Amsterdam Russ

The genesis of the group War can be traced back to the LA funky/Latin outfit Senor Soul. Via their founder, Chuck Miller, they connect directly to The Romeos of Loma & Double Shot fame. Also, in his autobiography, the Magnificent Montague (of 'Burn, Baby Burn' fame), states: "I finally built my studio on Vermont at 84th in the heart of South-Central LA using what I'd learned at the hands of Don Robey in Houston and Jimmy and Vivian Bracken at Vee Jay in Chicago. Bobby Womack... recorded for me. So did a group called the Watts 103rd Street Band and the Romeos. In the early seventies those two bands merged to become War, which later recorded with the British star Eric Burdon."

Love it - you must be quackers to not like it!

My understanding is that there are no charges when money is taken from your linked bank account (not your linked debit card) - except when a foreign exchange transaction is being made. Then there is something like a 1% charge. If you're the buyer it is your choice as to who swallows that charge - you or the seller. Of course, there are other 'costs' involved courtesy of the lousy exchange rates given by Paypal.

Going back to the 40s and 50s, the music that Wexler supposedly first described as Rhythm and Blues was very often referred to as Blues and Rhythm!

Yup, must admit I did for a while! One track that always me thinking something else is being sung is Bobby Banks - I'm a bachelor. In parts it sounds like he's singing "I'm a bastard". This sentiment is echoed by the backing vocalists who for certain are singing out the words "great big bastard" with so much conviction that it would hard to disagree!

Roosevelt Grier was half of 'The man with two heads' (aka 'The thing with two heads'). The other half being Ray Milland...

Barbara McNair plays Sidney Poitier's wife in the film 'They call me Mr Tibbs'. The gospel song sung through the opening titles of the film 'Inherit the wind' is performed by Leslie Uggams. Ketty Lester appeared in numerous episodes of 'Little house on the prairie'. Once, and this is tenuous, when catching the tail end of a contemporary American medical drama (possibly ER), I saw among the end credits an actress by the name of Anne D'Andrea.

I agree with you there, Paul. Have always thought 'Mr Moonlight' is a lovely little gem.

I saw him and Irma Thomas around this time, possibly earlier, at the Astoria (I think it was called) at the top end of Charring Cross Road in London. He was very poor then, much as he was at the Malaco concert in Hammersmith a few years earlier. I had a guest pass to that one and spent couple of happy hours with all the acts at the press cocktail party. I and a friend spent a good hour just talking to Bland's guitarist, Wayne Bennett. Top concerts: Curtis Mayfield - London, at a long closed venue in Victoria, possibly also called the Astoria?T & LaTouche - fantastic Midlands reggae band that I saw at the underwhelming Shrewsbury Music Festival about half a dozen years ago.King Pleasure & The Biscuit Boys - 100 Club in the mid 80s.The Neville Brothers - Shepherd's Bush Empire in early 90s. Truly great performers!

Hmm, to download for free just add to your basket. To collect from your basket please login. To login, please register and create an account.... No thanks.

Here's a few paragraphs from an article in TIME magazine The rest of the story is here: Article: Vinyl Gets Its Groove Back

Log into your Paypal account & click on the tab that says 'My Account (it;s the first one on the left). Look to the right of that navigation bar, to the bit that says 'Profile'. here there is a drop-down menu that gives you the option to: * Add or remove Bank Account, * Add or remove Debit or Credit Card. You should click on both to confirm how your account is set up. If you're paying via your debit card then this is the problem. You will then need to add a bank account instead and delete the debit card settings. Hope that helps!

Here's a link to the 'fee's' section of the Paypal user agreement: https://tiny.cc/EWa2V It states that: Transaction typeActivityFee for payment fully funded by: - PayPal Balance/Bank Domestic personal transaction: Sending or Receiving - Free (when no currency conversion is involved) Fee for payment fully or partially funded by - Debit card and/or Credit Card 3.4% + Fixed Fee Either the sender or the recipient pays the fee. Not both. In most cases, the sender decides who pays the fee. In some cases the sender will not be able to decide and the sender or the recipient will be required to pay the fee. Is your Paypal account linked not by your bank account directly, but though your debit or credit card instead? If so, that might be the problem here. Don't know if that helps...

Yes, the problem is that my account is with a Dutch bank and I get paid in €uros. Funds are taken straight out of my bank account. If the Paypal account was set to £ they'd be converting the money from €uro's and making a handsome profit through exchange rates every time a transaction was processed. On the last item I bought from you Pete, the Gift fee was 71p, so no idea why you got charged that much at all!

I have my bank account confirmed with Paypal. When paying as 'gift' I'm always given the option to take the minimal charge or pass it on. The point is though that it is a minimal charge - just a few pennies and completely negligible in comparison to the amount it costs via their standard payment means. My big gripe though is that I live in the Netherlands now rather than UK, and thus deal in uros: I always get stuffed by Paypal's terrible exchange rates when buying items priced in £ or $!

Making Tracks - The History of Atlantic Records by Charlie Gillett It came from Memphis by Robert Gordon Boogaloo by Arthur Kempton Burn, Baby! Burn - autobiography of Magnificent Montague...

Yup; no doubt about it.

All I see is a lot of people enjoying themselves.

"Desperate Man Blues", the film documentary about him is excellent and well worth watching.

Salvador means 'saviour' in Spanish and Portuguese, so that points to Hispanic/Latino. Well, certainly Catholic at any rate!

Unfortunately, can't view it if you're outside of the UK.

It does indeed help, Gene. Thanks very much - and for posting the great scans! Whilst I've also been able to find out that the Sedaka track was released on 78 in Brazil, and possible the Philippines as well, I've not been able to determine more about the distribution of The Mar-Keys. By the looks of things it didn't get a US release in 78 format Good point about the dates. Mind you, if it originates from the US rather than UK, then wouldn't 11262 be November 2nd 1962 (working on the typical US date format of MMDDYY and not the UK form of DDMMYY)? However, that's a moot point if 78 acetates of US/UK origin typically didn't carry matrix numbers! Thanks again for the information!

That is fantastic! Thanks very much for these - I am very grateful indeed. Will pm you my email address...

Ok, who told you that? That's exactly what I do when going to the Amsterdam Soul Club. From Aalsmeer through the Amsterdamse Bos (the woods of Amsterdam) and into the city, in the pitch dark, and usually in the rain, and once or twice with a record box on the back rack of the bike. Dance, chat, drink till about 3am and then cycle back home again. Usually takes a bit longer on the way home, though not sure why Total distance 15 miles. Come the depths of winter, when it's typically minus 5-7 degrees, and I just might take that hot flask you mentioned...

Recently, I was contacted by the family of James 'Lucky' Carmichael. They know very little about his early life and would like to find out what they can. He died in 1982. I've provided them with everything I know (which was not much), and included label scans and soundfiles of his Loma 45 'Hey Girl / Blues with a feeling'. What I don't have to offer are label scans or soundfiles of his three earlier 45's: Lonesome & Lonely / I'm comin' home - SHAR 4 (1960) The eleven o'nine (1109) / Better be with me - Dillie 7750 (1960) Hey girl / Blues with a feeling - Pam (1962) (If I recall correctly, one of these sides has an intro that was cut from the Loma 45) Can any one assist at all by providing soundfiles and/or label scans of these releases? I know that his widow and family would be exceptionally grateful to have these and to be able to connect with what to them has been a lost musical legacy. All assistance gratefully received.