Roburt

I used to pal about with the Nottingham soul crowd in 66/67/68. We'd meet up at the Mojo in Sheffield till that closed in September 67. I'd also call in at Nottingham on my way to the Nite Owl (Leicester) from mid to late 67. Some of their soul crowd drifted into going to the Wheel when both the Owl & Mojo had gone by November 67 (as did I). They had some great clubs back in their hometown in the 60's (Dungeon, Beachcomber, Boat Club, Britannia Rowing Club, etc.) but I never attended any of them. Notts Palais also had a good reputation. Later on (when I was living in Worksop -- 80's) we used to attend the soul do's / live shows @ Rock City. Had some great nights there. Also went along to a couple of nights at the Boat Club around then.

For those that are turned off by lyrics bout Jesus ... lots of great gospel versions of soul songs ... This is one I've always liked & I have the UK LP that it's included on ... (it was a double LP release in France, but I've just got the UK version) ...

Somebody just posted this up on Facebook AND I LIKE IT ... O V Wright & the Luckett Brothers ... The above track is so good, I went looking for others cut by this teaming ...

Thought this would go nicely with an article just posted ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_g4sDSpW9Uc

Like with soul tracks, I find that many times I'll plumb for the major label version of a gospel song against an indie label version. The studio equipment utilised / the musicians involved and the quality of the vocals reaching more professional standards on the major's version. However, as with lots of indie soul cuts, that's not always the case. One record company that certainly gave it's gospel acts every chance was CHESS / CHECKER. Lots of their gospel releases were of a high quality and coz of the sheer quantity of tracks they laid down, it meant their gospel sampler albums were decent things to chase. I'm sure there are dozens of great Chess gospel tracks that I'm still (even now) unaware of ... Gospel compilations of their stuff didn't just gain release back in the day either, as there are lots of more recent releases that they feature on.

I believe Greg Belson will attest to the fact that there are still decent gospel 45's & LP's out there to be found. This, despite, many of them being pressed up originally in small numbers & never making it into normal record shops. For many years (around 40+ I'd guess), most UK cratediggers chasing stuff in the US would ignore gospel releases. I know lots of UK dealers picked bits up when buying in bulk but (many times) they struggled to sell the gospel items that came their way. Many moons ago, I bought some gospel 45's off Richard Domar (dealing with him was an experience in itself). He must have remembered my 'interest' coz when he sold up he contacted me. He said if I took every gospel 45 he still had, he'd give me a great deal. To be fair to him, he did as well (though he snuck in a couple of 45's by white Christian singers that were truly awful). When Contempo (B&S) were doing their soul packs back in the early 70's, I recall them having Peacock & Nashboro gospel 45's and including these with the US soul 45's that went into their 'packs'. They probably had Chess gospel 45's too that went in soul packs, but I can't recall them having Vee Jay or Savoy gospel items in stock. . . . . NOT "Shake, Me, Wake Me" ...

A gospel guy who crossed over to find mainstream success ...

Above I stated lots of gospel acts cut for church based labels or tiny indie labels. But they don't always stay that way. Maceo Woods started out as the pastor at a little local church. After developing the church's choir, he recorded them and put out an album. A copy of this found it's way to Stax. They licensed it for national distribution and signed Maceo Woods up. Next thing, he's a nationally known top gospel artist.

Plenty of decent gospel takes on soul songs. Lots of them being great versions of those songs ... CLARA WARD Dead End Street https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zCVTutlvuM

Most soul singers started out in the church singing gospel & lots went back to sacred music after their time doing secular stuff. It's always been there & has enjoyed periods of increased interest with soulies. From the likes of the Gospel Classics "More Love" being a biggie on the UK soul scene to "Oh Happy Day" making the pop charts & through to modern soulers getting into Donn Thomas's "How Can I Help But Love You" and more, gospel has had it's supporters. When the Staples went big on Stax and ABC took over Duke / Peacock in the 70's, gospel's profile increased. Later on, the long running CD series 'WOW GOSPEL' (which featured a compilation of the best tracks released each year) did good business for over 20 years. But, thanks to DJ's like Greg Belson and interest from specialist reissue labels, gospel tracks seems more popular than even at the moment. With lots of 45's & LP's being recorded and pressed up in limited numbers and mainly sold at live concerts, there are plenty of rare items to lust after & chase. Just about the rarest release on the UK Chess label has to be the gospel comp album 'A Christmas Dedication From ..'. There are hundred's of US gospel 45's that would catch on if they were more widely known, many being rare items on obscure indie labels (many attached to individual churches or to the folk running choirs). There are even decent UK released gospel 45's and albums to go after on labels such as Chess, Atlantic, Action and more. It would be good to get a few recommendations from Soul Sourcers with regard to which tracks they play on a regular basis.

I'd GUESS at the Mojo 45 version due to the song's writers. Co-writer Jackie Avery owned Mojo Records.

UPDATE ... https://www.facebook.com/share/r/15vgRsz1bK/

You could get the Bobby Vee version for just over a quid ...

To be fair to John ... my 45's from him took a while to arrive ... BUT I also ordered a few things from a Discogs dealer in Canada a few days later. It took him almost 7 days to even acknowledge my order ... guess we shouldn't expect too speedy a service over the Xmas / New Year period.

The October / November SOUL EXPLOSION tour. I caught it @ Sheffield City Hall on 31st Oct 67. Seem to recall that Percy Sledge was too ill to fly to UK, so Lee Dorsey took his place. Sam & Dave were the real stars of the show though. At one point, one of them went off with the mike, leaving the other to sing unamplified. He went into a gospel styled performance and filled the whole auditorium (which was massive) with his voice. For a young (just turned 18) Donny lad, it was captivating. They were on in Manc the following night.

SORRY, but I just couldn't stop myself ... pics at the bottom: the 60's Hull crowd @ the Mojo, Hull lads @ the Wheel & Hull lads recently

My package from John arrived today. 2 x 45's missing that had been showing as IN STOCK on his web site when I ordered ... BUT maybe someone else went for them at almost the same time as I did.

Seems not. I ordered early when the sale started (early in the day on 26th Dec) & ordered direct off JM's web site. Got an e-mail from Paypal today stating a refund from JM is on it's way to my Paypal account. No notification from John's team as to what I will not now be receiving or when my order will be dispatched (but at least it must be being processed at the moment). I do recall the postage charged for my order was quite high even though it was to be sent by 1st class mail.

Never made it to Aruba & Curaçao (part of the ABC islands). They have a Dutch heritage though, so can't think there'd be much of interest (record wise) there now. Saying that, Surinam was also Dutch and not too far from the ABC islands -- and they had a big soul 45 scene. I've visited all the other locations but never found any record shops or 45's there. Used to be loads of soul 45's (local & US) in Barbados, Jamaica and the Bahamas (Nassau). Still some in Jamaica. Most in Barbados were sold off cheap when the local record company's warehouse was cleared and sold about 20 years ago. I've looked in Nassau a few times (not too hard though) but didn't find any record shops or 45's there.

Most of the info is freely available on the web and I 'constructed' the picture from other stuff I found on the web (though you do have to trawl through many editions of old music mags to find some of it). A really good online site that contains loads of useful info is GARAGEHANGOVER (again you need lots of time & patience to find some of the old ads -- but I've been retired for almost 17 years and need sumat to prevent me from trying to catalogue my collection). Leicester's Nite Owl was one of my niter haunts back in 67, so that's why I included a few of the club's ads in my collage.

As well as the upstairs coffee bar room, there was a 2nd room upstairs. This was beyond the stairs down to the dance areas / stage room. This room was usually almost empty & always cold, but you had to go through it to reach the gents.

It was published in Glyn Thornhill's fanzine many moons ago (around 25 years I'd guess). Somebody copied it (not too well) & put it up online (on the JACK THAT CAT WAS CLEAN blogsite).

Hank Ballard's "The Twist" was released in December 1958 and that side of his 45 made the US R&B charts in May 59. But the dance craze only really started after Chubby Checker's cover of the song was released in June 1960. Chubby's version had charted by JULY 1960, with Hank's original version back on the R&B charts (& on the pop charts) by SEPTEMBER 1960. As Chubby's version was taking off and was kick starting a dance craze that swept around the world, two solo soul singers were getting together to perform as a duo down in Miami ... at the very beginning they were still performing under their full names. SAM MOORE's singing helped me get into soul music back at the start of 1966; he will be missed ...

A few tracks were popular @ the Mojo coz Pete realised the crowd would sing along with them, but could substitute 'Mojo' in the lyrics instead of the correct ones. Stevie Wonder's "Love A GoGo" was a big tune at the club with us all singing "Love The Mojo" instead of the proper lyrics.

Sonny Childe had a few backing bands before he teamed with the TNT. Another one was the Cool School. He then teamed with the Sidewinders in early 66. He joined Freddie Mack and his band soon after; This -N- That. He stayed in that position for around 8 to 10 weeks and then went out on his own, taking Freddie's band with him as the TNT. Sonny & the TNT soon established themselves as an exciting live band and got repeat bookings at clubs such as the Beachcomber, Nottingham in summer 66. They went on a big UK tour in March / April 67 with the Small Faces & Roy Orbison. Still in demand in their own right, they got return bookings to play the niter session @ the Nite Owl, Leicester in spring & summer 67. They also played other noted venues such as the Golden Torch & California Ballroom + the top London clubs. In 1966 & 67 the outfit had a recording contract with Polydor. But Sonny split with the TNT in August 67 and the group went on to tour behind P P Arnold in late 67 & 68. Sonny signed with MGM / Music Factory (as did another Pye soul group, the Alan Bown Set). He recorded some tracks but they were only released in the US (in 68) -- so I presume he'd returned to the US by then Sonny Childe was only with Elders Consolidated till summer 65, so that acetate must date from around then I guess.