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Ishola Muhammad "open Up Your Heart" - 1976

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This Guess Records 45 has been getting plays for some years now .........

So I thought I'd get in touch with Ishola to ask him what inspired him to make the track.

........ I got this reply ............  

 I got the idea of trying to make "Open Up Your Heart" sound like a live recording from Marvin Gaye's "Got To Give It Up" which, incidentally, is one of my all time favorite recordings.

At the time I did the track (my first recording) I was only performing live occasionally, with a couple of jazz acts.

During that period, I had been in and out of the Air Force and had re-enrolled in college.

 

 Ishola also sent me the piece attached below ............ 

post-22122-0-10363100-1365161412_thumb.j

Edited by Roburt

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  • Roburt
    Roburt

    ..... and if you don't know the cut ............... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeBs_zfsLLE

  • Jordirip
    Jordirip

      I wonder if those piles of 45's in the background are 'Open up your Heart'.   Jordi

  • Mister Fish
    Mister Fish

      I think the point of Roburt's post was that he managed to speak with the artist and get some background info on him. All of which I find interesting. I suspect Ishola will read thi

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This Guess Records 45 has been getting plays for some years now .........

So I thought I'd get in touch with Ishola to ask him what inspired him to make the track.

........ I got this reply ............  

 I got the idea of trying to make "Open Up Your Heart" sound like a live recording from Marvin Gaye's "Got To Give It Up" which, incidentally, is one of my all time favorite recordings.

At the time I did the track (my first recording) I was only performing live occasionally, with a couple of jazz acts.

During that period, I had been in and out of the Air Force and had re-enrolled in college.

 

 Ishola also sent me the piece attached below ............ 

 

I wonder if those piles of 45's in the background are 'Open up your Heart'. :ohmy:

 

Jordi

This Guess Records 45 has been getting plays for some years now .........

So I thought I'd get in touch with Ishola to ask him what inspired him to make the track.

........ I got this reply ............  

 I got the idea of trying to make "Open Up Your Heart" sound like a live recording from Marvin Gaye's "Got To Give It Up" which, incidentally, is one of my all time favorite recordings.

At the time I did the track (my first recording) I was only performing live occasionally, with a couple of jazz acts.

During that period, I had been in and out of the Air Force and had re-enrolled in college.

 

 Ishola also sent me the piece attached below ............ 

  Interesting how he used the idea of live performance on this recording and maybe just maybe it could be the reason it never got a general release ?

  I had to listen hard as i  thought it was the record crackling?

   until a good friend told me the story of how Ishola got his family to be with him in the studio to do the clapping in the background :)

  Maybe you could verify that for us Roburt :g:

 

  By the way .. thanks taking the time to contact the man and finding out this info for us all :thumbsup:

This 45 just got reissued by Euan Fryer of Jazzman Records on 12".
 

Fryer presents a super LTD audiophile "Direct Analogue Cut" of Ishola Mohammad - Open Up Your Heart. In a true labour of love and by asking a few favours we managed to do this the way all records should be made. Mat Winegarden Picked up the Original Tape Master in New York from Lenis Guess and sent it over to Scotland where an initial digital backup master was made, after which the original master flew with me to the might Timmion Cutting Lab in Helsinki, Finland. There we spent a day fine tuning a direct from master tape cut right to the Neumann VMS70 lathe without any unnecessary signal-path. We managed a super wide grooved loud cut onto 12 that has to be heard to be appreciated. This is the way 12" were made to sound their best in the late 70s/ early 80s and why they have not been matched since. This release will be super limited and only available in a few select stores.

 
https://soundcloud.com/djfryer/sets/ishola-mohammad-open-up-your

And Ishola's second release was this crazy modern soul / disco-boogie gem:

  • 11 months later...

So did this 45 ever have a proper release when it was recorded? Any ideas on how many are floating around?

It looks that Ishola going to release his full lengh album including LP release. Can anybody provide more information?

Anyone got an original copy of 'Open up your heart' for sale?

Cheers

Steve

 

not for sale but a 1 for 1 trade with something modern and obscure or a very expensive funk tune i dont have, maybe.

not for sale but a 1 for 1 trade with something modern and obscure or a very expensive funk tune i dont have, maybe.

You're on Sir :-)

Will PM you

(I bet you've also got a load of PM's from others now too LOL)

Cheers

Steve

he tried to facebook friend me yesterday and i hit "ignore"

Edited by boba

I've been in touch with him , he wanted to come to Prestatyn to perform but it didn't happen,  I passed him on to Richard searling , but haven't heard from him for a while , so keep your eyes peeled he may hit these shores yet,

  • 2 weeks later...

Any idea on the current value of the original press of this?

 

whatever someone wants for it is what youll have to pay to get it. 

He friended me on FB, and I saw his video where he had this "hit" record in England apparantly. I had the same thing when I first tracked down Lou Pride "I had a top 10 hit in England and I never saw a penny from it" were just about the first words he said to me. Why do people say these things to these guys? 

 

Anyway I wish Ishola the best with his new work and hope lots of people sponsor him.

The 'big hit' aspect - I sometimes wonder if artists actually get told that they have a 'hit', or someone just mentions that a song of theirs is getting played in clubs or on radio over here and they just assume it's a countrywide thing, rather than in reality just a very tiny section of people over here that like it.

 

Not quite the same thing is it?

 

It's possible that certain unscrupulous people may play on the 'hit' thing in order to obtain copies of the record, but not good on the artist by making them think they are big names over here (or Europe etc) When hardly anyone has actually heard of them.

One of the best new discoveries in the last couple of years Pete.

 

I'd hate to hear the worst if that's the best

I'd hate to hear the worst if that's the best

To be fair Pete, he did say one of the best :)

To be fair Pete, he did say one of the best :)

 

I'm not going to dismiss it out of sight without listening to it though, and I did listen to it, and it's just not very good.  IN MY OPINION .  If everyone else likes it - great.

nicer scan of this 45.. I think its a really nice soul record, but its no way a classic...

 

Malcolm

 

It's a nicer scan because... it's the Jazzman re-issue.  :facepalm:

If you bothered to listen to his video carefully then you would have heard that he mentioned it being a hit on the UK/European soul circuit, which I could pretty much agree with

Hope Ishola's getting a nice slice of that Jazzman Lookylikee re-issue. 

Hope Ishola's getting a nice slice of that Jazzman Lookylikee re-issue. 

The silence is deafening  :glare:

The silence is deafening :glare:

Pretty sure it's all been done in the proper manner.

Seem to recall a previous thread discussing the re-issue being taken from a original master tape from Guess record studio.. Maybe Euan Fryer can confirm?

I'm not going to dismiss it out of sight without listening to it though, and I did listen to it, and it's just not very good.  IN MY OPINION .  If everyone else likes it - great.

 

I think the point of Roburt's post was that he managed to speak with the artist and get some background info on him. All of which I find interesting.

I suspect Ishola will read this so i'd like to say thanks for your music and I and many others of us here in the UK like your songs and appreciate your artistry.

reminds me of Clarence carters ' can I make it with you' future stars. Artist at serious odds to keep up with the pace of the backing track. very average.

It is mad how because someone finds a record on ebay, markets it well, someone makes a good offer to secure.. Then the price bar is set.. Other copies turn up and it is a instant four figure sum 45?

Crazy but rare :)

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