Chalky

This release is the second CD to focus on the labels owned by Al Sears, a renowned saxophonist of the 40’s and 50’s. The first CD was way back in 2002. This compilation has been a long time coming and continues were the first left off. Here we have unreleased masters, demos, flips sides of the previously featured 45s and more. Without spoiling the reading of the liner notes a brief bit of background may be needed. Al, after writing the hit “Castle Rock” in the early 50’s set up two publishing firms, the first one named after taking the first two letters of his and his wife Ruth’s Christian names, the other was named after his daughter Sylvia. With his publishing flourishing and he himself producing it was only natural labels were to follow. The first was Gator in 1960 with four releases. Serock was next located in 1650 Broadway next door to Scepter who distributed the label. This was then replaced by Arock, which in turn was replaced by Sylvia. The music recorded by Sears followed no set pattern and covered various styles, from Group Harmony to R&B to Soul. Preview Player from Juno Records The Corvairs kick off the CD with “Love Is Such A Good Thing” . This is the flip to “A Victim Of Her Charms” which featured on the first CD. An excellent male group double sider with this side just edging it for me. Stirling McGee follows with the flip to “Keep On” which was popular in the UK some years ago at some venue in Wigan. “Get In My Arms Little Girlie” is again for me the better side than “Keep on” and we are treated to a remix from the master tapes and have the added bonus of a missing 21 seconds added. Gene Burks it appears had a very brief recording and just two releases for Arock. Again we have another remixed flip in “Take My Hand”, a more up-tempo and catchy dancer than the top side and one of my favourites of this release. Tutti Hill is a strange one. “When The Going Gets Rough” should have been the flip to “He’s A Lover” but all copies of the 45 despite being correctly labeled played “Baby Take It Slow” something all the anoraks had missed. So we have the first ever release of “When The Going Gets Rough” an excellent soulful mid pacer again better than its intended topside. Joan Moody featured on the first compilation with three tracks including her Northern Soul classic “We Must Be Doing Something Right”. This time she pitches in with two tracks, the first “I Can’t Stay Away” which until last year was still unreleased and saw the light of day on a Kent 45, here it receives its first outing on a CD. “Music To My Ears’, similar to “I Can’t Stay Away” was on Joan’s fourth 45 release for Sylvia. Gary & Gary’s “I’m Leaving For Parts Unknown” has seen plenty of turntable action here in the UK over the years in particular during the mid 1980s. The duo are actually Gary Klyvert and Carl Gould who had replaced Garrett Saunders who went on to record solo releases for Sears. The Diplomats were the most recorded act for the stable of labels and here we have “I Really Love You”, a Van McCoy song and previously unreleased until it saw the light of day on a Kent Anniversary 45 and a CD dedicated to the group. The aforementioned Garrett Saunders features with two tracks. One being another flip, this time to “A Day Or Two”. “Easier Said than Done” an excellent soulful mid-tempo offering. The other is previously unissued and unfinished. I Keep Coming Back For More” is a sparsely backed soul number, basically a piano and Garrett in a similar vein to “A Day Or Two”. Another unreleased number from who it is believed Freddie Solomon is “I Don’t Care”. Again the backing is basic instrument wise and with a bit of femme backing it does get your foot tapping and does grow on you after a listen or two. Ansler Montell is next with “Chained Am I”. Again originally unreleased it is recorded in the style of the Chain Gang songs of the day but instead of working on the chain gangs he is chained to his love. Detroit and a Mike Hanks production gives us Vivain Collians with “Hey Officer” see her pleading with a Police Officer to let her man go who has been naughty. Theola Kilgore gives a great soulful performance with “This Is My Prayer”. Here we are treated to the unedited take. Sinner Strong is next with “Nobody But Me” from 1963 it has a choral backing giving it a gospel influence. The great Van McCoy, a staff writer at Sylvia gives a great vocal performance on “It Ain’t No Big Thing”. It was the only release on Rockway and is an excellent dancer with some female greats supplying backing vocals, Cisssuy Houston, Dee Dee Warwick, Sylvia Shemwell and Estelle Brown no less. The 45 has had some turntable action here in the UK over the years, mainly by collectors rather than the regular DJs. McCoy also features on the DC Playboys “You Were All I Need”. Two mid 60’s R&B recording follow, Billy Washington with “I Wanna Come In” an dChet “poison” Ivy with “Something Else”. Marie Knight with Junior Lewis backing/answering Marie on “Nothing In The World”. Initially released on Okeh we have here the demo version. Junior Lewis also chips in with two recordings of his own. “It Won’t Work Out” and “Where Are you”, both previously unreleased. The first another piano backed vocal, possibly another demo whilst the second is a more typical Big City New York ballad. Another demo is next. “Did You Hear” was performed by Don Covay. It is a shame this wasn’t finished and released as it is a very soulful number although it did see the light of day via Barry Seidel but I can’t say I have heard that version. Big Wheel whilst in the main featured Detroit artists and productions was in fact a New York label and one of the owners was an executive at Sylvia. Discovered amongst the Sylvia tapes was the mistitled recording of “Kindness, Love and Misunderstanding” which was found a release via Eddie King on Big Wheel. The CD closes with one of my all time favourite male group harmony 45s. The Larks (the Philly group) with “For The Love Of Money” is a firm favourite of mine and was featured on the first compilation. Here we are treated to the excellent flip side, “Another Sleepless Night”, another fine example of male group harmony. Although many of the tracks may not be familiar with many we are still treated to a strong compilation of varying styles that I would give a strong three out of five, possibly three and a half. For the anoraks we have the usual excellent liner notes courtesy of Ady Croasdell packed with plenty information, photos and label scans. Chalky July 2016 Video Look Track Listing: 01 Love Is Such A Good Thing - The Corvairs 02 Get In My Arms Little Girlie - Sterling Magee 03 Take My Hand - Gene Burks 04 When The Going Gets Rough - Tutti Hill 05 I Can't Stay Away - Joan Moody 06 I'm Leavin' (For Parts Unknown) - Gary & Gary 07 I Really Love You - The Diplomats 08 I Keep Comin' Back For More - Garrett Saunders 09 I Don't Care - Freddie Solomon 10 Chained Am I - Ansler Montell 11 Hey Officer - Vivian Collins 12 This Is My Prayer - Theola Kilgore 13 Nobody But Me - Sinner Strong 14 It Ain't No Big Thing - Van McCoy 15 You Were All I Needed - The D.C. Playboys 16 Music To My Ears - Joan Moody 17 I Wanna Come In - Billy Washington 18 Something Else - Chet "Poison" Ivey & His Fabulous Avengers 19 Nothing In The World - Marie Knight with Junior Lewis 20 Easier Said Than Done - Garrett Saunders 21 It Won't Work Out - Junior Lewis 22 Where You Are - Junior Lewis 23 Did You Hear - Don Covay 24 Kindness, Love And Understanding - Eddie King 25 Another Sleepless Night - The Larks Purchase options, release notes and more images are available via http://acerecords.co.uk/the-arock-serock-sylvia-soul-story-continued The Arock Serock Sylvia: Soul Story Continued Kent Cat: CDKEND 453

The MVP’s 1971 release for the Buddah label, “Turning My Heart Beat Up” has become one of the most iconic records to have ever been spun on The Northern Soul Scene, due to its inclusion as part of the soundtrack of Granada Televisions 1977 documentary, ‘This England”. On the much maligned night their camera’s entered the underground nocturnal world of Wigan Casino. There have been several different schools of thought throughout the ensuing decades as to whom the group really were? From claims that they were a white pop group, a claim probably based on some of the other middle of the road material that the songs writers and producers Bobby Flax and Lanny Lambert have in their repertoire. Others believed them to be in all probability the same group as the Florida outfit ‘The MVP’(Most Valuable Players) who recorded a string of 45’s and an album of the same name on the MVP label. Fortunately at last all these previous assumptions have now been disproved. The real story behind the identity of the group arose albeit unintentionally when following a licensing deal between us (Soul Junction Records) and veteran Atlanta, GA songwriter, performer and producer Thomas ‘Tee’ Fletcher, from whom we had licensed The Combinations Kimtone 45 rarity “I’m Gonna Make You Love Me”. When we asked Tee Fletcher if he had any promotional photo’s or background information on The Combinations he advised me that he would introduce me to a former recording artist and friend of his, one Mr. Al Davis quote “Al’s the best person to ask”! So during the ensuing conversation with Al Davis the following story of the true identity of The M.V.P’s unfolded: The Combinations were a vocal quartet out of Atlanta, Georgia, who recorded a solitary 45 single entitled “I’m Gonna Make You Love Me/The Goddess Of Love” in 1968 for the vanity Kimtone label. This project was a collaboration between Thomas Fletcher (or as he’s more widely known as ‘Tee’ Fletcher) and Billy Lyles. Tee would feature as producer and arranger upon both sides of the 45, with him being the songwriter on “I’m Gonna Make You Love Me”. Tee remembers the group’s original line-up as being the lead singer Emory Cloud supported initially by a bass singer known as Smitty, a first tenor known as Big Harold and a second tenor Little Harold, with Smitty later being replaced by Jack Fraser (prior to the Kimtone 45 release). Although the Kimtone 45 did make some noise locally for The Combinations they had by then already built a reputation as a sharp well rehearsed working group who performed regularly throughout the states of Georgia, Florida and The Carolina’s. A later merger between two groups would see Emory Cloud and Jack Frazer from the Combinations joining up with Jesse Bryant and Alphonzo ‘Al’ Davis of the group known as ‘The Classic’s, the name under which this new ensemble continued to perform, for the immediate future anyway. Jesse Bryant, Al Davis and Jack Frazer all knew each other well having previously performed with Louis Grant as part of the Doo Wop group The Continentals who recorded the 1962 outing “It Doesn’t Matter/Whisper It” (Hunter 3503) with Louis Grant being the songs composer. One of the Atlanta clubs where The Classic’s often performed was situated on the formerly named Hunter Street now known as Martin Luther King Street, and was named after it’s owner, the former Major League Baseball player, Donn Clendenon. Donn Clendenon is best remembered as the World Series MVP (Most Valuable Player) of 1969 when as the first baseman for the New York ‘Amazin’ Mets he scored a series clenching record of home runs for a five game series. It was Clendenon by then acting as The Classic’s manager who was responsible for persuading them to drop the name ‘The Classic’s in favour of and in an act of his own pure self-indulgence, assume the new group name of ‘The Most Valuable Players’ (later abbreviated to just ‘The M.V.P.’S). L-R: Jack Frazer, Alphonzo ‘Al’ Davis, Emory Cloud, Jesse Bryant Front Seated: Donn Clendenon (Group’s Manager) The New York based Buddah label at the time had a series of A&R men working throughout the southern states searching for new talent. It was through Clendenon meeting one of these A&R men and accepted his invitation to take The M.V.P’s to New York that they recorded the Bobby Flax and Lanny Lambert produced and penned “Turning My Heartbeat Up/Every Man For Herself ”(BDA 262). The lead vocals on “Turning My Heartbeat Up” were performed by ex Combination lead singer Emory Cloud, while the lead vocals on the 45’s flipside “Every Man For Herself” were performed by Al Davis. “Turning My Heartbeat Up” would later become a popular sound on the UK northern soul scene achieving iconic status with its inclusion in the sound track of the 1977 Granada Television Documentary “This England” feature of Wigan Casino. Unfortunately there was to be no more recording made and sadly all the members of The Combinations have since passed away, with the exception of Alphonzo Davis, the last of ‘The M.V.P.’S’. Words By: David Welding The above is an extract taken from the sleeve notes of the forthcoming Soul Junction CD album: “We Got A Sweet Thing Going On” Volume 2 Acknowledgements to: Thomas ‘Tee’ Fletcher , Alphonso ‘Al’ Davis and Allen McKeown. Group photograph courtesy of: Alphonzo Davis