Dave Thorley

Just received two interesting new CD's from Producer Hadley Murrell, Meet... The Servicemen and Crown Princes of funk, Freddi/Henchi and The Soulsetters. Hadley worked in the 60's Phoenix as a radio dj and concert promoter, here he met The Servicemen & Freddie/Henchi and worked with both groups to produce some great soul music. Hadley first met The Servicemen in 1966 when they were based at Luke Airforce Base. The group played him a copy of their 45 on Chartmaker - Connie/Sweet magic. He was very impressed with these and their live vocal style. Along with James Mitchell, he took them to Audio Recorders and cut a bunch of songs including, 'Are you angry' and 'I need a helping hand'. Haldley believed that these songs were as good as anything coming out of Detroit or Memphis at the time, so set off up and down the west coast trying to do a deal, but non came. Believing in the tracks so much, he then returned to Phoenix and deciced to put the tracks out on his own Wind Hit label, pressing up about 200 copies. Although he managed to get some local radio action, very little else happen to the tracks. A year later he went back into the studio and cut some more tracks with the band, including 'My turn' and I'll stop loving you'. He was then able to cut a deal with L.A. label Pathway for I need a helping hand and My turn, but again little success came, so nothing was done with the other tracks in the can. Not long after this the group transferred off the airbase aand with in a year they all lost touch with each other. To this day Hadley has not been able to find any of the groups members and so another northern soul ledgend is born. 'Are you angry', I need a helping hand' along with their earlier Chartmaker sides go on to become classics on the european rare soul scene. This new CD includes all eight tracks Hadley recorded with the group, plus killer acappella versions of 'Are you angry', 'I need a helping hand', My turn' and 'Come back to me'. The whole thing comes with great gatefold hard cardboard sleeve, cool informative notes, along with several great photos of the band. Mastering on all the tracks is of the highest quality. Hadley first met The Soul Setters at The Abel Hall in Phoenix where he was the dj. This relationship was to become the longest lasting of all the music projects he worked on, with him becoming their producer, manager and worked on the developement. In 1966 he took the group to Audio Recorders to cut their debut release as The Soul Setters, 'Cecil, the unwanted french fry' along with a rowdy version of James Brown's 'Out of sight', this came out on the L.A. label Onacreast. That same year Fred Gowdy join the group as lead singer, after jumping up on stage at a local gig and singing a song with the group. He Join members of the original band The Fabulous Jokers, Bobby 'Soul' Fraijo, Tony Neibles, Jimmy Fraijo, Rudy Valenzuela and Paul Henricks and Chuy Castro, who had recently joined the band, Freddy's arrival gave the group a new dynamic. They then built a great reputation for their crazy stage show and dance routines and toured under the name Freddy Love and The Soul Setters. The group expanded once again to include local famed dancer Marvin Graves (Henchi) as another singer. Set with this line up the group developed their skills. As the 60's moved on the group relocated to L.A. Throughout the rest of the 60's and early 70's the group continued to record with Hadley and tour. The group started to slowly wind down by the mid 70's, doing their final recordings with Hadley in 75. This CD spans their recordings including many of their funk classic recorded with Hadley Murrell. Just like the other CD in come in a nice hardcover gatefold, lots of great sleeve notes and a whole bunch of group photo's. Again the sound quality and mastering is fantastic. Both CD's can be found at major internet stores, such as Amazon

Sad news that Larry Hancock of the Cleveland group S.O.U.L. has just passed away. This information has just been passed on by Al Boyd of The Imperial Wonders. added by site Sad news , some links to further reading.. Originating in Cleveland, OH, S.O.U.L. stood for "Sounds of Unity and Love." The members were Lee Lovett (bass), Gus Hawkins (sax/flute), Paul Stubblefield (drums), and Walter Winston (guitar). Larry Hancock (vocals/organ) was added in 1971 and Bernard (Beloyd) Taylor (guitar) replaced Winston in 1972. All had been involved in music before the formation of S.O.U.L. The fellows entered a battle-of-the-bands contest in 1970, sponsored by the May Company department store in Cleveland, WHK radio station, and Musicor Records. The group won the first prize of 1,000 dollars and a recording contract with Musicor. They traveled to New York City in 1971 and recorded a 45 entitled "Down in the Ghetto Parts I & II" which exceeded the expectations of Musicor by doing so well regionally. They cut a second single, then were invited back to New York to record an album..... Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/s-o-u-l-1 Further info on Larry Hancocks time as a member of Truth along with his song writing output can be read via the Imperial Wonders Bio here http://www.imperialwonders.com/bio.html

Richard has started a blog, which he says he will keep updated regularly. News in there of a new book and the launch of his new record label. Here's the link http://www.richardsearling.co.uk/ intro from the site... "Welcome to my blog - I ll be keeping you up to date with all my music-related projects, and who knows, if the team plays well, a bit about football too! Hopefully you find it all thought provoking and informative and I look forward to receiving your feedback - as long as it's all positive of course!"

Syl Johnson sent me a note to say he has re-launched the Twilight label and has a new artist Melody. Check out the link below to the web site. http://www.twilightrecordsinc.com/ Cheers Dave "All up and coming new releases represents the Rebirth of Twilight/Twinight Records after 40 years. The original home of Syl Johnson, Producer of the Smash hit "So Confused" by Chicago's own artist Syleena Johnson."