Roburt

Sorry Steve, I was obviously WAY OUT with my guestimate that ..... .... The Honey Bees 45 (Garrison #3005 / 50642) had to be released around MARCH to June of 1967 .....

Google (& Bing) maps are great for seeing how things looked a few months back but they constantly update their info & so you never get things in a 'historical context'. What someone needs to do now is go back to the 60's / 70's maps / aerial photos and start loading those up online. So much of the neighborhoods that we are interested in have been decimated over the last 30 years. Pull up modern day maps of the 'soul' areas of Detroit, Chicago, Baltimore, Miami, etc and what you see bears no relation at all to what was there in the 'glory years' (60's / 70's). Just about all the top chiltlin circuit venues are long gone. The studios, record shops, bars , small local clubs have all been bulldozed. To get a feel for what an area was like, we need aerial or street shots that are over 30 years old. .... AND ... its not just the street scenes that we have lost. It amazes me how few photos there are of soul artists performing in top US & UK theatres / clubs. Every week across the USA (back in the 60's) there would be upwards of 100 artists performing in chitlin circuit venues but how many were photographed & which of the few shots that were taken still exist. About the only place I can think of where photos are available is the Apollo in Harlem. Top acts (usually 5/6) played venues such as Carr's Beach from the 40's thru to the 70's .... but try to find photos of them & only about a dozen can be found on the net -- and many of those concentrate on the MC (DJ) with just the act in the background. I was at the Wheel (for the last time) yesturday and for 4/5 years they had top acts on live at every Saturday allniter, but how many photos of those acts exist today and it is very few. I find this strange as many of the acts were 'charting' at the time (late 60's) and it was their only show in the Manchester area on each tour. You would have thought the local newspaper's entertainment's reporter would have gone along to interview / photograph the likes of Ike & Tina, Edwin Starr, Ben E King, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Ruffin, Jnr Walker, Johnny Johnson & Bandwagon, Drifters, etc; but they don't seem to have made the effort.

Oliver (during his Move days) snapped in his hotel room up in Scotland ...

These guys were swinging down in Miami ...

the honeybees recorded on roxbury (dream express) 1976 That set of Honey Bees were UK based. Their producers were Richard Hewson & Phil Swern who worked with the likes of the Pearls (1972), R & J Stone, Bryan Taylor, etc. Hewson led the RAH Band

Pete, the dates are listed in my text .... L to R: Dec 66 / Jan 67 / May 71

Wrong. The Tams went out as 'the Girls' when x-dressing. They did gigs on the beach scene in the 60's. The Honeybees were really the Temptations in drag !! While that info is fresh in my mind; think I'll add it to the group's Wikipedia pages

Some Garrison related info ............... The Garrison label was launched in early December 1966 Earl Harrison's big 45 (Garrison #3001 / 50620) on the label hit the stores (& the charts) in Jan 67. The Honey Bees 45 (Garrison #3005 / 50642) had to be released around March to June of 1967 ..... ... weren't the Andantes very busy at Motown at that time ?? ... AND ... Honey & the Bees were definitely busy in Philly recording studios (on Arctic sessions) during that period. There was a Honey Bees playing gigs in Las Vegas in May 71. I doubt this was the same group though. There were also groups who used the name in the 1950's & 1970's.

RE: the BevGlenn / ABC Records Otis Smith >> FEB 1973; ABC / Dunhill Records appoint Otis Smith as vice president in charge of special projects. Smith was responsible for ABC's expansion into the r&b field, covering all phases of that product. Smith had been with ABC in the capacity of Director of Singles Sales at an earlier time (from 1968 thru to early 1970's). In 1971 & 1972 he was working for Hot Wax (label vice-president) & Invictus. He had joined label management at MGM in 1962 and then had a spell at Riverside from Feb 1967. So I guess the recording artist Otis Smith & the label manager of the same name were different guys (unless he was doing both at the same time).

Honey & the Bees (Josie) Personal Mangement -- Jimmy Bishop & Penguin Artists Booking Agent -- QBC

WMBM Miami -- July 68

ACADEMY #14 -- May 65

'Things Got Better' in Miami back in 1969 ............

The best set (of crockery) I ever saw spun was back in the 60's on Crackerjack. Can't recall the name of the 'spinner' though. .... and I wouldn't go with Kegsy's nomination as he can only remember the last 4 years; everything before that is a blank to him (so his opinion can't count).

Hey, I used to take you for nights out to the Hull soul clubs back when you were still in short pants ...... I couldn't be expected to find you copies of rare UK 45's at low prices as well !!!! Anyway, the guy in the Wakefield record shop (it was halfway down the hill towards Westgate Rail Stn, can't recall the name but it had been there for some years) had a 'stock' of old UK 45's up in the shop's attic & he would go and fetch a copy of things you asked for by name .... but you could only have one copy of each 45 per visit & he wouldn't tell you what he had up there or let you look yourself.

It was a big record on the UK scene way before 1971.

The Otis Smith who ran Beverly Glen Records was a top executive at ABC Records in 1974/75. He was responsible for signing black acts to the label -- one of those being the Hitchhikers (ABC 5209) This album was recorded at Conneticut Recording Studios, Bridgeport CT in 1973. The group's lead vocalist was Kenny Hamber with Vinnie Vincent credited as playing guitar on the album. The Hitchhikers was a R&B group based out of Providence (initially the group members had come up from Baltimore with Kenny for an extended engagement at Jeffrey Osborne's mothers nightclub. When the original guys got homesick & went off, Kenny recruited a bunch of local guys and kept gigging around the area). Vinnie Vincent would go on to play on many recording sessions including Dan Hartman's "Instant Replay" album sessions.

Honey & The Bees on Arctic & Josie were Cassandra Ann Wooten, Gwendolyn Oliver, Jean Davis and Nadine Felder ..... ....... this group backed up many other artists on their Arctic recording session. For instance, they provide backing vocals on the Kenny Hamber Arctic cuts.

Your track has sort of an 'Impressions' feel to it .......... ...... was that your intention when you went into the studio ? If not, who's sound were you aiming at (who were the groups you admired) ??

No idea if the Curtis Anderson who played in the band that backed up Jimmy Briscoe (see end of attached article) is the same Curtis A who made "How Can I Tell Her" ... BUT ... it seems strange to me that there would be 2 C.A's involved on the Baltimore music scene at the same time (the HCITH guy mainly being a local radio stn DJ in 72) ................. ... mind you if there were 2 different guys of that name on the Balto scene, that may have been the reason his record was released as just by Curtis. However, it could just as easily have been to hide the fact that the track was by a top Baltimore radio DJ and thus improve its chances of getting air play on other radio stns.

All the CD series that UnsignedSoul put out are well known to MS fans. Each CD they have released has at least a couple of top tracks on it. If you like MS (dancers & ballads) then it's worth checking out the soundfiles for their CD's on the web site as they can be bought for £6 (incl P&P).

Don't think these guys invented the genre.... ... they were just jumping on the bandwagon after the event .... ...

From the date of the article & the reference in it to "How Can I Tell Her" having been in local record shops for 3 weeks, it seems that it was released around the 10th October 1979.

"Chills & Fever" did well on the radio up in New York .... ... probably due to Atlantic distributing Dial & getting behind the 45 ... ... guess that exposure helped in Paul's later decision to relocate to the city ....

An article about Curtis / Curtis Anderson ............