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Soul Source music magazine feature.

Article updated by site

After a lot of toing and froing we're finally back to our usual 11pm-6am hours

The club have promised not to mess us about again and have also let us have the original Oct 31st date I wanted instead of Nov 7th. The October Xfire is a week earlier too so the new dates are

100 Club all nighters 11pm-6am except for September 36th anniversary which is 10pm-6am

Jan 24th
March 7th,
April 18th
May 30th
July 11th
Aug 22nd
Sept 26th
Oct 31st
Dec 5th

Xmas Party
Dec 17th 9pm-2am

Cleethorpes Weekender
June 12-14th

Xfire Easter Sunday April 5th and October 10th

Seizure there

Ady

I'm afraid we've had another last minute change forced on us by the 100 Club. They booked a prestigious rock act in late last week without consulting me and expected me to move the all nighter to Friday or another week in November. Yet again my blood ran cold and after a couple of days of persuasion I've managed to negotiate it to be on the same night but the hours will be 12.30-7am. We only lose half an hour but it is a more inconvenient starting time so I will put the price down to a tenner again and when the rush starts at 12.30 we can get everybody in very quickly with no coins to worry about.
For those who meet up in the Blue Posts, remember that shuts at 11pm so the Green Man on Berwick Street may be better with last orders at 12, it's 2 minutes from the club but you shouldn't have too long to wait to get down the stairs.

Many apologies, it was mainly down to an inexperienced booker who didn't realise the importance of the nighters, particularly for the long distance travelers who pre-book trains and hotels. It won't happen again.

Ady

PS The flyer times are obviously incorrect now.

By Ady Croasdell in Event News · October 30, 201410 yr

Monday 27th October see's Soul Junction's latest release hitting the shelves of stockists up and down the country. Two great sides, a nice mid tempo dancer and a southern soul style ballad. The flip 'Be With Me Tonight' was first released in 2006 by Preston and the top side is a track from his latest LP, both now receiving a worthy release on 45. Both have received substantial radio play by several renowned DJ's, don't be disappointed get your copy before like many other Soul Junction releases it is sold out!

Press Release: Preston Shannon “The Way I Love You/Be With Me Tonight”
Release Date: Monday October 27th 2014
CBHCD 2018

Preston Shannon was originally from Olive Branch, Mississippi. At the age of 8 he moved with his family to Memphis, Tennessee where his initial fascination with the genre of blues music began. During the 1970’s while working for a Hardware company he joined a band called Amnesty. Preston later ditched the day job to become a full time musician, securing a gig as the opening act for Shirley “Woman To Woman” Brown’s touring band.
In 1991 Preston formed his own band and it was while performing in the Rum Boogie Cafe on Memphis’s world famous Beale Street that he was discovered by producer Ron Levy, who was instrumental in securing Preston a recording deal with the Rounder Record label.

Three album releases followed on Rounder’s Bullseye Blues subsidiary label, firstly “Breaking The Ice” (1994) followed by “Midnight In Memphis” (1996) and “All In Time”(1999) both recorded under the tutelage of Willie “Pops” Mitchell at his renowned Royal Studios on Lauderdale Street, Memphis.

SJ530B

Following a move to the Title Tunes label in 2006 Preston released the “Be With Me Tonight” album featuring a subtle blend of southern soul and electric blues. It is the title track “Be With Me Tonight” a sublime southern soul ballad that has been chosen for the b-side of this 45 release.

SJ530A

While the A-side “The Way I Love You” a more energetic southern soul dance track has been taken from Preston’s most recent album project “Dust My Broom” which he recorded for the Netherlands based Continental Record Services label. This version of Preston’s “The “Way I Love You” features excellent musical accompaniment from one of the Netherlands most respected blues ensembles ‘Fat Harry &The Fuzzy Licks’.

Nowadays Preston is a regular performer at B.B. Kings Blues Club in Memphis, while he also appeared at this year’s Mississippi Valley Blues Festival in Davenport Iowa.

Listen:
Preston Shannon (with FatHarry & the Fuzzy Licks) - The Way I Love You
https://www.soul-source.co.uk/uploads/select_1413628029__prestonshannonwithfatharrythefuzzylicks-thewayiloveyou.mp3
Preston Shannon (with FatHarry & the Fuzzy Licks) - Be With Me Tonight
https://www.soul-source.co.uk/uploads/select_1413628048__prestonshannon-bewithmetonight.mp3

To listen and order visit: http://www.souljunctionrecords.co.uk/SJ530.html

For further information please contact Soul Junction at:
Tel: +44 (0)121 602 8115 — E-mail: sales@souljunctionrecords.co.uk

By Chalky in News Archives · October 20, 201410 yr

An interesting article shows up online via the Cincinnati.com website, not just looking at the story behind Junior McCants but passing on news of a upcoming panel discussion at the library called “Listen to This: The Mystery of Soul Singer Junior McCants”
A preview below of the article and the link to the full article follows....

Commercially, that was true. From 1965 until it closed Cincinnati operations in 1971, the Hardest Working Man in Showbiz kept King alive with Top 40 smashes like “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag.” Otherwise, the rest of King’s artists had records that rarely amounted to much, either because they were unfamiliar names or were veterans who had seen better days (and material).
But one King R&B artist of that period — a Cincinnati native named Junior McCants — has turned out to have quite a following, especially in England, although he didn’t live to see it.
In fact, he’s become important enough to merit a panel discussion at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, 800 Vine St. in Downtown. Called “Listen to This: The Mystery of Soul Singer Junior McCants,” the free presentation will play his music and have interviews, live or recorded, with family members and McCants’ producer and songwriter, Charles Spurling, who worked for King in the 1960s as a talent scout and recording artist.

View the full informative news article here...

http://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/history/2014/10/18/mystery-soul-singer-junior-mccants/17532395/

artists

By Mike in Articles · October 19, 201410 yr

Soul Up North.. Issue 84 available now...

contact stevecato64@yahoo.co.uk or little-stevie on soul source...

paypal available...

£3 plus £1.40 postage...

Whats in issue 84....

GOOD TOONS & GREAT GROOVES - Dave Halsall

SOUL UP NORTH COLLECTORS CD — TRACK LISTING - Gibby

GENE & THE TEAM BEATS - Jack Garrett

COLLECTING BRITISH - Lord Snooty & His Gang

FUNK IN YO’ FACE — EARTH, WIND & FIRE - Howard Priestley

A DAB OF EARLY SOUL & RnB WITH A HINT OF OBSCURITY - Craig Butler

JESSICA RECORDS (part 1) - Dave Rimmer

FEET TO THE BEAT - Andy Belwood

SO HOW DID IT ALL START? - A short story from Tony Warot

COLLECTING RARE SOUL - Julie Molloy

THE SOUL UP NORTH NIGHTER PLANNER

THOSE LITLE SILVER DISCS - Howard E

THE TREY J’s STORY - David Welding

SOUL UP STATES PART 9— MARYLAND (segment one) - SoulmanJan

HITTING THE DECKS - Wayne Hudson

SOUL IN A DIGITAL AGE - John Farrar

TWOFER TIME - Martyn bird

THE MARVIN SMITH INTERVIEW - Dave Box

STEVE’S SOULFUL SEVENTIES SPINS aka PLUMB’S PEACHES - Steve Plumb

HOT OF THE VINYL PRESS - HFE

THE MYSTERIOUS WORLD OF COVER-UPS (pt8) - Martin Scragg

DEEP SOUL CORNER - Mike Finbow

crammed packed isn't the word!!.....

By Little-stevie in News Archives · October 15, 201410 yr

Just been informed this is now cancelled

site note

also informed cancelled via the posting member here

By Guest GJJ in Event News · October 15, 201410 yr

The Marvin Smith Story
Contents:
Introduction
Interview (August 2014)
(The Unissued Songs)
Discography
Wilton Concert Details
The Marvin Smith Interview

Introduction
This is an article based on an interview with Marvin Smith this year. Marvin was better known by his time as lead singer of the Artistics, so I will first give a little background of Marvin as lead singer of the Artistics, and his solo recordings.

click to view in full
The Artistics story was typical of most vocal groups of their era; they were part of the street-corner scene of the 1950’s, when a capella harmonizing was the style. The group formed in 1958 with Curt Thomas on lead, Larry Johnson as first tenor, Jesse Bolian as second tenor and Aaron Floyd as baritone-bass.
Larry Johnson remembered, in an interview conducted by Robert Pruter (for his publication Chicago Soul): “We started singing in social affairs, high school functions, things like that. There were lots of groups at Marshall High School, but we were the most popular. We were very competitive and would always want to outshine the other groups. In 1963, we formed the group with another lead singer, Robert Dobyne. We were rehearsing up north in an area where Major Lance lived, Cabrini Green. Major asked us to back him up on a record to be included on his first album, “The Monkey Time”. His manager, Carl Davis, heard our backing and signed us up on Okeh, releasing our first record “I Need Your Love” in October, 1963.” A good song, expertly done, although not hit material. Dobyne left because of conflict within the group, and was replaced by Charles Davis as lead. Charles was a singer of some experience, who had previously been with the Dukays, but this association didn’t work out and after a few months, in 1964, a new lead in the shape of Marvin Smith was found.

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Marvin was another singer with earlier professional experience, having sung for a few years with famed Chicago 1950’s group the El Dorados; he sang with the El Dorados and the Tempos from 1957 until 1961. With Marvin as lead, the Artistics had an immediate local hit with a cover of Marvin Gaye’s “Get My Hands On Some Lovin”. The record was a top five hit in Chicago in July, 1964, going to the 45 position on Cash Box’s r&b Chart.
The most successful of Artistics’ Okeh releases was a song composed by Barrett Strong “This Heart Of Mine”, which made the national soul survey for five weeks in December, 1965. Later, in 1967, the success of “This Heart Of Mine”, and other equally good songs, caused Okeh to release their first album titled “Get My Hands On Some Lovin”. In 1965, the Artistics played at a homecoming dance at Crane High School on the West Side, on the bill with the Vontastics. In January of the next year, they played the Regal Theater with such acts as the Impressions and Otis Reading. Later, in 1966, they achieved greater success on the Brunswick label, when they followed Carl Davis over to that label.

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Marvin co-wrote “I’m Gonna Miss You”, a spectacular song, thoroughly Chicagoan in its sound; it stayed four months on the national Billboard charts and became close to a million seller. Whilst the Artistics were peaking, they were also undergoing a rift. Marvin was trying to establish himself as a solo artist, and had a pretty good hit going with “Time Stopped”, backed with “Have More Time”. After an initial tour with “I’m Gonna Miss You”, he left the group to pursue his solo opportunities.
Marvin was born on 8th October, 1940, in Palestine, Arkansas. He moved to the West Side of Chicago with his family in the late 1940’s. I first met Marvin some 12 years ago, on one of my annual visits to the Windy City. With the help of some of my friends from the 60/70’s music business, I called him and Marvin agreed to meet me at his home later that week.
After greeting Val and myself, and friend Edward Keyes, we were escorted to his basement and provided with drinks all round. For the next three hours we talked about Marvin’s musical history. He could not believe how much we knew about his record releases with the Artistics, and his solo work. When I told him how much we enjoyed his music in the UK, he just couldn’t believe it. At this time, he was totally unaware of the UK soul scene; this was about to change when he visited the UK, a couple of years later, to do a concert, and was introduced to the hundreds of UK soul fans.
During our visit, Marvin dug out some dusty old acetates containing tracks that he never got released. We were knocked out by the quality of the songs, and just couldn’t understand why they were not released at the time. Whilst some of the rather crackly tracks were being played, Marvin got out his guitar and sang along to them. What an amazing experience. The condition of most of the acetates was very poor and needed a great deal of restorative editing just to get them back to somewhere near their original condition, and this work I arranged when we returned to the UK. We then sent the cleaned up masters back to Marvin. One of the tracks was the backing track to the song “I Never Thought I’d Be Losing You”, a song Marvin gave to Major Lance. Marvin always wanted to record his own version of this song, so the cleaned up master was sent to him for this purpose.
Actually, Marvin never did his own version of the Major Lance song at that time, but 10 years later, in 2012, he paid for the session himself and cut the track again from scratch, with his vocals. He used many of the original musicians and it was skillfully arranged by no other than the legendary Tom Washington. The end result was just fantastic — don’t miss the first live performance of this song, and others, at the Wilton on the 15th November.
At this point in the article, I would like to hand over to Marvin (I interviewed him in August this year, 2014) to find out a little more about his unissued tracks, so let Marvin tell his own story...

The Marvin Smith Interview - August 2014

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DB The two songs — “Heartache Coming On” and “Hearts Made Of Stone”, you told me that they were written by Barrett Strong
MS That’s correct.
DB Can you tell me a little bit about both those songs?
MS Well, what happened was, I‘ve always liked the way Barrett Strong wrote songs, of course, you know, with Marvin Gaye, Temptations and Gladys Knight, and so many other people. But it was “This Heart Of Mine”, when he wrote that song it just seemed like that song was especially written for me. And I always, you know, we were all friends, you know, Barrett Strong, myself, Bobby Miller, and they were songwriters that pretty much everybody, you know, would love to have gotten songs from, so I don’t know if Carl Davis sent for Barrett, or, because he was still with Motown when he came to Chicago.
DB All the Motown guys and Funk Brothers all spent their time getting on a bus and coming to Chicago and doing sessions for Carl Davis anyway.
MS Well, you know that’s the past, like I say, I really didn’t know
DB Berry Gordy didn’t know that was happening for a while, but found out later and threatened them with a fine if they did it again, but they did it anyway.
MS And I didn’t really know nobody there, but Barrett, and Bobby, and so what happened is when Barrett came to town I guess Carl told him, you know, to come up with a song for us and that’s when he wrote “This Heart Of Mine”. And also his friend was Bobby Miller and Bobby also wrote songs for us. I can’t remember the titles of the songs right now that Bobby wrote, but when Carl had the session he had Sonny Sanders do the arrangements. Now you familiar with Sonny?
DB Oh yes.
MS Okay. I talked to Sonny, maybe a few weeks ago.
DB Is he here in Chicago?
MS Yes, he’s here in Chicago. Matter of fact, I got a call from Sonny, he had been kinda ill, and, but he did the session for…
DB “This Heart Of Mine” and “I’ll Keep Running”.
MS Yeah, “I’ll Keep Running”, “This Heart Of Mine”, and that was pretty much it, I think. I think Barrett wrote another song for us called “I’ll Leave It Up To You”, I can’t remember for sure, but there was another song Barrett wrote.
DB Yes, that song was released on a 45 and it was included on the later album.
MS Yeah, it was a record. They played it, I don’t know how long they played it, but they did play it, and I don’t know how much airplay we got, but people really did like it.
DB So during that time you actually got “Get My Hand On Some Lovin” released on Okeh, it was the title track on the album. Where did “Heartache Coming On” and “Hearts Made Of Stone” come from, did he write those for you at the same time?
MS Oh no, no, no, “Heartache Coming On” and “Hearts Made Of Stone” was sometime later. I think, if I can remember right, I think I went to Detroit and met with Barrett, and this is when he gave me these two songs, “Hearts Made of Stone” and “Heartache Coming On”. And not only that, but even when Barrett wrote “This Heart Of Mine”, he also wrote the song “Have More Time”, but that was during “This Heart Of Mine” time, but the other songs, they came much later. Matter of fact, this was after a long time after I had left Carl Davis, you know, the record company.
DB You say you went to Detroit and he gave you those songs?
MS Yeah, I went to Detroit.
DB How did they get recorded, where did you record those?
MS Well, I came back to Chicago and I think maybe it was a few years later, I just can’t remember the years, you know,
DB It’s a long time ago.
MS Yeah, ‘cos we talking about years and years ago.
DB You must have put a session together with musicians to do that?
MS What happened is, like, I came up with the money, to go in the studio, this is years later. This is when I contacted Tom Tom and Tom Tom told me he’d give me a good deal on the session.
DB He did the arrangements for both of them?
MS Yeah, he did the arrangements to “Hearts Made of Stone” and “Heartache Coming On”.
DB But there was no record company at that stage involved with those tracks.
MS No, right.
DB You paid for the session?
MS Yeah, I paid for the session. The problem was like after I paid for the session I really didn’t have any more money so, it ..
DB And they didn’t make you any money, because they never got out.
MS No, they were never out.
DB That was money down the drain.
MS Right, they were never with no record company. I really didn’t try to go to any record company because I hadn’t finished. I wanted to go back into the studio, because everybody loved the tracks, so I wanted to produce it myself.
DB You wanted to do some more mixing to them?
MS Right, I wanted to do mixing, more voice-overs, and eventually I came up with the money to do the vocal background, and the vocal background was by a group of young ladies called The Kitty Haywood singers..
DB I know the Haywoods, they backed many of the Chicago acts.
MS You know about them? Yeah. I haven’t seen Kitty in years, but they came, they did my vocal background and man, it was just, it was just great.
DB Right, so “Hearts Made Of Stone”, “Heartache Coming On” — we’ve covered those but we don’t know which studio you did them in, but somewhere in Chicago.
MS I remember, you know, I’m thinking it might have been Paul Serrano,
DB PS Studios
MS Yeah, right. That was pretty much where everybody was going, other than when we weren’t recording at Columbia Records any more we made a lot of our recordings over at Universal studios, over on Chestnut and Walnut.
DB Universal is where Carl run most of the sessions for his Brunswick releases.
MS Yeah, that’s what he did, that’s where he did his recordings.
DB I want to talk to you about “I Never Thought I’d Be Losing You”, but we’ll leave it for the moment. What about “Peace”? When did you do “Peace”?
MS Well, that was Tom Tom Washington.
DB Was that done at the same time as “Hearts Made Of Stone”?
MS Oh yeah, yeah, all four of those songs were recorded. Right, you making me remember now. So all those songs were done at the same time, that was “There Must Be Peace”, “Heartache Coming On”, “Hearts Made Of Stone”, and one more …
DB Well, “I Never Thought I’d Be Losing You” — was that done at the same time?
MS No, that was later.
DB Yes, that was when Major Lance picked that up.
MS Yeah, Major Lance.
DB So is there another track somewhere we haven’t got?
MS Well, what happened was Major Lance went to Motown and Berry Gordy, and Major called me up much later and asked me, did I have a song for him. And I told him, I had some songs that I was trying to record but I couldn’t really get them out, so he was desperate for a song, so I gave him my best song, and that was “I Never Thought The Day Would Come When I’d Be Losing You”. When I gave him the song, like, Gwen Gordy sent for me and I went out to California and I stayed at Gwen’s house for maybe a week, almost a week, and she was gonna record me.
DB Who was that, Berry Gordy’s sister?
MS Yeah. She was recording a group of girls, something about something in the middle. Every time I try to think about that song I think about something in the middle. But she was recording them.
DB She was recording in California for Motown?
MS Yeah. She was gonna sign me, you know, because she liked the songs that I wrote. As a matter of fact, she loved “Peace”, but told me that she didn’t want to record me then because “Peace” was too close to Marvin Gaye.
DB I was just going to say that.
MS So you know, but I had no idea that, I never thought about it that way, because when I wrote the song I had no idea it was gonna be in a Marvin Gaye type vein, because I didn’t really like it that way, but that’s the way Tom produced it, because Marvin Gaye was hot, of course.
DB Well, you’re going to do that, you want a hit, and if that style is in vogue at the time you’re going to make a record like that.
MS But I didn’t like it. I still didn’t like it because the way I wrote it, it was more of a Sam Cooke type of a song, cos that’s the way I sung it. But Tom, the arranger that he was, you know, he put it right into that Marvin Gaye vein. But I did like it, and I didn’t like it.
DB We like it. I loved it ever since you gave it me 12 years ago.
MS Yeah, everybody liked it, but I just thought that the vein that I had it in would have been more… I thought it was more soulful, more churchy.
DB Did you ever think about what you would put on the flip? I saw a copy of “Peace” on a United acetate, a 10” acetate, you had it 12 years ago when I first met you. Were there any plans for a B-side if it came out, or did you only have the one track at the time. Because the acetate you had was only one sided.
MS Well, you know, it’s kinda like where “Peace” and “I Never Thought I’d Be Losing You”….
DB Were they about the same time? That could have been the flip.
MS Right, those were all I had, you know. When I say I had, I felt like those were songs that were mine, that were finished, I was still trying to write, but after I made those two songs I kind of stopped writing because I was spending most of my time trying to get those songs out, but I never did go to a record company because I didn’t have the money, I didn’t have the transportation, I didn’t have the means.
DB And in a way you got your fingers burned on the other two, you spent the money for the sessions and never got anywhere.
MS Yeah, I was still working too, I was still working at the Post Office. So, you’re talking about trying to pay a mortgage, trying to take care of my family, all at the same time. Actually, when I left the group, I left the group after “I’m Gonna Miss You” was a big hit. Ok, I was concentrating also on “Time Stopped”, because I …
DB That was your solo work.
MS Right, Carl said it was time to make me a solo artist ‘cos he had promised me that he would make me a solo artist when I signed up to the record company, when I first came to Columbia, you know Carl told me that he would sign me up as a single artists, I just had to drop that Sam style. I tried to, I tried to find my own sound.
DB And you did on the solo releases on Brunswick.
MS Well, pretty much, me and the group were…
DB Well, they were actually there on those solo sessions?
MS Right. Doing the background. Right. They were the background, but maybe, at that time, like, I had a chance to go to Motown.
DB I was going to ask you about that.
MS Yeah. Berry Gordy and Diana Ross called the office, and Pam McCullen answered the phone and she said there’s Motown on the phone. I said Motown? Wanna talk to me? She said yeah, so I came to the phone and it was, it was Berry Gordy and Diana Ross.
DB Was that at Carl’s office? Was Carl there?
MS Yeah. Carl was there, so, but at that time I had gotten real popular with all of the Motown acts, from them saying, the Artistics saying I was worth it, saying how I took care of myself on stage, and like….

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DB Did you tour with a lot of the Motown acts?
MS Oh, I, Oh man, we were good friends, all of them. Motown acts loved us, and, so anyway…
DB I know you used the same barber shop…
MS Ah Yeah. So anyway, when Berry and Diana Ross asked me about coming to Motown, I told them, you know, I didn’t know, I had to go talk to Carl. I went and asked Carl what did he think and Carl said he didn’t know.
DB I can imagine what Carl thought!
MS He didn’t want me going to Motown records; I had had two hits with him, like “This Heart Of Mine” and “I’m Gonna Miss You”. Like I said, all the Motown acts liked us. I can remember when — a lot of people don’t know this — it was when Michael Jackson was on the show at the Regal and Michael was standing there in the wings and I was singing “This Heart Of Mine” and he was just blown away, watching me so intently. And I never will forget that, how much he was really admiring me. And… but that’s pretty much that.
DB So you must be the only guy that got an offer from Motown and refused it.
MS Yeah, I always say that. I say, I guess if Berry was ever asked that question he would say yes, he would remember me. Cos I was hot, I was hot. Well you know not only that, but people thought just like when we wrote “I’m Gonna Miss You”, like I had a good false tenor, as well as my natural voice, so this is the way we performed, like I could sing all of my songs, or anybody else’s songs, yeah I could sing Eddie Kendrick’s songs, so…
DB You could also do Smokey’s.
MS Smokey, yeah, I’m just saying Eddie Kendricks because Eddie had a more of a false tenor than Smokey. Smokey could go in and out with his tenor, but Eddie was just a natural tenor. But I could sing anybody’s songs, and I think I got that experience from being with the Eldorados. Because I had to sing all the Pirkle Lee Moses’s songs, and after singing… Well, I liked the guy with the pretty voices, you know. There was a guy by the name of Sollie McElroy, that was with the Moroccos. I loved Sollie. So I will sing everybody, I will sing Sollie, I will sing Nate Nelson, the Flamingos, I sing Sam Cooke, I sing Eddie Kendricks, I was just that kind of guy, I could sing anybody.
DB You could do a show on your own, then Marvin.
MS Well, the voice is not like it used to be. I still sing a lot of my songs.
DB So, then you finished up working with Curtis.
MS Yeah, with Curtis. Now let me tell you how that went.
DB How did Carl react to that?
MS I don’t know, I had left Carl then, I had left Carl. Matter of fact, after I left Carl I went straight to Curtis. So, when I went to Curtis, he signed me up right away. After about a year going back and forward to the studio, Curtis didn’t have time to record me, and I would come out there and sit around, and sometime he would pay me to go to the airport and pick somebody up.
DB That’s a little bit like Otis Leavill used to be with Carl.
MS Yeah, Otis knew everybody. Everybody knew Otis. So anyway, one day they were having an Impressions session, and I came down to the session. When I came in, I come in and I had my fists balled up, I was mad, cos I’d been with him for maybe a year, and he still hadn’t got time, you know, so I come in, but you know they didn’t keep me out or nothing. So I came in to the studio and the track “You’re Really Something Sadie” was playing and when I came in the room with Curtis and they were playing the track, I said, Curtis, I said, man, I sure like that tune. He said you do, he used to call me cat, he said you do cat? I said yeah, I do like that. He said, you know what, do you wanna try it? I said yeah, can I try it? He said ok, so he wrote the words down real quick, so, he played the track a couple of times, and he said, can you handle it? I said yeah, yeah. He said ok, go on out there, so I went out there, in the studio there, put the earphones on, put the words down, put the track on. Now it’s a funny thing about singers, you can look at the lyrics and they will tell you which way you think you might wanna go.
DB The mood.
MS Yes, the mood. When I looked at the lyrics, and listened to the track, my mind thought about Aretha. I thought about Aretha Franklin. I put the track on and I started singing and when I sung it, I think we did maybe two takes, and after that Curtis said that’s it, that’s it. I had been on the Dick Clark show previously, with “Time Stopped”, and there on the Dick Clark show they had Rate A Record, and they played “You’re Really Something Sadie”, and the kids were dancing to it, and they gave it a 95. Man, I ran out of the house shouting, Oh I got a hit.
DB The thing is, you said they liked that track, but in the UK the fans like “Who Will Do Your Running Now”.
MS But I never thought about that, I was so happy about “You’re Really Something Sadie”, I knew I was going somewhere.
DB When did you cut the other side then, more or less at the same time, as a filler?
MS No, I did that later. That wasn’t the only track that Curtis did, I did another track you haven’t heard, a song called “Stay with Me Baby”. You know that? Ok. That was the session, “Stay With Me Baby”, “Who Will Do Your Running Now”, and another song called “Stay, Stay With Me”, a different song. And he gave me… matter of fact I had about four other songs, he gave me the tracks to all of them. I was to learn them. So, after that, you know, nothing really…
DB So they picked the best two, Sadie went on the top, and whatever Curtis thought best of the rest on the B-side and left the others alone.
MS After that I went back to Curtis and he told me that he was pretty much establishing himself as a single vocalist and he didn’t have time to finish me up, so he gave me my release.
DB I can remember you giving me a cassette tape of Curtis teaching you a song on the guitar, which is amazing to listen to, Curtis teaching you the rhythm track, and singing along.
MS Right, and he also gave me a song called .. what was the name of that song .. “she made another man of me — got me standing on my own two feet — with a love I never knew before — now my mind is completely sure — she made another man of me, another man of me”. That was just like …
DB You never recorded that?
MS No, that was just like “don’t know much about history, don’t know much about geo…” see ‘cos Curtis knew who I came from as far as my voice, and I never did record that song. And then, after that, you know, I got my release from Curtis and I was out there again, trying to make a deal.
DB Well, it would seem as though Major Lance did ok with your track, as it was the first track on his album for Motown.
MS Yeah, but the thing about it was like, you know, they tried to take my publishing, you know, I had the song, I had my own publishing company and the next thing I knew they were trying to take my publishing - he was.
DB So, you, I presume, when you gave Major Lance the song, you gave the guys an idea of what the arrangement should be.
MS Yeah, I played it on my guitar.
DB But they just picked up on that, and on the album, the arrangement is based on yours.
MS Right. You know how good they were, as far as if they had a good song, I mean, if Motown had arranged it, they could have had Jerry Long; Holland, Dozier, Holland…, but the original session was cut here in Chicago.
The arranger was, I think. James Mack, he did the arrangement on it first, and it was cut at a session at Paul Serrano’s studio.
DB He wasn’t involved with Motown in any way. He was always in Chicago with Carl.
MS Yes, that was in Chicago. I think he did an arrangement on it and did the session at PS, then it got sent to Motown.
DB I’ll have a look on the album, and check the credits.
Well, that more or less covers those four unissued tracks; everything that came out we know the history around most of those. After that you have actually done very little. I know you were busy bringing up a family, working.
MS Well, I could do then was like… No, what actually happened is, I went back in the studio with the group and we recorded standard songs, like “I Wish You Love”, “What The World Needs Now Is Love”, those were great songs.
DB Did some of those come out on the later album?
MS Yeah, they released them later, on an album, but none of those songs were ever played on the radio. Great songs, I wish somebody would play them some day, especially I loved “I Wish You Love”, “What The World Needs Now Is Love”, “With These Hands”, “Lucky Old Sun”. Oh man, people would love those songs; if they ever saw us perform those songs… those were great tunes, we sung them like the Temptations would have sung them; people never knew that side of us. These guys could really sing, and they could step.
DB How many of the Artistics are still alive today?
MS Well actually, I can only account for the guys I sang with. There were other guys in the group — Tommy Green took my place, and before Tommy Green there was a guy called Robert Dobyne who sang lead. I don’t know what problem he had with the group, but that was when Carl brought me into the group as lead singer. The actual group was myself, Larry Johnson, Jesse Bolian, and Aaron Floyd, and these guys were real characters, people just loved us.
DB How many of those are still with us today?
MS Just Larry Johnson and myself. Jesse Bolian is deceased, and so is Aaron Floyd. Tommy Green is also deceased, but he took my place. Robert Dobyne is still around, haven’t seen him in years. But there was another guy — Charles Davis, he’s deceased. I’m a friend of his family.
DB You’ve never thought of going back and putting a group together?
MS Yeah, sure. I’d say, even right now, I feel like there’s money out there for the group.
DB The Chi-Lites are still doing it.
MS Oh yeah. Chi-Lites. Just Marshall alive now, but he keeps himself a group. But I’m sure I could do the same thing. Matter of fact, I was telling some of my friends that if I could find two guys that I could get along with and that could really sing, I’d want maybe two more guys with me. As a matter of fact, Barrett Strong suggested that to me too. Matter of fact, he told me he had two guys that he would like for me to try to sing with me.
David & Val Box. August 2014

Well, that’s the interview over, but not the end of the story. Marvin is coming to the UK for a second time to perform at the Wilton Soulful Sessions on the 15th November this year...
Ten years have passed since his last visit, but this concert is going to be very special. Marvin is going to perform all of his unissued tracks for the very first time on stage. He will also be performing his classic Artistics and solo releases. See end of article for details.
Acknowledgements:
Marvin Smith (For taking time for the interview);
Robert Pruter (For his invaluable information in Chicago Soul);
Dave Moore (For additional information);
Dave Rimmer (For additional discography info.);
Val Box (For all the interview transcribing and typing etc)

Marvin Smith Discography
The Four El Dorados (members Marvin Smith (lead), Jewel Jones, James Maddox and Louis Bradley)
Academy 8138 — A Lonely Boy / Go Little Susie — 1958
The Tempos (members Marvin Smith (lead), Jewel Jones, James Maddox and Louis Bradley)
Rhythm 121 — Promise Me / Never Let Me Go — 1958
The Artistics (members Marvin Smith (replacing Charles Davis) (lead), Larry Johnson, Jesse Bolian and Aaron Floyd)
Okeh 4-7193 — Get My Hands On Some Lovin’ / I’ll Leave It Up To You — 1964
Ted Taylor / The Artistics
Okeh Jzsp 111745 / Jzsp 111809 — Stay Away From My Baby / This Heart Of Mine* - 1965 (demo copies issued in purple vinyl) *flip by The Artistics.
The Artistics (members Marvin Smith, Larry Johnson, Jesse Bolian and Aaron Floyd)
Okeh 4-7232 — This Heart Of Mine / I’ll Come Running — 1965 — written by Barrett Strong
Okeh 4-7217 — In Another Man’s Arms / Patty Cake — 1965 (both sides written by Marvin Smith 1964)
Okeh — 4-7243 — Loveland / So Much Love In My Heart — 1966
Marvin Smith
Brunswick 55299 — Time Stopped / Have More Time* — 1966 (backed by The Artistics) *written by Barrett Strong — directed by Gerald Sims
The Artistics (members Marvin Smith, Larry Johnson, Jesse Bolian and Aaron Floyd) Marvin Smith left the group in 1967 but sang on studio recordings. (Other lead singers were Tommy Green and Fred Pettis)
Brunswick 55301 — I’m Gonna Miss You / Hope We Have — 1966 (first released in the UK on Coral Q 72488)
Marvin Smith (solo)
Brunswick 55314 — I Want / Love Ain’t Nothing But Pain — 1967
Brunswick 55348 — Fading Memories / Hold On — 1967
Mayfield 942 - You’re Really Something Sadie / Who Will Do Your Running Now — 1974
LP’s
The Artistics
Okeh OKM/S — 12119 — Get My Hands On Some Lovin’ — 1967
Side 1: Get My Hands On Some Lovin’ / I’ll Leave It Up To You / Patty Cake / So Much Love In My Heart / I’ll Come Running
Side 2: This Heart Of Mine / What’ll I Do / Loveland / I Need Your Love / In Another Man’s Arms.
---------------

WILTON'S SOULFUL SESSIONS NIGHT
MARVIN SMITH Live at the Wilton
Wilton's Soulful Sessions Presents:
Direct from the “Windy City” Chicago, we are proud to present a soul night featuring a very special performance from: * MARVIN SMITH *
Soloist & Lead Singer of the Artistics
Supported by the incredible full eight piece band, including background vocalists - PUSH - who backed Debbie Taylor at our last event.
At the New Wheatsheaf Conference & Banqueting. Altofts Lane, Whitwood, Castleford, WF10 5QB
Saturday November 15th 2014 - 9.00pm - 3.00am - No admission after 11.00pm
Some of the songs Marvin will be performing at this special night at the Wilton are his previously unreleased 60/70’s recordings, performed on stage for the very first time along with timeless classics from Chicago’s finest years.
Previously unreleased:
“Peace”
“Hearts Made Of Stone”
“I Never Thought I’d Be Losing You”
“Heartache Coming On”
Plus favourite Classics:
“This Heart Of Mine”
“Have More Time”
“I’m Gonna Miss You”
“Who Will Do Your Running Now”
and more.
Dj's on the night will be Arthur Fenn - Mike Charlton - Boxy - Mouse
Get your tickets early to avoid missing this fantastic night.
Tickets are now available at: http://www.wheatsheaf.com/allnighter by Paypal or Credit Card
Admission: Advance Tickets £20 + Paypal and Postal charges
or £23 OTD if not sold out.
Info: Boxy - 01924 894555, Mouse - 07717 338009

LATEST UPDATE!
Tickets are now available online at: www.wheatsheaf.com/allnighter by PayPal or Credit Card. Tickets are £20 + paypal and postage charges. OTD price is £23 if not sold out. Tickets can also be purchased by contacting: Boxy - 01924 894555, Mouse - 07717 338009 or by hand from Arthur Fenn or Mike Charlton. Tickets are already selling fast so don't miss out on this fantastic night. Marvin is so excited to be able to perform in the UK again and have the chance to include his previously unissued songs in a full concert all of his own. His performance will be split into two sets as we did last year with Debbie Taylor (Maydie Miles). After the concert, Marvin will be available for signing autographs etc. Expect to hear not only his unissued songs, that he has never performed on stage before, but also classics from his time as lead singer for the Artistics and his solo work produced by the late Carl Davis and Curtis Mayfield.
Add to that the unforgettable professional musicians of the band PUSH - we can't fail to have another fantastic night at the Wilton's Soulful Sessions.
November 15th will be on us before we know it! So get ya tickets now!

click to view in full

By Boxy in Articles · October 13, 201410 yr

'The History of Okeh Records: 1918 to 1970' is the end result of a project which has taken me over twenty years to complete. It began life as a series of articles which i had planned for a fanzine that i published during the late 80's, 'The Drifter'', but the mag folded before I had the series complete and the rough drafts were put to one side and forgotten about.

A number of years later i reactivated them and put together the first draft of the book. At that time it was very much a 'cut and paste, prit-stik and photo copy' effort which was, for a number of reasons,once again put to one side and allowed to spend a few years at the bottom of a draw before i finally decided to finish the project off a couple of years ago, eventually completing it towards the end of 2013. Even then it sat on the laptop for six months before i took the plunge and had the book printed.

'The History of Okeh' covers the history of the label from it's first world war roots, through the issue of Okeh's early 'race' records until its final release and, on the way, touches on everything in between, including jazz, r&b, doo-wop, rock & roll and the blues. I hope that it will be of interest not only to devotees of the label but also to those who have an interest in the development of black music in general during the period that the label existed. I am, first and foremost, a fan and collector of the labels music in all its many forms and, as corny as it sounds, the book is my way of paying the label back, in a very small way, for all the joy it has given me over the years.

Professionaly printed, self published book on the legendary Okeh label.
A4 size, Colour soft cover, 102 B&W inner pages.
£7.99 plus P&P.
For further details please e-mail me at gary@evans2634.freeserve.co.uk
Many thanks,
Gary

By okehgaz in News Archives · October 10, 201410 yr

Some of you may have heard that the musician and songwriter, Bill Bush, died this week after falling at his home. He was 70. Bill recorded 'Velvet Touch / I'm Waiting' on Ronn in the mid 60s and played with the Fabulous Carousels, a.k.a Little Johnny Clark, prior to forming his own combo.

I'd known Bill for exactly a decade this year since I traced him through a contact at the local newspaper. I brought his band over to the Glasgow Jazz Festival in 2005 and two years later I visited him at his home in Shreveport, Louisiana, meeting Stan Lewis, BB Davis, Eddy Giles and many other great characters from that era.

Anyone who met Bill in Glasgow back in 2005, or at Crossfire allnighter in April 2013, will remember him as a warm and funny bloke, and very, very talented despite never 'making it' big nationally. He played on the same bill as people such as Jerry Lee Lewis and Bobby Bland, to name a few of the stars who crossed his path in a successful performing career of 50 years+. He was still playing live the week before he died.
Although he was not able to perform / do a PA at Crossfire, he did appear onstage and thanked everyone for their support just before Sean Chapman played his Ronn single to a packed dancefloor. That meant a great deal to him.

When he was in the UK last year I tried once again to explain the appeal of his dance track but mentioned that it wasn't like Motown and was a different kind of sound, I asked him what the influence was for it given that 'northern soul' was nowhere on his radar, where had the inspiration come from for that driving beat and soulful delivery, asking him: "What was it supposed to be?" His reply, "It was supposed to be the b-side". So we're still no wiser.
What started for me as a desperate search for an impossible 7" led to friendship and genuine affection, he was a great guy and I'm very lucky to have called him 'friend'.

Thank you to Keith Money for spinning Ronn 17 at the 100 Club back in the early 2000s, without whom none of this would have happened. I remember saying to my other half at the time, "I have to get that record".

http://www.shreveporttimes.com/story/news/local/2014/10/01/bush-former-councilman-dies-fall/16549359/

added by site

link to interview/feature

http://www.newuntouchables.com/nutsmag/masters-the-fabulous-carousels-interview/

scan from an earlier forum post by Martin

By scotchmartin in News Archives · October 9, 201410 yr

I received an email from Danny Cannon's (Lenny's real name) neighbour and helper who I had been corresponding with to tell me that he passed away peacefully in hospital on September 27th.

His record 'Across The Street' was one of the foundation stones of the first 6TS nights championed by Randy Cozens who had first heard it in London's mod clubs in the mid 60s. He included it in his Mod Top 100 and it became a soul anthem for the early 80s mods. It still exemplifies the "Cool" of soul in the 60s for me. It was also a massive record on the Popcorn scene.

Sadly Danny's manager and producer Bob Crewe had died only a fortnight before. Danny worked with the highly talented producer throughout his solo career which lasted from his first of two ABC releases in 1961, to his second Atco release in 1964. He also recorded a 45 for Smash 'Mr Moonlight' which has Northern Soul devotees.

He had previously been with the vocal group the Vibraharps who recorded on Beech and Atco.

I got to speak with Danny once and he was a friendly, charming man, though suffering from the late stages of cancer. he was so pleased that 'Across The Street' was still alive in Europe.

Click to view in full

By Ady Croasdell in News Archives · October 8, 201410 yr

Various - For The People Part 1 (7” Box Set)
Get On Down GET56027-7 664425602777

Releases 28/11/14 (Black Friday)

Continuing Get On Down’s People Records deluxe reissues series - which launched on Record Store Day in April 2014 with the release of the JB’s classic 1972 album Food For Thought - this unique box is the celebration of James Brown’s People label and some of the imprint’s most famous singles.

Each 45 has been lovingly re-created with visuals taken from the original artwork. And beyond the singles themselves, this set includes a deluxe, cloth-covered carrying case with a People Records logo on the exterior and purple People embossing throughout the interior.

Featured 45s include
James Brown’s “Escape-ism” (1971);
Lyn Collins’ “Think (About It)” (1972);
Fred Wesley & The JBs’ “Same Beat” (1973);
The Devils’ “X-Sorcist” (1974);
Maceo & The Macks’ “Cross The Track (We Better Go Back)” (1974).

This is a soul, funk and hip-hop DJ’s dream!"

RECORD 1: Fred Wesley & The JBs A-SIDE: Same Beat (Pt. 1) B-SIDE: Same Beat (Pts. 2 & 3)

RECORD 2: James Brown A-SIDE: Escape-ism (Pt. 1) B-SIDE: Escape-ism (Pts. 2 & 3)

RECORD 3: The Devils A-SIDE: X-Sorcist B-SIDE: Hip Hug-Her RECORD

RECORD 4: Maceo & The Macks A-SIDE: Cross The Track (We Better Go Back) B-SIDE: The Soul Of A Black Man RECORD

RECORD 5: Lyn Collins A-SIDE: Think (About It) B-SIDE: Ain’t No Sunshine

Out on
28/11/14 (Black Friday)

By Guest in News Archives · October 7, 201410 yr

A news pass on from Will of Secret Stash records...

I know there was some interest when the Ringleaders / Sharpees 45s were released, so I wanted to give an update that we are opening up subscriptions to the One-derful! Collection.

It's a six volume series (each release is 2xLP or 1xCD and focuses on a separate one-derful sub-label), and the first 500 copies of the each LP include a limited edition bonus 45 (for each of the releases we're doing a one time 45 run of 500).

For the Subscription only, we're including a 7th 45 - the Jackson Five's unreleased first recording of "Big Boy." There is also a CD subscription with includes the six releases plus a 7th CD with all of the audio from the bonus 45s.

If you would like to know more, can check out the link below and stream audio from all 160+tracks, or send me a message.

http://shop.secretstashrecords.com/collections/frontpage/products/one-derful-collection-subscription

By Guest in News Archives · October 6, 201410 yr

The inaugural inductees for the Soul Source Northern Soul Hall Of Fame have been selected and a list of successful inductees is below. We would like to thank everyone who took part by nominating their selections, which produced a fantastic ‘who’s who’ of Northern Soul for the Board to work through. As you can see by the list, although it’s a subjective project, I don’t think many would argue with their inclusion.
Over the next couple of weeks we will be preparing individual pages in order to pay tribute to each Inductee and these pages will be housed within the HOF Forum.
The next round of nominations will begin on 01 November so thinking caps on and if your particular favourite didn’t make the list this time, feel free to nominate them again. (And again until they make the list!)
The nomination process and the required format are being tweaked for the next round. Hopefully people will be able to use a simplified form at the click of a button.
Please feel free to add comments or suggestions for future improvements.
Regards,
Dave Moore

INAUGURAL INDUCTEES TO SOUL SOURCE — NORTHERN SOUL: HALL OF FAME - OCTOBER 2014.

FEMALE VOCALISTS
Linda Jones : Often quoted as THE quintessential femme soul voice. A tragic end to a glittering soulful legacy.
Maxine Brown : An ever popular and respected artist with a whole slew of Northern favourites,

MALE VOCALISTS
Edwin Starr : Perennial professional, both on wax and on stage. From Detroit legend to UK home boy.
Roy Hamilton : Elvis’ favourite singer. Sang it all, from operatic pleaders and beat ballads to storming uptempo dancers.

FEMALE GROUP
Andantes : As vital to The Sound Of Young America as the Funk Brothers. Unrivalled success as a backing sound.
Marvelettes : Motown’s oft overlooked ladies. Great musical legacy.

MALE GROUP
Masqueraders : Epitome of group harmony.
Precisions : Produced classic Northern Soul and many people’s favourite live act over he years.

MIXED GROUP (MALE AND FEMALE)
Exciters : “Blowing Up My Mind” and appearance at Wigan made this duo a ‘shoe in’ for lots of people.
Sapphires : Fantastic group that delivered classic after classic. Perfect foil for Jerry Ross and Joe Renzetti.

PRE PRODUCTION
Mike Terry : Legendary musician, arranger, producer and all round musical genius.
Van McCoy : Did it all. Created legendary sides by a whole host of artists. Legend among Northern Soul fans.

POST PRODUCTION
Popcorn Wylie : Record label owner, publishing company owner, Detroit maestro. Expect to see Popcorn’s name appear in Pre Production category too I’d expect.
Weldon A McDougal III : Producer, manager, label owner, promo man, photographer. Proper ‘record guy’ involved in all aspects of soulful vinyl business. Worked for Berry Gordy, Gamble and Huff and everyone in between.

OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION
Ady Croasdell : At the centre of the Kent/Ace catalogue of reissues and unissued material, responsible for the longest running soul club in the world and has brought many acts to the attention of soul fans that may otherwise have slipped away.
Bob Abrahamian : Soul fan, historian, archivist, presenter of iconic radio show “Sitting In The Park” and a friend to many artists and fans alike.

hall of fame

By Dave Moore in Articles · October 1, 201410 yr

THE JOHNNY TERRY ACETATE COLLECTION

Winford 'Johnny' Terry's career in the music business began in the 1950s when he collaborated with James Brown to write his first major hits,'Please please please' and 'Prisoner of love'. In 1963 he joined the Drifters as a bass singer and contributed to such classic hits as 'Under the boardwalk' and 'Saturday night at the movies' amongst many others, before leaving the group, in 1965, to concentrate on his own productions. One of his first efforts featured two Detroit singers he christened the 'Just Brothers' for the tiny Lupine label in the winter of the same year. The 'A' side was a competent close harmony vocal performance whilst the flip was a 'filler' instrumental called 'Sliced tomatoes' featuring only two guitars, a bass and a drum track. The record sunk without trace. Ironically, both sides resurfaced almost a decade later when Terry joined the fledging new company set up by his wife's brothers, Brian and Edward Holland, and re-introduced the Just Brothers to the world. 'Sliced tomatoes' was issued on the Music Merchant label in 1972 towards the end of HDH's phenomenal run of chart success, but sold poorly in America. Although only available on import, the opposite was true on the 'Rare soul' scene in Britain. 'Sliced tomatoes' became a dance hall classic and achieved a cult status that eventually led to it being sampled by an English DJ and becoming a universal success under the title 'Rockafella skank.' Johnny Terry's further contribution to the Detroit music scene included top flight productions on Jack Montgomery ('Dearly beloved', 'Baby take a chance on me' 'Do you believe it'), the Honey Bees ('Never in a million years' 'Let's get back together') and more classic sides from the Just Brothers including the magnificent 'Carlena'.

Jack Montgomery, Jay Davis (Tempos) and Johnny Terry

On a cold and dreary Saturday morning in May 2012 the owner of a Detroit record store drove just over 30 miles north west of Detroit to the affluent community of Northville in search of old vinyl records and associated memorabilia. Wade Kergan of Hello Records read an Estate Sale listing in a local newspaper featuring a wide variety of household goods and furniture for clearance, including records, and decided to investigate. His contact with the organising agent would lead to the discovery of a large number of previously unknown recordings from the Invictus/Hot Wax and Music Merchant labels of the early 1970s. She directed him to a number of cardboard boxes she had 'saved' from a large house on the west side of Detroit that was in the process of being sold but had been burgled on the previous day. The boxes contained a number of 10” acetates, some posters, family photo albums and other ephemera. It transpired that there had been other acetates in the property but that these had been been removed in the robbery. Having purchased the boxes, Kergan soon realised that the contents once belonged to ex Drifters vocalist and erstwhile record songwriter/producer Johnny Terry and his wife Carol (Holland). The 'missing' acetates subsequently surfaced in other Detroit record shops and eventually gained public exposure.

An acetate disc is created by using a recording lathe to cut an audio-signal-modulated groove into the surface of a special lacquer-coated blank metal disc; a real-time operation requiring expensive, delicate equipment and expert skill for good results. They can be played on any normal record player but will suffer wear more quickly than vinyl. The producers and technicians at the HDH studio frequently made acetates from sessions to hear what the music sounded like on disc, as opposed to high quality tape, and to assess arrangement, mixing or technical issues. The large number of labelled acetates found among Johnny Terry's possessions provides a tantalising insight into the production process at the studio. There are different versions of some songs or different durations for others, with most containing Brian Holland's hand written comments that range from a curt 'Rejected' to more positive instructions designed to improve the quality of future efforts. The bulk of them gained a release, whilst others never saw the light of day, despite exhibiting considerable commercial potential. Some play at 33rpm whereas most run at 45rpm and some are in mono with others in stereo. All three labels are represented as well as several unreleased tracks from the Warner Brothers album on Dionne Warwicke that HDH and Richard 'Popcorn' Wylie wrote and produced. How Terry came to possess them is also a mystery. No matter. The fact that he had them at all has enriched our appreciation of the great talent assembled at the Tower Theatre in Detroit, home of Holland Dozier Holland's studio, and the superb music they produced.

Thankfully, Harmless Records is to release many of the previously unissued tracks, as well as other obscurities, in a 7” vinyl box set scheduled for December 2014. Artists like Chairmen of the Board, Eloise Laws, the Barrino Brothers and many others will be featured.

HDH Record Box Set

Acetate Auction

The Acetates

The 26 10” acetates in the collection will be sold as a 'Job lot' in a 'Sealed bid' AUCTION to the highest bidder. Bidding will close at midnight on TUESDAY 7th OCTOBER 2014. A minimum bid of £1500 is required. Winning bid and bidder will be confidential.

All acetates are in very good condition. A full list is follows:

BARRINO BROTHERS 'I shall not be moved' (3:02) 12-31-70 45rpm one sided MONO
BARRINO BROTHERS 'Well worth it' (3:31) 19-9-72 45rpm one sided STEREO
BARRINO BROTHERS 'Well worth it' (3:27) 12-15-72 45rpm two sided — same song. STEREO
BARRINO BROTHERS 'I had it all' (4:13) 6-17-71 33rpm MONO one sided
BARRINO BROTHERS 'I've had it all' (3:00) 9-24-71 45rpm two sided — same song MONO
BARRINO BROTHERS 'I want to give you what you've been giving me' (2:57) 1-26-72 33rpm one sided STEREO
BARRINO BROTHERS 'It doesn't have to be that way' (7:33) 2-22-72 33rpm one sided STEREO
BARRINO BROTHERS 'When love was a child' (3:40) 12-3-70 45rpm one sided MONO
BARRINO BROTHERS 'When love was a child' (3:24) 9/29/70 45rpm one sided MONO
CHAIRMEN OF THE BOARD 'Chairman of the board' (3:33) 12-7-70 45rpm one sided MONO
CHAIRMEN OF THE BOARD 'Chairmen of the board' (2:57)12-17-70 45 rpm one sided MONO
CHAIRMEN OF THE BOARD 'I'm in love darling' (2:42) 4-23-71 45 rpm two sided — same song MONO
CHAIRMEN OF THE BOARD 'Where there's faith' TWO versions (2:53) and (2:55) 33 rpmsame side 8-26-71 STEREO
8TH DAY 'Got to go home' (3:31) 8-9-72 45 rpm one sided MONO
ELOISE LAWS Stay with me' (3:05) 7-3-72 45 rpm one sided MONO
ELOUISE (sic) LAWS 'I think you need love' (2:51) 4-27-72 45 rpm one sided MONO
ELOISE LAWS Easiest way to fall' (2:34) 12-22-71 Two sided. 45 rpm Flip has X's on it. 'One monkey don't stop no show' STEREO
ELOUISE (sic) LAWS 'Don't burn the bridge' (4:53) 1-31-72 one sided 45rpm MONO
ELOISE LAWS 'Baby doll' (3:46) 7-14-72 one sided 45rpm MONO
ELOISE LAWS 'Baby doll' (4:00) 'Baby doll' (4:00) Easiest way to fall' (2:40) 'Easiest way to fall' (2:40) 2-22-72 one sided 33 rpmSTEREO
ELOUISE (sic) LAWS 'Baby doll' (3:18) 7-19-72 one sided 45rpm MONO
ELOUISE (sic) LAWS 'Baby doll' (3:40) 1-14-72 one sided 45 rpm MONO
ELOUISE (sic) LAWS 'Baby doll' (3:07) 4-25-72 two sided — same song 45 rpm MONO
ELOISE LAWS 'Baby doll' (3:00) 12-21-71 two sided 'One monkey don't stop no show' Alt. Version on flip. 45Rpm MONO
ELOISE LAWS 'Baby doll' (3:49) 7-14-72 45 rpm STEREO Flip. 'Baby doll' (3:14) 7-14-72 45 rpm MONO

NOTE: All versions of 'Baby doll' are different — combinations or lack of background vocals, horns, strings and varying lead vocals.

By Rob Moss in News Archives · September 26, 201410 yr

I’m very excited to announce the launch of bullcitysoul.org, a project with roots tracing back more than a decade to my last semester as an undergraduate: In the spring of 2003, I began making the short trek from Chapel Hill, NC to Durham, NC to visit with musicians who had played in ‘70s soul bands like the Communicators & Black Experiences, Duracha, Johnny White & the Mighty Crusaders, and the Modulations. Over time, a vibrant image developed of what was once a thriving soul music scene in Durham. In 2011, with help from Joshua Clark Davis, Lincoln Hancock, and many others, we shared these discoveries through the Soul Souvenirs gallery exhibit of the Bull City Soul Revival project. Now we’ve enhanced Soul Souvenirs and turned it into the Bull City Soul website.

This work would have been impossible without Josh and Linc, but most importantly, the three of us wish to thank the countless musicians of Durham whose creativity offers us continual inspiration. We hope that in some small way we’re able to share the stories of their music with audiences old and new alike.

This is the story of R&;B, funk, and soul music in Durham, North Carolina, also known as the Bull City. But Bull City Soul isn't just about music–it's a history of black cultural life and community in the urban South.

http://bullcitysoul.org

By Guest in News Archives · September 25, 201410 yr

At The Foot Of The Stairs Theres Darkness The mighty 100 Club, saturday night, was fun...........
I've regularly descended these stairs for over 30 years and still it's a great place to be. It's oh so easy to take places for granted and then they are suddenly gone. I've done that with many places over the years. But saturday night in Old London Town made me realise just how special this small 4,000 sqft odd of the capitol city really is.
Many that go treat it as something special and arrive during the day meeting at many points round the city for pre-nighter shenanigans and in this age of technology the airways are full of texts and PM's of 'We are at ...', Where are you', 'Landed......' etc.
So to our little jaunt, we arrive early evening in North London for a little supper with Butch & Naoko at their flat. She had cooked up a Japanese, Spanish fusion that hit the spot. Conversation between Butch & I soon got round to current 45's, old record finding stories and dealers in the U.S. we have both known, trying to identify possible record hunting targets for the future. Then heading out with the drive down through North London, to arrive at a respectable time. When did 20mph zones appear? think I got flashed somewhere around Islington, I mean 20mph, that means driving in second gear!!!.

Anyway parking round the back, as we rounded the last corner and coming onto Oxford Street, we see the usual gaggle of people outside smoking furiously. The air is thick with that machine gun fast conversation fuelled by excitement and ....... The door staff are new faces to me, gone are the dependable guys, who used to let you pass with a knowing nod and entry as if a member of a secret society. All a little too brusk in their manner and full of their importance, but hey, they get the job done.
Descending those well worn stairs, now masked by the new entrance lobby, 'let the games begin'. Immediately welcomed by familiar faces, Tony Smith, who counts them in and counts them out, like a sentinel on duty. The room is packed to the gunnels, dance floor pulsating in one with the booming sound system. The first pass through the room over to the end wall, where for years high valued pieces of plastic have been traded over, is a slow process. Greetings from familiar faces, shouted welcomes over the sound system, all with that genuine look of being pleased to see you, Eddie Hubbard, Leona & Adi, Soulful Crisï, Jon Buck, Mick Heffernan, and homeboy Leon Brown, the list is a long one, it gives you a feeling of comfort and that 'I'm glad I came'. OK now down to the serious business of talking bollocks, with occasional trips to the dance floor, I am getting older, so need to pace myself. Now this was an anniversary, so not completely typical of current 100 club nights.
Early hours entertainment came in the shape of Ady Croasdell, mastermind behind the last 35 years of this club, playing a selection of his new finds from the Kent endeavours and old guard stalwarts Mick Smith and Roger, sadly no room for newer young gun Joel Maslin tonight on the rosta. Both of these played a selection of tried and tested bangers to a happy frenetic dance floor, with whirling dervishes in the shape of Yann Vatise, Ali Wollaston, Malayka and the rare ‘lesser spotted’ James Trouble mastering the floor. They in turn were followed by The Butchmister who unleashed his ‘weapons of mass destruction’ on the room. Energy levels hit maximum, the whole room is suddenly in the grip of ‘Marco Time’ as he bounces round the stage, urging on the whole room with woops, hollers and wolf whistles, at any moment now The Santochi is going to explode. Jax Transit Authority, Sag Warfare, the room is in hyper drive, oh what fun !!!
Keith Money then takes to the stage and delivers his dependable set of high quality supa rarities and so these first few hours demonstrates why The 100 Club is special and held its place as the club that it is in the UK for so many years. 60’s, 70’s supa rare, classic bangers, the latest new discoveries, all played in one room, bringing people from all parts of the country together for a manic few hours.
No promoters dictating the play list, no punters none tolerant of other peoples musical tastes. Other places have come and gone, had their moment in the limelight, but The 100 Club marches on, fun-bloody-tastic.

By Dave Thorley in Articles · September 22, 201410 yr

Brent - Superb 60s Soul Sides
Various Artists
CDKEND 420
Released Aug 2014

Bob Shad was veteran of the music industry having worked for majors as well as independent record labels, recording many Jazz, Blues and R&B greats along the way. It was a natural progression to put all his experience, knowledge and contacts into his own labels and out of this was born Shad, Time and then Brent. Mainstream was to follow a few years later.

It is these labels that the latest offering from Kent highlights and it is a very welcome addition to the Kent label. Covering the years 1961 to 1967 the CD features many tracks that at the time of recording remained unreleased until this releases, some gems that have graced many turntables of collectors and DJ’s alike in particular the UK’s Rare/Northern Soul scene and some that have remained under the radar of many.
Although the label was based in New York it was far from a New York label with Shad using his vast amount of contacts and experience to persuade artists to record for him from all over the US. Artists from The West Coast, Florida and Detroit laying down some great soul, pop even rock for Shad. Up-tempo, mid-tempo, Big City beat ballads, R&B shouters, stompers, all styles and genres.

The CD kicks of with a rarity, a great piece of soul from Dave Crawford that has never been seen or heard until now (certainly not by the vast majority of collectors) as the demo features “Millionaire” on both sides. The unheard flip, ‘Praying For The Rain To Come’ is a masterpiece, a great impassioned soul vocal with a fantastic female backing that at times practically takes lead and indeed is featured just as much vocally as Crawford himself. The flip ‘Millionaire’ is also featured on the compilation. It is probably just as well known, especially by UK collectors for the version by Chuck Jackson that remained unreleased until Kent came by it in the late 80’s although it also saw versions by other artists as well. Crawford also reworked ‘Millionaire’ for a mid 70’s release. Crawford went on to fame as a writer and producer and in particular Candi Staton’s ‘Young Hearts Run Free’. Unfortunately the fortune was to elude him and I did read he sold his rights to his work for what would appear a pittance considering the airplay ‘Young Hearts’ alone receives.

The great June Jackson provides some West Coast magic with the previously unreleased ‘Port Of Happiness’. The tapes listed this as The Jackaels but it is clearly Jackson on lead on this early 60’s recording. It is a track if it had seen the light of day would I’m sure have graced many a turntable at many a club and I do hope Kent see fit to include this as a Kent Select release in the future, possibly with Dave Crawford’s opener alongside it?
Jeannie Trevor gives us two tracks from 1965, both previously unreleased. ‘You Did It For Me’ the first time I heard it reminded me for some reason as Ady Croasdell’s “Gerri Grainger” acetate that has become a 100 Club classic, Jeannie Trevor wouldn’t have been out of place at the hallowed venue either, nor would many of the tracks featured on this excellent compilation.

Jeannie Trevor gives us two tracks from 1965, both previously unreleased. ‘You Did It For Me’ the first time I heard it reminded me for some reason as Ady Croasdell’s “Gerri Grainger” acetate that has become a 100 Club classic, Jeannie Trevor wouldn’t have been out of place at the hallowed venue either, nor would many of the tracks featured on this excellent compilation.

Florida group The Moovers are well known to collectors and DJ’s alike. ’One Little Dance’ saw turntable action in the UK during the mid 80’s. Released twice initially on Deep City it was picked up and re-released by Shad a year later. It’s flip, the ballad ‘I Love You Baby’ is a great slice of soul, the better of the two sides for me. Also from Florida and recruited by Shad is a white R&B singer Linda Lyndell with two tracks, one a super up-tempo R&B dancer and the other a reworking of a Betty Lavette recording. Lewis And Clark, probably better known for his Tigertown recordings that received extensive plays on the UK Northern Soul Scene gives us ‘I Need You Baby’. A track that seems ideal for today’s rare soul scene.

Linda Lyndell (Courtesy of Ace/Kent Records)

Another that became a Northern Soul favourite is the Lovells with Here Comes The Heartaches, an up-tempo poppy dancer the group also recorded as Faith Hope and Charity.

Big City Soul is provided by Clyde Wilson. ‘Go To Him’ isn’t out of place alongside other Big City Soul singers such as Chuck Jackson, Lou Johnson. Wilson does have a history in the business as both a label owner or co-owner and penned songs for the like s of Billy Byrd.
Phoenix, Arizona’s Ronnie White (Ronnie Whitehead). Gives us two records the fantastic deep ballad ‘Begging’You’ and the up-tempo ‘Got To Give You Up’.

Detroit gives us two tracks provided by the Correc-Tone label, Laura Johnson with ‘Wondering If You Miss Me’ and one that has seen plenty of action in the UK and is highly collectable, Marva Josie with ‘Later For You, Baby’.

Hailing from Los Angeles Carl Lester and The Showstoppers is the earliest recording on the compilation, an up-tempo R&B shouter. The group apparently went onto become the Rivingtons.

Brenton Wood gives us the ballad ‘I Want Love’ and the mid-tempo mover ‘Cross The Bridge’. The latter I remember hearing on tapes and in the odd club back in the 80’s. Also from L.A. was Clarence Hill and he gives us the superb ‘A Lot Of Lovin’ Goin’ Round’. Issued on the Mainstream label it was a tape swappers fave back in the mid 80’s Stafford era in the UK but later made it to the turntables and is now a highly Indemand and popular 45.

Two tracks that I have had on repeat is the previously unreleased Bell Sound Studio recording form Marvell Harrell ‘Don’t You play With My Heart’. As Ady states in the sleeve notes a blatant copy of ‘Don’t Play That Song’ from Ben E King. There is something though from this unknown artist that has struck a chord with me and one that I could see gaining plays in certain clubs in the UK. Veteran recording artist Varetta Dillard gives us ‘Fly By Night’, credited to Veretta and the Thomases. A 45 that does appear to have some appeal in the UK and it’s not hard to see why upon listening.

The compilation is brought to a close by Bertha Tillman with a previously unknown and unreleased ballad 'Someone (Who Needs You Like I Do)'.
Although the Brent label has been known about and collected for decades this compilation has become one of my favourite Kent releases of late and has had many repeat plays. It has everything for the collectors, tracks under the radar, some well known recordings and of course the unissued, what more can you ask for.

Compiled by Ady Croasdell, it is as usual accompanied with extensive notes again compiled by Ady giving the history (in most cases) of the songs and the artists. You get an excellent 16-page booklet with various scans of the labels, press releases and tape boxes as well as some great photos of some of the artists.

It is one compilation I highly recommend.

http://youtu.be/xTJayBqAtxU

Track listing:
1. Praying For The Rain To Come - Dave Crawford
2. Port Of Happiness - June Jackson & The Jackaels
3. You Did It Before Aka You Did It For Me - Jeannie Trevor
4. I Pray That Things Will Change - Julius Wright
5. One Little Dance - The Moovers
6. I Want To Love - Brenton Wood
7. I Love You Baby - The Moovers
8. Begging You - Ronnie White
9. Go To Him - Clyde Wilson
10. Later For You, Baby - Marva Josie
11. Wondering If You Still Miss Me - Laura Johnson
12. Don't You Know That I Believe - Carl Lester & The Show Stoppers
13. I Need You, Baby - Lewis Clark
14. Pretty Boy - Linda Lyndell
15. Here Comes The Heartaches - The Lovells
16. Millionaire - Dave Crawford
17. A Lot Of Lovin' Goin' Round - Clarence Hill
18. Cross The Bridge - Brenton Wood
19. Tinklin Bells - Jeannie Trevor
20. My Man-He s A Loving Man - Linda Lyndell
21. Got To Give You Up - Ronnie White
22. Don't Play With My Heart - Marvel Hurrell
23. Fly By Night - Varetta & The Thomases
24. Someone (Who Needs You Like I Do) - Bertha Tillman

Buy from Ace Records with FREE delivery:
http://acerecords.co.uk/brent-superb-60s-soul-sounds

By Chalky in News Archives · September 15, 201410 yr

Out doing the rounds is this current new 45 release from Secret Stash Records Usa

here's some of the sound...

http://secretstashrecords.com/AudioClips/ssr2002/AGrinandBareIt90.mp3

http://secretstashrecords.com/AudioClips/ssr2002/BIveGotToFindMyBaby90.mp3

here's some of the ink...

here's some of the blurb...

ailing from Saginaw, Michigan the Ringleaders first recorded for George and Ernie Leaner in April of 1966. Their sole release for M-Pac! eventually caught on in the Northern Soul scene and today copies sell for hundreds of dollars. Adding to the group’s lore, two acetates with the unreleased tracks “All of My Life” and “This Is Goodbye” surfaced in the UK in the 1980s becoming holy grails of sorts, and cementing the Ringleaders as Northern Soul heavyweights. Presented here for the first time are two additional unissued tracks from The Ringleaders. Eight months after their first release, the Ringleaders recorded “Grin And Bare It” and the following month, January of 1967, they tracked “I’ve Got To Find My Baby” in their final session for the Leaners. Although these are unreleased tracks, we have faithfully reproduced the M-Pac! label to pay homage to how they would have looked had they been released in 1967. This is just a sampling of many great tracks to follow as part of The One-derful! Collecton, so stay tuned!

here's some of the website

http://secretstashrecords.com/

available from all the usual suspects

what's the members take on this release then....?

By Mike in News Archives · September 11, 201410 yr

Bobs sister Jennifer has just passed on the news about a upcoming show that is being held in Bobs memory
Its taking place on Friday 26th Sept at a new club on the south side of Chicago, the event details from the website follow and the website link at the end will take you to further event info

Sitting in the Park Forever: Bob Abrahamian Memorial Record Hop

w/ Windy City Soul Club and appearances by Reggie Torian (The Impressions), Cliff Curry (The Notations), Doug Shorts (Master Plan, Inc), Keni Rightout (Center Stage), Hollee Thee Maxwell

When Chicago soul record collector/historian/archivist Bob Abrahamian died earlier this year he left behind perhaps the most complete collection of rare Chicago vocal R&B 45s and an invaluable archive of hu over a hundred interviews with unjustly obscure local artists recorded for his Sitting in the Park radio program (on WHPK) and made available on his sittinginthepark.com Website. Though record collecting can be a cutthroat field, Abrahamian was kind and moral in his pursuits, not only committing himself to sharing the music and stories of his heroes, but also befriending and helping out these retired musicians, generously offering them his time, money, and computer skills. Not surprisingly, when word came out that Abrahamian’s family needed to raise funds to archive, preserve, and digitize his collection, many of his colleagues and friends in the Chicago soul scene were anxious to lend their talents.

For this fundraiser Windy City Soul Club ( http://windycitysoulclub.com ), Chicago’s premiere rare soul, all-vinyl dance party deejay collective (whose monthly events at the Promontory’s sister club The Empty Bottle are always lively affairs) will make their first journey to Chicago’s South Side, the home of the music they spin.

In addition, many of the artists featured on Bob’s radio show will appear to share their memories and perform some of the songs that Bob loved playing on his show.

Reggie Torian began his recording group with the Enchanters, entertaining South Side audiences at the High Chaparral on Stony Island, until his fine falsetto earned him a 1972 invitation to replace Curtis Mayfield as the lead singer of the Impressions, a position Torian still holds today.

Cliff Curry formed the Notations in the 1960s, and their classic 1971 single “I’m Still Here” made them one of Chicago’s most beloved sweet harmony acts. Curry continues to tour the world with the group.

Doug Shorts recorded private stock soul singles with his group Master Plan, Inc. in the 1970s, which are now so rare they trade for $1000 each in eBay. He re-launched his career in 2012 with critically acclaimed soul/dance singles on the local Cherries label.

Keni Rightout recorded in the 70s as a member of Center Stage, whose singles were produced by local legend Donny Hathaway, before launching a solo career in the 80s on SalSoul records.

Holle Thee Maxwell proved herself to have one of the most distinct voices in Chicago soul when she recorded for Constellation, Star and Curtom in the mid-60s as Holly Maxwell. Thee Blonde Bombshell continues to enjoy international success as a blues and Northern Soul artist.

The Promontory is proud to host this event honoring a collector who called Hyde Park and the community radio station WHPK home, and who so thoroughly celebrated the South Side

Full event details can be had via this link...

http://promontorychicago.com/?event_id=5379215

By Mike in News Archives · September 9, 201410 yr

Just A Little Misunderstanding: Rare And Unissued Motown 1965-68 The Contours

When Ace/Kent delved into the world of Motown a few years ago they filled a void that Motown itself seemed reluctant to fill. That is some of the acts who weren’t necessarily considered Motown Royalty and especially the material left in the vaults. Even though these acts still had many a jewel in Motown’s crown with some stellar material either released or not. Acts such as Brenda Holloway, The Elgins, The Monitors, The Satintones, The Spinners, Shorty Long, Motown’s first Superstar Mary Wells, Eddie Holland and in the case of this review the Contours with two releases.

The Contours story is basically a tale of two halves. The first half of the story is covered with the first CD release “Dance With The Contours”. A title taken from planned album that never materialised due to unrest with the management, threatened strikes and the sacking of members and a new line up.

The original line up, Joe Billingslea and Billy Gordon the founders, Billy Hoggs, Hubert Johnson, Sylvester Potts and Huey Davis struck gold with “Do You Love Me”. Originally planned for the Temptations who failed to show for the recording session. It was after no further success materialized that the group were unhappy with Berry Gordy and Motown they were going to confront Gordy who having heard of this sacked all but Gordon.
This is where the latest release from Kent takes over, “Just A Little Misunderstanding”. Representing the ,material recorded by the group between 1965-1968. The “new” group was formed, in addition to Gordon, Alvin English, Jerry Green & Council Gray were added. English soon went with Sylvester Potts returning to replace him. Hits soon followed, “Can You Jerk Like Me” and “First I Look At The Purse”. Billy Gordon was soon in trouble with the law and replaced by Joe Stubbs but not before the group had laid down "Baby Hit And Run". Previously unreleased but saw the light of day in the UK on a MFP LP (with Dennis Edwards lead dubbed in) and became a huge dance floor favourite on the UK Northern Soul scene.

Stubbs only managed one single with the group the brilliant “Just A Little Misunderstanding”, again a big favourite with UK soul fans a staple play of many a Soul and Motown night.

This is the point where Dennis Edwards came into the group and again just one 45 was managed before the group went into meltdown. “It’s So Hard Being A Loser”.

“Just A Little Misunderstanding” manages to showcase all three leads and gives us a glimpse of what could have been with better promotion and not so much upheaval. Dancers such as the title track “Just A Little Misunderstanding”, “Baby Hit and Run” (Jerry Green lead vocal), “First I Look At The Purse”, tracks better known from recording s laid down by other Motown acts, “Ain’t That Peculiar” “Come See About Me” “I’ll Turn To Stone” and “What Becomes Of A Broken Hearted” amongst others unreleased gems such as “I Can’t Help Loving You Baby” (Joe Stubbs on lead vocal), "I’m Here Now That You Need Me” featuring the lead vocal of Dennis Edwards and "Sometimes I Have To Cry” with Jerry Green taking the lead. All in all a dozen unreleased tracks featuring the group and Dennis Edwards solo cuts including one of my favourites “Can’t Do Without Your Love” an unreleased gem that I was given some years ago and featured in my DJ sets around the country.

As well as the music there is as you would expect from Ace/Kent an extensive booklet with photographs, label scans and extensive notes from the renowned Motown collector and historian Keith Hughes. And just in case you didn’t know of the site Keith is involved in it is well worth checking out for all your Motown recordings queries, “Don’t Forget The Motor City”

http://youtu.be/CBZgcQ6MExk

1. Just A Little Misunderstanding
2. First I Look At The Purse
3. It's Growing
4. Baby Hit And Run
5. It's So Hard Being A Loser
6. Determination
7. A Weak Spot In My Heart
8. Girl Come On In
9. I Can't Help Loving You Baby
10. Your Love Grows More Precious Everyday
11. I'm Here Now That You Need Me
12. What Becomes Of The Brokenhearted
13. Sunny
14. Keep On Tryin' (Till You Find Love)
15. Ain't That Peculiar
16. Can't Do Without Your Love
17. I Like Everything About You
18. What's So Good About Goodbye
19. Which Way To My Baby
20. I'll Turn To Stone
21. Need Your Lovin' (Want You Back)
22. Our Last Rendezvous
23. Sometimes I Have To Cry
24. I Grow Deeper In Love Every Day
25. Come See About Me
26. When A Man Loves A Woman

Buy From Ace/Kent

http://acerecords.co.uk/just-a-little-misunderstanding-rare-and-unissued-motown-1965-68

By Chalky in News Archives · September 8, 201410 yr

A LESSON IN PERFCTION - CREATING A MUSICAL MASTERPIECE
By Dave Moore
At last year’s New Century Soul 10th Anniversary Allnighter we had the pleasure of the company of 2 Philadelphia Legends, Bunny Sigler and Ronnie Walker. I was lucky enough to spend the week with them and Martha, Bunny’s wife, as we chaperoned them from airport to rehearsals to gig etc resulting in finally seeing Bunny sing a whole Northern set.
Well folks...it’s that time of year again! When Chris Waterman gave me the thumbs up to try and entice the group for this year’s event, it meant I had finally had a chance to maybe see/hear one of my favourite 45s sung live, by the people who not only performed it but also wrote it! I’d tried unsuccessfully to convince the late great Deon Jackson to appear for his UK fans and was devastated when he passed without having been successful and as far as the group for this upcoming Anniversary event were concerned, I was like a dog with a bone. It simply had to happen! I’d had it dangled before me and set about trying to put in place on of my life’s ambitions, to see The Four Perfections perform ... LIVE!

The story of The Four Perfections - “I’ll Hold On b/w I’m Not Strong Enough” — Party Time 1001 is a tale littered with Philly musical gliterazzi and was written in the basement of the girl’s dormitory of Cheyney State College where Eddie Holman would teach Mervin Steals, his school friend, the intricacies of the piano on an old piano that was down there. It was at these covert basement piano sessions that the first draft of the song was written, with a doomed love affair as its foundation.

“The song was really created by Mervin although I helped with the words, as he had an unfortunate love affair, which our Mother disapproved of. Then his girlfriend turned out to be unfaithful and that’s where the song came from — he wasn’t strong enough to break away”. — Melvin Steals (Founder member of The Four Perfections). (1)

Whilst students at Cheyney State College, twin brothers Melvin and Mervin Steals were joined originally by James ‘Channey’ Turner, a budding guitarist and fellow vocalist Raymond ‘Chip’ Porter and became The MCs, a play on their initials. It was this line up that would play the talent shows around town, often in direct competition with a group with, what they considered a strange name: The Delphonics! When ‘Channey’ left the group shortly after, the trio recruited former Overbrook High School student and high tenor vocalist Barry Lessend to the line up. Barry was a friend of the previously mentioned Delphonics, had been performing with another campus based group, The High Chaparral but decided to cross deck to The MC’s. The quartet now changed their name to the one that would adorn DJ’s platters on the Northern soul scene ever since they discovered it in the early seventies. The Four Perfections.
Prior to graduation, Eddie Holman introduced the aspiring singers to a group of record producers that he’d hooked up with that were making a name for themselves at Frank Virtue’s studio on Philadelphia’s Broad Street. This of course was Randolph, Stiles and McDougall, the triumvirate soul fans would come to know as the Harthon Team. The guys recorded a demo of a Jesse James penned song for the team but it wasn’t judged strong enough for release. That wasn’t the end of the song though as The Harthon Team played the demo to another group whose version was deemed of the right quality and The Intentions — “Don’t Forget That I Love You b/w The Night Rider” — Phillips 40428 saw a release in 1967.

The Intentions, (from nearby Middletown, PA.) were a white, 10 piece group whose Phillips 45 was the only foray into the business they achieved, which is a bit of a shame as the 45 is as fantastic an example of sixties, mid tempo, high tenor vocal gymnastics as you’ll hear. (2) The lack of success with Harthon at Virtue’s left them undeterred however and they were introduced to Bruce Weinroth, the son of a local judge and a co owner, alongside his brother Irvine, of ShowTime Records who, at the time were preparing to launch another group of two sets of brothers: The Showstoppers. The Weinroths had the guys audition on a song they already had, “I’ll Hold On” and once Melvin offered up “I’m Not Strong Enough”, as the possible flip, it was enough to get them a deal. Studio time at Cameo Parkway’s 309 Broad St facility was booked, the talents of Joe ‘Boobie’ Thomas, the author of “I’ll Hold On” were used to arrange “I’m Not Strong Enough” and Kip Gainsboro was given the helm of the production session. (3) The famous old building that had seen the likes of Chubby Checker, The Orlons, Dee Dee Sharp and The Tymes amongst others was about to deliver up a unique, one off, double sider that would attain cult status thousands of miles from its creative birthplace.

The studio band built around the famous core of future MFSB stars that day included Karl Chambers on drums, Ronnie Baker on bass and Norman Harris on guitar and under the conductor ship of Thomas and the legendary engineering skills of Jo Tarsia they laid down two tracks that enraptured soul fans of both the Northern and the sweet persuasions. (4) With Barry Lessend taking the vocal lead on the A side together they created a slice of sweet soul heaven. Almost a beat ballad, Barry’s pitch perfect, high tenor lead soars above his supporting counterparts as he relays his sadness at having his heart broken but being determined to hold on until his girl asks him back into her life. The whole performance drips the qualities that make sweet soul so enticing, perfect harmonies, a great, almost doo wop inspired lead and a laid back but metronome like track to place it all on. Not surprisingly the side became a much sought after sweet soul classic, so much so that that late great aficionado of the genre Chicagoan Bob Abrahamian and I would dissect the song note by note, with him adamant that there must have been a female voice in there somewhere. (5)
The flip of course is the side that seduced fans across the pond though. The opening salvo of the echoing tubular bell (?) paired with Baker’s subdued bass-line is instantly recognisable and once the rhythm guitar, deep baritone sax and bongos come to the party I’m afraid it’s all over, they’ve got you! Feet tapping, head nodding, you’re dance-floor bound, whether you like it or not! This side sees Melvin up front and centre on lead vocal duties and a fine job of it he does too.

The guys, as a group unit, only ever released this one outing and there’s a story behind the whys and wherefores of that decision involving The Weinroths, The Steals Brothers, the groups break up and re-formation and the effects of graduating and needing to start work but all that’s for another day,. (and you’ll need to buy the book!). All the group members have stayed connected to the music business in some way and the Steals Brothers would go on to write songs for such luminaries as Thom Bell, Gamble and Huff, The Spinners, Ecstasy Passion and Pain, Archie Bell and The Dells, Major Harris, The Impressions, Miki Farrow and whole host of others under their pseudonyms of Mystro and Lyric.

Amongst the songs the group will perform for the New Century Anniversary Allnighter will be one such song that delivered them a gold record when they furnished it to Thom Bell of Mighty Three Music. “Could It Be I’m Falling In Love” is a song written by Melvin when he was ‘courting’ his then girlfriend and now wife of 40 years Adrena. (It must have impacted on her!). The song of course was recorded by the group Thom Bell assaulted the Hot 100 with as The Spinners — “Could It Be I’m Falling In Love b/w Just You And Me Baby”— Atlantic 2927. And that is just the tip of The Steals Brothers’ musical iceberg.

To welcome The Four Perfections to the shores of UK is fantastic. For Chris to have secured the services of Stone Foundation band is fantastic. To hear an iconic 45 sung by the group I used to wonder about when I was dancing away to it over 35 years ago, is going to be fantastic!
What better way to spend a winter’s night in Manchester, than with legends! See ya’ll there.
Dave Moore
© Copywrite protected. Not to be reproduced in any form without the expressed permission from the author.
P.S. The full stories of The Four Perfections, The Steals Brothers, Edie Holman, The Intentions, The Showstoppers, The Weinroths, ‘Boobie Thomas’ etc is all in the upcoming book Philly Soul: It’s Roots and History which should be on the shelves in late summer hopefully.

Notes and References:
1. Authors interview with Melvin Steals of The Four Perfections.
2. The Four Perfections weren’t aware that their demo had been used or was even in existence until The Intentions Phillips 45 was highlighted to group members.
3. Joe ‘Boobie’ Thomas would go on to become a stalwart of Curtis Mayfield’s studio musicians in Chicago.
4. Joe Tarsia would, a year later, establish Sigma Sound Studios around the corner at 212 N 12th St, where he cornered the market in Gamble and Huff productions and would later return to Cameo’s old building at 309 S Broad St to renovate it, once Gamble and Huff had bought it, creating what become known as Sigma II.
5. No female singers were used during the session but of course could have been added to the mix later. I like to think that the male, Philly, high tenor signature sound, is all there is vocally but it does sound like there may have been a female voice added later.
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added by site

The Four Perfections are appearing at this years New Century Soul Clubs 11th Anniversary @ Radcliffe Saturday 29th November 2014
Details follow...

New Century Soul Manchester presents
11th Anniversary Allnighter with
The Four Perfections and Stone Foundation
with 3 rooms of Northern, Modern & Rare Soul

9.00pm til 8.00am
£20.00
Radcliffe Civic Suite, Thomas Street,
Radcliffe, Manchester, M26 2UH
www.newcenturysoul.co.uk - 07737 341585

Tickets are now available to purchase online via

http://www.newcenturysoul.co.uk/

By Dave Moore in Articles · September 4, 201410 yr

Had the below passed on

‘THE NORTHERN SOUL ALL-WEEKER’

Sunday 7th September — Sunday 14th September

19 events across the UK to celebrate the release of ‘Northern Soul: The Film Soundtrack’

To coincide with the release of the soundtrack to youth culture film of the year ‘Northern Soul’, 19 venues (and counting!) across the UK will take part in a nationwide ‘Northern Soul All-Weeker’ to celebrate the launch of the soundtrack and forthcoming film directed by award-winning photographer, Elaine Constantine.

This unique series of filmed events kicks off on the 7th September at Wayne Hemmingway’s hugely successful ‘Vintage By The Sea’ Festival, Morecambe. Set in The Soul Casino, the most evocative of venues, the sounds and style of the classic 70s soul club are revisited and will feature iconic film footage and filmed dancing. Curated by legendary Northern Soul DJ Richard Searling, special guests include Blackpool Mecca icon, DJ Colin Curtis and Wigan’s Young Soul DJs Jordan Wilson and Ben Hindley.

A packed dance floor is expected as Northern Soul fans across the UK come together to celebrate the scene, the music and the film across 19 venues over 7 days. Interviews with promoters and fans, including some filmed dancing, will be included in the films’ specially-edited social media release on the day of the launch. The ‘Northern Soul All-Weeker’ will be a fascinating snapshot of today’s scene via some key venues and should make an interesting viral film from the week commencing 15/09/2104.

‘Northern Soul’, the film (released 17th October on Universal Pictures UK), tells the tale of the DJ-led movement that developed in the North of England in the mid-seventies, sparked by the discovery of black American soul music. Featuring performances from Steve Coogan (Philomena, The Trip), John Thomson (The Fast Show, Waterloo Road), Ricky Tomlinson (Mike Bassett: England Manager, Clocking Off) and Lisa Stansfield (The Edge of Love), this is a story of a youth culture that changed a generation and influenced songwriters, producers, DJs and designers for decades to come.

Released 15th September on Harmless Records, ‘Northern Soul: The Film Soundtrack’ is a 2CD + DVD package which celebrates all the key Northern Soul tracks from the film on CD1 and further musical inspiration from Elaine Constantine on CD 2 - some 54 iconic tracks from across the different eras of the Northern Soul scene. The DVD includes a special interview with Elaine Constantine by actor James Lance and a bonus interview with Richard Searling which includes a slide-show of his personal memorabilia from the golden age of Northern Soul.

With 7” vinyl at the epicentre of the Northern Soul scene and original records still establishing world-record prices in collecting circles, Harmless Records has also issued a collector’s 7” vinyl edition of the soundtrack which is bound to cause a stir amongst the Northern Soul fraternity. All tracks from the film soundtrack have been exclusively licensed including one bonus track for 14 x 7” discs in full pic-sleeves featuring key scenes from the film, together with a specially commissioned 60 page hardback book of film stills edited by Elaine herself. Housed in a solid collector’s box, these 14 discs present 28 of the greatest Northern Soul classics of all-time, many of which are making their legal UK release for the very first time including Lou Pride, Gwen Owens, Freddy Chavez, The Luther Ingram Orchestra, Eddie Parker, The Salvadors and Sam Dees.
Date TOWN Venue

Sun 7th MORECAMBE Vintage By The Sea Festival / Richard Searling’s Northern Soul Room
Sun 7th PEEBLES Peebles Scottish True Soul Weekender (nr Edinburgh)
Wed 10th LEEDS Central
Fri 12th RHYL Wigan Casino Anniversary Weekender
Fri 12th WORKSOP Soul At The Swan
Fri 12th REDDITCH Soul And Motown Night
Fri 12th HUDDERSFIELD Soul At The Pie Hall
Fri 12th HOLBEACH Hot Wax Soul Club Lincs
Sat 13th WOLVERHAMTPTON Goodyears Soul
Sat 13th RUGBY All-nighter
Sat 13th BLACKPOOL Blackpool Tower Wigan Reunion All-nighter
Sat 13th PORTSMOUTH Blue Lagoon
Sat 13th KINGSTON Kingston Soul Club Mini-Dayer
Sat 13th CHESTERFIELD Northwings Northern Soul night
Sat 13th WORCESTER Archdales
Sat 13th MANCHESTER Manchester Irish Centre Soul Nite
Sat 13th LONDON Euston Hole In The Wall Club
Sat 13th BRIGHTON Brighton Northern Soul event
Sun 14th MANCHESTER Twisted Wheel Club at Alter Ego

check out the sites below for the press releases/blurb

http://www.northernsoulthefilm.com/
https://www.facebook.com/northernsoulthefilm
https://twitter.com/nsoulthefilm

For more information please contact Ian Sparkes / ian@9pr.co.uk / 0207 375 2725

By Mike in News Archives · September 3, 201410 yr

THE BIG BRUM - SATURDAY 6TH SEPTEMBER

From Progressive Rock to Hip Hop, Heavy Metal to Northern Soul, Folk to
Reggae, buyers and collectors of all kinds of records and CDs are getting
ready for the biggest Record Fair of the summer.

It's the BIG BRUM at the Birmingham National Indoor Arena Leisure Centre,
this coming Saturday 6th September.

Whether buying or selling, there is a feast of records, CDs and music
related in a big, modern, well lit hall.

It's the prefect place to buy and sell this summer. Free parking for all,
modern ground level hall with easy loading. Five minutes from the M6 and
visitors from all over the world!

Admission -
£3 10am to 3.30pm
Early Entry 8.30am £6.
More info -
VIP Music Fairs
0116 275 2815

More info on the Birmingham fair and other shows:

www.facebook.com/vipmusicuk
www.vip-24.com

By Mike in Event News · September 2, 201410 yr

I Found It All In You - The Trey J's Story

The Trey J’s were a vocal duo which featured James Binford and Joseph Smith. James Binford originally from Indianapolis, Indiana began singing in various local Doo-Wop and church ensembles from the age of 9. Something he continued to do after enlisting in the Marine Corps as a 17 year old, often performing in Officers clubs where he was stationed. He also ventured out of camp to perform in local clubs, building a solid reputation as a performer.
While stationed in Albany, Georgia James was introduced by his then wife to one of her relatives Mr Eddie Harris, the band leader of one of Atlanta’s most popular acts, the Eddie Harris Review. Following his release from the Marine Corps James took a job with International Harvester in his native Indianapolis before being transferred to the MacDonald Douglas Aeronautical Engineering Company in Atlanta. Here he once again hooked up with Eddie Harris working as a backing singer as part of his Review. James later had aspirations of forming his own ensemble so under the guidance of his manager Johnny Glover, James, began to form his own review.
In 1968 James and Johnny held an audition for a baritone vocalist through a local radio station. From a 150 hopeful applicant’s a 28year old Detroiter by the name of Joseph Smith was chosen. Joseph who had previously moved to Atlanta some 10 years earlier where he had married his first wife Jacklyn and raised a family of 3 children.

Joseph Smith and James Binford

Thus with the addition of Joseph the Trey J’s were born, their name being taken from the Americanisation “Trey” a derivative of the French word for the number three “Tres” and the first initial of James and Joseph and their late manager Johnny Glover’s christian names, hence Three J’s equals the “Trey J’s”.

By the early 1970’s The Trey J’s had become regular performers at Atlanta’s most infamous Black night club ‘The Pink Pussy Cat’. It was while performing at the Pink Pussy Cat that the Trey J’s came into contact with a local record producer by the name of Thomas Fletcher Davis more commonly known as Tee Fletcher. Tee a successful recording artist in his own right with a string of recording for several labels such as Josie, Shurfine, and Tragar had begun his own production company Tee Gem Records.

The Trey Js - We Got A thing (Going On) - Tee Gem

James Binford had previously written the basic lyrics for a songs entitled “We Got A Thing Going On” and one day while at the Pink Pussy Cat with Tee Fletcher accompanying him at the piano he began to recite the lyric’s. Together they composed this and a further song entitled “I Found It All In You” which Tee eventually released on his Tee Gem label (PS-4044).

Although the Trey J’s only ever had the one 45 release, they continued to performed live shows on both the college and Chitlin circuit as the Trey J’s Review. The Trey J’s Review also featured Ray Ransom and Reggie Hargis who later became members of another Atlanta ensemble, known as Brick who enjoyed a successful recording career of their own from the mid 70’s through to the mid 80’s, scoring a number 1 R&B/pop hit in 1976 with the song “Dazz”. The Trey J’s also once featured as part of a tour that included Chicago recording artists, The Chi-lites and Ruby Andrews. (Due to Ruby being a friend of Johnny Glover’s wife).
In 1972 Joseph who by now was married to his second wife Barbara a former pastry chef who he had met while working as a waiter at the Morrison Cafeteria returned home to Detroit. Although he initially tried to find work as a singer he eventually embarked upon a career as a social worker, gaining a masters degree in social studies, his full time occupation until his retirement. Sadly Joseph passed away in 2010 from lung cancer.
In 1974 James Binford entered into the Islamic faith, taking up the name of James Hassen Ameen. He later returned to Indianapolis where he became a promotional booking agent his occupation until his later imprisonment during 1992 although he is reputedly due for parole sometime during late2014.
The Trey J’s “I Found It All In You” is currently enjoying a current reactivation due to it’s dramatic funky edge guitar and horn rifts fitting perfectly into the current funky soul genre. While it’s haunting deep soul ballad flip “We Got A Thing (Going On)” is a must for any real soul collector.
https://soundcloud.com/chalkster/i-found-it-all-in-you-we-got
Words by: David Welding.
Acknowledgements to: James Binford, Carolyn Binford, Barbara Smith and Thomas (Tee) Fletcher.
The above article is an extract from the sleeve notes of the forthcoming Soul Junction CD album “We Got A Sweet Thing Going On” Catalogue number SJCD 5009. This compilation will feature both of the Trey J’s tracks, “I Found It All In You” and We Got A Thing Going On”.

artists

By Chalky in Articles · September 2, 201410 yr

The Soul Junction people have just passed on word of an interview that is available via the UK Vibe website.
Michael Edwards at UK Vibe interviews Elliot Macauley who as you may be aware has just been involved in the latest Soul Junction 45 release.
Elliot Macauley - All My Life (Ft Joe Leavy)/ Mamas Baby Boy (Ft Cleveland Jones)

It's a fully featured article complete with video and such.

Up here...

http://ukvibe.org/interviews/elliott-macauley-2014/

Elliott Macauley 2014

“Everything’s live, I mean all the guitars are played in live, the bass is played in live, all the vocals are done live. The only time I use software is creating string arrangements, horn lines and stuff like that. But the majority of things, all the guitars, your basses and stuff, that’s still played in live. And I think that’s what gives me my sound.” Elliott Macauley

By Mike in News Archives · September 2, 201410 yr

Sawdust Caesars: Original Mod Voices by Tony Beesley published by Days Like Tomorrow Books, price £19.99 plus P&P

Sawdust Caesars: Original Mod Voices, which has just been published is a new book about Mods. This time it utilises the words of people who were Mods back in the day, at the start of this youth movement, and following it through to the present day.

It sets the scene for the start of Mod back at the tail end of the 1950s with teenagers who were into Modern Jazz and were thus called Modernists. Quite a lot of the book focusses on the early and mid 60s which is right, that is what led to all that followed Modwise.

The book's a long read and I've only just got into it but already it's bringing back many memories that had lain dormant. It covers various areas of the UK, goes on to Skinheads and the Mod revival of the late 70s and as I've said about right through to now. There is a mention of Northern Soul, but it's about Mods not soulies, although the two can be the same. As well as the words of Mods there are loads of pictures.

A few years ago I wrote a short piece about the Scene club where I spent many a happy night and that has been included, although I have amended parts of it. There's even a couple of photos of me, but I look at them and ask myself where that bloke went. In fact a friend who used to attend nighters at the Scene with me didn't recognise me in the pictures, oh dear, have I really changed that much?

I'd recommend it to anyone who's interested in Mods and their history. It can be obtained from the author at this website:

http://www.tonybeesleymodworld.co.uk/

By Geoff in News Archives · August 25, 201410 yr

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