Totally besotted with the Voices again, happens every 6 months... Love all their music, and that clip on you tube of their appearance along side BB King back in the seventies... Raw and sublime it is! 

I've realised how little I know about the group though, lots of members,  tons of releases, anybody got the low down on how they came together... And maybe members can put up their favourite tracks...

come on you seventies nuts, let's be avin it! 

Mal

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*Remember don't reply to a clip post unless you delete the link, kills the thread! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mal If it's any interest I saw them live at the Isle Of Wight Rock Festival in 1970. The one they call the British Woodstock.

I've always had pretty broad musical tastes so a long weekend of rock was fine with me. (We are talking Hendrix, Doors, Who, Moodies and many more)

But suddenly on to the stage came this band of kids I had never heard of (i.e. Voices of East Harlem) and they absolutely blew me away.

Now the date on that You Tube film says 18th August 1970 so I saw them definitely within a fortnight of that - maybe not much more than a week.

I bought the vinyl album - Right On Be Free - as soon as I could get a copy and somewhere along the line replaced it with a CD. I was due to start a college course shortly after that festival and kept trying to tell people about this amazing group I had seen but I couldn't get the message through. I think it was seeing them live in the middle of all those pretty heavy rock acts that absolutely knocked my socks off.

I was just a punter at the IOW so have nothing specific to the VOEH but I did keep a few bits of memorabilia from the festival which are up in the loft. I might drag them out in a bit and remind myself what is there. And a bit later I might play the whole ROBF album through from beginning to end. It really is a superb album.

Anyway that's my contribution to the thread. Hope it is of some interest.

Mark

 

 

 

a very topical topic for me. I haven't listened / bought much from this group, but last week heard their "Gotta be a change" track on the ROBF album - now in the box !

 

alan

48 minutes ago, MBarrett said:

Mal If it's any interest I saw them live at the Isle Of Wight Rock Festival in 1970. The one they call the British Woodstock.

I've always had pretty broad musical tastes so a long weekend of rock was fine with me. (We are talking Hendrix, Doors, Who, Moodies and many more)

But suddenly on to the stage came this band of kids I had never heard of (i.e. Voices of East Harlem) and they absolutely blew me away.

Now the date on that You Tube film says 18th August 1970 so I saw them definitely within a fortnight of that - maybe not much more than a week.

I bought the vinyl album - Right On Be Free - as soon as I could get a copy and somewhere along the line replaced it with a CD. I was due to start a college course shortly after that festival and kept trying to tell people about this amazing group I had seen but I couldn't get the message through. I think it was seeing them live in the middle of all those pretty heavy rock acts that absolutely knocked my socks off.

I was just a punter at the IOW so have nothing specific to the VOEH but I did keep a few bits of memorabilia from the festival which are up in the loft. I might drag them out in a bit and remind myself what is there. And a bit later I might play the whole ROBF album through from beginning to end. It really is a superb album.

Anyway that's my contribution to the thread. Hope it is of some interest.

Mark

 

 

 

Wow, that's the kinda stories we love... Always thought you had to see them live, that kinda group...  thanks Mark..:-))

39 minutes ago, northern295 said:

a very topical topic for me. I haven't listened / bought much from this group, but last week heard their "Gotta be a change" track on the ROBF album - now in the box !

 

alan

Killer Allan, you can pretty much buy blind with them, they didn't make a crap song...

Luckily I know my way round that loft so here are a few bits and pieces

1. Flyer that somehow went home with me and survived

2. Newspaper format programme that somehow went home with me and survived

3. Little bit about the VOEH. This is the bit that might be of interest to you Mal. Association with Hendrix etc. etc. It might be him who got them the gig there, but I'm only guessing.

4. My tent and Lammy. Look at that crazy mod I did. It was a 300 mile round trip so I needed a bit of extra comfort. Cobbled together a seat out of wood, foam rubber and vinyl and coupled it with a rear back rest!! I remember going across on the ferry. At least 100 motorbikes accompanied by some fairly heavy dudes . . . . . . . . and me! LOL! To be honest I couldn't give a stuff. I thought if something's going to happen let it happen. And amazingly it didn't.

Anyway don't want to take over the thread (or get it moved to Freebasing!) so that's me done. Hopefully I've added a little something!!

Mark 

PS Should have said. 18 days after his appearance here Hendrix was dead. What crazy days they were!

Edited August 31, 20168 yr by MBarrett

not much to add except the previously unreleased stuff on the Right On Be Free CD reissue is pretty damn excellent.

Could of picked any number of tunes Mal, but this always does it for me.

 

 

That's just blinding isn't it...  I'm sure there is another version, I asked this of John Browne, he didn't know, I thought Ian Levine said he had another version of this track, can't remember who by, was on one of his shows...

m

Edited September 1, 20168 yr by Mal C

18 hours ago, MBarrett said:

Luckily I know my way round that loft so here are a few bits and pieces

1. Flyer that somehow went home with me and survived

2. Newspaper format programme that somehow went home with me and survived

3. Little bit about the VOEH. This is the bit that might be of interest to you Mal. Association with Hendrix etc. etc. It might be him who got them the gig there, but I'm only guessing.

4. My tent and Lammy. Look at that crazy mod I did. It was a 300 mile round trip so I needed a bit of extra comfort. Cobbled together a seat out of wood, foam rubber and vinyl and coupled it with a rear back rest!! I remember going across on the ferry. At least 100 motorbikes accompanied by some fairly heavy dudes . . . . . . . . and me! LOL! To be honest I couldn't give a stuff. I thought if something's going to happen let it happen. And amazingly it didn't.

Anyway don't want to take over the thread (or get it moved to Freebasing!) so that's me done. Hopefully I've added a little something!!

Mark 

PS Should have said. 18 days after his appearance here Hendrix was dead. What crazy days they were!

Mark - that line-up is fantastic - it makes Glastonbury look even more lame!   Miles, Jimi, Joni, Sly, Who, Doors,!!!!!

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From my favorite LP of theirs nice with the male lead.

Cheers Paul

From the same LP. Couldn"t find ""March Across This Land" also on the LP on the tube but there was Linda Cliffords version 

Cheers Paul

And there all-time Northern Soul classic deserves a mention!

"Cashing In" - Just Sunshine Records.

If this record was rare it would sell for a very high price!

Edited September 1, 20168 yr by Guest

Yes Solid Soul great seventies!! Quite rare on the demo. Regards.

On 31.8.2016 at 21:15, Mal C said:

 

Great tune! No 45, only LP track?

16 minutes ago, Tommy1 said:

Great tune! No 45, only LP track?

yep LP only... :-))

9 minutes ago, Mal C said:

yep LP only... :-))

Damn.

Remember seeing them on the Old Grey Whistle Test, must have been around the same time as I.O.W.

Bought 'Can You Feel It' LP ages ago for 'Take a Stand' but hadn't appreciated all the other top tunes from it posted up here - Amazing Love, Rare so Rare, Just got to be myself - will be digging it out for another play 

'Take a Stand' an absolute blinder for me. Remember seeing it on Allanton playlists from late 80's - bet it sounded good there. Don't recall ever hearing it out myself.

 

Worth another look at this - awesome 

 

Love this group myself, here's another good track "Wanted dead or alive"

 

For the Soul Shrews Paul, "March across this land"

 

Not forgetting the flip side to "Cashing in"

 

Also done by Leroy Hutson, but this isn't too shabby either, "Could this be love"

 

I'll leave this here for now and let someone else have a go, but there's lots more worthy tracks by them, "New vibrations" - an old Blackpool Mecca spin:

 

On 31 August 2016 at 20:19, kjw said:

 

My favourite by them love it!!!!!

I foolishly gave this away shortly before my computer crashed with the download on, the image was still on my camera.  I think I remember who I gave it to, but you know how it is.