Roburt

One I forgot to list ... The Steinways – My Heart's Not In It Anymore (Babe, Babe, Babe) / You've Been Leadin' Me On . . . . aka The Laddins

On a recent thread, this was posted ... Talmadge Armstrong And The Escotts - Spindletop .... Talmadge Armstrong got to be the best double sides ever. It got me thinking about which other singles have both great A & B sides ... Off the top of my head, here's what I came up with ... Bud Harper -- Mr. Soul / Let Me Love You Robert Parker -- Barefootin' / Let's Go Baby (Where The Action Is) the Emotions -- So I Can Love You / Got To Be The Man Otis Redding -- Respect / I've Been Loving You Too Long (To Stop Now) Don Covay -- Seesaw / I Never Get Enough Of Your Love Wilson Pickett -- Mustang Sally / Three Time Loser The Drifters -- Up In The Streets Of Harlem / You Can't Love Them All The Dells – Wear It On Our Face / Please Don't Change Me Now Billy Stewart – Because I Love You / Mountain of Love Four Tops -- Standing In The Shadows Of Love / Since You've Been Gone The Contours -- Determination / Just A Little Misunderstanding The Temptations -- My Baby / Don't Look Back Major Lance -- Ain't No Soul / You'll Want Me Back Soul Children -- Give Me One Good Reason Why / Bring It Here The Soul Children – Hearsay / Don't Take My Sunshine Sam And Dave -- Hold On I'm A Comin' / I Got Everything I Need Sam Dees -- Worn Out Broken Heart / Come Back Strong Helena Ferguson – Where Is The Party / My Terms Homer Banks – A Lot Of Love / I'm Fighting To Win East Wind Band -- Read The Fine Print / Talk To Me Prince George – I Love Too Hard / Wrong Crowd

The HIT EM HARD soundtrack was the creation of Bobby Davis (BDE Records aka Bobby Davis Enterprises) ... his Bobby Davis Orchestra were the band on the album. A couple of years later he came up with -- Music From The Motion Picture "The 'Zar Of New Orleans" -- another so-called movie soundtrack album. This was released on BDR -- Bobby Davis Records. ONCE AGAIN, I can find no evidence that a movie of that name was ever made. Guess it was a marketing ploy of his. A similar situation exists with Teddy Vann's COLOREDMAN superhero -- this persona was created & the THEME FROM ... track cut in the hope a TV series would follow ...

Guess they didn't have the money for a more full backing PLUS the studio was quite a basic set-up .... . . . . . BACK GROUND INFO ... Quin Ivy opened his own studio, Norala. Ivy recalled “I had a total investment in that studio of $7,000, It was put together on a shoestring.” His new studio's fortunes changed in late 1965, when Ivy and Marlin Greene cut “When a Man Loves a Woman” (Percy Sledge) there. “We cut [it] in mono on a little two-track machine with me engineering… With the money that track made, Ivy was able to build a larger, more modern facility at 1307 Broadway and he moved his newly rechristened Quinvy Recording Studio in there in mid-1968. In 1969, Ivy sold his old studio on 2nd Street to Billy Cofield (who had played saxophone on “When a Man Loves a Woman”). Cofield and his partner, James Thomas, then reopened the facility as Paradox Recording Studio. They started their own PARADOX RECORDS as a vehicle to release tracks cut at the studio. Their ventures were however short-lived and in 1973, the Muscle Shoals Sound Studio team took over the building and converted it into a writer’s workshop and demo studio.

Buga, no show nearer than London or Rugby.

<< Charlene & The Soul Serenaders - Volt - 1300 >> I love the varied soul sounds that Stax Records committed to tape, however this track was an 'outside recording' (cut in a basic Muscle Shoals studio) picked up from a little indie label for release on Volt. To me it's a very messy track with below par lead vocals (on this side of the 45 at least). As this sale was of the Volt version, not the Paradox 45, can't understand why it goes for so much money ( & I know it's a NS dancer but it 's far from being one of the best of the genre). Guess it has to be cos many Volt copies out there are SS demo's which don't feature this cut. I'd buy a Volt demo as "Love Changes" is a very classy example of deep soul.

Didn't put up the relevant RECORD WORLD R&B chart on the above post ... only just noticed ... thought I'd also post this up to supplement the info above. a November 1960 Balto club gig for Sonny Til. One of his supporting singers being Virgie Tillman aka Virgie Til (lovely singer - - - & not a bad looker either) ....

Pity my article about Marvelous Ray disappeared when RareSoulForum.co.uk became defunct. Don't think I've even got a copy of it myself anymore (written on a computer that has long since gone to the eternal resting place in the sky ... not the cloud btw). Marvelous & myself in Cleveland airport (way back in time) ...

The impressions recording career (in the main) ran for a period of almost 30 years -- from 1958 to 1987. After years with ABC, Curtis M took them with him to his Curtom label. The group stayed with Curtom till 1976, but then moved to Atlantic's Cotillion label. They were teamed with McKinley Jackson and then were reunited with Johnny Pate by Cotillion, but their stay with the label lasted less than a year (76 into 77). They seemed to be without a record deal in 1978. Next, like many other vintage Chicago soul acts, they were signed to Chi-Sound (20th Century) and worked there with Carl Davis & Eugene Record. There stay with the label ran from 79 to 81 and towards the end of that period, they cut a re-working of their old hit "For Your Precious Love". This track got them back onto the national R&B charts. But again, they went without a deal till MCA signed them in 87. Their MCA 45 put them back on the R&B chart but didn't result in a follow-up release. I would guess that they were cutting tracks in an attempt to land a record deal in 1978 and from 1982 to 1986. Then again after 1987. With "Precious Love" getting them onto the charts, I'd make a stab at these tracks being cut around 1988 / 89 / 90 ... BUT I'm just guessing here. With the Ripete 45 dated as 1989, they would have had to have cut that track in 1988 or 89 and then gone shopping for the deal.

At last; a decent record gets a mention.

Jumping back exactly one year now: to Independence Day weekend 1964 -- so within the period that Billboard had abandoned it's R&B chart / coverage ... A big 45 at the time was the Impressions -- Keep On Pushing. This had started out strong in Chicago but quickly spread right across the US, getting plays on both R&B + pop radio stns. The 45 had been released late in May 64 and it was getting plays from the off. By early June it was on the pop charts on stns in Vancouver, Philly plus in California, Texas & Pennsylvania. By the start of July it was #5 on WHK (pop stn) in Ohio. It was also on the national R&B charts; climbing to #7 on Cashbox and to #9 on Record World's R&B charts. It was #23 on Cashbox's top 100 pop chart. In Baltimore, it was #4 on WEBB's chart, It was the #1 seller @ One Stop's in Newark & Chicago (these serving black owned record shops). One the live front, there was a big show, hosted by Fat Daddy @ the Royal Theatre in Baltimore and Frankie Beverly & the Butlers were on with an impressive cast @ Carr's Beach. Two big shows that weekend in DC too -- the Marvelettes, Tommy Hunt, Wilson Pickett & the O'Jays starring @ the Howard Theatre, with the Miracles, Kim Weston, Marv Johnson, Bobby Parker & Little Royal on @ the National Guard Armory. A Baltimore singer's career was really taking off at the time. She being Virgie Till. Vergie had been taken under the wing of Sonny Til (ex of the Orioles) a few years earlier. Virgie had joined his show on a regular basis and the pair were appearing all over the place together. HOWEVER, Sonny's wife wasn't accepting the story that Virgie was Sonny's young niece and a showdown occurred. The outcome being Sonny being sued for divorce.

Bob was primarily a Sweet Soul lover, so lots he liked best wasn't really up NS fans street.

A scan from my Chuck Corby article in a recent SOUL UP NORTH mag (#121) ... ALSO a pic of Chuck performing way back in 1961 + a pic of him with FOUR + 1 ...

MORE FROM CHUCK ... connected to the Pittsburgh venues in my 1st post ... back in 1964-65 I was with the group Four Plus One we were playing right down the street on route 51, for John Adams at the Golden Nugget. At that time route 51 was what they called 'Cocktail Canyon', filled with night clubs all up and down the Strip. Jimmy Beaumont was playing the hottest club at that time, the Las Vegas nightclub. On the other side was the San Francisco nightclub. Someone told Jimmy about this young kid singing at the Golden Nugget, so Jimmy came in one night (He never told anybody he was there to hear me). Then he told one of the ladies who worked there (Patty Patrone) to tell us to go up to the Las Vegas one afternoon -- I believe it was on a Wednesday audition day. I couldn't believe it, so we did just what he asked. At the time, I really respected Jimmy, in my estimation he was the best of all time. We went to the club, told the manager who we were & that Jimmy Beaumont had sent us. The manager told us to hold on and he went to get Jimmy and the owner who weren't there at that time. Back then I wanted to be Jimmy Beaumont, I tried to sing just like him, act like him on stage. When we were finished performing Jimmy called me over and said the owner likes you, he wants to hire you. Jimmy said "Chuck, you have to be yourself, don't try to be me. Be yourself and I think you can go a long way in this business". I'll never forget the advice he gave me at the time. He had no clue who I was. There wasn't a Chuck Corby yet. I was still Chucky Ciorra from the little Italian community in Pittsburgh ..... Chuck also confirmed that he & Billy Sha-rae kept in touch after Billy relocated to Detroit. Chuck was over in the Motor City to perform at a club; Harold's Club. He got up on stage with Billy and his group one night. We performed together for a long time as they were the house band at this club there. That was way back in the '60s and it was probably the last time Chuck saw Billy. Luckily, I found an ad from that era, when Chuck was performing with his first group, FOUR + 1 (Chuck being the 1).

That review was playing gigs up & down the US eastern seaboard at the time (Pittsburgh, Baltimore, DC, Philly, New York, etc.). Even more acts on the review for some shows, see below. Love the MABEL & JOHN entry; guess the phone ad taker knew very little about the stars who were going to appear locally.

Like most US cities, Pittsburgh had a thriving club scene back in the 1960's. From top jazz venues such as the Hurricane Lounge and Crawford Grill through bars / lounges to bigger venues such as the Penn Theatre, Stanley Theatre, Civic Arena & Syria Mosque. A wide selection of live acts were performing around the city, both black singers and blue-eyed soulsters (Pittsburgh had more than it's fair share of these). On any given weekend, you could catch top acts performing in various different venues ... I asked Chuck Corby about his early years in the business and he confirmed that he played all the same venues as other locals (George Benson, Billy Sha-rae, Jimmy Beaumont, etc.) The bigger venues around town played host to big recording acts. So, you could catch a wide selection of acts on a regular basis back then ... Chuck confirmed that he played all the same venues as the likes of Billy Sha-rae and the two shared the stage on occasions, I'd have loved to have witnessed one of those shows ...

WOT ?!?!? .. no mentions for COCHISE ... a mid 70's monster.

In 69 it wasn't as soulful (which is probably why the Kidderminster lads -- Mick & John -- were heading up to the Wheel on a regular basis). Though it had been more soulful a few months earlier ...

Being from Donny (originally) & going to Sheffield Poly for a few years, I also used to buy quite a bit from Sheffield record shops like Violet Mays (& many others).

I'm not too sure if the other label variations are boots. Soul Clock started out with Galaxy Records distribution (after going it alone at first & leasing a 45 out to Bell). This (Galaxy distribution) was the set up when "TIMES A WASTIN" was released. Galaxy were a well established organisation & had pressing deals with RCA ... I believe that they got RCA to press up copies of that run of Soul Clock 45's (#104, 105, 106) at different plants (east coast, west coast, etc.). Those 3 x 45's certainly got a big push, with a national ad being placed in the music press. The other two 45's did quite well (Whispers & Sugar Pie) and made quite a few radio charts. The Fuller Bros 45 didn't fare as well, though other of their singles got radio exposure. The Whispers 45 (#104) comes in 3 different versions -- all square logo versions but different colours). This 45 was issued some time before the other two (over 4 months earlier). Sugar Pie's (#106) just seems to come versions in 2 colours. The first Whispers 45 to feature the round logo (to my knowledge anyway) came out around 6 months after "Times A Wastin" -- but MAYBE Soul Clock tried again with this single as they believed it should have done better. They were certainly still pushing the 45 in June 69, a good while after it had first been released (perhaps the round logo dates from a June / July re-press to re-service radio stns). Anyway, 6 months after the 45's had been released (#104, 105, 106), Soul Clock seemed to fall out with Galaxy & their deal withered (after #109). Next up, early 1970, the label came back but now distributed by Canyon Records. Unfortunately, Canyon outreached themselves and soon went under (less than a year later).

BACK TO THE BALTIMORE AREA in JUNE / JULY 1965 ... just over 4 months after Billboard brought back it's R&B chart ... Baltimore was buzzing that summer. Lyndon Johnson was President and was bringing in anti-segregation legislation. The 4 Tops were #1 on the US charts with "I Can't Help Myself", Baby Washington ("Only Those In Love") was #1 on WWIN's chart. Just below Baby's 45 were Gene Chandler's "Nothing Can Stop Me" (#2), Billy Stewart's "Sitting In The Park, Kim Weston's "A Thrill A Moment" and there were also offerings from the Marvelettes, Billy Butler, Otis Redding ("Lovin You Too Long"), Tony & Tyrone, Fred Hughes, Gloria Parker, Jackie Wilson, Dee Dee Warwick, the Impressions, Edwin Starr ("OO Soul") and the Invitations. Live show wise, it was the run up to Independence Day & so the theatres / clubs were busy. The Royal Theatre had a review on which featured Gene Chandler, Walter Jackson, Billy Butler, the Vibrations & more. In local clubs, you could catch Arthur Prysock, Winfield Parker, Ruby Johnson, Virgie Till, Betty Dorsey, Brenda Jones and more singing live. Down on Sparrows Beach & Carrs Beach there were more big review shows. The African Beavers and Buster Bron topped the bill @ Sparrows Beach. At Carrs Beach, they had 3 big shows; Marie Knight, Jimmy Hughes, Johnny Taylor, Carla Thomas, Otis Redding, Joe Tex, Billy Stewart, Gladys Knight, the Ovations, William Bell, Jimmy Tig, James Phelps, Gene Chandler, Jimmy McCracklin. Barbara Mason, Joe Simon, Willie Tee, the Marvelows, the Vibrations, Tom & Jerrio + the Royalettes all performing. Otis Redding was very busy that year. His show on 4th July @ Carr's Beach would be his only local appearance -- though he'd headline @ the Howard Theatre in DC in late August. By then, Carr's Beach was owned by a bunch of black Balto businessmen but it's music policy / shows were organised by Ru-Jac Records owner Rufus Mitchell . Not unsurprisingly, he went to see Otis in person ahead of the show, taking a copy of the latest Ru-Jac 45's with him. Otis listened to these in his down time before the show and really liked something on one of the tracks .... Arthur Conley had been born in Georgia but he grew up in Atlanta. He first recorded as the lead singer of Arthur & the Corvets. The group released three singles in 1963 and 1964 on Atlanta based NRC Records. In 1964, he moved to Baltimore to be with his father & became lead singer with Harold Holt's band . But times were hard for him & he spent much of his time acting as a valet for other soul singers around town. Harold Holt had a 45 out on Ru-Jac in early summer 1965 on which Arthur was lead singer. Otis Redding, in town to perform @ Carr's Beach was given a copy of the 45. He likes to voice of the singer on the "I'm A Stranger" cut and decided he'd like to record Arthur himself ... Otis worked with Arthur in the studio, helping further refine the song. This was then cut & Arthur had his first single released on Jotis in October ... the rest is history ... That summer, Otis toured on the show tagged as 'THE SUMMER PARADE OF STARS' with much the same bunch of acts doing numerous shows in support of him. When that review broke up, he took his last protege on tour with him. That was his Jotis recording act Billy Young ("the Sloopy"): see DC show line--up. Later, after his Jotis 45 came out, Arthur toured with Otis's shows. "I'm A Lonely Stranger" made it onto quite a few radio stn charts & established Arthur in his own right. His later 45's ("I Can't Stop" & "Take Me"- Fame) did even better. But his career really took off in Feb 67 with "Sweet Soul Music". .

It's just great that (thanks to Bob's parents) Stax have been able to let us listen to lots of his old interviews.

I'll have to take this to him, at present it doesn't play that well ...

I like both sides of their 45 ...

Was it ever established that CHARLES & WALTER were really BOB & EARL. Certainly Relf and Nelson worked on the tracks this duo laid down. Their 45 didn't sell that well at the time of it's release but no doubt Chene struggled to get the word out about the single. It did get a bit of radio exposure, but that seems to be the limit of it's success. ALSO, the next release on the CHENE label was actually by Bob & Earl ("The Sissy"), so that's another link that points to a connection.