about ‘Party Freaks’ with Miami), L.H. & The Memphis Sounds (one of Packy Axton’s many bands) and Hal Hardy, who provides the superb ‘Name In Lights’; my hum in the head song of the month.

There is an increasing movement to play southern soul tracks at Northern Soul dances nowadays; although King was based in Cincinatti, they licensed in southern productions; mainly from Nashville and Macon. The Toni Williams, Dan Brantley and James Duncan tracks are all evidence of that growing trend. And, although we have recently issued a New Breed R&B compilation drawn from the King group, there are still some of those influences contained in the songs from Mary Johnson, Mike Williams and Oscar Toney Jr.
All but two of the 24 tracks are from King’s wonderfully preserved master tapes and sound alive again on CD. The booklet, with its amazing cover photo of the Presidents Band, is a darn sight prettier than an old DeLuxe label too.

By Ady Croasdell

Listen to a little King Teaser:

http://soundcloud.com/chalkster/king-sampler

Buy from Ace records with free delivery;

http://acerecords.co.uk/king-northern-soul-volume-3?update

Full track listing:

01 That's My Zone (He's Pickin' On ) - Charles Spurling"¨
02 Unwind Yourself - Marva Whitney"¨
03 Do You Love Me - Dave & Vee
"¨04 Right Now - Mill Evans"¨
05 Searching For Your Love - Robert Moore
"¨06 You Got To Prove It - Dan Brantley
"¨07 Out Of Control - L.H. & The Memphis Sounds"¨
08 Who's Got A Woman Like Mine - Willie Hatcher"¨
09 Popcorn Charlie - Charles Spurling"¨
10 Name In Lights - Freddie Williams"¨
11 Tearing Down My Mind - Toni Williams"¨
12 Please, Johnny, Don't You Take My Life - James Duncan"¨
13 Something You Didn't Done - Mike Williams"¨
14 Baby, Don't You Know - The Brownettes"¨
15 Thunder - Lord Thunder"¨
16 Our Meeting - The Presidents Band
"¨17 I'm Just A Fool (And Everybody Knows) - Hank Ballard"¨
18 When We Get Together - Otis Williams & His Charms"¨
19 Until Again My Love - Little Willie John"¨
20 Keep On Loving Me - Oscar Toney Jr
21 House Of Broken Hearts - Hal Hardy with the Billy Cox Band"¨
22 You Have My Blessings - Mary Johnson
"¨23 Mama's Baby - Royal Flush
"¨24 It Hurts Me - William Patton

By Chalky in News Archives · September 16, 201212 yr

For the second article highlighting Dave Godin's Column from Blues & Soul, the scans feature the readers choice.

The first scan is from Issue 44, 1970. As you will see Dave Godin asked readers to send in their favourite sounds.

I remember one or two names, I get a mention I am at the top of Column 2 "John Evans from Colwyn Bay" picking a Ben E King flip side which is probably still my favourite track today!

You will notice a couple of paragraphs below my name check is Derek Howe from That Beating Rhythm!

Also fascinating is the mention of the alleged Motown/Mafia connection which obviously must have concerned a few people at the time.

The following two scans are the 'We Get Letters' column from issue 49, December 1970.

You will see the names of a few stalwarts of the scene, some of whom are Soul Source members, do you get a name check?

By slimharpo in Articles · September 16, 201212 yr

David Bursey: A Soul Journeyman.

David Bursey is yet another one of soul music’s many unsung heroes, a soul journeyman who has spent a life time living the dream of recording a hit record. David Charles Bursey was born on May 23rd 1943 in the town of Ripley Tennessee. In 1952, David’s family took the well trodden path north in search of a better life eventually settling in Milwaukee Wisconsin. Upon leaving school David worked intermittently in the construction industry during which time he began performing with a street corner group known as the ‘Four Souls’ whose line up also included David’s childhood friend Eddie L. Quinn, Lee Harris and Roosevelt Morgan. No recording were ever made. In 1967 David met his partner of forty four years, Ruby White. Together Ruby and David raised a family of six daughters. Also around this time David began employment as a Butcher at the United Packing Slaughter House. An occupation that David would eventually leave behind him to pursue a career as a full time performer. During the late 1960’s and early 1970’s David would feature in the line up of several notable Milwaukee harmony groups.

Photo:- James “JB” Young, Centre David Bursey, Right Robert Wardell. Front sitting down Celeste Campbell.

In 1965 David was a founding member of the Candi Bars with Celeste Campbell and James ‘JB’ Young. The group later grew to four members with the addition of Robert Wardell in 1966. Wardell remained with group for a period of circa twelve months before he moved on. The Candi-Bars solitary 45 recording was released during 1968 on their own Candi-Stix label, and was recorded at Tom Gress’s Studio in Milwaukee.The record sold well locally but never broke out nationally. Two presses of the 45 can be found the yellow first issue and a second release on the silver label design. A later reissue can be found on the Gule label. Many of the silver issues can be found with reversed labels. A possible explanation for this could be that on the first yellow issue ‘I Believe In You’ is credited as the A-side (100-A) but the songs master number in the run out groove is (100-B) thus when the record was re-pressed the pressing plant thinking by putting the A-side label with A-side master were doing the right thing ? David can be found as the co-writer along with Celeste Campbell on the ‘Your The One’ side a popular track with sweet soul collectors, while the flipside‘I Believe In You’ became a popular track with the emerging crossover scene in England in the mid 1980’s and remains a current favourite to this day. The Candi -Bars eventually broke up for personal reasons although they all still live in and around Milwaukee and have remained in contact to this day. After they broke up James ‘JB’ Young continued with his day job as a truck driver until his forced retirement due to renal problems. Celeste Campbell who previously to the Candi-Bars had been a member of a three girl high school group turned her back on a performing career choosing to devote her life to raising her daughter."¨

David joined Gerry Armstead’s group known as the ‘Phases’ and feature on their 1969 release ‘Anything You Wan’na Be/Sing Your Song (Capitol 2684).The group also included Tom Burke (now deceased). Both sides of the Capitol release were composed by Gerry Armstead and Bill ‘Bunky’ Sheppard with ‘Anything You Wan’na Be’ being chosen as the all too familiar X “Bunky’s PICK”. The Phases later broke up due to an alleged contract dispute between Armstead and Sheppard with David and Tom joining Robert Gardner and Clarence ‘Sijo’ McGee to form the group known as the Brothers By Choice. It was at this point David quit his day job at United. The Brothers By Choice headed west to Los Angeles to further their career. The firstly approached Capitol records on the strength of their previous release as the Phases, but Capitol weren’t interested. After a period of three years of no success David, Robert and Clarence later returned to their native Milwaukee, with Tom remaining in L.A eventually being ordained in to the ministry. Clarence then reformed the Brothers By Choice with his brothers Boss and Larry McGee alongside Robert Gardner who went on to record “You Think That I’m A Fool/Can’t You See” for Calgar records (0002) in 1973.

The Brothers By Choice circa 1970: - Tom Burke, Robert Gardner, SiJo Mcgee & David Bursey

Left to right: Tom Burke, Gerry Armstead and David Bursey

On his return to Milwaukee, David was invited by his old friend Gilbert Moorer to join the Esquires. During his involvement with the Esquires, David featured as the lead vocalist on the group’s “ Henry Ralph” recording and also as a backing vocalist on the release’s flipside” My Sweet Baby”. For a very long time this was thought to have been a UK only 45 release on John Abbey’s Action label. But eventually US 45 releases began to appear on Hotline records a division of Cutlass Records from Nashville, Tennessee. One would assume that this was part of the same deal that also saw former Esquire Mill Edwards (aka Mill Evans)” I Found Myself/Don’t Forget About Me” gain a Cutlass release.

David continued to perform through the rest of the 1970’s and early 80’s but with a frequent back pain from a injury sustained while working at a Hotel restricting his performances. In the early 1980’s David and Eddie L. Quinn were joined by Jimmy Taylor and Alvis Moorer of the Esquires to form a group known as “Ice” no recordings were ever released. . In 1988 David recorded the self penned popular modern soul dance track “Got To Get Away/Rainy Night In Georgia” under the pseudonym of Noah a childhood nickname given to him by his mother.

In 1991 David teamed up with again with former fellow Esquire Sam Pace and Eddie L. Quinn to form a group known as Fairplay. Several tracks were recorded but through lack of finances nothing was ever released. It is from these sessions that we at Soul Junction have taken the funky little dancer “ Don’t Let Our Love Go (vocal and instrumental versions ) for release (SJ517). Fairplay drifted apart for a while before reforming in circa 2006 this time with 5 members David Bursey, Eddie L. Quinn, Joe Hayes, Charles Ross and Chuck Mays. Again this was to be a short lived affair.

Photo:- Sylvester Mackintosh, David Bursey and the late Reverend Eddie L. Quinn

In 2010 David Bursey recorded a solo cd album entitled “If” which can still be found for sale via CD Baby.

David still continues to perform as much as his health permits, as can be seen in his most recent photo taken while on stage at the Milwaukee African World Festival of African Music in 2011.

Words by David Welding"¨"¨Acknowledgements to: David Bursey, Ruby White, James “JB” Young, Celeste Campbell and the late Reverend Eddie L. Quinn"¨Photographs: David Bursey & Ruby White."¨Label Scans: David Welding and the Candi-Bars on Gule courtesy of Bob Abrahamian.

Listen to the forthcoming Soul junction Release, "FairPlay" with "Don't Let Our Love Go"

Listen on Soundcloud.com

"¨

By Louise in Articles · September 15, 201212 yr

Backbeats Artists Series - First 5 Releases — Track Listings

Since its launch in early 2010, the Backbeats Series has subsequently released 30 compilations covering numerous genres within black music throughout the previous 50 years all at an incredible budget price which appeals to consumers. This is probably the reason why combined sales of the series have now reached 125,000 and are continuing to grow.

Following the demand for the multi-artist compilations, we decided that it would be great if we could target the same market with a similar-value range of artist compilations drawn from the same areas of appeal that the various artists Backbeats compilations draw from.

So welcome to the Backbeats Artists series which will regularly release incredible value artist compilations that have been compiled by experts and produced with love. We kick off with 5 great artists from black music’s illustrious history…………

All the following for less than £5.00 each including P&P! How’s that for value?

BACKBART001 Holland & Dozier — The Creative Corporation
Compiled by Steve Edgar

1. Don't Leave Me (Vocal) 3.14 - Holland & Dozier
2. Why Can't We Be Lovers 4.03 - Holland & Dozier
3. Don't Leave Me Starving For Your Love PT1 3.23 - Holland & Dozier
4. Don't Leave Me Starving For Your Love PT2 2.18 - Holland & Dozier
5. Slipping Away 3.24 - Holland & Dozier
6. Can't Get Enough 2.36 - Holland & Dozier
7. New Breed Kinda Woman 2.51 - Holland & Dozier
8. If You Don't Want To Be In My Life 3.06 - Holland & Dozier
9. I'm Gonna Hijack Ya, Kidnap Ya, Take What I Want 3.40 - Holland & Dozier
10. You Took Me From A World Outside 3.40 - Holland & Dozier
11. I'm So Glad Pt1 3.57 - Holland & Dozier
12. Super Woman (You Ain't No Ordinary Woman) 4.01 - Holland & Dozier
13. Let's Get Together 3.49 - Holland & Dozier
14. Don't Stop Playing Our Song 3.46 - Holland & Dozier
15. The Picture Will Never Change 4.33 - Holland & Dozier
16. Lady By Day 4.22 - Holland & Dozier
17. Where Did We Go Wrong 4.13 - Holland & Dozier
18. Don’t Leave Me (Instrumental) 2.48 - Holland & Dozier

Amazon Link:

http://www.amazon.co...46423711&sr=1-1

BACKBART002 Laura Lee — Supreme Soul Diva
Compiled by Dean Rudland

1. Woman’s Love Rights 5.12 - Laura Lee
2. Wedlock Is A Padlock 3.07 - Laura Lee
3. Love and Liberty 3.03 - Laura Lee
4. It’s Not What You Fall For, It’s What You Stand For 6.29 - Laura Lee
5. Since I Fell For You (Parts 1 & 2) 8.01 - Laura Lee
6. Two Lovely Pillows 3.33 - Laura Lee
7. Her Picture Matches Mine 3.52 - Laura Lee
8. I Can’t Make It Alone 3.06 - Laura Lee
9. Don’t Leave Me Starving For Your Love 2.59 - Laura Lee
10. We’ve Come Too Far To Walk Away 4.33 - Laura Lee
11. I Need It Just As Bad As You 2.57 - Laura Lee
12. Crumbs Off The Table 3.34 - Laura Lee
13. Rip Off 3.15 - Laura Lee
14. If I’m Good Enough To Love (I’m Good Enough To Marry) 3.38 - Laura Lee
15. Guess Who I Saw Today 3.51 - Laura Lee
16. If You Can’t Beat Me Rockin’ (You Can Have My Chair) 2.52 - Laura Lee
17. You’ve Got To Save Me 3.15 - Laura Lee
18. I’ll Catch You When You Fall 3.53 - Laura Lee
19. At Last (My Love Has Come Along) 4.34 - Laura Lee
20. Mirror Of Your Soul 4.43 - Laura Lee

Amazon Link:

http://www.amazon.co...46423711&sr=1-5

BACKBART003 Tommie Young — Shreveport Soulstress
Compiled by Dean Rudland

1. That's How Strong My Love Is 3.14 - Tommie Young
2. Everybody's Got A Little Devil In Their Soul 3.38 - Tommie Young
3. You Came Just In Time 2.40 - Tommie Young
4. Hit And Run Lover 2.32 - Tommie Young
5. Midsummer Dream 3.16 - Tommie Young
6. Do You Still Feel The Same Way? 3.41 - Tommie Young
7. You Brought It All On Yourself 3.49 - Tommie Young
8. That's All A Part Of Loving Him 3.17 - Tommie Young
9. She Don't Have To See You (To See Through You) 3.09 - Tommie Young
10. Do We Have A Future? 2.26 - Tommie Young
11. You Can Only Do Wrong So Long 2.41 - Tommie Young
12. Take Time To Know Him 3.14 - Tommie Young
13. Get Out Of My Life 2.48 - Tommie Young
14. I'm Not Going To Cry Anymore 3.04 - Tommie Young
15. One Sided Love Affair 3.24 - Tommie Young
16. You Can't Have Your Cake (And Eat It Too) 3.30 - Tommie Young

Amazon Link:

http://www.amazon.co...46423711&sr=1-3

BACKBART004 Willie Mitchell — Memphis Rhythm King
Compiled by Dean Rudland

1. Everythings’s Gonna Be Alright 2.23 - Willie Mitchell
2. 30-60-90 2.25 - Willie Mitchell
3. That Driving Beat 2.07 - Willie Mitchell
4. My Babe 2.21 - Willie Mitchell
5. Mercy 2.09 - Willie Mitchell
6. The Champion 2.13 - Willie Mitchell
7. Cleo’s Mood 2.22 - Willie Mitchell
8. 20-75 2.14 - Willie Mitchell
9. Wade In The Water - Willie Mitchell
10. Grazin’ In The Grass - Willie Mitchell
11. You Can’t Sit Down 2.02 - Willie Mitchell
12. Toddlin’ 2.06 - Willie Mitchell
13. Poppin’ 2.18 - Willie Mitchell
14. Pearl Time 2.30 - Willie Mitchell
15. Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag 2.12 - Willie Mitchell
16. The Horse 2.29 - Willie Mitchell
17. Barefootin’ 2.13 - Willie Mitchell
18. Breaking Point 3.03 - Willie Mitchell
19. Six To Go 2.14 - Willie Mitchell
20. Big Power House 2.22 - Willie Mitchell
21. Prayer Meeting 2.13 - Willie Mitchell
22. Turn Back The Hands Of Time 2.47 - Willie Mitchell
23. Teenie’s Dream 2.10 - Willie Mitchell
24. Groovin’ 3.00 - Willie Mitchell

Amazon Link:

http://www.amazon.co...46423711&sr=1-2

BACKBART005 Honey Cone — Scorching Soul Trio
Compiled by Dean Rudland

1. Want Ads (Long Version) 3.48 - Honey Cone
2. While You’re Out Looking For Sugar (Album Version) 3.14 - Honey Cone
3. Sunday Morning People 2.42 - Honey Cone
4. Son Of A Preacher Man 2.26 - Honey Cone
5. Are You Man Enough Are You Strong Enough 3.17 - Honey Cone
6. Take My Love 3.09 - Honey Cone
7. The Feeling’s Gone 2.51 - Honey Cone
8. When Will It End 2.52 - Honey Cone
9. We Belong Together 3.10 - Honey Cone
10. It’s Better To Have Love And Lost 2.42 - Honey Cone
11. If I Can’t Fly 3.23 - Honey Cone
12. Take Me With You 2.59 - Honey Cone
13. All The Kings Horses (And All The Kings Men) 3.48 - Honey Cone
14. Don’t Count Your Chickens (Before They Hatch) 3.01 - Honey Cone
15. How Does It Feel 3.09 - Honey Cone
16. One Monkey Don’t Stop No Show (Part 1) 3.31 - Honey Cone
17. Stick Up 3.02 - Honey Cone
18. Who’s It Gonna Be 5.53 - Honey Cone
19. Sitting On A Time Bomb (Waitin’ On The Hurt To Come) 3.40 - Honey Cone
20. Innocent ‘Til Proven Guilty 3.28 - Honey Cone
21. Woman Can’t Live By Bread Alone 3.05 - Honey Cone
22. Stay In My Corner 4.57 - Honey Cone

Amazon Link:

http://www.amazon.co...46423711&sr=1-4

We currently have around 30 more Backbeats Artists albums in the pipeline and we'll be releasing them 5 at a time every couple of months, so watch this space!

Ian D

By Ian Dewhirst in News Archives · September 14, 201212 yr

The tickets will all have gone by the end of Wednesday this week so grab them now or regret it for the rest of your lives!
£20 each, cheques payable to A Croasdell, Flat 10, 108 Gt Titchfield St, London W1W 6SN enc SAE if possible.
PayPal is £20.75 each to ady.croasdell@btinternet.com
6TS 2013 dates
100 Club All Nighters
10pm-6am
Jan 12
Feb 16
Mar 16
May 18
July 6
Aug 17th
Sept 21st
Nov 2
Dec 7
Cleethorpes Northern Soul Weekender
June 7-9
Crossfire Oldies All Nighters
229 Great Portland St London W1
11pm-6am
Mar 31
Oct 12th
100 Club Xmas party
Thurs 19th Dec
9pm-2am
Ady Croasdell
http://www.6ts.info

By Mike in Event News · September 11, 201212 yr

just a reminder that can keep up to date when elsewhere
just like page to be kept in the loop
https://www.facebook.com/soulsourcesoul/
twitter
https://twitter.com/soulsourcenews
all public and no need to friend anyone etc etc

By Mike in News Archives · September 10, 201212 yr

Thanks to Mark Randle for his summer choice of Modern Soul and special thanks to Howard Earnshaw and Soul Up North for allowing us to use Mark's article. This will hopefully be a regular piece with marks recommendations of recent Modern Soul releases.
Soul Up North Is just about to Issue it's 75th Issue...more details to follow as soon as I get them.

Modern Musings………news and grooves from the Modern Side with Mark Randle
I love sport, but had not really given any thought to the Olympics, and of course you would have to be accompanying the NASA rover Curiosity on it’s trip to Mars to be unaware that it was being held in London this time around. I enjoy football, racquet sports etc, etc but have never really considered myself a fan of watching track and field, swimming, cycling and the like. But I’ve got to say that having watched the opening ceremony and being engaged by that, I spent the two weeks that followed glued to the TV when work and such like didn’t get in the way. Maybe it was the added interest of it being on home soil, but I was absolutely riveted to it all and have to say a massive well done to Team GB on third place in the medal table; bring on Rio 2016!! On a more general note, I think 2012 has been a great year for GB, what with the games and the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations. I’m sure some of the more cynical or Republican amongst you might disagree, but I reckon it’s been a year in which to be very proud to be British, and 2012 has done us a lot of favours through the eyes of the rest of the world.
It was nice to see the weather hold out for the games too, aside from that first weekend. I don’t know what the record books say, but 2012 must be some sort of record for rainfall during the summer months. After all I’ve said about being proud to be British, in this particular respect I could easily leave the country!! I don’t know about you, but I feel that winter is a long and miserable time in many ways, and when we don’t get much of a summer to compensate it’s not good for the old endorphins. We really do need those rays for a few months. Anyway, my first track for review is from Noah & The Ark’s…………….….only kidding!
Down to business, and after much will they, won’t they, the biggest news I have for you this ish is that the Prestatyn Weekender returns in 2013 over at Pontins Holiday Centre in Prestatyn on the North Wales coast. Once again being promoted by Pontins themselves, of course now owned by Britannia Hotels Group, and featuring a blend of Northern, Rare 60’s and Modern soul, the event is to be held over the weekend of 8-10 March 2013. All things Northern Soul remain in the control of John Poole, but there are changes on the Modern side, with Richard Searling responsible for organising the more contemporary aspects of the event. DJ’s confirmed for the main modern room are Bigger, Colin Curtis, Andy Davies, Mick Farrer, Fish, Fitzroy, Jim Hargreaves, Steve Hobbs, Terry Jones, John Kane, Neil Rushton, Neil Self, Mike Stephens and myself. Taking care of business on the 70’s/crossover front are Kev Briscoe, Andy Davies, Sean Hampsey, Ivor Jones, Terry Jones, Steve Plumb, Ady Pountain , Soul Sam, Cliff Steele, Andy “Tats” Taylor and Glynn Thornhill. A quick mention that Northern fans can salivate at the prospect of The Vibrations live in concert, but for you good folks reading these pages I can tell you that Vince “Audio” Broomfield from the Sunshine State is making his way to these shores for live duties too. Many of you will be aware that Vince is one of our real indie soul heroes from both his solo work and that with his extended family as La Voyage. The former of course has seen him recently releasing quality unreleased music from the vaults, along with new material, for Dave Welding/John Anderson’s Soul Junction Records here in the UK. If you’re not familiar with Vince, then please check out my one-off Starpoint Radio special for July 2012 at http://starpointsoulboy.podomatic.com/ (see play list below) to hear some of his fine catalogue from across the years, and to prepare you for his live show next March. Tickets for the weekend, which are selling very nicely thank you, can be obtained on 0844 576 5949, 01745 881800 or at www.pontins.com, with a variety of packages to suit all purses. Don’t sleep though, as certain types of accommodation are all but sold out!!
After a successful inaugural event last November, The Scottish Soulful Weekender returns for SSW2 on 2-4 November 2012. The venue once again is the Cairndale Hotel in English Street, Dumfries, DG1 2DF and following a few tweaks as a result of lessons learned at the first event it looks set to be another blinder. Featuring DJ’s such as Tony Humphries, DJ Spen, Gilles Peterson (TBC), Greg Wilson, Al Kent, Paul ‘Trouble’ Anderson, Ian Levine, Ian Wright, Snowboy and with Darrow Fletcher appearing live, the weekender looks to confirm itself as a major player on the dance/soul scene. The line-ups, organisation and effort put in from day one at this event says it all and the promoters are worthy of your support.
Following our mega Summer All Dayer, Soul Purpose returns for a more modest, but non-the-less essential regular session on Friday 7 September. Guest DJ making his Soul Purpose debut is Bournemouth Weekender head honcho Bob Masters. I’m sure you know the score by now, but if you’re a virgin (no, not like that!) then the place to be is Sketchley Grange Hotel, Hinckley, Leics. LE10 3HU. We run 8pm through 1am with door tax just six of your English pounds. Master Masters will be supported of course by residents Sam Evans, Mark Goddard and myself. See you there for lots of what follow below:
Joey Negro And The Sunburst Band Most cuts (UK Z Records LP/CD “The Secret Life Of Us”)

The new set from Joey Negro’s Sunburst band has the look and feel of summer, so it’s ironic that it’s probably the wettest one on record for 100 years!! Oh well, based on the old adage that the cup is half full, rather than half empty, we should view this feel good set as the perfect antidote and just the ticket to lift our spirits and at least make it seem a little like summer! As one would expect it is full of up tempo soul, soulful house and jazz-funk and kicks off in fine style with a cover of a real Randle favourite from back in the day, in the shape of Brenda Russell’s “In The Thick of It”, here featuring the vocals of the great Angela Johnson. A nice jazzy feel to an impressive version. Following US vocalist Angela, comes the UK’s Pete Simpson on the slightly more straight-up soulful house groove of “Why Wait For Tomorrow.” Diane Charlemagne impresses on the low slung, mid-tempo groover “My Way” before the instrumental “Jazz The DMX,” actually sounding more funk like than jazz, though the piano on top does provide a jazzy icing to this particular cake. The semi-vocal “Easy Come, Easy Go” has an 80’s electro feel and in truth is over before it starts, which is a shame because it’s a right groove. Darien takes us back to the full vocals, featuring on the great “Where The Lights Meet The Music”, with the hook sounding uncannily like the Jones Girls classic “Nights Over Egypt.” Quality dance floor material encouraging you to “spend your nights where the lights meet the music.” One of the albums highlights is the bouncing, bass-driven Incognito like title cut with Donna Gardier and Diane Charlemagne sharing vocal duties. I have to say that Pete Simpson’s “Caught In The Moment” doesn’t really do it for me, opening like a piece of American MOR pop/rock, but maybe it’s just me? “Opus De Soul” is another Incognito like instrumental groove; nice enough to provide an interlude between the killers. Vivienne McKone’s “Trust Me” is actually a funked-up version of an old Viv cut from the Y2K’s. Nice, but if you don’t know the smoother original then check that out first! The last five cuts on the album are a further mix of vocal/semi-vocal and instrumental cuts with an 80’s feel, but you’ve already had the highlights of this great set over the first two-thirds of it. Another quality offering from one of the UK’s finest purveyors of good time dance floor friendly grooves.
R. Kelly Various cuts (US RCA CD “Write Me Back: Deluxe Edition”)

Having delivered lots of quality cuts over the years popular on the UK soul scene, and often bridging the gap between the modern and rare soul scenes, Robert Kelly returns with his strongest album for some time. The set opens with the up tempo “Love Is”, which has the feel of David Ruffin’s “Walk Away From Love” despite the difference in tempo and it not being credited…….yep, it’s there alright! “Feelin’ Single” takes the tempo down a touch and has a nice Rod Temperton feel (think Tamia “You Put A Move On My Heart”), but with no involvement evident from Rod. The cut credits the use of Bill Wither’s “Lovely Day”, though I’d say it’s less obvious than the “Walk Away…..” influence on the opening cut. Strange but true. “Lady Sunday” is an obvious radio pick from the set and is quite fabulous. “When A Man Lies” and “Clipped Wings” take the tempo right down and provide the man the opportunity to prove that he can sing a bit. “Believe That It’s So” is one of the albums highlights, a string laden mid-tempo gem with an anthem feel a la “Happy People.” “Fool For You” trips along with an old school feel, as does “All Rounds On Me” with a vocal intro followed by a very Ray Charles influenced electric piano run. It turns into a swing your pants electric guitar laced number which isn’t really for me. “Believe In Me” and “Green Light” are fairly typical Kelly ballads. “Party Jumpin’” is instantly forgettable from our viewpoint, with the only thing going for it being that it sits alongside the albums big dance floor cut and one which will need no introduction. “Share My Love” has been doing the rounds on the UK modern scene for months thanks to the “dodgy download” that is such a big part of our music in the 21st century. Anyway, it’s here now available to all, but vinyl junkies need to decide what’s more important, the music or the format, because this is only available on CD album and looks set to stay that way. It’s a typical Kelly dance floor groove with more of that hands in the air anthem feel, as he declares that he wants to share his love with his girl for the rest of his life, though it’s clear what his short-term goal is!! There are four bonus cuts on this deluxe edition with “One Step Closer” being the pick, but you can probably live without these if its dance floor grooves you’re after.
Big Brooklyn Red Various cuts (US Trusoul Records CD “Answer The Call”)

One of the most sought after mid-tempo dance floor gems of the past couple of years, “Taking It Too Far” finally gets to see the light of day, with quantity of this US release now in the UK. This is one of those stories of myth and legend, which I believe goes a little something like this. The CD was originally released in 2008, pressed in the US, but only ever distributed in Japan. Confused yet? The result was an excruciatingly hard to come by CD containing a much sought after track. Of course these days the impact of such shenanigans is mitigated by the availability to all via MP3 and CDR, but for the collectors amongst us, we need the real thing and our need is now satisfied. To complete the story, and add to the allure, it is the track of choice, “Taking It Too…” which caused it’s limited distribution, as the cut uses Lowrell’s “Mellow, Mellow Right On” as it’s foundation, and it was lack of clearance for the use of this which lead to it being pulled from release. Presumably this has now been resolved. Anyway, it’s here in all its glory but what you need me to tell you is that this is far from a one trick pony, and for those that aren’t aware of Big Brooklyn Red you really need to check him out. Visually not your typical big voiced American soul singer, the old adage never judge a book by its cover comes into play here. “Home To You” and “Believe In Yourself” get the set underway nicely, the former with some great brass weaving around Red’s resonant vocals. The aforementioned big cut comes in at track three, and you don’t need me to tell you much more than I already have about this, except that there is further use of brass to fine effect as this plods along with Red’s quality vocal telling the story of a break up, and an effort to remain friends, but with the lady being intrusive on his new life he proclaims that she is “taking it too far, to ever get me back baby…..” Though you wouldn’t guess from the intro, and could therefore easily bypass it, “So Inspired” is another of the albums highlights, similar in style to “Taking It Too…” with that brass in there again. Though nice enough, with the exception of the duet with (Lady) Alma Horton “Sunrays”, nothing really reaches the heights of the four opening cuts until the album comes to a close, where the title track shines. This is precluded by an up tempo version of Marvin’s “Sexual Healing”, which you’ll either love or hate. The album closes with “Truth”, another up tempo mover with more great vocals from the man, accompanied by that brass again, plus nice piano and strings. Overall a decent album then this, and worthy of your hard-earned. And a tip for you, check out the 2002 12” release for Distant Music Patrick Green feat. Big Brooklyn Red “Shine Your Light On Me”, which was where I first heard of Red, it being a gospel house dancer of the highest order. I don’t half look after you lot!

Various Most cuts (UK Harmless LP/CD “PIR Classics: The Tom Moulton Remixes”)

Ian Dewhirst is known to most of us, either to the Northern Soul faithful as DJ “Frank” (Wigan Casino etc), or maybe from further down the line as compiler of the great Mastercuts compilations. Truth be told, Ian has earned his living from the music business for more years than he cares to remember, and now finds himself involved with the likes of heavyweight remixer Tom Moulton in pulling together Philly/disco compilations such as this one. Whatever your preference, this is a great package, either as a four CD box set with 31 tracks and accompanying booklet, or as 3 double LP’s featuring a dozen or so of the choice cuts from the CD. Of course, you could be a complete mug and buy the lot, but who would do a thing like that? (Er, you Randle? — Ed). Lot’s of great tracks then, from the more obvious (“Back Stabbers, “The Love I Lost”, “I Don’t Love You Anymore”, “You’ll Never Find Another Love Like Mine”) to the perhaps not so obvious (to us) such as “When Will I See You Again” by the Three Degrees. The only downside to all this of course, is that many readers of this particular magazine like the short, sharp get in, get out of the 3 or 4 minute tune, rather than an extended remix of what were already longish cuts in their original form. But if anybody’s going to remix and extend them, then I guess Tom Moulton’s your man, and many of these tracks are musically non-the-worse for Tom’s touch, which of course also lifts this from being just another straight-ahead PIR compilation. Lovers of soul music across the genres need this in their collection, the only question is……….vinyl or CD? Vinyl is the collector’s choice, but can you live without the other tracks? Over to you………
The Music Box with Mark Randle on Starpoint Radio playlist for July 2012:
The Sunburst Band ft. Angela Johnson- In The Thick Of It (UK Z Rec’s CD) Jarrard Anthony — I Love You (US JAPMEG CD)
Cool Million feat. Natasha Watts — Show Me (EU SedSoul CD) Perri — It’s Been You (US MCA LP)
R. Kelly — Lady Sunday (US RCA CD) Jennifer Holliday — It’s In There (US Arista CD)
Ron Carroll & Byron Stingily — I Owe My Love To You (EU Peppermint Jam CD) Teena Marie feat. Lenny Kravitz — Main Squeeze (US Sarai CD)
Rodney Mannsfield — Wanna Make Luv 2 U (US A&M CD) Richard Earnshaw feat. Natasha Watts — Won’t Let Go (Vocal Mix) (UK Duffnote MP3)
Johnny Gill — Wrap My Body Tight (UK Motown LP) Ralf GUM/Monique Bingham — Little W. 12th St. (J Montana Mix) (UK Solid Ground MP3)
Robbie Mychals — One Mile From Paradise (US Alpha International LP) Audio — Romantic (UK Rare Groove Records LP)
Ziggy Funk/Taliwa — What You Afraid Of (Ian Friday Mix) (US Quantize MP3) The Keepers feat. Audio — Can You Picture This (US Sterling Gold Records 12”)
Steven Stone & Wendy Lewis — New Lady (Original) (EU Soul Deluxe MP3) Audio feat. Vince Broomfield — Won’t Somebody (UK Soul Junction Records 7”)
GU feat. Cei Bei — Fall’en Raine (Original Vox Mix) (US NLC 12”) Howard Johnson — Several Exceptions (US Raven Mad Records CD)
Gregory Porter — On My Way To Harlem (US Motema Music CD) Big Brooklyn Red — So Inspired (US Trusoul Records CD)
Chidi — Someone (UK Selah Records CD) Princess Freesia — Stellar Sight (UK Digi Soul CD)

SIMPLY SOUL MAIL ORDER Top 10 (August 2012)
1. Various - Ferry Ultra and the Homeless Funkers (EU Peppermint Jam CD)
2. Sunburst Band — The Secret Life Of Us (UK Z Records LP/CD)
3. Cool Million — 111 (EU Sedsoul CD)
4. DJ Kemit — Everlasting (US NIA CD)
5. Various — PIR Classics: Tom Moulton Remixes (UK Harmless LP’s/CD box set)
6. R. Kelly — Write Me Back (Deluxe Version) (US RCA CD)
7. Various - Crossover To Modern Soul (UK Outta Sight CD)
8. Yambee — Blacker (UK Midnight Riot 12”)
9. Rhythm Machine — Rhythm Machine (w/ unreleased tracks) (US Now Again LP/CD)
10. Kon & The Gang — Get It Together (EU Basic Fingers 12”)
Tel - 0116 237 5461
Email - sales@firstexperiencerecords.com
Web - www.firstexperiencerecords.com
Soon be Christmas!
Mark

modern soul

By Mark R in Articles · September 10, 201212 yr

Just wanted to share this with all the soul fans here and in particular, Impressions fans.
I've more footage to be transfered yet but as a taster this is The Impressions opening song from their first night of two at the Jazz Cafe in London on Friday evening from their small but perfectly formed "The Soul Of Curtis Mayfield" Tour in the UK.

I'll be putting more up as soon as I can but for now enjoy this fabulous tune...

Eddie

By Guest eddiep in News Archives · September 10, 201212 yr

Blues & Soul Article Preparing For Visit To Wheel plus Soul Fans Name Checks...are you mentioned?

Here are scans for the B&S issue 48, December 1970 where DG announces his plans to visit The Wheel, interestingly there were concerns about it being closed down then! I will post up the report on the actual visit soon.

Blues & Soul Report Dave Godin Visit To Twisted Wheel & Pictures

My latest Public Service Post! B&S number 50. The iconic report of DG's visit to The Wheel. If anyone recognises themselves in the pics or recognises others who are still into Soul Music, perhaps they could post their info on here + anyone who was there but is not in the pics?

Later on I will post up issues where DG gives name checks to those who wrote into him about soul records, maybe you are in there?!

Blues & Soul 1975 Dave Godin Column 'Northern Soul Is Dead' Shock

This DG B&S column is in issue #170 September 1975. Reading it again reminded me how disappointing his columns could be sometimes, especially when he went on a rant about something.

Commercialisation insofar as ‘dumbing down’ the essence of Soul music was a relevant topic but could have been adequately covered in 2/3 paragraphs IMO. However, I was particularly interested in his scathing review of the re-release of Lorraine Ellison’s ‘Stay With Me’ which he describes as artificial, fraudulent & insincere, an opinion he formed when it was first released. He goes on to say in his view it is a ‘cunningly calculated exercise in plastics emotion’ He also wonders ‘how much calculated conniving went into its creation’ and that L.E. was ‘probably putty in the hands of her producers’ phew!

He then goes on to compare it with ‘True Deep Soul’ such as Piece Of My Heart, Erma Franklin and Soul numbers sung by artists like Irma Thomas. What surprises me is that DG doesn’t seem to know or ignores the fact that Piece Of My Heart and many of the great Irma Thomas songs e.g. Time Is On My Side were written and often produced by the same writer/producer as Stay With Me, Jerry Ragavoy. J.R. also created great Deep Soul with Garnet Mimms & Howard Tate and many others.

This column was written about 8 years after the song came out and Jerry Ragavoy was pretty well known by then yet he isn’t mentioned in the review as maybe having a lapse in taste in DG’s view. I happen to think he was wrong by the way but obviously he was entitled to his opinion but maybe he did not know as much as he thought or he was guilty of shoddy research. No surprise he gives 5 stars to his employer’s Contempo album release!

Comments anyone?

By slimharpo in Articles · September 9, 201212 yr

Bettye Lavette celebrates her 50-year music career with the triumphant release of 'Thankful n' Thoughtful' on anti- September 25 and her autobiography. 'A woman like me' co-written with David Ritz out September 27.

"¨

"¨"¨

R&B legend Bettye Lavette is set to mark her 50th anniversary in the music world with the upcoming release of her mesmerizing album, THANKFUL N' THOUGHTFUL, on September 25 on ANTI- Records, as well as her breathtaking and no holds barred autobiography co-written with David Ritz out on Blue Rider Press through Penguin on September 27."¨

"¨"¨

Read the press release for her forthcoming album:

"¨"¨http://www.rosebudus...tful_press.html"¨"¨

Buy David Ritz's biography of Bettye from Amazon:

"¨"¨http://www.amazon.co...47106571&sr=1-1"¨"¨

Visit Bettye's own website:
"¨"¨http://www.bettyelav....com/index.html

"¨"¨Bettye will be appearing at London's Jazz Cafe on December in what appears to be her only UK date.
"¨"¨http://venues.meanfi...tured-gigs/7673

And a good read from the New Yorker about Bettye:

http://www.newyorker..._fact_wilkinson

By Chalky in News Archives · September 8, 201212 yr

Sad to hear of Odyssey's lead singer Lilian Lopez passing away late on Sept 4th.
Great vocalist who I worked with on a few occasions.
Don't Tell Me Tell Her for me is one of the great killers of 1980 not forgetting the enormous pop hits such as 'Native New Yorker'

http://en.wikipedia..../Odyssey_(band)

By Goldsoul in News Archives · September 8, 201212 yr

THE ESCORTS are the subject of a new documentary that should be worth watching .......

Reginald Hayes, Bill Martin and LaGrant Harris, The Escorts, who recorded their debut album, All We Need Is Another Chance, while doing time in prison.

More funds are urgently required to complete the project.

Video link:

http://www.kickstart...-another-chance

The unsung story of The Legendary Escorts is that of the musical group, formed behind bars in the early 70s at Rahway State Prison. It carries the weight and wisdom of both their tumultuous and celebratory experiences from the past decades up to modern day. Through their successes, trials, and tribulations, the storyline will explore the soul generation, civil rights movement, and penal reform from the inside.

By Roburt in News Archives · September 7, 201212 yr

Mentioned a few times on here over last few years , for those hotdeals,co,uk types here's news of a 2 for 1 ticket offer

shows showing Tue 11 — Sat 15 September, 9.15pm

link for more info, site search for more background

http://www.ayoungert...t-soho-theatre/

press info:

Northern Soul is a bit about northern soul, its’ also a bit about pigeons, but mainly it’s about — me.

Directed by international phenomenon Ursula Martinez. Northern Soul is a hilarious one-woman show about Victoria’s attempts at joining in.

Victoria, an untrained dancer, has been travelling the dance halls and living rooms of England being taught to dance by Northern Soul’s ex-champions.

Northern Soul draws on those investigations and explores the ‘soul of the north’ using film and original Northern Soul dance moves.

Performer & Deviser: Victoria Melody
Director: Ursula Martinez
Choreographer: Janine Fletcher
Multimedia: Louise Purnell
Technician: Greg Mickelborough

By Mike in Event News · September 7, 201212 yr

Been out in the USA for a couple of weeks now, this remake of the respected 1970s film is scheduled to start showing in the UK this October 2012
Mainstream media reviews seem to be fairly positive/mixed, has anyone out there in soul source land seen it yet?
,

Press blurb ...

Set in the 1960s, three sisters form girl group and soon become local sensations with major label interest, but fame becomes a challenge as the close-knit family begins to fall apart.

Musical prodigy, Sparkle (Jordin Sparks) struggles to become a star while overcoming issues that are tearing her family apart. From an affluent Detroit area and daughter to a single mother (Whitney Houston), she tries to balance a new romance with music manager, Stix (Derek Luke) while dealing with the unexpected challenges her new life will bring as she and her two sisters (Carmen Ejogo and Tika Sumpter) strive to become a dynamic singing group during the Motown-era.

Soundtracks include music from the original film written by Curtis Mayfield and current tracks by R Kelly

By Mike in News Archives · September 7, 201212 yr

Towards the end of the 80's one of the Rare/Northern Soul Scene's most colourful characters, Pete Lawson, published two issues of his magazine "The Gospel According To Dave Godin".

Part homage to Dave Godin, part Pete's view of the scene, the people involved and not so involved who thought they were. Pete was sometimes very critical of those who he thought gave little and took a lot, some of Pete's views can be seen as harsh, some of his views are without doubt highly amusing. The magazines are however a good insight into how the scene was post Stafford and lurching into the 90's with a jolt.

The third issue Pete was tragically killed before he could publish. It was printed in his memory unfinished and complete with edit notes.

If you fancy a read of all three issues of Pete Lawson's magazines "The Gospel According To Dave Godin" then they are free to download as either a PDF or ePub file for those with iPads etc. The PDF will also open in iBooks on the iPad.

All three are for download. The two that actually got published by Pete and the third which he was working on at the time of his death.

All three are on my site under Magazines and reviews.

http://www.soulunder...magsandreviews/

By Chalky in News Archives · September 2, 201212 yr

The soul source gallery has just come to the end of a long overdue upgrade

Not only has the engine been upgraded but all the images/cats have had a going over

last count creeping up to the 100,000 mark

here you go

http://www.soul-sour...lforum/gallery/

ask feedback/qs via this thread which will move to the feedback forum later

cheers
mike

By Mike in News Archives · September 2, 201212 yr

The Pain Gets A Little Deeper - LONDON HLU 10024 (1965)

I can remember writing that title and information down on a scrap of paper after one of the DJs played it at the Twisted Wheel in Manchester in the late ‘60s. I never found a UK issue copy at the time, or one of those beautiful, much cherished, London American yellow demos, a very hard release to find even in those days.The mass importation of USA releases hadn’t happened yet, so my collection of soul 45s comprised UK releases only. Things were about to change dramatically at the end of the ‘60s.

On my first trip to the US, in 1970, I found “Pain” and some of Darrow’s other releases on the Groovy label, in Chicago. In the ‘60s, we had very little access to information on artists like Darrow, or US soul releases. It’s very hard to understand, if you weren’t around at that time, the little we knew about soul artists compared to the easy access to information we have today. If an artist or group was fortunate to have an album released in the UK, the back cover notes were the only written documentation available to us, later magazines like Blues & Soul were invaluable to collectors. The Sunday night Mike Raven show on the BBC and others like Radio Luxemburg, pirate radio stations and the American Forces Network (AFN), were the only way to hear new releases. Reception on some of those radio stations was very poor and always seemed to fade away at the time when the DJ announced details of a record!

Well, I think that’s enough nostalgia, but I mention those times to explain that we had no idea that Darrow was only 14 years old when he cut the track “Pain” in the studio in Chicago in December 1965.

Well, time moved on, and after his UK performance at our own Cleethorpes Northern Soul weekender in 2006, and a US appearance at Brooklyn’s Dig Deeper concert in 2008, I wondered what Darrow was doing now. So, in 2010, I contacted Darrow and arranged to meet up in Chicago and do an interview. Much has been written about Darrow over the years, but hopefully we can find out a little more about his musical career and plans for the future. Before the details of the interview, I thought it would be appropriate to give the reader a little background on Mr. Darrow Fletcher.

Everyone predicted stardom for the young crooner, but often we hear tell of child prodigies frequently in the crazy world of entertainment, who never recapture their initial impact and are often forgotten as one-hit wonders. However, it was not so for Darrow. He had close to 20 singles in an active career, which spanned 9 labels and 13 years, many of which are cherished and collected by soul fans today throughout the world.

Born on 23 January 1951, in the Detroit suburb of Inkster, Darrow, when he was three years of age, moved with his family to Chicago. Whilst he was a freshman in high school (he attended first Hirsch and later South Shore schools), at the age of 14 in December, 1965, he recorded “The Pain Gets A Little Deeper”, written by Darrow and producer Ted Daniels, and cut with the help of his stepfather, Johnny Haygood. It was an impressive debut. It was a rough song for a 14 year old to get into, or so one would think, but Darrow belted it out as if he had just gone through a knockdown, dragged out divorce. The record was leased to Groovy, a small New York label owned by Sam and George Goldner and Kal Rudman. They got the record on the national R&B charts for seven weeks in early 1966, and as we all know, it was also released on London here in the UK.
Soon Darrow was touring the “chitlin’ ” circuit, playing venues like The Apollo, The Uptown and the Regal, where, in July 1966 he shared the bill with B B King, The Elgins, Stevie Wonder, The Capitols, Lee Dorsey, Jimmy Ruffin, and from Chicago the Sharpees and Jo Ann Garrett. I can remember Bob Pruter telling me that a ticket for a show like that back in 1966 cost just $1.25. Darrow also appeared on the Chicago version of The Soul Train, and Ken Hawkins’ World of Soul in Cleveland.

Following three failed follow-ups on Groovy, and dissatisfied with the final arrangements of the association, Darrow’s stepfather, Johnny Haygood, in 1966, formed Jacklyn Records, named after one of his daughters. Darrow cut three singles on Jacklyn — “Sitting There That Night” scored immediately, 2,500 sales for the record in Chicago alone. It was written by Haygood, with arrangements by veteran Burgess Gardner, and its marvelous Curtis Mayfield style guitar intro and brassy horns, made the record a genuine Chicago style classic.

In 1968, Haywood got a production deal with MCA, which gave Darrow releases on Revue, Congress and UNI. No hits developed out of MCA until 1970, with “I Think I’m Gonna Write A Song” in February, and “When Love Calls”, written by Johnny Moore and partner Jack Daniels, sold at least 6,500 in the Chicago area.
Darrow then moved to LA in 1974 to record for Ray Charles on his Crossover label. “It’s No Mistake”, in 1975, was an accomplished opener, and he had a minor hit with “We’ve Got To Get An Understanding” the following year. Crossover records had made a leasing/distribution deal with Atlantic so both of Darrow’s final releases were on their labels but the Crossover logo was clearly shown on the label face.

Darrow’s version of “The Rising Cost of Love”, backed by “Honey Can I”, are cherished by ‘70s/modern soul fans. His Atco single “Improve”, from the same period, has a very elusive B-side called “Let’s Get Together”. The more easily obtained demos are all double A sides. In the early ‘80s he returned to Detroit and around 1987 returned to Chicago, but not to the music business. Several deaths in the family, including his mentor and stepfather, Johnny Haygood, caused Darrow to suffer depression, but later involvement in the church, and more recently singing gospel and recent concert appearances has helped him recover. Before I left the UK I compiled a CD of all Darrow’s releases including “Hope For Love” which hadn’t been released at that time. During an earlier phone call Darrow told me that he hadn’t access to any of his songs and would really appreciate a CD so he could listen to the songs he created all those years ago. I told him that many of his tracks were available on Youtube, but that wasn’t much help as he didn’t have his own computer and only had limited access to one at his girlfriend’s house.

click to view in full

So the time had come to meet Darrow at his home on Chicago’s north side. When we arrived at the house, Darrow was already sat on the porch, so eager to get started. So, recorder and CD at the ready, we made our greetings and got into the interview.

DB Tell us a little bit about how you first got into the music business.

DF Well, it was through my father. He used to hear me sing a lot when I was young, well through my stepfather. He used to hear me in the back room, singing, and fooling around, you know, and he asked me — he said you really like to sing. Every time I look around you’re in the back room singing, you know. He say you want to sing professionally? I told him yes. I used to do talent shows and by the grace of God I always came in number one. I had a little group and we sang, like, a little doo-wop stuff, you know, and I was playing a guitar, and I really liked my guitar, I used to play you know. We went from talent show to talent show and my father said what would you really like? What’s one of your greatest desires? I said I want to sing in school, all the people in the school come to the auditorium to hear me sing. He said why can’t you broaden your scope. Laughing…. Would you like all the people all over the world to hear you? That’s all over the world. I said yeah. Laughing…

So anyway, talent show to talent show…next thing I know, my father told me to learn as many tunes as I could, and we wrote some songs together. And put them on tape. And that’s when he presented them to different record companies here in Chicago. And they liked the material and he went round a lot of different people, not just one person. The one that liked it, he said ok, he would get back with him, yet he went to other places as well, other record companies and they liked me, and he wanted to know what the best deal was, that’s what he was juggling about for, to make sure he got the right deal. Finally he got in with Groovy, the Groovy label. “The Pain Gets A Little Deeper” was my first recording and from there, I was doing shows and recording more records, and it happened between 65 and 79. Well, I moved to California in 74 because Ray Charles was interested in me, because he heard a few of my tunes that was presented to him by one of his representatives, an A&R woman for Crossover records, Pat Bush, she had seen me perform at the Regal and she said Ray needs to hear these, so she took them. She went back to LA, played them for Ray and Ray liked them and he called, had his secretary call my home and my father spoke with her. Ray sent me the money to go out to LA to record. He set me up in a hotel and I worked on some songs. I had four songs which we recorded in Ray’s studio.

DB What tracks did she take to Ray?

DF The ones that she took to Ray Charles was “Hope For Love”, “Changing By The Minute”, I think it was. There was a few others. “This Time I’ll Be The Fool”, that was Ray’s favorite, he loved that song.

DB “Hope For Love” was never actually issued was it? It was never made into a record

DF No, well, actually we only pressed up demonstration copies back then, but I made an agreement recently with Kent to release it on a CD in England.

DB Yes, that track was released in England on a Kent modern soul compilation quite recently. The track was originally found on an old studio spool of tape that record dealer John Anderson rescued some years ago from Chicago and was made available to the guys at Kent.

DF Anyway, Ray was very much interested. I came out there and he was my executive producer and I worked with him from 74 to 79. It was one year with a four year option. And before that, before 6 months went by, Ray was interested. He told me, he said, listen, I’m going to pick up the option. He took me with him to Chicago, to the amphitheatre. He said, I’m gonna call you out in the middle of my show and I want to you do that tune, “This Time I’ll Be The Fool”, and he played piano behind me and he was singing, moaning right along with me and he was saying, come on son, come on son. It was a thrill. After we got finished with the show and everything …

it was a beautiful experience for me. That’s basically how I got into the music, was through my stepfather. He said, I’m gonna make a star out of you. I recorded an album with Ray Charles, and what happened, he told me ok, he had a write up on the album and he had something to say, you know, just a sentence, just a paragraph, and it said he had mentioned about me, he said in his eyes, he said, he sees me ahead of time, in the future to be one of the major stars in the industry. He said because one thing that he noticed about me, he noticed that I was a hard worker, in others words, I loved to practice, and he said he’s got a lot of gut, you know, and he said he could see more soul in him than any one thinks Ray could see. He say, I can see your gut when you sing, you are very sincere. He.... I don’t know, it was a long time since I read that, but it was an honor coming from him, speaking about me.

DB It would be nice to get hold of that album. It wasn’t issued so it must have only got to the demonstration stage.

DF That’s what I was saying, that’s what I would like to do.

DB But the album was never officially issued.

DF It’s ok, I’m saying that I would like ….. when I call out there, and finally catch up with Mabel John, the lead singer of Raylettes, now that Ray has passed away, I can get in contact with her and ask her for my album. Just so I have can have it, cos I’ve misplaced my copy. And I need another one.

DB It was never issued officially because I’ve never seen it out there. From a collector’s point of view, if I’d seen something like that I’d have picked it up, and many other collectors would have done the same. From what you say about Ray’s words on the back of the album sleeve, he must have had all the art work and packaging completed. Ray must have pressed up a very small quantity of staff demos. I wish we could get hold of a copy of that demo album.

DF Now, once I get that album, then I believe that all the tunes I was looking for should be there. I wish you could hear “Sunny” and “Fever”. “Forever And A Day”, that’s another tune that’s never been released and Zane Grey has it, Zane wrote it. And I’m gonna ask Zane for it.

DB You weren’t you born in Chicago?

DF I was born in Inkster, Michigan. I was raised in Chicago. I would go back and forth to Detroit to visit my grandmother and spend the summer with my grandmother, and then I’d come back home to Chicago.

DB Did you get any influence from the Detroit music?

DF I’d get influence through my cousin, Rose Batiste. She used to sing a lot, when we were kids. I was, like, 5 and she was, I think 7 or 8 and she used to sing a lot and I admired her singing, and one day, I think she was, like, 13 or 14 years old and I heard her singing, and she sounded like Aretha Franklin, she could duplicate Aretha’s voice, that’s how good she was. Her dad, my uncle, was just like a proud peacock. Chest poked out and everything. He would take her to do nightclub work and she used to sing. Next thing I know she’s signed up with Motown. Next thing I know she moved to England, no, to Europe.

DB And you haven’t been in touch since.

DF I haven’t seen her since. I’d love to get in touch with her.

DB You haven’t had any mail or anything.

DF I have no idea where she is now, and I miss her. When I moved I lost all my phone numbers. Lost my phone book. What can I say? Eventually I may bump into her again, if I keep doing work out there, in England, or Europe. I may see my cousin.

DB Well, we’ll try to do something, see if we can track her down for you.

DF Give her my number, both of them.

DB What I’d like to do now, Darrow, is play a few tunes. I know it’s a long time back but if you can relate to that time, and if there were any other artists, producers, session musicians who we might know, involved in the sessions, because most of those tracks were recorded in Chicago or Detroit, even though some of them were leased out to other record companies.

DF Yes. Except for the ones in California, they were recorded with Ray Charles.

DB What about “Pain Gets A Little Deeper”? Your first one.

DF My very first one.

DB You were involved in writing that as well.

DF Yes, yes, a little, because I wrote the tune with my father, as matter of fact I wrote a couple of tunes, I may have wrote some with someone else. But those two in particular, “Pain Gets A Little Deeper” and “We’ve Got to Get An Understanding”. I did the music to “Pain”, I didn’t write the words. “Sitting There That Night”, my father and I wrote it, and “Understanding”, Joel Webster, which was Mabel John’s son, and I, wrote “Understanding”.

DB “Understanding” was one of the later tracks, one of the Crossover tracks. When I look at the records and pick up the names on the records, there’s Ted Daniels on there, Don Mancha, where did they fit in? Were they involved right from the start?

DF Well, Ted Daniels, he was a producer, he’s deceased.

DB He used to be in a doo-wop group years ago.

DF No, Ted never was in a group, he was a producer and he wrote songs, but he was never in a group, He never sang or anything. Don Mancha was a songwriter.

DB Don Mancha has passed away now hasn’t he?

DF Yes, I heard he’s passed away. Ok, you remember Johnny Moore.

DB Yes, he was my good friend.

DF Yes. I understand he passed away?

DB Yes, Mother’s Day, 2005.

DF I’m sorry to hear about that. But, I remember someone telling me that he passed away. But he was another guy that wrote for me. And there was another guy — Maurice Simpkins, he wrote several tunes for me. But mostly the ones that I mention are on your CD.

DB Tom Washington did some arranging for you as well.

DF Yes. Tom Tom, he’s known as Tom Tom. I remember he did two tunes: “Changing By The Minute”, and “When Love Calls”. I remember those. He may have done something else too, but those two I can remember.

DB You mentioned to me a few days ago that the Chi-Lites did backgrounds on some of your songs.

DF The Chi-Lites sung backgrounds on “Changing” and “When Love Calls”.

DB They were recording for Carl Davis at that time and then went on to record on Brunswick.

DF Yes. Brunswick, that’s a long time since I heard that name. Yes, that was back in the late ‘60s or early ‘70s.

DB Yes, that’s about right. I think “Changing” came out in 1970.

DF 1970. Yes, I was 19 years old.

DB And then you did another Johnny Moore penned song, called “What Is This” and “Dolly Baby”.

DF No, Johnny Moore didn’t write “Dolly Baby”. Don Mancha wrote “Dolly”, he wrote “What Is This”. Now, Johnny Moore wrote a tune for me that has never been released, “Together”, that’s the name of it. I don’t understand why it was never released. I wish I had the tune, I recorded it.

DB Was that while you were in Chicago, before you went to California?

DF That was before I went to California.

DB Johnny Moore wrote “Now Is The Time For Love” and you had Part 1 and Part 11 on that, that was a long track. I believe Bernard Reed played on that.

DF Who? Bernard Reed the bass player, yes.

DB He played on that track. I think he co-wrote the track as well. I think the credits go to Johnny Moore and Bernard.

DF Ok. But they never released “Together”. I don’t understand what happened. I wish there was some way I could contact somebody who had these tracks.

DB All Johnny’s tracks I’m familiar with. He had very little left at home, a lot of his stuff got lost, and that track wasn’t amongst his stuff he still had. He was in the same situation as you, Darrow, when you move about you don’t always carry all your things with you.

DF You thought you did, but when you get where you’re going, you don’t see it.

DB What about the Jacklyn label? That was your father’s own label wasn’t it. Why did he decide to do his own label? Previously he had leased everything to New York, to Groovy.

DF Well, because money ideas came into his mind. He said, well, if the record companies can do it, why am I sending them something that I can do, you know. The record company said it was gonna take a lot of money to promote these records, maybe I need to lease first and give them some of the action, just so they can be released. I can ride with that and get some more information and some more money, then I’ll open up my own company and do my own promotion. Because he knew it took a lot of money.

DB Did he have any other business besides that?

DF Well, he had a production and publishing company, and a record company, That was about it,

DB He didn’t do anything else for a living? He didn’t have another job?

DF At first he was a car salesman, he sold Cadillacs. But after that, he just drifted into the music. He was listening to me, and he could hear me going further than just singing in the back room. And he just took a poke at it. He had faith in my voice and he knew I could sing just as good as anyone else out there. Let’s give it a try.

DB What about recording studios? Where did you cut most of the tracks?

DF In Chicago. It was at Universal Studios, and some other places too, I just don’t know the name of these studios. We went to different studios, we went to some in Detroit.

DB You cut some tracks in Detroit then? Cos Mike Terry arranged “What Good Am I Without You” on Jacklyn, 1967. I think that had a Detroit connection.

DF On a couple of occasions I can remember, I just don’t remember the names of the studios.

DB At least we know now that they weren’t all recorded in Chicago, some were done in Detroit.

DF Yes, and California. And then, after ‘79 I hooked up with a band called The Best Of Things. We did some demo copies, two tunes in particular, one is called “Crazy About You”, and the other one… these were demonstration copies. Folk were biting at them, and they wanted me to sign right away and I said aarrgghh! wait a minute, I gotta see some contract, I want to see what’s going on, you know. They gave me a contract, here it is right here, just sign it right here. And there I was, trying to read it, I’m trying to see, I tell you what, let me look this over, and see you in a couple of days. Couple of days? What’s going on here, why don’t you want to sign it right here.

DB You wanted to think it over before you signed it.

DF Yeah, I didn’t want to rush into it. I’d rather take my time. If you sign on the dotted line you might be signing your life away.

DB If you don’t read the small print! Those demos you cut with the band. Have you got any way of getting hold of those tracks.

DF No, I wish I could get them, I really do.

DB Where were they cut?

DF In California with The Best of Friends. We did some beautiful shows, man. Some exciting shows.

DB Would Zane Grey have those?

DF No, he didn’t know anything about them.

DB That was after your association with Ray Charles?

DF Right. See, it was a different situation altogether.

DB But you actually cut demos.

DF Yes. They was demonstration copies, we wanted to present them to record companies. That’s what I wanted to do.

click to view in full

DB We’ll play a few of these tracks and see if anything else comes back in your mind while we play them.

(playing tracks)

“Pain” — we’ve talked about that so we’ll move on.

“My Judgement Day” Playing

DB You wrote this as well?

DF No Maurice Simpkin wrote it.

“My Young Misery” playing

DF Ted Daniels wrote this song and I wrote the music.

DB And that didn’t do as well as “Pain” did it?

DF No, “Pain”, that was the one. But this tune, it’s a good tune. They remembered that when I appeared in New York.

DB They love it in England as well.

“Gotta Know Why” playing
DB That was the flip.

“Gotta Draw The Line” playing

DB Did you know the Three Degrees actually recorded this?

DF Did they, wow, I never heard that.

DB On their Swan label out of Philadelphia.

DF Ok

DB That song was written by Richard Barrett, presumably for the Three Degrees, it was released in 1965.

“That Certain Little Something” playing

DB After this track your father decided to produce records on Jacklyn rather than go to New York.

DF Yes

“What Have I Got Now” playing

DB Who wrote this Darrow?

DF Maurice Simpkins

DB He was doing most of your writing at that time?

DF He was an excellent writer. Not only would he rhyme the last word in every sentence, but sometimes he would rhyme the front, the middle and the last, you know, he would rhyme the words in the story.

DB Well, a lot of these songs have deep stories, deep meanings. We were surprised at the way you sung these songs, you were so young at the time, about the circumstances of love affairs and things, yet you were only 14. You hadn’t really lived the experiences at that time.

DF Well, some of them I could relate to. And I think he was trying to write based around some of my experiences. And then some of them were something he had experienced, you know.

“Sitting There That Night” playing

DF This is me on the guitar. I played guitar solo on this. I was singing and I was 14 and a half when I recorded it. That was one of the first tunes, right along with “Pain”. I recorded that the first year I started recording.

DB So that was kept back and released later on. I think you actually used it as a flip side on some others. A lot of people think this is one of your best tracks.

DF Really? I didn’t know that.

DB Bob Pruter, who I’ve been talking to today, when I mentioned Darrow Fletcher, he mentioned this track as one of his favourites. He’s lived in Chicago all of his life and thought this was one of your best tracks.

DF My father wrote that, I put the music to it. And I practised and practised on the guitar until I got my solo, till I got it right, the way I wanted it to be, then I recorded it.

DB Did you play any other instruments?

DF I played drums, I sang and played drums and stuff at shows and school.

DB The guitar solo just sounds like Curtis Mayfield playing.

DF I know, that’s what I was trying to do. I used to love to listen to him.

“Infatuation” playing.

DB You were 17 at that time?

“Little Girl” playing

DF That’s the B side. Just to fill in.

DB That would be recorded here, in Chicago? Sounds like a Chicago record.

“What Good Am I Without You” playing

DB That’s Detroit.

DF It’s real nice.

DB Don Mancha co wrote the track?

DF Don Mancha wrote it. Mike Terry arranged it. Mike was a horn player, arranger and producer. He played on a lot of Detroit tracks and Motown.

“Hope For Love” playing (unissued at the time)

DF This is the tune she took, Pat Bush, the A&R woman, to Ray Charles.

DB So what sort of date would this be? Just before you went to California.

DF Yes. It was recorded in Chicago.

DB Was it recorded in Chicago, around the time your songs were being leased to MCA?

DF I recorded it before I went to California.

“The Way Of A Man” playing

DF This is also before I went to California.

DB I would imagine now we’ve got a situation where your father tried to do the label himself, wasn’t getting the distribution he would have liked, so he started leasing things out again.

DF He wanted to let somebody deal with it that does it every day. That would give him more time to learn more about the business. He didn’t want to spend too much money on something he didn’t really know too much about.

“Those Hanging Heartaches” playing .

DB 1969 now. Who’s involved in this one?

DF Maurice Simpkins. Again.

DB Is Maurice about or has he passed away?

DF No, he’s still here that I know of, but it’s a long time since I talked to him. The guy used to be about 450lbs, but now, the last time I saw him, he had lost a lot of weight. He looks better.

DB How long ago was that?

DF Maybe about 4 years ago. I don’t know if he’s at the same place or what.

DB That was in Chicago.

DF Yes right here in Chicago.

“I Think I’m Gonna Write A Song” playing

DF Don Mancha wrote this.

DB This one got leased to Congress, another part of MCA.

“When Love Calls” playing

DB Johnny Moore wrote this. Who’s playing piano?

DF Johnny was playing. Yes.

DB I thought so! Was this cut at Universal? I know Johnny did a lot of work at Universal.

DF Yes.

DB Did you cut anything at Paul Serrano’s PS studio?

DF I seem to remember that name. I don’t know if it was his studio or not, but I remember recording. It’s a long time ago. I was a child, I was a teenager. Maybe 16, 17, 18.

“Changing By The Minute” playing

DF You remember Zane Grey, he wrote the song. This was his very first song, I taught him how to write.

DB You must have made a good job of it, cos he made a career out of it.

DF Oh yes. He told me, I would never forget you. You’re the reason for me being in the music. He showed me a tune and sung something that he wrote. I had confidence in him. I said, we get the strong points and hold that, the others throw away and add to the strong points. I said you get the credit cos it’s your song. Every time you look at it think of what you can do to strengthen it and make it as strong as you can make it. Len Ron Hanks, his partner, laid down the music. He plays piano.

DB Tom Tom did some arrangements, he did some strings and stuff on there.

DF Horns, the strings. He arranged the whole thing.

DB It’s a great tune.

DF When we started doing that song with Zane and Len Ron we were bouncing off the walls. We were bouncing off the walls. We were excited, like popcorn in a hot skillet.

DB Well the first time I ever heard that track I was excited. Just hearing the track, years ago.

DF Zane couldn’t keep still in the studio. I said you ok man? Man, man, he says, come on man, let’s do this. It was exciting, yeah.

DB Did it sell well in Chicago?

DF In Chicago it did great. Well as a matter of fact “When Love Calls” was what they released, right, and then some DJ was listening to the other side and he said I’m gonna play this other side. And next thing you know folks were requesting it, and the more you play a tune, the more people hear it, the more it start growing on them.

DB Then they want to buy it for the flip side.

DF Yes. The next thing you know it was an A and A side. A and A. Now here in Chicago, it took off.

DB It’s a shame it didn’t do more out of the city. But it’s a great tune, cherished by many soul record collectors today all over the world.

“What is This” playing

DB Another Johnny Moore track. I can remember, Johnny reminiscing about cutting this track, he really liked the song.

“It’s No Mistake” playing

DF This tune was never released because it wasn’t produced right. Too much echo and stuff. Ray Charles did that on purpose because he didn’t want anyone to steal that song. This was during the time when he wasn’t finished mixing it. He wanted to make sure if anybody heard it they couldn’t bootleg it. The mistakes weren’t really mistakes, he put them in there.

DB Then he must have finished it, and went ahead and put the track out on a 45 and sold it nationally.

DF But I don’t understand why.

DB I also like the flip side.

DF Joel Webster wrote that, Mabel John’s son. Joel became staff producer with the company as well as a performer and composer. He produced this, my first session for the company with Ray supervising.

DB Did you sing this on the show in New York?

DF No, I didn’t do that one. They requested the tunes that they wanted me to sing, so that’s what I did. It’s always important to know what the public wants to hear.

DB If you were in UK again you would definitely have to sing that one. That’s got a real big following. It’s an anthem.

“Rising Cost Of Love” playing

DB I played this and the flip “Honey Can I” to Syl Johnson last night. He thought they were both great songs.

DF I can’t understand why they didn’t do anything with them.

DB Both were leased out to Atlantic. It’s still stated that it was a Crossover production when it was released on the Atlantic label.

DF I didn’t know they had been released, I cut those songs for the album. I’m wondering if they are still selling.

DB You can’t get hold of those tracks on the original label. The record was deleted years ago, it’s a real collectors piece now. Very few copies must have been pressed at the time, 1979 I think, with very limited distribution.

DF I don’t know what’s going on in England cos I’m not out there, it seems to me that this record should still be selling right now. These tracks were for an album that we cut in LA.

DB “Rising” - has been released on a various artists CD album with other Atlantic tracks.

DF People gotta hear something more than once. For some maybe one time but they probably played all the other tunes, might have played mine once or twice over a few months. I need some concentrated airplay.

DB The thing that worries me is when people release your tracks on a various artists’ compilation, you don’t get the exposure you need, you’re just one artist amongst a mixture of all the others. You need an album of your own, all your products, which is what I was trying to do. You need a Darrow Fletcher full story album out, then people will listen to your stuff.

DF And after all that’s gone, that albums finished, I haven’t any more material, other than me recording something fresh. That’s what I would really like to do, record something fresh. But something’s gonna work out, Zane has a studio and he’s thinking seriously about recording something fresh with me. He’s always wanted to do that but I was always involved in something else and he couldn’t really get to me yet. I told him I wanted to start singing gospel, but I don’t know what’s gonna happen yet. But I’m think I’ll end up recording in his studio.

“Honey Can I” playing

DF That’s the tune I should have released, this tune right here, I know it man.

DB If I do a radio show or I DJ at a dance, I always play that track. One of my favourite tracks.

click to view in full

Soul Man Darrow came up in the time when albums were not the typical format of soul music. Yes, we had LPs in 1966, but the concept of a soul album was still just a gleam in the eye of folks like Isaac Hayes and Marvin Gaye. Although Darrow had had an active career with many singles to his name, he never made an album.
Well! That’s not strictly true is it. As we can gather from this interview, he may not have released an album but he certainly made one, and was working on a second. When Darrow was recording with Ray Charles’s newly formed Crossover records, he was concentrating on completion of his first Crossover album. The studio work was actually finished in 1975; it would seem that artwork and sleeve notes by Ray Charles and packaging were completed, and the final album was due for release early the following year, But no release ever materialised, and the album was presumably shelved for some reason in the RPM Studios in LA. It seems, according to Darrow, that a few staff demos were produced, he once had a copy and friend Mabel John had one. Unknown to Darrow, some of the tracks planned for the album were, in fact, released by Crossover in the mid ‘70s and others by the Atlantic group in ‘78/79.

click to view in full

Whilst I was in Chicago interviewing Darrow, he showed me a contract he had signed with Kent records here in the UK. That was back in 2006, at the time of his appearance at the Cleethorpes weekender. He was concerned that, to his knowledge, nothing much had been released and asked me to find out what was going on, and try to push things along.

Over the years Kent records have re-issued seven of Darrow tracks on their compilation CDs and vinyl singles, but each are on separate compilations that would not particularly lift Darrow’s profile. But guess what!

After 37 years in the can, the guys at Kent have got hold of the Crossover album masters and are going to release it on CD. The CD release will contain all the issued Crossover tracks, and wait for it — no less than nine mouth watering previously un-issued recordings that were planned for Darrow’s album back in 1975.

Stand out tracks, amongst others, are “Love Is My Secret Weapon”, “How Can You Live Without Love”, and “What Are We Gonna Do About This Mess” and for those of you who wonder what the elusive Atco track “Let’s Get Together” sounds like, that’s included too. Every track is from a master tape, several mixed down from the 24 track multis.

For good measure, Kent are later releasing a CD featuring all of Darrow’s ‘60s output. Darrow’s ‘70s CD will be released at the end of September this year and his ‘60s CD follows early next year. At long last, Darrow will have his anthology out there, spread across two CDs, something he’s been waiting for, for a very long time.

If that isn’t enough, Darrow is coming over to the UK in November this year to do three concerts and promote his CD releases. So come on guys, get yourselves to at least one of these concerts and thank Darrow for all the wonderful soulful music he has created for our enjoyment over the years. Darrow will also be selling his new Kent CD and 45, at a special price, so get a signed copy and save a few bob.

Thurs Nov 1st, 8pm - 2am @ The 100 Club - Darrow Fletcher is playing live with backing band for the celebration of 30 years of Kent Records. DJs Ady Croasdell, Tony Rounce and more. Tickets £18.00 will go on sale at the 33rd Anniversary allnighter on September 29th, and by post from Oct 1st (details will be announced in September). www.6ts.info

Nov 2nd. — 4th at the Scottish Soulful Weekender at the superb 3 star Cairndale Hotel in Dumfries. Darrow Fletcher is playing live on Saturday Night with backing band. Full details are available at www.scottishsoulfulweekender.com

Darrow will be supported at both these concerts by a great backing band — Push.

After that hectic weekend, Darrow will take a few days off before taking the stage again in good old West Yorkshire. Before returning home to Chicago

Saturday Nov 10th 9pm - 3am at the Wilton - Wheatsheaf Conference & Banqueting Complex in Castleford, home for almost 20 years of the famed Wilton Allnighters.

The Wilton guys Mouse & Boxy are staging their second Soulful Sessions Night, and are so proud to have Darrow performing to specially made backing tracks, some made from the original master tapes: a selection of his ‘70s songs from the CD and a few ‘60s classics at the venue.

DJ support from Arthur Fenn — Mike Charlton — Gary Walsh, and residents Boxy & Mouse, should make a cracking night. So come on guys, if you can’t travel to London or Scotland, then here’s your chance to see Darrow for the very first time in Yorkshire.

Advance tickets £12.00 will be on sale at our next allnighter on the 21st September and are now available online by Paypal & Credit Card at the Wheatsheaf website http://www.wheatsheaf.com/allnighter or £15.00 otd.

click to view in full

DARROW FLETCHER’S DISCOGRAPHY

Groovy 3001 — The Pain Gets A Little Deeper / My Judgement /Day — 1966
Groovy 3004 — My Young Misery / I Gotta Know Why — 1966
Groovy 3007 — Gotta Draw The Line / I Gotta Know Why — 1966
Groovy 3009 — That Certain Little Something / My Judgement Day — 1966
Jacklyn 1002 — What Have I Got Now / Sitting There That Night — 1966
Jacklyn 1003 — Infatuation / Little Girl — 1967
Jacklyn 1006 — What Good Am I Without You / Little Girl — 1967
Revue 11008 — The Way Of A Man / I Like The Way I Feel — 1968
Revue 11023 — Gonna Keep Loving You / We Can’t Go On This Way — 1968
Revue 11035 — Those Hanging Heartaches / Sitting There That Night — 1969
Congress 6011 — I Think I’m Gonna Write A Song / Sitting There That Night — 1970
Uni 55244 — When Love Calls / Changing By The Minute — 1970
Uni 55270 — What Is This / Dolly Baby — 1971
Genna 1002 — Now Is The Time For Love Part 1 / Part 2 — 1971
Crossover 980 — Try Something New / It’s No Mistake — 1975
Crossover 983 — We’ve Got An Understanding / This Time I’ll Be The Fool — 1976
Atco 7083 — Improve / Let’s Get Together — 1978
Atlantic 3600 — Rising Cost Of Love / Honey, Can I —1979
Kent CD 310 — Hope For Love — 2009 (UK)
Kent Select 024 — No Limit / What Good Am I Without You — 2012 (UK)

David & Val Box 2011/12

Special thank you to Darrow Fletcher for taking the time to do this interview.
Acknowledgements, as always, to Robert Pruter “Chicago Soul”, and Adrian Croasdell, Ace Records,

click to view in full

By Boxy in Articles · August 28, 201212 yr

Performing live across the UK over September and October is US singer Yvonne Vernee.

Yvonne was the lead singer of a group called the Donays who recorded for Correc-tone where she alos recorded solo recording the Northern favourite from late Wigan early Stafford era "Does He Love Me Anymore".

As a solo artist she recorded for Sonbert the massive Northern 45 "Just Like You Did Me".

She then went onto replace Saundra Mallett in the reformed Elgins.

The Elgins show with lead singer Yvonne Vernee
September 2012
Friday 14th - Bury
Saturday 15th - Gloucester allnighter
Sunday16th - Doncaster

Friday 21st - Kings hall stoke signal radio
Saturday 22nd - Kings hall Blackburn
sunday 23rd - Rolls Royce Derby

friday 28th - Cannock Civic
Saturday 29th - New Century Radcliffe allnighter
Sunday 30th - Basingstoke

October -
Friday 5th - Warwick soul Night Nelson Club
Saturday 6th - Northampton arena

TBC
Sunday 14th Liverpool

I will update over the next few days with info on tickets

any promoters interested in 12th and 13th October please PM for Details .

The Elgins show with Lead singer Yvonne Vernee performing all the classics

Heaven Must of sent you
Put yourself in My Place
Darling Baby
Don't wait around
Stay in my Lonely Arms
My Love for your love

And of course the awesome Northern track .. " Just like You Did Me "

and an exclusive for Radcliffe Only ........... " Does He Love me Anymore "

all shows will be subject to change as we don't want to perform the same show tracks at each venue.

By Chalky in Event News · August 24, 201212 yr

SAVING THE TWISTED WHEEL

As a representative of the, Save The Twisted Wheel campaign & the club's current promoter Pete Roberts.
I can now tell you after discussions with the developers, Richard Goodwin their commercial Director.
Richard has kindly agreed to secure the building fabric,fixtures & fittings of the club for the purpose of preservation.
Richard will also assist usin its removal if only in part, namely, The Stage room and surrounding structure,
if possible so it can be preserved for prosperity.
Richard has giving his verbal undertaking to the whole planning committee of Manchester city council in the public arena an
confirmed by email to allconcerned parties
The purpose of this is so we can approach various local authority body's of Manchester in the aim to have part of the
club kept in the form of a Museum to Blues & Soul.

This would be a tribute to the artists who played at the club, many rising to world recognition, through a time of great change in their own country and in the UK. Also the Soul music that was first played in the club giving rise to The Northern Soul movement.
The Twisted Wheel club in Manchester is known as the birth place of Soul in the UK making this a truly Iconic Club, through out the world.
I'm sure you would all agree, that to lose this piece of musical and cultural history, would be a crying shame if some sort of legacy was not preserved to commemorate the place that gave birth to the Northern Soul movement as it is commonly known today almost 50 years later.

So what must happen next for this to take place.
A plan as to what should happen to the building fabric,fixtures & fittings,
No one can or will make any personal gain by claim to any part of the club or its building fabric,fixtures or fittings.
All decisions will be made without prejudices and for aims set out as a result of the meeting with Livia Ltd the current owner.
All further discussions with any other party must guarantee that all saved building fabric,fixtures & fittings are put to the purpose in which they were meant as stated above.
All that is retained for prosperity, from being practically possible to save, should be on the advice of a Structural Engineer.
This advice would be as a result of an on site meeting prior to demolition of the buildings of 4/6 Whitworth St Manchester.
The removal and transportation would be carried out by the developer,as offered and within the timescale set out to carry out this work.
A program of works would have to be put forward to comply with CDM regulations.
Whatever is to be removed from the site for prosperity,would be documented and have to be safely transported and contained,
until such time a new location has been approved by the trustees of the club.

The developers have given their corporate backing to this proposal and will engage with Manchester city council as an ongoing
part of their development within the city.

On behalf of the save The Twisted Wheel club campaign.

Many thanks to Soul Source and all who have given their support in this matter.

Gerry Stewart aka Irish

By Irish Spinner in News Archives · August 22, 201212 yr

Want the chance to play along side name such as Ian Levine, Gilles Peterson, Bob Jefferies & Kenny Mac at this years Scottish Soul Weekender???

Due to high demand our open deck room slots filled up within the first week, so not to disappoint anyone we have decided to give away wildcard DJ slots. We are offering sets in either of our 3 rooms -

To enter you simply complete the Goldmine application form when you purchase your ticket - The draw, which we are doing a via a live link will be drawn in October.

Here is a description of our 3 main rooms and our link to our website where you can purchase your tickets, see our promo video and organise travel and accommodation >>>

http://scottishsoulfulweekender.com/

Room 1 - Shrine Room >>
Where things can bounce from Mecca sounds to northern, from rare disco to Boogaloo and funk in an instant. (Gilles Peterson / Ian Levine / Snowboy)

Room 2 - Blue Room >>
Disco edits, new disko, rare groove and classic vocal house from the early days of the garage scene. (Greg Wilson / MSDE / The Kat DJ's)

Room 3 - Pressure Point >>
caters for the mo' jackin' and deeper side of house with great vocal sounds thrown in for good measure. (Tony Humpries / DJ SPEN)

click to zoom

By Guest in Event News · August 15, 201212 yr

Just received a message from his PA: Today at 4am US time Mr Carl Davis, Chicago musical Icon passed away.

I'll be back later once I've gathered my thoughts.

Regards,

Dave

added by site

Clip and link to news story from Chicago Sun Times

Carl Davis, music producer of "The Chicago Sound" dies at 77
The iconic music producer died Thursday morning at his home in Summerville, S.C. He was 77 years old. Mr. Davis had been suffering from lung disease.

http://www.suntimes....dies-at-77.html

Clip of biography from the Officlal Carl Davis Site

....Davis began his radio career typing play-lists for popular Chicago disc jockey Al Benson on WGES Radio in 1955. He quickly earned a reputation as a "hitpicker." His success allowed him to join the marketing department of Arnold Distributors. In the early 1960s, Davis managed the Nat label and had a minor hit with "Nite Owl" by the DuKays. In 1962, he became a producer for Okeh Records. There, Davis discovered the legendary Gene Chandler and produced the "Duke of Earl" in 1962 and Major Lance's "Monkey Time" in 1963. Through his work, Davis created a Chicago sound with upbeat arrangements backed by musicians and arrangers like Johnny Pate and Sonny Sanders. A partnership with Curtis Mayfield resulted in hits for Major Lance, Billy Butler (Jerry's brother) and Walter Jackson...

http://www.carldavisstory.com/

Yet another sad day

By Dave Moore in News Archives · August 9, 201212 yr

The recent Marley film (released to cinemas earlier this year) is to be pushed out on dvd come the 20th August.
Can find the link for ordering info after the review clips and video trailer

Uk Mainstream Review

The picture begins in West Africa at an old fortress on the Gold Coast (now Ghana). Through its "Door of No Return" leading to the sea passed many of the millions of shackled slaves who were shipped across the Atlantic. This was the journey made by his ancestors that shaped Marley's life, identity and music and the belief system that drew them together....

http://www.guardian....umentary-review

Amazon.co.uk Review

Bob Marley's musical (and cultural) shadow is so large that the man clearly needed an authoritative documentary portrait--and Marley steps in with all the right stuff to fill the role. Working with official rights to the music and access to Marley's family and friends, Oscar-winning documentarian Kevin Macdonald (One Day in September) creates a thorough account that hits the major points, not stinting on some of the less admirable aspects of Marley's life (including his brood of children fathered with women other than his patient wife, Rita, whose presence indicates just how much she puts Marley's legacy above his personal infidelities). Especially interesting is the sketch of Bob Marley's youth, as a mixed-race--and thus socially ostracized--kid from the village of Nine Mile who began to put together a reggae sound with a group of like-minded musicians in Jamaica in the late '50s and early '60s. That period comes to life, and the account of Marley's ascent, while familiar from such sagas, has its share of offbeat incidents. His death, at age 36 in 1981, does not dominate the movie, but Macdonald does a good job of getting that story laid out. In the meantime, the music and the concert footage are more than enough to justify the movie's existence, and Macdonald makes time to include thoughts about politics, ganja smoking, and Rastafarianism, too. If it's not the final word on Marley, it's an excellent start. --Robert Horton

http://www.amazon.co...b/dp/B007G6DHQ0

http://youtu.be/VSvXlZlm6Zg

By Mike in News Archives · August 2, 201212 yr

Just a quick pass on of event news and a reminder...

First the pass on of news that Atlantic Starr will be appearing at the 2013 January Weekender @ Blackpool

Event Guide Entry below

And now the reminder that if you do have major event news or words that you wish to pass on to all the soul fans who use soul source, then you can post them yourself via the news/article feature submission link found on every article page via the right sidebar

cheers now
mike

By Mike in Event News · August 2, 201212 yr

Acid Jazz Records is 25

Eddie Piller's Label Celebrates 25 years of True Independence
Proudly independent record label, Acid Jazz Records are celebrating their 25th anniversary this year. Having played a major part in shaping the musical landscape of the nineties and onwards, Acid Jazz will commemorate their quarter of a century with a bang!

The iconic British label was set up in 1987 by Eddie Piller and fellow DJ Gilles Peterson and became much more than a label - introducing a new genre of music and culture to a whole generation.

Having founded The Blue Note club in Hoxton, they changed the face of 90s clubbing and launched the Hoxton-Shoreditch triangle as the cultural hub it is today.

The new soul and jazz sound was spearheaded by their artists including, Jamiroquai, Brand New Heavies, Galliano, Mother Earth and the James Taylor Quartet.

Today, Acid Jazz continues to release a broad spectrum of artists, including Matt Berry, Tony Christie and the hotly tipped Janice Graham Band.

To honour the label's varied and influential history there will be a whole series of events and releases. An exhibition at Redchurch Street's Londonewcastle will showcase exclusive, never seen before Acid Jazz memorabilia. There will also be vinyl reissues, an AJ25 box set, live events (including the Olympics closing ceremony), film and book.

Acid Jazz is one of the last remaining truly indie labels and is proud to have a made it to its' silver jubilee, in the words of label founder Eddie Piller:

"Acid Jazz has always been about mixing different types of music, opening doors and moving forwards. And after twenty-five years people are slowly beginning to realise we're still here and still putting out great records. And I'll carry on doing so until I die...."

Programme of events
Events

August
10th - Acid Jazz stage at the Olympics (Victoria Park) featuring Geno Washington, Filthy Six and Janice Graham Band

September
16th - Acid Jazz Rare Mod boat trip

October
31st - AJ 25 Exhibition featuring never seen before Acid Jazz memorabilia - Maurice Einhardt Neu Gallery, Redchurch Street (Private viewing)

November
1st-8th - AJ 25 Exhibition featuring never seen before Acid Jazz memorabilia - Maurice Enhardt Neu Gallery, Redchurch Street (Open Exhibition)
9th - AJ 25 Anniversary Live Event - 229 - Andy Lewis, Janice Graham Band, Matt Berry
10th - AJ 25 Anniversary Live Event - 229 - acts to be announced

December
5th - AJ 25 Exhibition featuring never seen before Acid Jazz memorabilia - Londonewcastle, Redchurch Street (Private viewing)
6-24th - AJ 25 Exhibition featuring never seen before Acid Jazz memorabilia - Londonewcastle, Redchurch Street (Open exhibition)

Album Releases

August
13th - Brand New Heavies - 'Brand New Heavies' (LP) - re-issue
13th - James Taylor Quartet - 'Mission Impossible' (LP) - re-issue

September
17th - Manasseh Meets The Equaliser - 'Dub The Millennium' (LP) -Vinyl re-issue
17th - Mother Earth - 'Stoned Woman' (LP) - Vinyl re-issue

October
15th - James Taylor Quartet - 'Money Spyder' (LP) - re-issue
15th - Brand New Heavies - 'Heavy Rhyme Experience' (LP) & (CD) - re-issue
22nd - 'Acid Jazz' Compilation - CD (released by Harmless)

November
12th - James Taylor Quartet - 'In The Hands Of....' (LP) - re-issue
12th - New Jersey Kings - 'Party To The Bus Stop' (LP) & (CD) - re-issue
17th - Snowboy - MFOS (LP) & (CD)- re-issue

Single Releases

November
19th - Jamiroquai - 'When You Gonna Learn' (S) - re-issue
19th - The Third Degree - 'Mercy' (S) re-issue

December
17th - Snowboy - New Avengers (S) - re-issue
17th - Brand New Heavies - Dream Come True (S) - re-issue
For further information please contact Sarah Pearson at Wasted Youth PR on 0203 227 0430 or email sarah@wastedyouthpr.com

Meliz Gokturk
Wasted Youth PR

Tel: +44 (0)203 227 0430
Mob: +44 (0)79 1231 3695
@Mel_iz

Wasted Youth PR, 53 Corsica Street, London, N5 1JT

www.wastedyouthpr.com
F: wastedyouthpr
T: @wastedyouthpr

Representing: Acid Jazz 25th Anniversary, Alpines, The Amorphous Androgynous, Matt Berry, Cake, Dew Process, King Charles, Dear Prudence, The Electric Soft Parade, Filthy Boy, The Futureheads, Get Loaded In The Park, Gotye, Dhani Harrison, George Harrison: The Guitar Collection, Keane, Kids in Glass Houses, Lavender Diamond, Luke Ritchie, Antony Micallef, Mosman Alder, Music Video Awards, M83, thenewno2, OK Go, Owl City, Pale Seas, PYYRAMIDS, Amanda Palmer, Paramore, The Rumour Said Fire, Seasfire, Scouting For Girls, They Might Be Giants, Tanita Tikaram, Vision Sound Music Festival, We Barbarians, Thomas White, YADi

By Mike in Event News · July 31, 201212 yr

The Final Amlwch Allnighter August 2012

Steve T has passed on that the Amlwch social club is shutting its doors in October this year, so it looks like that the Amlwch Alnighter being held on the fast approaching Saturday August the 11th will be the last one

As the first one was held on August Bank Holiday back in 2005, so this last event will mark the end of a hard to take in 7 year run.

Myself have always classed this affair as a prime example of the whole "no one ever said it was going to be easy" aspect, which also lends itself to a no words needed approach, If you been there you know what its all about if not then you have one last chance to get some.

The full event details are up in the Soul Source event guide here (link below)

A good excuse for a flashback clip from the Jan 2006 allnighter

https://www.soul-source.co.uk/uploads/amlwch-soul-2006.mp4

Aug 11th - the usual place, see you there if you go

By Mike in Event News · July 30, 201212 yr

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