Roburt

Some stuff on their charts ....

Onwards & upwards then ... over to St Louis ... from when Jimmy Bishop was on the city's airways till Bernie Hayes was on & simply a radio jock .... Back in 1962, look who was No.1 on their chart ... don't think the lady lasted long in the biz !!!

Can post up loads & loads more (old radio stn charts & related stuff) if there's much interest.

A pic of the Oriole Plant in the village, it had originally been Baker's Garage before the Levy's bought the building in the 50's & converted it into a record pressing plant ... also a pic of two young workers at the place in the early to mid 60's ... I've been told it was a bit of a ramshackle place even back then ... ... NOTHING AT ALL LIKE ... EMI's massive high tech facility in Hayes or the new CBS facility up the road in Aylesbury ... .... The street scene in Aston Clinton looks very different today (see modern London Road pic) .. the Rising Sun Pub is now a Chinese restaurant.

AGAIN ... a couple of the above charts ... wanted to pick George & the Highlanders ‎– The Hawk ... but it ain't on Youtube ..

Up to Cleveland now .... WJMO ....

AND a couple of their spins ...

Another famous soul stn ..... Philly's WDAS ...

A couple of cuts off the above WDIA Charts ...

Next up is a REAL soul stn, Memphis's finest R&B outlet ... WDIA ... a ground breaking stn started up in 1947. Played tunes aimed at a black audience from day one & even featured black presenters (many soul stns in the 60's still employed mainly white staff & DJ's) ..

A typical WSSB spin, their No.1 track in Nov 67 ... a real pop throw-away track with a touch of a Beatles hippy vibe .. But also on their charts were some great soul cuts ...

One of the reasons for the rise of soul music in the 60's was the effect of some US radio stns ... Much like the DJ's on the NS scene, American radio jocks would make their names by picking obscure local label releases to push, making them sought after 45's and helping them gain national distribution deals THUS going on to become national chart hits. They'd also flip a 45 and plug the B side, again getting listeners attention and promoting an obscure cut into becoming a hit. They'd also reactivate non-hit tracks from months / a year or so earlier and again push the 45 back into the spotlight. Most times, they'd be doing this to help progress their own careers, though some had a deep love of the music & just had to push neglected tracks they loved. If a radio jock picked winners on a regular basis, he'd build up a dedicated band of regular listeners & get offers of better posts on bigger stns. Some jocks on pop stns would pick many soul sides to spin (especially in the 1963 - 1968 period) when soul was becoming hot on the charts. They'd be playing soul sides that became popular and entered their stns charts, even when many of the other things given heavy airplay on their stn were by the likes of the Beach Boys, Beatles, Monkees, Bobby Vee, Lovin Spoonful, Frank Sinatra, etc. So, by viewing old US radio stn chart run-downs you can get a feel for those time and the way in which soul music was surging in popularity ... I'll start by posting bits from a pop stn down in Durham (Carolinas) ... WSSB ....

Found a bit more info on the Oriole / CBS set-up in Aston Clinton. I've established where the plant was in the village, where Oriole's plant managers house was (next to the pressing plant site) & where a record storage warehouse that was certainly used in CBS days was ... see maps ..... ... at both locations, the industrial buildings were demolished and housing (+ a surgery) erected.

This one has a straight reggae beat but it's still soul to me (probably coz I love the US original so much ) .. bought the 45 as a new release ..

The changing face of Gene McD ....

A soul cover by Jerry Jones (a 1970 track) ... THEN ... her covering a Gene McDaniels song

My article on the Crow has now gone off to SOUL UP NORTH and will be published in the next few weeks ... took the final efforts on the story down to the wire as I was gathering last minute info + getting my contacts approval to the finished piece. The group had a recording career that spanned around 11 years. They had stuff released right around the world (from Canada to Australia & from Argentina thru Turkey to Japan). They had stuff released under at least 10 different names & also had tracks out that other singers lead vocals had been added to. They even visited the UK in the mid 70's, around the same time that the Right On label 45 was put out. All in all, very interesting stuff by the group that only actually used the name, THE CROW, for stuff cut at one solitary recording session they did (the group never played any live gigs using the name) ... back in 1968 they did a big live gig along with the Jive Five and others ... plus this show ...

Gene was already a star on US TV even before he made it across the pond ... There were 2 UK cover versions of his "Tower of Strength" hit ... one was made by Frankie Vaughn, the other by Paul Raven, a guy we'd get to know better in the 70's. Gene's version peaked @ No.49 in the UK 45 chart, Frankie's made No.1 .. go figure !!!

Gene McDanield spent a lot of time in the Uk in 1962. He did promotional work, press interviews, had a part in a film and was a member of a major tour package that went all over the UK in April / May 62. He played my home town (Donny) but as I was only 12 at the time, I didn't make it to the Gaumont that night.

Jerri / Jerry Jones started out in the music biz in Cleveland. She was a woman who dressed as a man. She MC'd / sang / joked, etc. Moved down to Miami & teamed up there with Jerry Williams. Made friends with the Jamericans in the area & then moved again, to Jamaica. With the hatred of gays on the island, she had to dress as a woman there ... had a UK 45 release of a 4 Tops cover that she'd cut on the island ...

Bought the comp CD 'Rocksteady Soul: the Original Cool Sound of Duke Reid's Treasure Isle' many years ago ... it's still available from Amazon & the like .. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rocksteady-Soul-Original-Sound-Treasure/dp/B00005NSWY A similar musical package I believe ... https://www.amazon.co.uk/Records-Presents-Dynamite-Rocksteady-Jamaica/dp/B013W9AWD0/ref=sr_1_10?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1528827860&sr=1-10&keywords=reggae+soul

"K-Jee" entered the US 45 charts at the beginning of July 71 ... here's an early ad for the band's releases at that time ... The 45 first hit the shops in the US back in April 71 when it seems RCA 74-0461 (issue) & promos SPS-45-264 + SPS-45-275 were all pressed up at the same time ... guess copies of the two promos went to different outlets (soul radio stns, rock radio stns, juke box suppliers, clubs) ...

Just about every 45 on the US Fania & Vaya labels qualify ..

A few Oriole 45's from the late 50's thru to 64 ... Anyone got a Oriole American Advance Copy 45 ?? .. or were Oriole just putting stickers on normal labels by then ?

Not the same backing track but ORIGINALLY the same song ... Gene Dozier started work on a song back in Philly ... he then moved on to Detroit & then LA. In LA he cut Lorenzo Manley on a ballad but didn't have a B side cut (due to lack of cash). So he used a demo version he'd sung on himself as the B side of Lorenzo's 45 .. thus we came to have "Swoop Down On You" (the track doesn't feature Lorenzo at all BTW). The 45 (which does feature Lorenzo on the A side) was licensed for release by Original Sound. At that time, Ugene was still using the false name he had taken on to land earlier work in Detroit; Billy Jackson. As stated earlier, Gene had started to write the song back in Philly, though it wasn't finished when he'd moved on to Detroit. So his version (credited to Jackson - Santifer -- his LA collaborator), when completed, differs a bit from the original Philly version of the song, which of course when developed by Norman Johnson became Eddie Carlton's "It Will Be Done".