Roburt

If you love the music this group made as much as I do ..... & you're a FACEBOOKER ........... please LIKE their page ..........https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Dells/108444745845973?fref=ts I'm trying to find out which would be the best website that we can post on to ensure the guy's families get to see our messages.

A guy very close to the Dells just posted this up on SDF............ I just received permission from a member of The Dells Family to post this information. Marvin Junior is very ill & is not expected to be with us for very much longer. Chuck Barksdale is also ill & is not doing very well. Usually, this news isn't made public & in the case of many, we learn what's going on only AFTER the passing of one of our beloved icons, as was the case with Johnny Carter. But in this case, The Dells are one of our most cherished, beloved & respected groups. As I've always said about them on Soulfuldetroit.com, The Dells are nothing less than our NATIONAL TREASURES! And it's because of this great love & respect that we all share for The Dells, it was believed to be best to allow both Marvin Junior & Chuck Barksdale to receive their flowers right here & right now. I believe it best that both of them & their families know exactly how much we love these men & this group & to send up all every prayer for them as is humanly possible. If nothing more than that, let's show these men just how much we love them & give them the Facebook version of one big standing ovation. Please, pass this on to every Facebook friend that you have & any music forum that you belong to. These 2 men have added so much, not just musically, but also to the fabric of our lives. Some of us made babies to their music, some of us were conceived to their music. Whether in bad times or good, THE DELLS & their music was ALWAYS there either to make us dance when we were happy, to console us when we were sad or to simply say the words that we couldn't find a way to say when pursuing someone whom we were interested in, or even apologizing after we had screwed up. So please pass this along & help to give these giants one hell of a standing ovation while they're here with us & show them & their families that we're with them & that we support them at this very difficult time! ...... Marvin Junior & Chuck Barksdale, my prayers are with you & may God bless you both! JUST AS WE ON HERE ARE GETTING TO APPRECIATE JUST HOW GREAT THESE GUYS WERE LIVE BACK IN THE DAY ....... ...... it seems we have to prepare ourselves for the worst of news. ... so put your hands together (as it says in this clip) .... and give these great guys the praise they richly deserve ...... .... THERE IS and only ever will be .... one group like THE DELLS ..........

Here's a few from me (not checked properly if Greg has already tipped some of these) ........ Mildred Clarke & Melody Aires -- Change in the World (ABC) Canton Spirituals -- Determined (J&B) Willie Banks & Messengers -- Show Me The Way (HSE) Willie Banks & Messengers --- Mother Why (HSE) Wanda Nero Butler -- Reach For His Love (Secret) Daniel Winans & 2nd Half -- Self titled (Rejoice) ....ones that didn't grab me as much as I had expected ....... East St Louis Gospelettes -- Watch Me (Checker) Sensational Nightingales -- My Sisters & Brothers (ABC) AND OF COURSE .... ... don't forget there's good stuff from gospel heavyweights such as the Mighty Clouds of Joy, Al Greene, Jessy Dixon, the Winans, Rance Allen, Yolanda Adams, Mary, Mary & more ..... AND ... its hard to buy anything not worthy from the Soul Stirrers & Violinaires. A good (easy & cheap) place to start to learn which gospel acts you like stuff by is to get the Harmless 2fer CD 'HOLY SPIRIT' ..... not TOO SURE who compiled it but he certainly has got that Divine Chord off to a tee (has Fantastic Violinaires "I'm Not Worried" on there).

Old SS thread on this 45 .............

I have the track on his 1981 self titled WB album ...... Searling used to play this a lot on Hallam & @ Clifton Halls at the time. Can't remember if I also have this track on 45 but the LP doesn't fetch much at all these days.

I'd like to own this Freda Payne LP .....the tracks were cut in Sweden in the 60's and Don Gardner's Band are backing her up on half the tracks (he did loads of shows over there in the 60's + recorded quite a few decent tracks there as well). Most of the tracks he laid down there are only available on rare Swedish releases but USA Records picked up these cuts and put them out in the States after she hit for Invictus in 1970. The LP cover picture alone is enough to make me want to own the album.

Eli 'Paperboy' Reed & his band performed in New York last October. They did a set of soul & gospel tunes backing an old guy who at that time was just 84 years young. So, the old guy ain't in the best shape vocally any more ... BUT ... he still sings better than I ever will ... so give him a break .... ... AND ... give a listen to Roscoe Robinson as he sounds these days .......... https://www.mixcloud.com/elipaperboyreed/roscoe-robinson-live-at-rockwood-2/ Hell, I hope I'm still breathing when I hit 84 never mind trying to sing !!!

Had another discussion with Louvain Demps .... AND .... .... again asked what Dee Ervin did on the project (thinkin she may be confusing Sam DEEs with DEE Ervin). Anyway, she says that at the time, her & Joe Hinton were an item, which is why he spent so much time schooling the Richard Law Singers who did all the backing vocals on the project. She again said that it was the 1st time she had ever met Sam Dees AND again she made no mention at all of Dee Ervin. She says that she will get back to me about the number of songs they performed on, I think she's cross checking with another of the Singers first to make sure her memory ain't playing tricks on her. She again states that Sam Dees sang lead on some of the songs cut ....... AND .. that she was very proud of the work (backing vocals) she had done for the album. She's hoping some of the tracks involved might escape on CD as she really wants to get hold of those cuts (to hear her contribution all these years later). Expecting more info from her in the very near future.

Can still show our kid the way at times ..... even now !!! Spent many years (80's) trying in vain to get you to appreciate MS, eventually the penny dropped & you took to it. Mind you, you always did like most everything the Dells recorded (must get your good taste from me).

Got a few of Richard's Hallam shows on cassette here somewhere !!! (probably up in the loft with most of my other cassette collection).

Getting back on topic ........... ... here's a brand new gospel release that sounds good (if you can accept electronic backing) ......... .... the guy was on the Pittsburgh soul / funk scene a the end of the 70's through the early 80's .... https://www.iammisterchandler.com/

He must have done as I recall dancing to it on a regular basis at nighters he DJ'ed at back then ..... and as I lived in Worksop, I was too old to make it back from any nighters much further afield than Roderum then. Only made it to the likes of Stafford, Hinckley, the Ritz, Loughboro, Leicester, Huddersfield & Bradford on the odd occasion. Liked the Donn Thomas track so much, I bought a copy of the LP mesen at the time. Mind you I only said that I THINK Richard was playing it as early as 81, my memory is a bit shot these days. Have to pull out some old copies of Blackbeat mag to check the venue reviews for confirmation.

Yep, Richard was on Radio Hallam (Sheffield) from around 1980 to 1986 and he was DJing at Rotherham Clifton Halls over approx the same period .... ... he played loads of great newly released US indie soul / major label soul / gospel during that period ... I THINK the Donn Thomas 'You're The One' album was one he played from it being a new release (he deffo played it soon after if not from when it first came out in 81).

A guy posted this (28+ minutes long) clip of a 1972 US TV show performance by the Dells up on SDF ..... it had been on youtube for around 9 months anyway BUT I wasn't aware of it .......... ... the BEST GROUP EVER (in a tie with the 60's Impressions, however these guys lasted forever, always together) ... ...... THE DELLS ..... back in their prime period when their vocal powers were at a peak .. ........ WOW, just pure magic ...... .... they put so much effort & emotion into their performance that it's breathtaking ...... ...... only trouble is I want one of those shirt / waistcoat sets for mesen now .........

"Changing For You" on a UK R&B label 7" is another Chi-Lites goodie from around that period ...... don't think it escaped on a 45 anywhere but the UK. I bought a couple of copies just after it had been released (10p each) ...... not a bad decision on my part. PLUS ... if you like typical Chi-Lites slowies, "Making Love" on the same UK label / format is a goodie as well.

A big SeArling play on Radio Hallam and at Clifton Halls.

With the quality of scanners & home printers these days ........... it's easy to make a copy of an expensive record's label, stick it on a crap but similar looking (vinyl / styrene style) 45 and frame it up. When its behind glass, its very hard to tell that its not the real thing. This even works with LPs as some shops sell great 12" x 12" square frames that are made just for this purpose. Many on here say they wouldn't contemplate framing up a record ... BUT ... just what do they hang on their record room walls then (3 flying ducks, a poster of a woman tennis player scratching her bum or what). I have framed records, a collage of old correspondence & record release flyers from Soul City record shop, a huge poster sized signed photo of Sam Dees and a similar photo of 3 singers at an early Southport Weekender (David Sea, Jesse James + a guy who had stuff out on Paul Mooney's label).

HEY, Rosie Gaines made some great records !!!! (they just don't sound 60's).

... AND ... many gospel albums (& 45's) were vanity projects organised by the group / singer themselves. They would pay for time in a local studio & record 2 or 9/10 tracks from their current live show list. Then get a few (100, 500) copies pressed up to sell at their gigs (of a 45 or LP). So the records went to church goers, not record collectors & so quickly disappeared from view. Some tracks only ever made it onto recording studio acetates and so are really rare ...........

I have a suitcase full of decent song sheet music (some 60's / mainly 70's) that I picked up for a song when an old Oxford record & music shop shut down about 15 - 20 years back. Some I have used as 45 backing material in frames I have made up but most of the collection is still sitting in the suitcase waiting for me to frame it up (& find wall space to display it on). Mind you a few items have gone to a better use. I had a couple of bits of UK published sheet music for Stylistics hits. A US woman appealed on SDF for charity purposes and Russell Tompkins Jnr was also a SDF member. So I organised things, posted off my sheet music to him, he signed it and both bits went in for the charity auction.

The track "Go On Find Your Star" features in this Mixcloud selection ........ .https://www.mixcloud.com/albertfish/mrfishsummermix/ The guy who played it has it credited to Joe Hinton. Unfortunately it kicks in towards the end of the set of tracks featured (@ 57min 15secs and ends @ 59.25 .... that makes it 2 min 10 secs long in my book) ..... AND ...... I can't work out a way to jump straight to it . Have to sit through the other stuff though much is decent as well ........ Some of the instrumentation & sound effects on GOFYS are very 'movie-fied' but the lead vocal is quite strong & the song itself is fine (the lead vocals don't sound like Sam Dees to me though).

Another Odell Bailey label that started life in Pittsburgh but then moved across to Detroit was Single B Records. It's 60's releases all seem to be Pittsburgh product but the later things on the label (with input from Dennis Talley's Creative Profile Prods) emanated from 18451 James Cozens in Detroit ........ that's the same address the Fourth Day 45 on DT Records came out of.

You're obviously not a hitch hiker ... otherwise you would be familiar with "THUMBing A RIDE".

Go here to find what you're after ............. https://www.richardsearling.co.uk/category/my-record-collection/ ........... that's assuming he ain't changed it recently.

Dee Ervin was definitely involved with the GRC set-up, so could have sung lead on some of the 'Black Starlet' tracks. He cut himself for Hotlanta and Aware plus he produced Ripple for Aware ........ but did he cut any tracks himself that escaped on the GRC label ? Seems that by 74/75, he was mostly sat with the studio engineer rather than out in front of the studio mike. Ervin had worked out of LA for Canyon / Roker around 1970 and was most likely still based there(72/73) when he wrote songs for / produced the Dunhill album for Genie Brown (released in early 73). A Genie Brown cut off the LP that many will find familiar ........ So I wonder if he actually moved to Atlanta for long when hooked up with GRC. Thevis (who ran GRC) was into distributing porn (probably why he got into movie work) and ended up in jail because of this.