Mickey Finn

He writes about that in his autobiography "Poptastic". Tells of how no matter how much he insisted he was actually TB, someone was absolutely chuffed to get the autograph of Lenny Gamble. Nobody on here by any chance?

Hope she was worth it!

I don't know if you meant Pete or Kylie's manager but I've a lot of time for Pete personally. Knows his stuff and how to use it. I'd like to have seen him do more on the soul front but there was clearly money to be made - important if you've got an expensive train hobby.

Handbagger house - too much even for these guys:

Now I understand what you've been plugging in your avatar pic all this time

It will never be over for me.

(a) to attract attention (more so than with Jim Bloggs, Sam Smith or Kevin Godley, for example) (b) to get the kudos that goes with doing something "clever" with Marvin (or any similarly iconic artist) As a recording I can take it or leave it. To associate it with Marvin's name is downright vandalism. Whether it's actually Marvin or not.

Spot on - it could easily be Kevin Godley. I don't dislike it (although I don't think I could hear it more than once or twice a year before losing my patience), but I fail to see how putting Marvin's voice through some kind of wringer in order to produce this would somehow be better than simply recording it with a fresh live vocal. A grave disservice to Marvin, and to any half-decent singer who's been done out of a chance to record. Makes me wanna cry. Justice for Kevin Godley!!

I was all set to see Bobby at the Hammersmith Odeon in the summer of 1990 - had the ticket - and it was called off due to ill health. A few months later he did a couple of gigs in London, the first at the Town and Country Club Kentish Town, which for me ranks as one of the best I've ever seen anywhere. A top band and Bobby bouncing around on stage like Zebedee for the opener "I'm back". Altrinna Grayson came on to do a duet with him of "No matter how high I get". Wonderful night - not quite matched by the gig at the Lewisham Theatre some weeks later, but still a good un.

Don't blame the format!! It's just as crap on vinyl, download, street busker, you name it. I'm buying something every week, mainly reissues or comps but I try to keep up with the new stuff too. Very pleased about the Acid Jazz reissues of Leroy Hutson albums, have done some serious digging in the Kent catalogue in the last couple of years, usually buy whatever comes out on Expansion and Soul Brother (Wants List 4 one of the best of this year), Soul on the Real Side etc., and have been pushing the financial frontiers on the house front too, bagging comps by Kay Rush, Harley & Muscle, Jazz-n-Groove, Defected, etc, as well as the new album by Brian Power. Liking the look of that BGP Street Funk comp above ...

Well done - always enjoy a happy ending! And a very promising sequel on its way...

I've heard Soul Sam do some tremendous sets at the Whitby weekender during the last 4 years. He usually does a rarities and Motown mix under the Cleethorpes classics banner on a Sunday afternoon, and these are consistently great. His funk sets in the market place are absolutely tip top, and in 2015 he played a belter of a modern set downstairs on the Saturday night.

Very nice indeed. Amazing to think how many times I saw that album as a cheap as chip wrapper cutout in bargain bins throughout the 80s, just a victim of fashion. The same year Blue Magic put out a Norman Harris produced LP on Capitol, which completely missed the fashion train as it kept to the Sigma Sound formula of real strings and things:

In addition to Stevie Wonder, try listening to some Quincy Jones tunes featuring Toots Thielemans (such as the theme from the 1972 Getaway film), or even just Toots Thielemans himself:

In many cases of CDs pressed before 1995ish the mastering is also suspect. Or, to say it more nicely, not as good as more recently pressed discs. There's an Epic compilation from around the same era that could do with a spit and polish:

I get the impression from several sources, including interviews with Kenny Gamble, that Harold Melvin made some poor choices. He made sure that when David Ebo replaced Teddy P that Ebo would never have the same prominence as Teddy, and so despite the fact that Ebo could sing his socks off, there's a lot of what Gamble called "crooning". There's some great duets between Ebo and Melvin on the ABC albums and on the "All things happen in time" LP on MCA in 1981. But the most commercially successful post-PIR track was the Ebo-only "Prayin'", originally on Source in 1979. Sharon Paige followed Melvin and also got a track to herself on the "Blue Album", as well as turning up on the 1976 ABC LP "Reachin for the World": Bruce Hawes writes about this on YouTube: This was the result of me traveling to the Mt Airy section of Philadelphia. Late one night I stopped for a drink off of Stenton Avenue. I had my customary one drink. I have never over indulged. It was not very late so I stopped at Harold's home which was three blocks away from where I was. In fact he answered the door in his lavish dinner lounging robe. Harold had a lot of class. We proceeded to his beautifully decorated family and guest lounge in the basement section of his home. I sat behind the piano. That's the seat I would always prefer when a piano was present in a room. Herald began singing and then he instinctively began recording us. Later, before this song was finally formally recorded, Kenny and Harold collaborated on the lyrics. That is the story of how "After You Love Me" was created. Thank you for writing to me and for the kind words, +Kid Sanders. Gratefully, #BH In addition, Sharon Paige had a single released on ABC in her own name in 1977, produced by Melvin and arranged by Hawes:

Excellent shout! There's plenty of space for a few more comps like this, and not just for Mercury. There's still quite a few Epic singles that haven't ever made it, for example (e.g. Brenda and the Tabulations). Eddie Floyd made a couple of singles on Mercury, and this b side alone is screaming for some kind of revival and reissue:

The hypocrisy of the enforcement of laws governing payola was a particular beef of Carl Davis, who got caught up in the US Justice Dept sweep of mainly black music-focused labels in the mid-70s.

Totally agree - the sound of summer. It was one of the few new tracks that appeared on his "Original Musiquarium" double LP in 1982, alongside this, which I think deserves better recognition: So much good stuff in this thread. The "Down to Earth" album right up to "Songs in the Key of Life" is pretty much drop the needle wherever quality. Afterwards the greatness was more sporadic but with catalogue like this, he'd already claimed his place.

This is just so classy...

Which is why I asked the questions above - Stevie's own version on the "Hotter than July" album is strong, but hearing Tammi Terrell's version just blew me away, and to think it had been stuck in a vault for all those years ... but I haven't made up my mind on a nomination just yet

What a worthwhile project - good luck to you with this Before making any nominations, are we to choose any or all of the following: (a) Songs performed by Stevie (b) Songs written and performed by Stevie (c) Songs written by Stevie and performed by others

You're nicked, you slag!

Great story, thanks for posting. Terri Walker has released at least 3 solo albums of varying quality, was half of the "Lady" group that released a retro soul album a few years back: She has been on countless records alongside and backing others. This is probably my favourite of her most recent releases: