Roburt

The Charles Drain version was, of course, produced by Kent Washburn. Most of their recording work together was undertaken in St Louis. Here's some info I put together (a while back) on Charles Drain and his recording career ................... Charles Drain was born in Mississippi back in 1939. He began singing at the age of eight and formed his first group a couple of years later. After moving to Chicago, he secured work singing back-up vocals before landing a record deal with Vee Jay as lead singer for the Tabs. The group back then consisted of Charles Drain, Sonny Robertson (1st tenor), John Hopkins (2nd tenor) & Lionell Stokes (baritone). All the guys were childhood buddies though a couple of additional members (Tuman Hughes & Leroy Terry) had dropped out down the years. Sonny Robertson had started out in gospel groups as a teenager and had sung in male gospel quartets back in St Louis with the likes of Mel & Tim. Although not actually a member of the group, Charles’ brother William was influential in their development. William schooled the group, helping them develop their singing skills plus he wrote songs especially for them. The group were to gain two single releases on Vee Jay in 1962, with a further two 45’s later escaping on Wand (they cut additional tracks but these failed to gain release back then). They got to tour, playing shows with the Miracles, Flip Wilson, Redd Foxx, Moms Mabley and the Isley Brothers at venues such as the Apollo, the Uptown in Philly, the Howard in D.C. & the Regal in Chicago. For their show at the Apollo, they were backed up by a group of musicians that included Phillip Upchurch (guitar) and King Curtis (sax). By the mid sixties though, the Tabs had run their course and so Charles went out as a solo singer. He secured a record deal with Checker in 1967 (“Here I Am” being released on 45) and also in the 60's, "Stop And Think About It Baby / So Glad" was issued on Top Track. Back based in St Louis in the 1970’s, he was looking a way to get his career back on track. It was therefore no surprise that when Kent and Michael L Smith let it be known that they were holding auditions for singers, he was one of the first to learn of this and turn up at the studio to try out. Kent & Michael were suitably impressed and he was quickly signed up. The auditions also resulted in the Love Set being signed to a recording contract. Kent in conjunction with Michael L Smith started work on tracks by Charles Drain and the Love Set and it was agreed that these, when completed would be released by RCA. Marcus Kelly had originally laid down demos on three songs (“This Ain't Livin”, “I've Been A Good Man” and “You Don't Even Know My Name"), so Kent cut finished versions of these and thus completed five tracks in all on him. Kent tried to market these at the same time as he was setting up the deals secured for the Hypnotics and Charles Drain / Love Set. However the majors were keener on the other artist’s cuts and so his masters were left sitting on the shelf at that time. Charles Drain was already an experienced singer with quite a bit of studio experience and so his sessions progressed quite smoothly. A Michael L Smith song, “Is This Really Love” was selected to form the top side of his initial RCA release and the single (RCA #10186) hit US record shop shelves in February 1975. It didn’t manage to chart nationally but it certainly made waves and as a result, the 45 was also released in countries such as the UK (RCA 2750). The next RCA single release that originated with the CMC team came from the Love Set. The group’s only release under the deal featured “Touch & Go Lover” (RCA #10241) and this was issued around April that year. Again little or no promotional effort was forthcoming from RCA but again the track made some impact as it also gained a foreign release. Charles Drain’s next outing came towards the end of the year and by this time, Michael L Smith had moved on and Kent was in total charge on the tracks. No drop in quality was evident though, as Charles performed sterling work on the Ray Dahrouge penned song “Lifetime Guarantee Of Love” (RCA #10521). His last 45 outing on the label emerged in March 1976, when “What Good Is A Love Song” was coupled with “I'm Gonna Stay” (RCA #10594). With the passage of time, it is “I’m Gonna Stay” that has attracted major acclaim. Also in 1976, Charles’ ‘Dependable’ album was released and copies of this 10 track strong album are also much sought after these days.

Don't know anything about the 45 but here's some info on the studio it was cut at (that I found on the net) .......... when one thinks of noted recording studios, it's usually in places like Manhattan, LA, San Francisco, New Orleans, Memphis and Muscle Shoals (for R&B) or Nashville. But when I reached my mid-twenties, I learned that some famous recordings (in the 60's and 70's) had been made just five minutes from my family's house on suburban Long Island, New York. And not only had the studio closed by the end of the 70's, but as one self-described 'music-gear-slut' observed: almost nothing about Ultrasonic Studios has been documented. Hence, this profile will be incomplete .... but the joint at least deserves some mention. Sometime in the 1960's, a fellow named Bill Stahl opened this studio in Hempstead, New York (some twenty miles east of Manhattan and just five minutes away from our home in West Hempstead). In 1965, a young man from Queens made a wrong turn while driving in the area, and saw the sign. Deciding to stop in, he hit it off with Bill Stahl, and thus the career of noted recording engineer (and later producer) Don Casale began .... all due to a wrong turn. The studio has two main claims to fame: some of the albums recorded there, and also live radio show recordings from many star bands. One example of the former were recordings (in the late 60's) by a band called The Hassles - one of whose members lived only seven miles away. Although he wound up recording most of his solo albums at much larger studios: disagreements with his producer led Billy Joel to finish recording his debut album as well as his 1976 album Turnstiles at Ultrasonic. The first three albums by Vanilla Fudge - who managed to combine blue-eyed soul, psychedelia and hard rock seamlessly - were produced at Ultrasonic by George 'Shadow' Morton

I seem to recall Dave giving 'spare' copies of this 7" to lads who visited the Soul City shop and bought a lot of (Motown) records. This would have been around the mid to late 60's.

Two gospel songs cut by Percy are already available (as downloads) .......... these were cut in the same Memphis studio ........ https://www.amazon.com/Two-Songs-Praise-Spencer-Wiggins/dp/B01018BYD2/ref=sr_1_1?s=dmusic&ie=UTF8&qid=1435576183&sr=1-1&keywords=spencer+wiggins

Info off the net ................. cut in Memphis studio ............ Memphis soul group The BO-KEYS team up with vocalist PERCY WIGGINS to bring you a double shot of Memphis Soul and R&B. PERCY WIGGINS is featured on two original songs penned by the BO-KEYS and WIGGINS. The Bobby “Blue” Bland inspired, R&B of “WRITING ON THE WALL” and the Southern Soul ballad, “I’M STILL IN NEED”. Info here ................ https://electraphonicrecording.com/news.html

Although it is his 60's deep soul tracks that he is best known for, YouTube posters seem to prefer his up-tempo sides .......... ... another really sad loss for all soul fans .......

It has been reported on Mighty Sam's Facebook page that he has sadly passed ................ https://www.facebook.com/MightySamMcClain

There's a compilation CD just out on Richard Marks .............. see here ............ https://www.nowagainrecords.com/announcing-richard-marks-never-satisfied/ More info on him here ......... https://www.sirshambling.com/artists_2012/M/richard_marks/index.php

Berry only lived in this place for a couple of years in the late 60's but owned it for many years after that. More info here ............. https://www.mlive.com/business/detroit/index.ssf/2015/05/berry_gordys_motown_mansion_in.html

More reports on the web now of Mel's passing .................. for instance this one .... https://usnewsdaily.net/mel-waiters-dead-at-58/?COLLCC=2827379831

The Boogie Report web site is reporting that Mel Waiters passed earlier today. Tap to view this Soul Source News/Article in full

I believe this is a New York area recording but have no idea who L'il Michael was / is.

Tom Ingrassia is an award-winning author and radio personality, motivational speaker, and the former creative director of Mary Wilson Enterprise's Supreme Legacy merchandising division. His extensive collection of Motown memorabilia is highlighted within this book, alongside vintage imagery of the artists who had everyone dancing in the streets ! https://www.amazon.co.uk/Detroit-Motown-Images-Modern-America/dp/1467114383

......... AND them doing "Wade In The Water" ..............

The Blind Boys do an old Impressions track .............

Shot over the last 10 years, there is a new documentary coming out that features the career of the Blind Boys of Alabama. The likes of Roscoe Robinson and many more have been members down the years and they have certainly made a lot of good music over their 75+ year career. They even got involved with a top rated US TV series via this theme tune ......... Details of the documentary can be found here .......... https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3546590/ It's doing the film festival circuit at the moment, I hope this is another show that the BBC eventually buy to show on BBC4. The movies Facebook page .......... https://www.facebook.com/howsweetthesoundmovie

Yes, but back in the 60's (& then into the 70's) sheet music was published even for songs that didn't become hits. After that period, officially printed sheet music dropped away quickly as less & less people were buying it. By the early 80's (when the FW 45 was first released) I believe it was only Top 10 hits that the sheet music was usually printed up for (here in the UK at least). I also have loads of soul related sheet music, both US & UK. A posting on this topic could prove interesting.

Another Ola Anabule fave of mine is one of his early cuts. His cover of "Every Kind of People" which he cut for Warners (before he went out on his own label). ......... I believe this only escaped on vinyl in France (on a 12" single with mixes that excluded the rap which is on the above version). Think it was put out on vinyl in France after his tune was used on a TV ad there.

Ola Anabule (out of Bedford !!) has been making great music for at least 20 years. Lots of his older stuff goes down great on the dance floor (at MS events at least). Can't recall the title of my fave dance cut by him at the moment (from 10 years or so back) but Rugged Ram put out a limited edition white label remix 12" of it that I gave to our kid (who was a Prestatyn W/Ender Modern Room DJ at the time). This used to go down really well whenever he played it. Maybe he'll post up what the track title was as my memory is totally shot these days.

Very much doubt this song ever made it to sheet music, in the US or UK.

Much happening for Mavis in the near future .............. There is a documentary out on her that HBO will screen in the US ............ ....... https://variety.com/2015/film/news/hbo-acquires-sxsw-doc-mavis-1201470235/ Hope the BBC buy it for screening on BBC4 .............. ALSO .......... She has a new 4 track EP coming out (including 10" vinyl format ) ............. ....... https://consequenceofsound.net/2015/04/stream-mavis-staples-new-ep-your-good-fortune/ I like the 2nd track ("Fight") best !! BTW, she's just back from an Australian tour, the lady is keeping busy.

Sharon McMahan was cutting in California in 1973 ............

One of Jock's Detroit cuts ..............

Jock's trip is also making news back in Florida .... http://www.gainesville.com/article/20150402/ENT/150409965?tc=cr