Roburt

Met up with him (& the other members of Black Ivory) in Manhattan around 1999, didn't take any pictures that I remember though.

From Billboard mag at that time ...

Rudy in his most famous role .... as DOLOMITE .... watch the great realistic fight scenes staged in this movie ... Gettin off topic a bit but a funk band is featured in the film playing LA's Total Experience Club ... the band features JAMES INGRAM amongst it's members & the guest singer who fronts them on one song is MARY LOVE ...... you see them both in this clip ... ALSO Rhetta Hughes has one of the main female acting roles in the movie.

The passing of Cleveland soul guy Kenneth Redon (Kenny Red to some) was announce earlier today ... he was one of the main members of Cleveland band 9th Street Exit. As well as cutting tracks in their own right, they backed up other local artists in the recording studio. ANOTHER SAD LOSS ...

I'm almost sure the UK Atlantic copies are boots. The track was always a Jewel recording that (if my memory ain't playing tricks on me), stayed in the vaults at the time. Paul Mooney used to visit the labels HQ to buy 45's & other stuff. He heard it, got them to press up some copies & sold them exclusively here in the UK. This is a good few years back but more like 1980 than 1968. Sure this topic has been touched on here (& elsewhere) in the past.

A well written & thought out article. I've bought gospel stuff since the 60's & today still buy old & more modern stuff. Of the more recent artists, I really like the Winans, Yolanda Adams, Mary Mary, Sounds of Blackness, Donnie McClurkin & more. To get into the genre there are quite a few good compilationn CD's available: Soul Gospel Vol 1 & 2, Christians Catch Hell and my faves, the US series WOW Gospel which had an annual release from the late 90's thru to the present day. YOLANDA ADAMS turns soul to gospel ....

I love deep soul, which to me is the style you're on about; sad stories told with feeling in song, many times with a great soulful lead vocal. I'd pick some already mentioned; Soul Children, Randy Brown, Luther Ingram ... my faves also include Sam Dees, Tommy Tate, Lorraine Ellison, Knight Bros & many more. SCHOOL OF LIFE by either Tommy Tate or Corey Blake is a fine example ....

Charles Dawson - Super Natural Girl > Falsetto Sweet Soul Modern Soul 45 $15.50 3 Bids - SOLD Location: Jeffersonville, Indiana, "Super Natural Girl" should find fans among those who collect sweet soul cuts. His voice is just too feminine for me though (more Stylistics in sound than Delfonics if that makes sense). "Forever Yours" IMHO is a better song but I still can't take to his vocal style, way too sickly sweet & feminine.

I know the US end of the op has been struggling (due to personal reasons) over recent weeks / months. Mark has more info on the situation.

Ain't it Kid Creole's Stool Pigeon .........

No doubt he cut a demo version of the song as he doesn't seem to have had much of a direct link to Alex Patton or the cut's producer Jimmy Mac (other that Jim Mac cut one of his songs on the Fury's in 64). Gene Page was also the arranger on that Fury's 45 and on Lee Brackett's Vault 45 in 64. In all Lee Bracket only has 8 songs listed as being his compositions down the years and he cut two of those himself (the Excello 45 tracks). So, he doesn't seem to have been guy who wrote songs on a regular basis. I'd GUESS that as he knew Jimmy Mac from earlier work he sent this song along to JM for consideration, JM liked it and cut it on Alex.

Wasn't it the practise to close the door to the room where the panel was meeting right on the alloted start time of the event. Didn't matter who you were (except BG), you didn't get in if you turned up late (even Smokey was barred entry on occasions). Everything 100% business like @ Motown HQ.

Recorded in the UK (released here on Pye's Piccadilly label in 66). Also released in the US & Europe (Holland) + as you know Aussieland. She had 4 x 45's out on Piccadilly in the mid 60s. I believe this song was written by Gordon Mills (Tom Jones, Englbut Humpafunk's manager) The backing track on the cut sounds a bit like a UK TV show theme tune (the Avengers or sumat in a similar vein). Her photos on the Dutch release's piccy cover. It was one of the many poppy dancers played at the Casino I believe.

Shiela, can you tell us much about the record label, Arthur Rollins, the studio used to record the tracks, etc. Would these tracks have been cut at A & M's LA recording studio around the mid 70's ?? Sorry to learn that your mother recently passed.

In 67 I was still a young (& very innocent) lad of 17 who had only discovered niters a year or so earlier. But for a while, May to early Dec 67, I was a regular at the Nite Owl niters in Leicester (the niter sessions were banned due to drugs on 4th Dec). We got to know 2 girls that shared a flat in the city and used to go there & we also used to hang out at the White Cat. It was usual for me to ask for a pass-out at least a couple of times a session @ the Owl (too hot, music too loud, etc.) so the bouncers got to know me well. One night, I was coming back in about 6am & a bouncer took me aside (he must have thought I was a dealer on the side) to ask me if I wanted to buy a gun !!! . . . God, I nearly ran straight out of the place.

I don't think the studio costs involved were the real issue when it came to what escaped on a 45 back then. The only effective way in the 60's to get the word out about a new release was via radio plays. Radio DJ's / programme directors were careful not to feature too many tracks on the same label at once (payola charges being about). ALSO the distributors only had the resources to push a certain number of releases (to get them to radio stns, etc). So, the number of releases on each label was rationed in a way. That's one of the reasons that Motown ended up with 5 or more different labels ... a DJ would happily feature a track on the Tamla, Motown, VIP, Soul, Gordy labels at the same time but couldn't really play 6 singles on (say) Motown on the same show (also different labels were assigned to seperate distributors, thereby keeping their staff on their toes & on the job).

I don't think it was ever established how this song ended up with the Carrolls' producer. By all accounts there was an acetate floating about many years back which featured Valerie doing the demo version of the song, perhaps that's how Chris Parmenter came across it (though he didn't have too many industry connections as he was only a producer at Polydor for around 2 years -- 66/67). Anyone know who ended up with Val's original demo acetate ?? It doesn't appear to have been registered as a Jobete song till around the time A & S started working for BG's organisation. When Diana R cut a later version of the song (with A & S as producers), it seems Nick redid the demo so as not to present Diana with a pilot version that featured a female lead.

They were always going to turn the old Chess Studios into a Chicago Soul Museum, but as always, the folks over there didn't appreciate what they had. I recall talking with Barbara Acklin about the proposal & she just said ... there's nothing special about that building ... . . . I told her, the Stax Studio was just a converted cinema & look what great music was made there. The local city council knocked the building down & then (years later) rebuilt it . . . . She sort of got my point & said she'd have a word in a few ears when she got home ... BUT nothing really happened until... .... Willie Dixon's widow bought the place & made it into the Willie Dixon's Blues Heaven Foundation. Don't know if it's open to the public though.

Shot at a J&R's (New York Music & Computer store) live show event. They used to stage a few of these each year. I attended one when Dianne Reeves was the live attraction. The store, which was between the Brooklyn Bridge & World trade Centre, is long gone unfortunately.

I'd love to hear A&S's demo version of this TUUUNNNEEEE ... and their version of "California Soul" (so many great versions of that song).

I'm always amazed that though Motown put out 20 or more solo tracks by Valerie in 71/72, hardly any of them were uptempo outings. I guess they were keeping the most commercial Ashford & Simpson songs for their top selling artists.

My fave from A & S ....

Here's Sammy, enjoying himself on the dance floor at the event (ALSO he really did like beer !!) ...

Didn't Sean Gibbons organise a Weekender in Morecombe in 1990 ?? I know I took Lou Ragland to perform at a weekender in Morecombe around then; Sammy Ward & Francis Nero were also on the bill at the event.