Roburt

I'd agree with our kid; you can't ignore at least one track from the Duke / Peacock / Backbeat catalogue.

Cleveland soul producer / label owner has passed ... another sad loss to our music.

I'd say NOT ... other 60's soul songs have been done by more different artists.

A song that everyone performed back in the 60's (UK beat groups & US soul acts) was "Knock On Wood". It has stood the test of time too, so I'd nominate Eddie Floyd's biggie. PLUS ... with regard to Chicago R&B / soul ... most Chicago tracks were very blues based until around 1962 when Curtis Mayfield + the Impressions took the city's sound in a whole new direction. You could nominate one of many songs Curtis penned as INFLUENTIAL but I guess it's his songbook / sound as a whole that counts as being the most influential factor. Can't ignore the influence of early 60's Motown tracks, mid 60's Stax tracks or early to mid 60's New Orleans stuff (pre & post Allen Toussaint). As it was performed by so many other UK & US acts I'd go with "Ride Your Pony" as being the most influential of AT's songs / recordings).

On Doris Willingham's "You can't do that" Jayboy UK version the backing slows down about 15 seconds into the track ...

The individual records are easier to make out on this version of the pic ... AND why not have Rufus too ...

Of course, many hit R&B / soul songs got covered a lot, both by UK & US artists ... another such song was Rufus Thomas's "Walking The Dog" ...

One of Glenn Dorsey's earlier groups ...

Other things happening 50 years ago ... BTW, Glenn Dorsey (of the Jonseses) had been in R&B / soul groups since the late 50's ... ALSO ... R Dean Taylor's "Ghost In My House" had just dropped out of the UK pop chart top 10 ...

In contrast to Cleveland & Detroit ... Edwin's 45 was new to this Miami pop stn's chart in mid September (@ #40) ... it dropped to #44 the next week and then disappeared altogether .... so it didn't make much impact in Miami at all.

Edwin's 45 took off quickly in Cleveland coz he was from there. The local radio DJ's knew him, lots of the record buying public knew of him (from the days he led a group there & from his work as the male singer with Bill Doggett), so I would guess they were hammering it from the first day they got a copy of it.

Middle of July 1965 ... Detroit radio Stn WCHB's chart ... just a couple of weeks after it had been issued, Edwin's 45 was already shooting up their Top 20

The UK recorded version of 00 SOUL ... when acts would perform songs live back then, they'd up the tempo to increase the energy of their shows. I guess Alex Harvey would have done this in his live shows ahead of recording the song, hence it being a more uptempo version than the original ... SPEAKING OF WHICH ...

I write for a soul music mag at present -- S U Nth (& for others in the past), so my pieces can be very WORDY (sorry). But finding obscure soul facts is my passion. Ady C refers to me as a soul sleuth. I did this research as a 'side issue' to the latest article I'm preparing. At first, I thought I'd just dump all the facts (as only some are relevant to my actual article). But then I decided to write it all up as a short piece to post on here. It's hard too see the details in my pics above, so I've split the big one in two ... Lots of other tracks have received similar treatment down the years but Edwin's initial 45 and the way it's popularity spread out from Detroit to influence other artists seemed just about the ideal example to use (IMHO).

Just ahead of Edwin signing with Ric Tic / Golden World, he was still gigging as the male singer with Bill Doggett's band. It was Bill's refusal to help Edwin record "OO Soul" that led him to quit the band and go solo. When his 45 hit big, Edwin had to head straight back to Cleveland (where he still knew many musicians) to hire the guys that became his backing band ... His first REALLY BIG live shows were @ the Harlem Apollo in late August 65 (a week's engagement). Others on the bill with him were Jerry Butler, Staples Singers, Gladys Knight & Pips, Jamo Thomas & Royalettes. Meanwhile, Alex Harvey was over in the UK doing club gigs & performing "OO Soul" live ...

Edwin's Ric Tic 45 was the first big seller on the label ( I think -- could any Detroit experts put me right if that ain't so) ... so the label took a few weeks to 'break' the 45. For that reason, the Canadian version of the single didn't escape till that August (after it had established a US profile). Copies of Edwin's US 45 must have found their way to the UK by that August too ... as Scottish blues / soul singer Alex Harvey cut a version for UK Fontana release and that escaped here at the start of September (65). With the songs US / Canadian & UK profiles, I'm surprised a UK label didn't try to do a licensing deal with Ric Tic / Golden World back then. Alex Harvey had a decent UK club / record profile back then and it seems he got to perform the song on a prime time UK TV show (no doubt just miming to the record). That video doesn't seem to have survived. A US TV clip of a different version has survived though ... Yet another US cover version came out in January 66 on Command (by Dick Hyman; an organ instro version).

A good way to check is to visit the Facebook group >> MODERN SOUL VINYL .... but just like at NS events; records / tracks (they don't HAVE to be available on vinyl to get MS scene plays) come into & go out of favour. So a biggie at Snaith in the 70's or one that was massive @ Thorne in the 80's, may have slipped into near oblivion now. ... but be warned, items get posted on the MSV site that were released from 1970 right up to present day releases. In the meantime, here's a decent one to be going on with ... there are also other versions from the likes of the Staples, Kenny Thomas, etc ...

Late August 65 & "Agent 00 Soul" was climbing the national R&B charts in the US ....

We all know that most UK 60's beat groups got their start by covering US R&B / soul hits both in their stage shows & on record. BBC radio didn't help much as they didn't have much 'needle time' allowance, so featured live sets on many shows -- these being by the beat groups doing covers. When BBC radio did play records, they seemed to favour the UK cover versions over the US originals. Thus for an American R&B / soul hit to make the UK charts it had to become a big club sound (ahead of the pirates hitting the airways). BUT things weren't too different in the US. A soul act who had a hit on their hands would be added to a soul revue package that would play many of the venues on the chitlin circuit. But, most of the chitlin circuit venues were in the northern states , California or down the US east coast (Boston, New York, Philly, Baltimore, DC, Norfolk, etc). In more rural areas, fans hardly ever got to see the acts who were having hits. That's one reason why in states such as Texas, lots of fake groups would play out-of-the-way venues (the Masqueraders took their name coz they had participated in such ruses in their early days). Fake versions of Archie Bell & the Drells did gigs all over when Archie was overseas in the forces. Miami was also a bit far for lots of acts to travel, so Florida had it's fair share of 'fakes' doing gigs. However, dishing up versions of national hits for local punters wasn't just left to 'fakes'. Most locally based groups were playing R&B / soul sets on their live gigs in the 60's as this is what the audiences wanted. Many local groups started out as pure cover bands & as their musical skills improved, they would start to introduce original songs in their acts and this would lead to them getting to record those tunes. Sometimes though, a national hit would become so popular when performed by a local act that they'd be given the chance to record their version of the song. An example of this was Edwin Starr's initial 45 release/ hit -- "Agent 00 Soul". His 45 was released in June 65 and (though it was on a small Detroit label) it took off quickly. From initial plays on Detroit radio stns, it was soon getting airplay all over. Golden World could see they had a big hit on their hands, so they started placing ads in the big US music mags and doing promotional work over a large geographic area. In no time the 45 was on radio stn charts in many parts of the US. Initially it was the R&B stations where it did well, but as it's popularity continued to spread, it started getting on pop station's charts too. The 45 was on R&B radio stn charts in the northern US cities by late June 65, it then slowly extended it's reach and by early August it was getting extensive radio exposure over a wide area. It would climb the charts in say Cleveland, that fact would be reported and DJ's in other cities would pick it up and start giving it plays. So while it's peak popularity may have passed in Detroit, Chicago & Cleveland by mid August, in other cities it would still be climbing the local charts. By September it was doing well in enough areas to figure on the national R&B charts, just weeks later it was climbing the national pop charts. One area where it was slow to catch on (almost certainly due to a lack of copies reaching the area) was Louisiana. It initially took off in New Orleans and was charting there by October. It also made it out to more rural areas of the state, with DJ's like Paul Thibeaux spinning it on KVOL. With "Agent 00 Soul" filling the airwaves in the region, many local acts started including it in their live shows. It became so popular for some acts that they were even asked to record their versions of it. Thus US cover versions of Edwin's first release made it onto US record store shelves. P.S. . . . though it was a massive US hit, that success didn't lead to much international interest. It did escape on Reo in Canada but then Detroit radio stn signals reached deep into Canada & many local music fans would tune into Detroit radio stns rather than their own local enterprises. The odd Canadian stn had a large audience in their own rights -- Windsor based CKLW being one example. So most 45's that had been big in Detroit would get a Canadian release. Edwin's record failed to attract much interest from UK / European based labels, an omission that would soon be remedied. BUT BACK TO LOUISIANA & THE US -- the impact "Agent 00 Soul" had there was extensive ...

The camera obviously wasn't set with red eye reduction as all their eyes look kinda weird .... 🤣

I now have the full SP on Cody Miller's music career ... his stint with Last Flight came a few years after he first turned professional. He'd been in 3 other group's ahead of Last Flight (one of which recorded & had collectable 45's out). He then was a member of 2 other groups (who both recorded) after Last Flight. I'm not putting much of the info up here at present as I'm writing an article on him that will be going in the next edition of SOUL UP NORTH. He's a very helpful guy with a good memory -- though he had no idea some of the old tracks he played / sang on were now highly collectable. He also had no idea the Last Flight 45 had been reissued over here around 16 years ago. He was thrilled to learn that his old work in the music biz was still valued & played. He never realised (with the local Louisiana music scene being so localised) that copies of those old 45's had even made it out of his home state. This was the local radio station he used to listen to -- though it was a pop stn, it played lots of R&B / soul tracks and this was what sparked his love of soul music. He listened from when he was in school to after he was playing in groups. Till soul went out of fashion locally in La (the mid 70's), it was cover versions of soul hits that his bands all played on live gigs.

The Shrine stock in 1968 was still mainly held on the shelves of Waxie Maxies record warehouse on 14th St in DC. Round the corner (on 7th St) was Waxie Maxies main record store. In the 1968 riots triggered by the slaying of Martin Luther King both buildings were attacked and burnt out. Hence the lack of Shrine vinyl for us collectors to chase.

Kev Roberts & Dustbin Stanley in the group; the track must be an early 'taylor- made' effort.

The lead vocalist on the 45 was Cody Miller. This is his band from those times; I presume it's Last Flight but am awaiting conformation of that fact.

My article in the new edition is .... #SAY IT AGAIN, THE STORY OF A SONG It's an attempt to chronicle the history of a particular song & I chose this oft recorded one co-written by Bunny Sigler. It was cut by artists based all over the US, with just one version being by a Philly based guy. So, to get others to know of the song's existence, Bunny must have cut a demo version and sent out copies of that demo to various cities. I am not aware of any acetates of the song coming to light ... maybe someone on here knows of one. My fave version of it was by a Japanese jazz funk guy.