Roburt

Back in the day ...... in Philly ......

WARNING ... I've made a QUICK CHANGE to 67 coz my THIRD FINGER, LEFT HAND ... LIKES TO BOOGALOO .....

Viv Gospel cuts -- Early to mid 70's tracks on a label based out of Portsmouth (just across the water from Norfolk, Va).

When you've crossed over to embrace Modern, it's almost impossible to return to just being a 'Norman'.

If you are asking about his UK Fontana 45 ("My Love Keeps Growing"), it was' issued' as that is the version of the 45 I bought back in summer 1969.

PYE RECORDS HISTORY .............. The Pye Company originally manufactured televisions and radios. Its main plant was situated off what used to be Haig Road, in Cambridge, and it entered the record business when it bought Nixa Records in 1953. In 1955, the company acquired Polygon Records and merged it with Nixa Records to form Pye Nixa Records. In 1958, Pye International Records was started. The company licensed recordings from American and other foreign labels for the UK market, including Chess, A&M, Kama Sutra, Colpix, Warner Bros., Buddah, 20th Century, and King. It also released recordings from British artist Labi Siffre which were produced outside the company. In 1959, Pye Nixa became Pye Records and ATV acquired 50% of the label. By late 1965, the parent company were trying to get out of the record business, so ATV bought the other half of the business in 1966 thus becoming sole owner from then on. I'd guess that the Pye Company weren't doing too well with their main TV & radio manufacturing business (everybody buying cheaper imported transistor radios, etc.) so they got out of their 'side business' to just concentrate on core issues and thus try to revive their manufacturing facility.

RE: Honeycombs, Kinks, Petula Clark, Donovan, Kenny Ball, Herb Alpert, Sandie Shaw, Searchers etc, they'd never been more successful! .... Don't know about that as I recall reading in Record Mirror, NME etc that when Fontell Bass's "Rescue Me" was a UK hit it saved Pye Records from being shut down by their parent company.

A Detroit POP Chart from April 66. Some interesting local soul tracks feature .... BUT so does a New York recording which was dropping down from # 18 to #26.

No mystery al all with regard to the 1st UK issue of this track. Pye Records UK licensed it for British release but were having a hard time of it (hit / money wise), so they didn't want to have a new imprint label printed up. So it had to come out on one of their existing labels. Which one; Pye Int, Cameo-Parkway or what ?? They settled on Cameo Parkway & in that form it came out here.

A Spinner who was also interested in other parts of cars ...............

I do get it, I just think its an idiotic premise. Going by that rule then .... there were no NS 45's made in the 1960's as none were termed NS cuts when released or at anytime in the 60's. ........ If its NS then it was NS when released in the 60's If its a beat ballad then it was a BB when released in the 60's.

Still the same record; if it was a 'beat ballad' in the 70's, then it was the same in the 60's (even if fans of the track didn't call it a beat ballad).

Anyone know much at all about Morris Vaughn. I know he cut in Chicago with Jack Daniels but apparently he originally came from St Louis & cut solo tracks (for Gateway in 68) & group tracks (with the¯»¿ Soulful Illusion") in the city. I bought his Chicago cut 45 back when it was a new UK release but it seems it's the other side of his Fontana 45 that is favoured now (but I don't remember every playing tuva side at all down the years).

Can you give us any hints on whose tracks will be on this 2fer CD set yet ......... any Clarence Fountain & Roscoe Robinson cuts to be included ??

So "Walk With A Winner" wasn't a beat ballad when played in the 60's ... BUT WAS a beat ballad when played in the 70's ......... .... WHY, had the track been remixed in the meantime ?!?Q?! ............ CONFUSED OF SOUTH YORKS.

A 1965 gig for Rita ............

Not a high profile label with UK soulies in the early to mid 60's as too many 45's on the label here had no connection at all to soul (& we were still very young & quite uneducated in the lesser known soul artists). I do seem to recall chasing a Chicago outing that came out here on Fontana (could be wrong though, memory going as I get older ?) -- the 45 in question being by Morris Vaughn (My Love Keeps Growing ?). Don't recall chasing any of the Motown tracks on the label (was after the newer releases on Stateside), the Betty Everett's were much easier to find on President and the UK 'mod' recordings weren't of much interest to me back then (not enough spare cash to buy them after I had bought US recorded stuff). BTW, anyone know much at all about Morris Vaughn. I know he cut in Chicago with Jack Daniels but apparently he originally came from St Louis & cut solo tracks (for Gateway) & group tracks (with the¯»¿ Soulful Illusion") in the city. It seems it's the other side of his Fontana 45 that is favoured now but I don't remember every playing tuva side at all down the years.

Garnett's tracks were really popular with UK soulies in the mid to late 60's (though "Lookin For You" wasn't a regular play). All his US 45's got released here + he toured a few times & cut a live LP here. His biggies with Yorks soulies were "I'll Take Good Care Of You", "Been Such A Long Way Home", "Cry Baby", etc. but all slow or mid tempo so again not massive club plays (but they did all get spun). "It Was Easier To Hurt Her" wasn't as popular (though still a great track) coz the UK cover had been played to death on the radio & had 'taken the edge' of listening to Garnett's far superior original version.

A guy who has 'hung on' in the recording biz for around 50 years now ..............

Just about all the Ru-Jac 45's have always been a bit hard to find. When the 1st UK NS'ers 'discovered' the label, there were copies around to be snapped up. The supply soon dried up though. Most copies were sold in Baltimore back in the day but some (mainly later Ru-Jac releases) were nationally distributed or licensed by big labels for 2nd issues. The Shyndells were the label's usual studio backing band even though lots of the tracks were actually cut in the DC area rather than in Balto (there wasn't really a decent studio in Baltimore till the late 60's). By 1970, Rita was performing jazz in Balto clubs (if my memory is working right today), so her soul days were over in but a few short years. Rufus Mitchell, who owned / ran the Ru-Jac label, was a big local business man & concert promoter, so artists signed to his label were always assured loads of local live gig work. The whole catalogue has been 'scooped' by a (the best) UK reissue label and so comprehensive CD releases (& probably selected 45 releases) are assured. A single artist CD (maybe 2) will form the initial release of Ru-Jac stuff, but I'm sure Rita's tracks will follow (in 2013 ?) on a comp various artist CD from the UK label. No idea how much 'unissued' stuff was cut back in the day (some for sure) but don't think the master tapes still exist for these (though I hope I'm proved wrong on this point).

Another chart from a Baltimore radio station ..... Not too many local records figure on this chart though Jay Wiggins (a very popular live draw in the city) is on there. 5 Motown tracks in the Top 20, Eddie Holland being the most pleasing to me.

Me think Paul Dunn speak with forked tongue !!!! ..... well maybe not ..............

It depends how 'far' you want to stray into MS ...... lots of fans embrace any track, including new recordings, that has a strong soulful vocal no matter how 'housey' or 'garagey' the backing is. Others just like traditional souly stuff up to the 1990's. Loads of great 'real soul' artists still out there, check out stuff made by any of the acts who performed live in the Modern room at the Prestatyn W/Ender (Fish has great taste & only booked the best). Marc Evans & Marcel & the Truth spring instantly to mind. At the risk of being thrown off here, you couldn't do much better than join EMS to 'catch up' on all things modern soul wise (there are 'retro & new release sections on the site, so all era's are covered). BUT .... MS Fans aren't OVO only ..... lots prefer 'download' tracks (not me though) . Some great tracks are 'download' only. Others are CD only. The BEST (& worst) thing about post 1990 tracks is the number of mixes of a tune that are available. So though the dance scene fans will go for a 'bleeps & beats' version as their fave, there will usually also be a 'soul mix' version for us types. BUT BEWARE WHEN BUYING 12"s... loads of tracks will have 2 /3 different 12" vinyl releases to select from & the 'soul mix' will usually only be available on one of these. So, select carefully before pressing the buy button or you could end up with a copy that only features 4 / 5 different 'bleeps & beats' versions. GOOD HUNTING.

Really going off topic now .... but not a lot of people know this ..... RE : Sam Fletcher on Tollie I was one of the 1st Brits to visit Johnny Pate at his house in Vegas (about 12 / 13 years ago). He knew nothing about the NS scene, so I started listing the 45 tracks that he had been involved with that were NS faves. He couldn't even remember "Soul Self Satisfaction" or the artist, apparently some artists were assigned to him by ABC & he just met them in the studio, cut a couple of tracks on these type of artists, mixed the tracks & forgot about them. But when I mentioned the Sam Fletcher cut he got really excited. He hadn't thought about the track in years & hadn't heardit since a couple of months after it was recorded ... BUT .... it was one of his all time fave recording sessions and he was very proud of the way that cut ended up sounding. I had to make sure he got a copy of the track (on CD-R) as soon after I met him as possible. All the massive hits he worked on (The Impressions, etc) & it was this one that he was 'proudest' of.

Ady, You are a top true soul man .... but you do push 60's to the fore at every opportunity !! .... there are some of us that still like the sounds that got us into soul in the 1st place .. .... ... but we've also moved on to love 70's, 80's, 90's & even Y2K stuff.