the "A" side

Etta James - Don't Cry, Baby (Argo 5393)

2012-01-23T18:01:00.000-08:00

It's funny how these things happen. I've been kind of ripping the house apart looking for Etta James 45s. I knew I had a couple more somewhere, and I really wanted to get one up here on The A Side. When I found Sunday Kind Of Love, I was kind of let down, because it's been seriously overplayed, probably second only to At Last. Not that there's anything wrong with that but hey, you know what I mean.

Anyway, I soon found out that this jazzy little R&B scorcher we have here was actually the plug side, climbing to #6 R&B in the Summer of 1961. It felt like some kind of message, and I truly believe it was. Etta James leaves behind an untouchable legacy that laid the groundwork for the generations of women to follow. She literally invented the kind of 'female swagger' that has enlivened the work of everyone from Aretha to Nicki Minaj. As Betty Lavette said over the weekend: "She was the bridge I came over on."

She died in her son Donto's arms... "I told her that I loved her. I said 'You were a wonderful mother, you did a wonderful job, your seven grandchildren love you, and they will be OK.' For sure, the world lost a legend today. I am very proud of her, and very thankful."

The world is a much better place because she lived in it. Don't Cry.

Bobby Womack - Dear Santa Claus (The Right Stuff 58815)

2011-12-14T15:00:00.000-08:00

Dear Santa Claus

As Bobby said, he started writing this one when he was seven or eight years old. It was released for Christmas 1999 on this special 'Jukebox Only' vinyl pressing. I know it's a little syrupy and all of that but, hey, it's Christmas! By The Womack's own estimation, he is The Greatest Soul Singer in the World, and he just may be right. There have been some whispers recently about him facing some serious health issues, and I certainly hope that is not the case...

In any event, I'd like to take this opportunity to wish him (and you) the best Christmas ever!

Otis Redding - That's How Strong My Love Is (ATCO 226001)

2011-10-14T03:22:00.000-07:00

That's How Strong My Love Is

This past Tuesday, September 6th, the Memphis City Council passed a Resolution renaming Emerald Street between Mount Moriah Road and Knight Arnold Road 'Roosevelt Jamison Road', an honor shared by only a handful of others in the City, like Willie Mitchell and Rufus Thomas. Roosevelt is also scheduled to be presented with a 'Note' on Beale Street tomorrow, September 9th, in a public ceremony at W.C. Handy Park in Memphis at 4:30pm.

This is wonderful news.

What is not so wonderful, however, is the fact that our friend Roosevelt is gravely ill. In addition to his worsening emphysema, he has recently been diagnosed with brain cancer, and was released from the hospital just this past week. My heart goes out to him and his marvelous wife Linda, both of whom worked so hard to make our O.V. Wright Memorial Benefit the success that it was back in 2008. I literally can't thank them enough.

As the composer of what many consider to be the greatest of all Soul songs, Roosevelt's place in the history of American Music is secure. Without his tireless work behind the scenes at the legendary Blood Bank at Beale and Fourth Street in the early sixties, we may never have heard O.V. Wright, The Ovations or James Carr. His well-documented role as Carr's manager, psychologist and soul-mate resulted in some of the greatest music ever recorded. I've written about all of this before, of course, and you can check it out here.

Otis Redding's version of Jamison's song of songs that we have here was originally released as Volt 124 in December of 1964, and rose to #18 on Billboard's newly re-instituted R&B chart early the following year. The fact that it was re-issued as this A side again in the UK in 1969 (as well as on the German Atlantic issue pictured at left), testifies to its power and longevity. Stax, of course, had initially turned both the song and its original singer away, and only decided to have Otis sing it after the Goldwax O.V. Wright release started to make some noise in the charts. Roosevelt told me that he was unaware that Otis was going to cover the song until he heard it on the radio, and was dismayed that they had chosen to change some of the lyrics on him. "Hey, I had about a hundred more verses I could have given them if they asked me!" As good as Redding's treatment is, I think you'll all agree with me that O.V.'s is better...

May God Bless and Keep You, Mister Jamison. Get Well Soon!
________________________________________

The official unveiling of the Roosevelt Jamison Road sign will take place this Saturday, October 15th at 10:30am. The ceremony will be held at 3177 Emerald Street, Memphis... near the corner of Emerald & Knight Arnold.

For more information call: 901-428-4226

The American Group - The High Times (AGP 105)

2011-05-24T15:12:00.000-07:00

The High Times

Hey everybody, I'm just dropping in here to share some wonderful news. Our heroes, The Memphis Boys, will be performing next month at the newly revitalized Franklin Theater in Franklin, Tennesee. Besides the appearance at their Musicians Hall of Fame induction in Nashville in 2007, it seems like the only gigs this legendary band has been invited to play recently have been on these like Velvet Elvis cruises. They deserve so much better than that, and I hope this marks the beginning of some wider recognition of their incredible achievements.

Ironically, they weren't called 'The Memphis Boys' until they moved to Nashville. Back in 1968, when this cool 45 was released, they were known as The American Group, and were cranking out one hit after another - but that's only the tip of the iceberg. As I've said in the past, I continue to discover them on great records I've owned for years. These guys are the real deal, and music as we know it would not exist without them.

THE MEMPHIS BOYS
The Franklin Theater, June 25, 2011, 8pm

There is a movement in Memphis to place a historical marker at the corner of Chelsea and Thomas, where American once stood. The idea of rebuilding the studio and opening it as a museum (a la Stax) has gained some momentum recently, with the blessing of Chips Moman and Don Crews, but may be jeopardized by reported plans to build a 'Family Dollar' on the site. We'll see what happens...

In the meantime, maybe it's finally time for Reggie and the Boys to play the Stomp. Ya think?

Lattimore Brown - Everyday I Have To Cry Some (SS7 2616)

2011-03-27T09:49:00.000-07:00

Everyday I Have To Cry Some

He made it through Korea. Katrina couldn't kill him. Muggers and thieves stabbed and bludgeoned him, leaving him for dead... twice. He beat Cancer.

He was a survivor.

It just doesn't seem possible that he would die crossing the street...

Fare Thee Well, my brother.

James & Bobby Purify - Section C (Bell 774)

2011-03-01T04:51:00.000-08:00

Section C

Early last month, I received this comment over on the other side from someone named Kent on a post I had written about James & Bobby Purify back in 2007:

"I wish I had read more about other acts that Bell cut. Most importantly Buddy Grubbs. I wonder if you have any more of his recordings besides "Im Telling You' and 'Sugar Man'?"

Well, as usual, I had no clue, but no less an authority than Papa Don Schroeder himself emailed me back and said:

"Buddy Grubbs was really the second Bobby Purify, before Ben Moore, for about 15 minutes... What a nice man, Buddy Grubbs, and what a talent! I almost forgot about this obscure title, Section C... He sang the second lead vocal in Section C and that was the only time I shared the lead on a James & Bobby Purify record. James was the Purify sound! That's how great I thought he was. Yea, what a nice man. I was so sorry to hear about his death. I think of him often. I pull out Section C when reminiscing just to hear him sing that one short section of Section C. I thought that song expressed so well the the truth about that time in America..."

Incredible.

A quick Google brought me to our hero Sir Shambling's Deep Soul Heaven where he talks about the single that Kent mentioned in the original comment, Bell 772 , I'm Telling You b/w Sugarman. There's also a short chronology of Buddy's life that was sent in by his son (whose name happens to be Kent), along with this cool photograph of him at right. He died in a fishing accident out on the Gulf in 1979. I sent Papa Don a link to the article, and he replied; "I forgot all about those 2 sides I cut on Buddy..." and he was happy to have been able to listen to them again. Thank you, Kent and Sir Shambling, for pointing them out to us!

Anyway, this great 'message song' we have here (written by the same guy that wrote Abraham, Martin and John) was Papa Don's contribution to the whole 'Ghetto' thing that was all over the radio in 1969. The strings and horns were arranged by Bergen White in Nashville, and I agree with Papa that they were 'a little over the top'. He went on to say "Section C was one of the few chart hits I cut on The Purifys with Moses Dillard, Jesse Boyce (awesome bass player and writer and also one of my favorite people in the world) and drummer, Jabo (sorry I can't remember Jabo's real name...Harold something, I believe. Forgive me, Jabo!)" Like you, I immediately thought of the legendary Bobby Bland and James Brown stick man, Jabo Starks, but it definitely wasn't him... let's take a look at the other two guys Papa Don says were playing on the record:

Mark V 40-26

Pretty As A Picture

Moses Dillard and Jesse Boyce formed The Dynamic Showmen while they were still in High School down in Greenville, South Carolina. They would release two singles on the local Mark V label beginning in 1964. You may recall that Mark V was the name of the studio where David Lee would record another Greenville soul legend, Ann Sexton, along with her husband Melvin Burton's band The Masters of Soul. Over on the largely defunct soulwalking, it says that Melvin would 'later play saxophone in Moses Dillard's band'...

As legend has it, Otis Redding saw the Showmen perform, and was just knocked out by Dillard's style of guitar playing (both men reportedly used an 'Open E' tuning). Otis would later bring him to Muscle Shoals to play guitar on the March 1967 mega-hit he produced on Arthur Conley at FAME, Sweet Soul Music. This was right around the time Papa Don was recording there (before he made the move to American). When I asked him if that was how they met, he said no, "Moses Dillard's band came to Pensacola and played at one of the clubs I believe..."

MALA 598

Get Out Of My Heart

In any event, Papa Don would cut two 45s on Moses for Bell's Mala subsidiary, the first of which was credited to 'Moses & Joshua Dillard'. The 'Joshua' idea, he said, came to him because "in the Bible Moses was followed by Joshua. Just thought it would be a cool name since Moses' real name was Moses." The 'using the same last name thing' had worked handsomely with James & Bobby, so I guess he figured it was worth a shot... Both great records, by the time the second single we have here was released in 1968, they had dropped the surname. So, who was Joshua? Well, according to a couple of sources, his real name was James Moore. Not so, says Papa Don, "Jesse Boyce was Joshua!" I'm not sure if the confusion has arisen because of the fact that the 'second' (or as we've established here today, third) Bobby Purify was named Ben Moore, but the fact that Moses & Joshua had actually been together since the Dynamic Showmen days sheds a new light on these recordings. Very cool!

After things went south for Papa at American in Memphis, he decided to go South himself, back home to Pensacola where he would open his own studio. When Reggie Young and the rest of the Memphis Boys elected to stay on with Chips, Schroeder would make Moses the vice-president of Papa Don Productions, and use him, Joshua (Jesse Boyce) and the aforementioned Jabo as the rhythm section on the records he cut down there. The arrangement didn't last long, as James Purify was becoming increasingly demanding, and driving everyone crazy. The first 'Bobby' (Robert Dickey) was the first to leave and, shortly after 'Section C' here was released, Papa Don gave up on James as well. Bell owner Larry Uttal's infamous hard-line 'No Purifys, no deal!' stance would drive Shroeder away from the music business for about five years (for more on all of that, please check out The B Side). By late 1969, he had closed down his studio, and Moses and Jesse were left without a job.

Coral 62549

Soul Symphony

Dillard next turns up aligned with another of those southern 'record men', Major Bill Smith. This rockin' 45 we have here (which kind of puts you in mind of ol' Bob Wilson, no?) is credited to 'The Sons of Moses'. I'm not sure if Jesse was one of the 'sons', but I can't help but wonder who's playing that piano... come to think of it, I'm not sure if I even hear a guitar on the record. Did Moses play keyboards as well?

FAME 1458

Grits And Gravy

When Barry Beckett and the rest of 'The Swampers' left Fame to open their own Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in 1969, Jesse Boyce would become one of the founding members of their replacement, The Fame Gang. In addition to incredible ground-breaking records like this one, they would go on to play on some of our favorite 45s by the likes of Sir Lattimore Brown, Willie Hightower and Candi Staton. Check out Jesse's double bass solo on here... great stuff, y'all!

Shout 253

We Got To Come Together

Moses returned home to Greenville, where he hooked up with a young singer named Peabo Bryson and formed a group called The Tex-Town Display. Releasing an album on their own label in 1970, they got noticed by Curtis Mayfield who picked them up for his Curtom label. After a couple of singles that didn't do much, they signed with Ilene Berns' Shout label in 1972. Berns, who had been running both Shout and Bang since her husband's untimely demise in 1967, had just purchased the studio that Chips Moman built in Atlanta, and was relocating there from New York. Just an awesome record, you have to wonder why it wasn't more widely heard... Peabo Bryson would break into the R&B top 25 for Bang in 1976, launching his fabled solo (and duet) career.

123 711

Good Stuff

Moses, meanwhile, after cutting a duet with Martha Starr for the local Awake label, turned to another legendary southern record man, Atlanta impresario Bill Lowery. Released on Lowery's 123 label in 1974, Dillard's new project Love Joy took the same kind of thing Barry White was doing at the time, and kind of funked it up a little bit here at the dawn of the Disco age.

Prelude 12155

Don't (Take Your Love From Me) (edit)

By 1977, Moses and Jesse had joined forces once again, and created Dillard & Boyce Productions, Inc. Forming a studio outfit called the Saturday Night Band, along with fellow Fame Gang cohorts like Clayton Ivey and Harrison Calloway, they continued to record in Muscle Shoals (both at Fame and Wishbone). Together they would produce incendiary dance records on people like Lorraine Johnson, The Constellation Orchestra, Hot, and Frisky. This was the era of the 12" club single, and Jesse and Moses were on the cutting edge.

Mercury 76061

Love Zone

In 1980, they would release an album as Dillard & Boyce called We're In This Thing Together, which they most certainly were. This movin' and groovin' number we have here illustrates the wealth of talent these guys had. Written by Jesse, that's him on bass and keyboards as well. Yeah, I know it's a little dated by the whole disco thang, but check out Moses' guitar there towards the end. Just amazing.

As far as I can tell, this was Moses Dillard's last recorded work. According to the All Music Guide, he died in Nashville in 1993.

Jesse Boyce has remained active as a Nashville music industry professional, and is heavily involved in Contemporary Gospel music, both as a leader of his own band, Vision, and President and CEO of his own record and publishing companies. In addition to the many awards he has received throughout his career, he has also become an ordained minister, and continues to spread the Word of God through lectures and workshops both as music minister at the Ray Of Hope Community Church in Nashville, and abroad.

Papa Don will tell you that James Purify was, hands down, the greatest singer he ever worked with. After he got back together with him (and 'Bobby' Ben Moore) in the mid-seventies and started producing records again, I think it broke his heart a little that it didn't work out. By all accounts, things weren't too easy for James in the ensuing years, and you hear stories about the various problems he ran into. Well, check this out; "In closing, guess who showed up to sit right next to Papa Don and Mama Gail at Olive Baptist Church several weeks ago? James Purify!! Church had already started and when I saw who it was coming down the aisle to sit by me...I stood up and we must have hugged and cried for two minutes. God is good!"

Amen.

Marvin Sease - Motel Lover (London 876 224-7)

2011-02-09T05:41:00.000-08:00

Motel Lover
Please join me in saying goodbye to the ageless Marvin Sease, who left us yesterday, February 8th. An absolute fixture on the 'Soul-Blues' circuit over the past twenty years, his naughty 'grown-folks' music brought the cheatin' song to the next level, and helped define the genre they now call 'Southern Soul' in the process.

I bought this 45 down at Houserocker Records in Lafayette, Louisiana in 1989. It was a huge local hit - just all over the radio down there, and yet it never even dented the national R&B charts. This is the kind of regional marginalization that frustrated Marvin throughout his career. Along with folks like Roy C and Clarence Carter, he was an immensely popular performer that somehow remained under the radar of the mainstream music industry. He was scheduled to appear this weekend in Montgomery, Alabama as part of something billed as the 'Valentine Cabaret'... the ladies just loved him, man.

May God Rest His Soul.

Don Covay - Somebody's Got To Love You (Atlantic 2357)

2011-02-08T06:08:00.000-08:00

Somebody's Got To Love You

OK, I know it took a while, but by special request here's the smokin' Plug Side of the cool record we posted on Don back in 2007, Temptation Was Too Strong. Cut in Atlantic's New York studio shortly after Jim Stewart threw them out of STAX, that's Bernard Purdie workin' the drum kit.

"Sock it to' em, D.C.!"

Like Breath On A Mirror

2010-12-26T14:06:00.000-08:00

When I See Mommy I Feel Like A Mummy

I was in seventh grade the first time I saw his name. He was included in that infamous list on the inside cover of Freak Out as one of the people who had 'contributed materially' to the Mothers of Invention's music.

The list also included a bunch of other names I was seeing for the first time. Names like Willie Dixon and Muddy Waters and Little Walter and Howlin' Wolf. As it turns out, Frank Zappa had spent most of his high school years listening to Blues and R&B records up in Don Van Vliet's room on the edge of the Mojave Desert, an experience which would leave its indelible mark on both of them.

As Captain Beefheart, Van Vliet took that R&B as far as he could, before breaking it open and reconstructing it the way he heard it in his head. He would spend eight months locked in a house on the outskirts of Los Angeles painstakingly schooling his Magic Band in the sprawling vision he had for the future of music. When the Zappa produced Trout Mask Replica was released in 1969, it changed everything, and its influence is still being felt to this day. I had an 8 Track of the album in my Volkswagen bus that I played to death. It was just such a period in my life. I was a huge fan...

Great albums like Lick My Decals Off, Baby and Clear Spot would keep me interested but, after a couple of uneven releases in the mid-seventies, the Captain was left without a record deal. He would begin working with a new version of the Magic Band in 1976, and produced an album called Bat Chain Puller, that the record companies wouldn't touch. After two years, Warner Brothers re-signed him and convinced him to re-record the album, releasing it as Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller) in 1978. Quite simply a work of genius, it signaled a new era for Van Vliet, with appearances on Saturday Night Live, David Letterman and the whole deal. This incredible track we have here today just gets under the ol' skin, you know? Unreal.

Signed by Virgin in 1980, the epic Doc At The Radar Station actually got airplay on those 'alternative' radio stations that used to exist, with songs like Ashtray Heart just blowing everything else out of the water. Van Vliet's 'neo-primitive' artwork, that had adorned the covers of these last two LPs, also began to get attention, and would be exhibited to excellent reviews on both sides of the Atlantic. By the time he released what would be his last album, Ice Cream For Crow, in 1982, Van Vliet had made the decision to concentrate on his painting, and leave music behind...

"Captain Beefheart is the most important musician to rise in the Sixties, far more significant and far-reaching than the Beatles; as important for all music as Ornette Coleman was for jazz, as Leadbelly was for the blues."
- Lester Bangs

"He was like the scout on a wagon train. He was the one who goes ahead and shows the way. He was a demanding bandleader, a transcendental composer... up there with Ornette [Coleman], Sun Ra and Miles [Davis]. He drew in the air with a burnt stick. He described the indescribable. He’s an underground stream... He’s the alpha and the omega. The high water mark. He’s gone and he won’t be back."
- Tom Waits

"I will continue to spread the word, if only to remind people that once a true giant walked the earth."
- Magic Band guitarist Gary Lucas

The world is a different place without him in it.

Solomon Burke - Silent Night (Savoy SCS-0002)

2010-12-15T13:58:00.000-08:00

Silent Night

As I was saying over on The B Side, this amazing record was picked as the most soulful of all Christmas songs by Karl Tsigdinos over at Deep Soul Heaven, where he said:

"This may well be Solomon Burke’s greatest recording – it certainly ranks in his top three performances and should be in every Soul fan’s collection. (This track hasn’t yet been reissued on CD, but, happily, the 12-inch EP it comes from can be had cheaply enough on eBay.) This is a superb example of Burke the churchman, singing almost unaccompanied for the first couple of minutes, save for the exhortations of the 'congregation', which seem to spur him on to ever more soulful heights. Then the choir and band join in and Solomon raises his game even further, bringing us up and down with the mastery that makes him one of Soul music’s greats. We are thoroughly wrung out when he finally wishes us peace in the song’s fade-out."

Amen.

Merry Christmas, Everybody!

Solomon Burke - No Man Walks Alone (Apollo 500)

2010-10-13T10:13:00.000-07:00

No Man Walks Alone

2010-10-10T19:52:00.001-07:00

Closer To You

The Ohio Players - Pain (Top Hit 28047)

2010-10-07T06:44:00.000-07:00

Pain

The Ohio Untouchables were formed by legendary guitarist Robert Ward in Dayton in 1959. They made the move to Detroit in 1962 and signed with Robert West's seminal LuPine label, where they would make history by backing up Wilson Pickett and The Falcons on what many consider to be the first true 'soul' record, I Found a Love, the following year. The Untouchables own 45s for the label just crank, and are right there with West's other pioneering releases by Sax Kari, The Primettes (later known as The Supremes), Betty Lavett, Benny McCain, and Falcons Mack Rice and Eddie Floyd.

When Ward left the group in 1964, he was replaced by Leroy "Sugarfoot" Bonner, and The Untouchables would become The Players. Realizing there was no room for them at Motown, they decided to try their luck in New York City. Kind of like they had been doing at LuPine, they became the 'house band' for the Compass label. There they would team up with renowned producer Johnny Brantley, whose groundbreaking work with people like Hermon Hitson and Lee Moses is finally finding a wider audience. After their Compass 45s were collected together for an LP release on Trip, they were picked up by Capitol who would issue the album Observations In Time in 1968. When nothing much came of that, they headed home to Ohio.

At this point, I'll let Sir Lattimore pick up the story...

"In 1970, after Sound Stage 7 and all of that, I was playing a show up in Akron, Ohio. This guy came up to me and introduced himself, told me he was a producer, and that he owned his own label called Rubbertown Records. Well I had never heard of it, but when he told me he had just hooked up with The Ohio Players, I started to listen. I knew those boys could play! His name was Herb James, and he and I got to be good friends. One thing led to another, and my wife and I came to Akron after awhile to stay with him and his family...

"Herb rehearsed the Players in his basement, and these guys really had it going on, man. I told them they should be recording in Nashville, that that was the center of the recording industry in those days, not Ohio! I had gotten to know Scotty Moore through John R when we cut at his Music City Studio on Music Row, so I gave him a call, and we set up a session. I'll tell you, that was quite a scene, with all the Players driving down in these fine Cadillacs, and just kind of taking over the place. Herb was happy with the results, and gave Scotty a check for $3000 to cover the session. Only thing is, he should have called his label 'Rubber Check Records', cause the thing bounced, and Scotty took over possession of the master tapes... and that's how Herb James lost The Ohio Players!"

Now, when Lattimore first told me this story three years ago, it sounded a little far-fetched. I mean, The Ohio Players cutting da Fonk with Scotty Moore in Nashville? I decided to kind of leave it on the back burner, so to speak, and had pretty much forgotten about it until I got this email in July of 2009 from a musician named Saxy Ric who lived right here on Long Island:

Now how about that? Lattimore's story was right on the money! The first thing I did, of course, was go out and find us a Top Hit 45 which (in addition to having that way cool label) was a 45 which would signal the emergence of The Players as the seventies funk phenomenon they would become. I asked Ric about Nashville, and the rest of Sir Lattimore's tale:

However it happened, The Ohio Players contract was indeed sold to Detroit's Westbound label, who would release Pain as a single and an LP in December of 1971, both of which would cruise into the R&B top forty early the following year. By 1973, they were just huge, taking Funky Worm all the way to #1, which would get them signed by Mercury, where they charted 18 times over the next five years, including four more number one hits... not bad for a band that was rehearsing in a basement in Akron when Sir Lattimore ran into them!

Thank You, Saxy Ric for everything!

Chick Carbo - Two Tables Away (Instant 3254)

2010-06-22T18:55:00.000-07:00

Two Tables Away

OK folks, by special request, here's the flip of the second 45 we ever posted over on The B Side back in October of 2005, What Does It Take. As I said back then:

"Leonard 'Chick' Carbo was, along with his brother Chuck, a founding member of the great New Orleans vocal group the Spiders (pictured at right). Unlike Chuck however (who went on to create proto-funk grooves like Can I Be Your Squeeze alongside classic Mardi Gras 'Second-Lines' well into the 90s), Chick's recorded output apparently ended here. Despite years of searching, I've been unable to unearth much more information about this golden-throated baritone, except for the fact that he died in 1998."

...and after almost five more years of doing this, I have yet to discover anything more about him.

Be that as it may, this is just an amazing record. Written by Toussaint during his 'Naomi Neville' period, his untouchable piano just rolls on along, punctuated by Art Neville's syncopated organ and some greasy horn lines, as those incredible background vocals just take the whole thing to Church.

One of my all time favorites.

Herbie Mann - Memphis Underground (Atlantic 2612)

2010-05-09T05:22:00.000-07:00

Memphis Underground

By Popular request, here's the smokin' A side of the 45 we featured over on the other side way back in January of 2007, as part of our post about Herbie Mann and Tom Dowd. Cut at American in August of 1968, it was Herbie's idea for Dowd to produce an album on him with the Memphis musicians he had heard so much about. Reggie Young, Tommy Cogbill and the rest of the 'Boys' more than held their own when Mann brought jazzbos like Roy Ayers and Larry Coryell down to work with them on the album.

This big fat mono single, great 'driving music' that it is, scored equally well on both the R&B and Pop charts, just missing the top forty on both of them during the summer of 1969 - blaring from car radios on both sides of the street as men walked on the moon.

Ben E. King - It's All Over (ATCO 6315)

2010-04-14T05:18:00.000-07:00

It's All Over

You know, after I did that post over on the other side about the Soul Clan single, I realized that the only member of the Clan that I hadn't written about was Ben E. King. I guess I just never got around to it... but there's more to it than that, I think. When people talk about the great Atlantic Soul singers, King's name is hardly ever mentioned. As a matter of fact, people have written (myself included), that Ben E. was a last minute addition to the Soul Clan project, recruited to replace Wilson Pickett. Well, as I pointed out a while back, I don't think that was the case. Don Covay, the principal architect of the whole idea, was apparently a big fan, and had hoped to include him all along...

Born in North Carolina, but raised in Harlem, Benjamin Earl Nelson came up singing doo-wop on the street corners, like most kids his age. His group The Four Bs took second place at one of the Apollo Theater's fabled amateur night competitions, and led to his being asked to join the more established Five Crowns. After the Crowns apparently showed up the listless Drifters (who had been reeling ever since Clyde McPhatter left the group three years earlier) on stage at the Apollo in 1958, heavy-handed manager George Treadwell fired what was left of the original members, and from that moment on, The Crowns became The Drifters.

Atlantic assigned the group to their west coast wünderkinds Jerry Lieber & Mike Stoller, who had just delivered three consecutive #1 R&B hits on The Coasters. They were on a roll. Ben brought them a song he had been working on in their live performances, and had written with their lead vocalist Charlie Thomas in mind. At the sessions in March of 1959, Charlie had trouble with the tune, and so Ben E. (who was usually the baritone) took the lead, and just blew everyone away.

Even more astonishing was Lieber & Stoller's decision to add strings to what essentially was a straight ahead doo-wop record, something that had never been tried before. When they played it for Jerry Wexler, he "pronounced it dogmeat... it sounded like a radio caught between two stations, neither one totally tuned." Ahmet Ertegun persuaded them to remix the record with Tom Dowd, but the company was still reluctant to release it. When they finally did put it out that summer, it took the country by storm, going straight to #1 R&B (#2 Pop) and staying on the charts for almost 5 months as it paved the way for just about everything that was to follow.

Wexler had been proven spectacularly wrong - something which, I'm sure, he was loath to admit.

Lieber & Stoller, on the other hand, had proven themselves to be bona-fide hit makers and began to demand things like label credits and producer's royalties, something which had been previously unheard of.

They brought in fellow 'Jewish Mambo-Nicks' like Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman (who had worked with the group when they were still The Crowns) and created a string of unforgettable Drifters' hits including Dance With Me, This Magic Moment and Save The Last Dance For Me, all of which featured our man Benjamin Nelson on lead vocals. These songs will live forever, and are woven into the very fabric of American Popular Music.

But Leiber & Stoller weren't through.

When Nelson tried to renegotiate the terms of his contract with George Treadwell, it became apparent (just as it had to Clyde McPhatter before him) that he was little more than a hired hand. He left the group at the height of its popularity, and set out on his own as Ben E. King. In October of 1960, with Save The Last Dance For Me at #1 on both the R&B and Pop charts, King entered the studio with Lieber & Stoller and cut two more absolute Soul standards, Young Boy Blues and Spanish Harlem, both of which had been co-written with a new arrival from the left coast, Phil Spector. Released on ATCO, Spanish Harlem would break into the Pop top ten in early 1961 (only to be surpassed ten years later, of course, when Aretha took it and made it forever her own).

Perhaps the most timeless of all the songs that King would record with Lieber & Stoller, however, was cut at those same 1960 sessions. Just as had happened with There Goes My Baby, it was Ben who brought the idea into the studio. Taken loosely from Charles Tindley's Gospel standard (and the Soul Stirrers 1959 adaptation), Stand By Me is just an amazing piece of work. Featuring, once again, that 'Jewish-Latin' beat, and resonating in the heart and soul of everyone who's ever heard it, it spent a month at #1 R&B (#4 Pop) in 1961.

Despite all of this, Atlantic was in trouble. Both Ray Charles and Bobby Darin had walked out on them by then, and things were not looking good. Lieber & Stoller's accountant advised them to perform a 'routine audit' of the royalties the company owed them, and found that they had been underpaid by $18,000. Wexler who (as we've seen) was not their biggest fan to begin with, must have viewed this as the last straw. "I'm deeply offended," he told Leiber. Ahmet Ertegun told them "Fine, I'll pay the eighteen thousand, but I don't ever want to do business with you again..." They backed down, and let Atlantic keep the money they owed them, but the damage was done. By the end of 1961, they were gone.

Much has been made of Solomon Burke's arrival at Atlantic as signaling the beginning of the 'soul era', and perhaps that's true. Wexler himself called it "the infusion of fresh energy I needed," and went on to produce Burke's first single for the label, Just Out Of Reach (Of My Two Open Arms), in September of '61. A sweet remake of a Country standard, it made the top ten R&B, and even broke into the Pop top forty. It was around this time that Wexler latched on to another Brill building regular, and began using him as a producer to try and replace the work Lieber & Stoller (and the recently departed Phil Spector) had been doing for the label.

Bert Russell Berns was yet another New Yorker with a feel for the Latin rhythms he had heard growing up in The Bronx. After a couple of 45s that didn't do much, Bert had decided to concentrate on his songwriting and production. Like Lieber & Stoller before him, he had been doing freelance work for New York area labels like Wand and Big Top when Wexler enlisted him to work with Solomon Burke. They would take a song Berns had written, Cry To Me, all the way to #5 R&B in early 1962, and set the stage for the dozens of records he would produce on Solomon over the next few years. Perhaps the song that gets the most attention nowadays as one of the archetypes of Soul music (even though it only made it to #58 R&B at the time) is 1964's Everybody Needs Somebody to Love, which Berns had co-written with Wexler and Burke.

Right... so, what does this have to do with Ben E. King? Well, Berns had begun producing him as well in 1963, and this incredible number we have here (written by Berns and Mike Leander) was actually recorded two weeks earlier than Everybody Needs Somebody To Love, with the same studio band - a band that featured Wild Jimmy Spruill on electric guitar. Check out King's soulful vocals here, man... I mean, whoa! It's hard to believe that this 45 only managed to crawl to #72 R&B when it was released (two months after the Burke signal) in September of 1964. The follow-up, Seven Letters, made it to #11, but is much more middle of the road... a place which Atlantic seemed to have reserved for King from then on.

Despite 1967's ambitious What Is Soul? (whose B side, They Don't Give Medals To Yesterday's Heroes, may have cut a little too close for comfort), and a trip to Muscle Shoals to record later that year - despite sessions held with Don Davis in Detroit and at American Sound in Memphis in 1968 (as well as his inclusion in the Soul Clan) somehow King was unable to claim his rightful place as one of Soul's true pioneers. 1969's prophetically titled Til I Can't Take It Anymore would be his last ATCO single to make the charts. "It was just a sign of the times, really..." King has been quoted as saying, "You have to accept that you are not going to stay on top forever."

As the story goes, Ahmet Ertegun heard him singing in some night club in Miami in the mid-seventies, and was so impressed that he re-signed him to Atlantic on the spot. His tremendous dance record, Supernatural Thing, would become his biggest hit since Stand By Me, going all the way to #1 R&B (#5 Pop) in early 1975. Incredibly, Ben E. King was back, scoring bigger hits in the 'disco era' than any of his fellow Soul Clan members had been able to. His follow-up, Do It In The Name of Love, cruised to #4, and led to his collaboration with the Average White Band, with whom he would chart twice in 1977. After one more chart appearance for the label in 1980, King moved on once more. "I think the saddest thing I've seen happen is the black music section of Atlantic disappear almost completely..." he said, "It shouldn't be like that, everybody should listen to the music, and if the music is good, put it out - whatever the hell it is."

The release of Rob Reiner's Stand By Me sent Ben E. King's original 1961 version of the song back into the top ten in 1986. It would actually hit #1 on the U.K. singles chart the following year, after it was used in an advert for Levi's. Not bad for a 25 year old recording! Stand By Me continues to live on, and was selected as number four out of the top 100 songs of the twentieth century by BMI. It's been covered by everyone from John Lennon to Maurice White (not to mention being sampled by Sean Kingston for the odious Beautiful Girls in 2007), and shows no signs of slowing down.

In 2005, a non-profit group named Playing For Change created this amazing global video based on Ben's song of songs:

How very cool is that?

Ben E. King, who will turn 72 in September, isn't slowing down either. He continues to perform, and is the head of his own Stand By Me Foundation, whose mission is to improve the quality of life for countless children who have been impacted by poverty, and further their education by providing much needed financial assistance. A veteran of over fifty years in the entertainment business, King's unique voice is truly one of the cornerstones of American Music.

No wonder Don Covay wanted him in the Soul Clan!

The Box Tops - Cry Like A Baby (Mala 593)

2010-03-18T06:34:00.000-07:00

Cry Like A Baby

Another tragic loss, Memphis legend Alex Chilton is dead after an apparent heart attack at only 59 years of age. Performing again with The Box Tops and Big Star recently, he was scheduled to appear at both SXSW and Memphis in May this Spring.

More than any other single record cut at American, this is the one that defined a generation.

Produced by Dan Penn, who wrote it with his best pal Spooner Oldham, the 17 year old Chilton takes this incredible song and makes it his own.

I had planned on using this 45 to kick off my new American Singles series, as they just don't come any better than this...

May God Rest His Soul.

The Dramatics - In The Rain (Volt 4075)

2010-03-05T09:42:00.000-08:00

In The Rain

Ron Banks
1951-2010

Founding member and leader of The Dramatics, Ron Banks passed away yesterday in his hometown of Detroit. That's him on the right in the way cool Soul Train photograph above.

As a struggling Motor City vocal group, Ron and his Dramatics were being produced by Don Davis for Golden World's Wingate subsidiary when the whole shooting match was sold to Motown in 1966. Motown apparently wasn't interested in picking up their contract, and so when Al Bell brought Davis down to Stax, he brought the Dramatics with him. When their initial Volt 45 went nowhere, he gave the group their release and sent them back to Detroit. Back home, they started working with a producer and songwriter named Tony Hester, who was able to hear the the group's potential, and brought things to the next level.

Duly impressed with what he heard, Davis resigned the group to his Groovesville Productions, and let Hester produce them 'under his supervision'. Their next Volt release, the groundbreaking What You See Is What You Get, sailed to #3 R&B in the summer of 1971, and established the Dramatics as a leading voice in the burgeoning Disco market. Their follow-up single, Get Up and Get Down, cracked the top twenty, and paved the way for their biggest hit, the awesome record you're listening to now.

Like its predecessor, it was pulled from the huge selling What You See Is What You Get LP, and spent a month at the top of the R&B charts in early 1972. Just a classic example of the interplay between Detroit and Memphis, that's Dennis Coffey playing that wild guitar...

The Dramatics have remained active, and are scheduled to perform as part of the 70s Soul Super Jam this weekend here on Long Island. "The show must go on. If it was me I’d want them to go ahead and I’m sure he’d feel the same way," fellow group member L.J. Reynolds was quoted as saying, "It’ll be a long, silent ride there. But we’ll take Ron’s mike and put it up onstage, and let it stand there.”

May God rest his soul.

Little Buster - Lookin For A Home (Jubilee 5491)

2010-01-28T06:33:00.001-08:00

Lookin For A Home

I posted this marvelous 45 over on the other side when Buster died back in 2006. It is one of the greatest records ever made.

I've just been informed that Val Thomas, one of Buster's original Soul Brothers, has passed on as well. That's Val playing the incredible bass on here. I was lucky enough to meet Mister Thomas, and hear him perform this song with Buster back in 1999. It is one of those moments I will never forget.

Funeral Services for Val Thomas:

Friday, January 29th
Church Of God In Christ Zion Cathedral
312 Grand Avenue
Freeport, NY 11520
516-623-9466

Viewing 5-7pm
Service 7pm

He is with Buster again. He is Home. May God rest his soul.

Willie Mitchell - Prayer Meetin' (Hi 2147)

2010-01-05T09:45:00.000-08:00

Prayer Meetin'

The Delfonics - La-La-Means I Love You (Philly Groove 150)

2009-12-31T12:06:00.001-08:00

La-La-Means I Love You

Randy Cain
1945-2009

Randy Cain, a founding member of the Delfonics left us this past year. That's him on the right in the photo above.

This incredible song we have here was one of the earliest examples of the smooth 'Sound of Philadelphia' that was about to rule the airwaves. It was written and produced by Thom Bell who, along with Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff, was one of its prime architects. When the 45 was released in early 1968, it spent a month at #2 R&B, second only to Chain Of Fools and I Wish It Would Rain. It pretty much changed everything, and paved the way for groups like The Stylistics (who would be Bell's next project) and Cain's own Blue Magic, who would hit the top of the charts a few years later with the superb Sideshow.

May He Rest In Peace.

Jimmy McGriff - Christmas With McGriff Pt.1

2009-12-17T04:33:00.000-08:00

Christmas With McGriff Pt.1

Here's one from the late great groove-master that's sure to put you in the holiday spirit...

Ho-Ho-Ho, y'all!

Johnny Adams - Reconsider Me (SSS International 770)

2009-10-07T12:00:00.000-07:00

Reconsider Me

SHELBY S. SINGLETON, JR.
1931-2009

Shelby S. Singleton, Jr. passed away this afternoon, a victim of the agressive cancer that had spread throughout his body. An absolute giant of the music industry, he never forgot where he came from.

From his work with folks like Brook Benton and Dinah Washington at Mercury, to the initiation of the big company's Smash subsidiary in 1961 (when Huey Meaux brought him Joe Barry's I'm A Fool To Care), to his own Plantation and SSS International labels (along with its own various subsidiaries like Silver Fox and Minaret), this was a man who knew a good record when he heard it.

One of the original, seat-of-the-pants 'record men', he told John Broven; "A good promotion man was one that could stay up for two or three days, could outdrink everybody, still be up when they were all on the floor, and could outeat everybody. Just complete workhorses, that's what we all were."

Singleton's Louisiana and East Texas roots ran deep. He was the guy who broke records like Sea Of Love, Hey Paula, Breaking Up Is Hard To Do, Chantilly Lace, Running Bear, and on and on in those early days. He had a knack for listening to what the local disk jockeys and juke box operators had to say, and taking it nationwide. Just as with Huey Meaux (who brokenheartedly described him to me this afternoon as 'more than a brother'), Shelby was lifelong friends with Henry Hildebrand, Jr (pictured above), who ran one of the largest record distributors in New Orleans, All South.

It was Hildebrand who turned him on to the work that Wardell Quezergue was doing on his own Watch label with Johnny Adams. When Shelby started up SSS International, he leased Johnny's cover of Release Me from Watch, and took it into the R&B top forty in early 1969. Genuinely impressed with Johnny's unmatched vocal talent, Singleton pulled out all the stops and brought him to Music Row to record this fantastic record we have here today. Written by his old friends from the Louisiana Hayride days in Shreveport, Mira Smith and Margaret Lewis, Shelby's production helped make this Johnny's biggest hit, and one of the all-time great 'Black Country' records.

As we've discussed in the past, when Singleton's Plantation release of Harper Valley P.T.A. became an absolute phenomenon in late 1968, it paved the way for his purchase of Sun Records from Sam Phillips the following year. Shortly after that, he bought up the Blue Cat and Red Bird masters from George Goldner, and continued in that vein, building up an incredible catalogue of great music that he was able to sell and resell over the years. An astute businessman, he presided over his Sun Entertainment Corporation right to the end.

Well loved by all who knew him, Shelby S. Singleton's incalculable contributions to American popular music will live on forever.

May He Rest In Peace.
_________________________________________________
Funeral arrangements for Shelby S. Singleton, Jr are as follows:

Visitation: 11am -1pm
Funeral Service: 1pm
Saturday, October 10, 2009

First Presbyterian Church
4815 Franklin Rd.
Nashville, TN 37220
615-383-1815

Andy Chapman - Double Your Satisfaction (ATCO 6558)

2009-09-22T09:11:00.000-07:00

Double Your Satisfaction

So, over on The B Side, we established that the guy singing on the other side of this 45 was not Andy Chapman, but in reality Tommy Tate. Naturally, one would assume that this must be Tommy on the flip as well, right? Wrong!

Another very cool Thomas, McCree, Thomas number, the vocalist on here, everybody seems to agree (except Huey Meaux, who says he never heard of him), is a guy named Big Ben Atkins. Atkins came up out of Vernon, Alabama (the same town that gave us Dan Penn), leading a college circuit band called The Nomads, mining the same territory as Penn's Pallbearers. He cut his first single at Fame, a double sider of Penn/Oldham tunes that was actually produced by Dan, and released on original American Sound partner Seymour Rosenberg's Youngstown label in Memphis.

Singles on Statue and Goldwax would follow, before he wound up at Grits n' Gravy. It certainly seems odd that Atlantic would agree to put out a record on a guy with an established 'name' out there on the street under a different moniker, especially seeing as how there were in reality two different Andy Chapmans on the same record. Like Tommy Tate said, this was also probably cut as a demo, and shopped out to Wexler who remained unaware of the ruse. I wonder what Huey would have done if it was a hit?

Quinton Claunch leased a couple more 45s to Josie, before Ben was picked up by Stax, who released the critically acclaimed Patchouli LP on their Enterprise subsidiary in 1971. Produced by Bobby Manuel and Duck Dunn, it was cut at Muscle Shoals Sound, and broke into the top 100 on the Billboard album chart that year. Like most white guys singing R&B in the late seventies, however, he ended up getting lumped in with the 'Country' guys (just like our friend Len Wade), and his biggest hit would come on the Country charts with We Don't Live Here, We Just Love Here in 1978.

Ben Atkins cut an LP per decade in the eighties and nineties, and is still around. According to his website, he is now performing as a founding member of The Class of '65, "...a complete show and dance band with a rhythm section, four piece horn section, light show, and female background and lead vocalists." His early material routinely fetches big bucks on eBay, and his own hard driving brand of 'blue eyed soul' still holds up today, as evidenced by this rockin' side that Huey Meaux produced on him over forty years ago (even if Huey doesn't remember it).

You can't make this stuff up.

Big Sambo and the Housewreckers - The Rains Came (Eric 7003)

2009-08-05T07:44:00.000-07:00

The Rains Came

In the late fifties, Texas sax man James Young led a smokin' band in Beaumont and Port Arthur called Big Sambo and the Housewreckers. This amazing record we have here today was cut with Huey Meaux in 1960 and sold over 500,000 copies. It was well on its way to breaking nationwide when it was killed by the NAACP, who thought that Young's stage name was a little over the top. Meaux says he pleaded with James to change it, but that he wanted to stick with the name that got him there. Young is the man who brought Barbara Lynn to Huey's barber shop, and set all of that in motion. He did, in fact, consent to call himself James 'Big Sambo' Young for a later release on Meaux's Jetstream label, but it didn't sell much. Big Sambo died in 1983.

The Rains Came was also released as the follow-up to Sir Doug's She's About A Mover in early 1966, when it broke into the Top 40 on the pop charts.

I spun this 45 for the first time in ages as part of episode seven on the YouTube thing, and it just knocked me out. This guy could sing, man.

Arthur Conley - People Sure Act Funny (ATCO 6588)

2009-08-02T10:14:00.000-07:00

People Sure Act Funny

This one comes via a special request in the comments of the post I did about this 45's anthemic B Side a couple of years ago. Produced by the one and only Tom Dowd at American Sound, it broke into the R&B top twenty in the summer of 1968... are the Memphis Boys just kicking it on here or what? Sounding kind of like Joe Tex (who was recording his own hits at American around the same time), it's a cover of a Titus Turner song from 1962 that was also performed by Don Gardner and Dee Dee Ford. Turner's co-writer, James McDougal, was one of the composers of Gardner and Ford's biggest hit I Need Your Lovin'... Great Stuff!

Staple Singers - I'll Take You There (Stax 0125)

2009-06-13T07:51:00.000-07:00

I'll Take You There

Barry Beckett
1943-2009

Gene Allison - Have Faith (Vee-Jay 855)

2009-05-15T06:28:00.000-07:00

Have Faith

This is, in my humble opinion, one of the best records ever made.

Gene Allison came up singing Gospel, but not long after Ted Jarrett hunted him down in a Nashville poolroom in 1954, he agreed to try his hand at R&B. After a few sides that went nowhere, Ted brought him into Owen Bradley's primitive 'Quonset Hut' studio on Sixteenth Avenue South (soon to become the cornerstone of 'music row') in 1957 to cut a song he had written called You Can Make It If You Try, using members of the Joe Morris Orchestra. He leased the masters from that session to Decca, but only for a limited time. When they failed to appreciate what they had, Jarrett moved on.

Already a force on the Nashville R&B scene, Ted picked up Larry Birdsong's contract when his time at Excello was up. Birdsong had hit big for the label in 1956, when Pleadin' For Love almost broke into the R&B top ten, but hadn't done much since. Jarrett had been friends with Ewart Abner for a few years, and when Abner took over as General Manager of Vee-Jay, he came knocking on Ted's door, looking to sign Birdsong to the Chicago company. "You can have Larry," Jarrett told him' "but only if you sign this kid Gene Allison, too." Abner was none too happy about it, but he agreed to take on both artists. Much to everyone's surprise (except Jarrett's, of course), it was Allison who broke things wide open when the same Quonset Hut recording he had leased to Decca climbed all the way to #3 R&B (and even broke into the Pop Top 40) in early 1958 (Birdsong, unfortunately, would never chart again).

Vee-Jay knew a good thing when they saw it, and was set to pull out all the stops when it came to recording Allison's follow-up record. Borrowing Sonny Thompson's eighteen piece orchestra from Syd Nathan at King, they scheduled a session at Universal Studio in Chicago that Spring. According to Jarrett; "...I slipped up and drank too much before the session. In fact I had so much alcohol, I was in the Twilight Zone... they wouldn't let me in. I raved and ranted... Finally they went and got the president of Vee-Jay, Ewart Abner, and he let me in." In spite of (or possibly because of) the booze, it was Ted who came up with that great big E Flat intro that sets the tone for this monumental recording. I just love it.

With the same kind of inspirational message as Gene's first hit, I had always assumed that Have Faith (which would just miss the R&B top ten itself) was written by Jarrett. Not so... according to the label, it was composed by Sonny Thompson and Henry Stone. Henry Stone? Like T.K. Records, Get Down Tonight Henry Stone? Now, how did that happen? Well, as it turns out, when Syd Nathan re-activated his Deluxe label in 1953, he had leased some sides that Henry had produced on Otis Williams & The Charms for his Florida based Rockin' label, and put Stone in charge of the subsidiary. When The Charms sent Hearts Of Stone to #1 R&B for nine weeks in the fall of 1954, Deluxe, and Henry Stone, were on top of the world. In 1955, amidst all kinds of turmoil in the group, Stone worked out a deal that left Otis Williams with Syd Nathan at King, while he took what was left of The Charms (along with other 'mutually owned properties') to Florida to form his own label.

That label was called Chart, and among it's releases were several singles by Sonny Thompson. These sides must have been part of the deal he made with Nathan, as Thompson remained under contract to King (going on to be the man behind all of those great Federal Freddy King records) until they closed their Chicago office in 1964. On Henry Stone's website, it says that he formed two publishing companies in 1955 as well, one of which was called Pelican. Pelican is listed on the Vee-Jay label here as one of the publishers, and I guess it's not much of a stretch to think that Stone got a piece of both the songwriting and the publishing on Have Faith as part of the deal he made with Syd Nathan. Intrigued by all of this, I called Henry in Miami. I left a message with the guy who answered the phone, who asked me what this was in reference to... Henry hasn't called me back.

Be that as it may, Gene Allison was hot. Ted Jarrett put together a Nashville R&B package that included, at one time or another, Allison, Christine Kittrell, Roscoe Shelton, Earl Gaines and Larry Birdsong, and hired Jimmy Beck & His Orchestra to back them up out on the road. Known as 'The Pipe Dreamers' after their 1959 local instrumental hit, this was essentially the band that The Buzzard, and Lattimore Brown, had taken out of Little Rock the year before. Lattimore travelled with Allison and the band to Fort Worth, Texas, and there is a famous story (repeated by the recently deceased Jarrett in his great autobiography You Can Make It If You Try) about how Gene abandoned the band there in Texas to starve while he went off to perform some gigs in Florida.

Our man Lattimore remembers it differently, as he and the rest of the band saw opportunities on the hoppin' club scene in Dallas, where they could rule the roost in places like The Empire Room, and didn't want to go back to Nashville where they'd be lost in the crowd. The Pipe Dreamers apparently broke up at that point, with Allison deciding he ought to stick with Jarrett (whom he referred to as 'Dainty'), and head on back to Music City. As Lattimore took over the reins of the band, this would begin his 'Dallas period' when he recorded those great Duchess sides, and worked behind the scenes with Jack Ruby at The Atmosphere Lounge...

Sir Lattimore still speaks highly of Gene Allison (who passed away, sadly, in 2004), and remembers those days out on the road with him fondly. At any moment, he is apt to break into his own rendition of Have Faith, and has told me that the song pretty much represents his outlook on life...

"Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled,
Just Say A Prayer At Night.
Have A Little Faith In What You Do,
And Everything's Gonna Be Alright."

I am right there with that.

Eddie Bo - Every Dog Got His Day (Ric 969)

2009-03-21T06:07:00.001-07:00

Every Dog Got His Day

I just can't believe he's gone, folks.

Isaac Hayes - Let's Stay Together (Enterprise 9045)

2009-01-28T07:37:00.000-08:00

Let's Stay Together

Here's another superb example of the interaction between Stax and Hi.

Like I was saying over on the other side, Al Green's Let's Stay Together was an unqualified smash. Released in December of 1971, it would go on to spend four months on the R&B charts, including nine weeks in the number one position, while climbing it's way to the top of the pop charts for a week in February of 1972. To say that it was a big hit would be an understatement. It was a phenomenon. A landmark record in so many ways, it ushered in a new era in the history of Memphis Soul. Written by Al Green, Al Jackson and Willie Mitchell, it represented the culmination of everything that had gone before it, and altered the landscape of R&B in the process.

Another record that had done something along those same lines was the Theme From Shaft, which had topped the pop charts itself just three months before, transforming Isaac Hayes from a little known songwriter and performer into an iconic figure who lived up to the moniker Black Moses. Do Your Thing, the follow-up single taken from the Shaft album, would go to #3 R&B during the same time frame that Al Green owned the top slot for those two months in early 1972. This sweet cover of Al's monumental recording would be Isaac's next release.

I just love it.

According to the label, the orchestra on here was conducted by the legendary Onzie Horne, who had worked with Duke Ellington before becoming a professor of music at Rust College, where he taught the young Willie Mitchell a thing or two about arrangements. Isaac doesn't sing on the record, because that's him playing that smoky alto saxophone! How very cool is that? Conceived, I'm sure, as a shout out to all involved, it spent two months of its own on the R&B charts, peaking at #25 that spring.

Soulsville, baby.

Jimmy Hughes - Neighbor, Neighbor (Fame 1003)

2009-01-16T08:54:00.000-08:00

Neighbor, Neighbor

Here's the hit 45 version of Neighbor, Neighbor that charged into the R&B top five in 1966. Jimmy Hughes told me on the phone that Ray Stevens was the guy who came in and 'funked it up' on this re-recorded version of a Huey Meaux tune that was released as an album track two years before.

Ray Stevens? Like, Everything Is Beautiful Ray Stevens?

Well, I did a little digging around and found out a few things.

As a young station manager at WGST in Atlanta, Bill Lowery started up his own publishing company in the early fifities. He held the rights to Gene Vincent's Be-Bop-A-Lula when it broke wide open in 1956, which helped him expand into all aspects of the business. In 1958, Lowery founded the National Recording Corporation (NRC), which would include his own record pressing plant, distributorship and studio. He hired some young musicians, and formed a top-notch rhythm section that included Jerry Reed, Joe South and, yes, Ray Stevens. He was affiliated with many area record labels, most notably JUDD, which was run by Sam Phillips' brother, Jud. By late 1961, for whatever reason, the company went bankrupt, and lost its studio and all its assets.

After re-organizing, Lowery got wind of Rick Hall's studio in Muscle Shoals, a few hours drive away. He got his band back together and began making the trip to cut some sides on a new vocal group he had signed called The Tams, who would break into the R&B top ten in early 1964 with What Kind Of Fool (Do You Think That I Am). Lowery brought his crew with him, which by then also included Felton Jarvis and Tommy Roe. His musicians worked side by side with Hall's 'first rhythm section' of Norbert Putnam, Jerry Carrigan and David Briggs, and cut some great records in the process.

It was these 'city boys' that put the idea into the heads of the homegrown talent that they could be making a lot more money in Nashville, as there was always plenty of session work to go around. Eventually the local boys left, and went on to their own incredible heights in Music City. Hall just kind of shrugged it off, and fashioned a new rhythm section that would, some say, dwarf the accomplishments of the first one.

They were young, though, and it took a while for people coming in from the outside to put their trust in them. When Buddy Killen cut Joe Tex there, he brought in some member's of Joe's road band and, as we all know, Jerry Wexler brought in Chips Moman and Tommy Cogbill to work on the early Fame recorded Atlantic sides.

Rick Hall, apparently, did the same thing.

This positively crankin' record we have here today was released on May 28, 1966. According to our compadre Bob Wilson, John R was all over it, and played it on his show all summer long. The song just knocked Bob out, and he made sure he tuned in to WLAC just so he could hear it. When he ended up becoming Richbourg's session leader in Nashville, he 'went nuts' when John told him that they were going to Fame to record Joe Simon in 1967. The first question he asked Rick Hall was; "Who played the guitar on Neighbor, Neighbor?" "Joe South," Rick said.

Joe South? Like, Games People Play Joe South?

Yes, indeed. It would appear then, judging by what Jimmy Hughes said about Ray Stevens being there, and what Rick told Wilson over forty years ago, that the rocking, funky band on here must be Bill Lowery's NRC crew, rocking it all the way into the top five.

Cool, huh?

Sam Taylor, Jr. - The Stinger (GRT 12)

2009-01-06T13:10:00.000-08:00

The Stinger

SAM TAYLOR, JR.
1935-2009

I just got the sad news that Long Island legend Sam 'Bluzman' Taylor passed away yesterday after his long struggle with heart disease.

Like Little Buster before him, his 'Blues' identity tended to obscure his soulful roots. He started out on the Junior label in 1959 as Good Rockin' Sammy "T", with single releases (under a variety of names) for at least ten other companies (including Capitol, Atlantic and Enjoy) during the sixties and seventies... but that's not all. He was a founding member of Joey Dee & The Starliters, whose standing gig at The Peppermint Lounge led to one of the biggest hits of 1961. He then spent years as the Musical Director for New York Soul Queen Maxine Brown, and as an in-demand chitlin' circuit guitarist backing up everyone from The Isleys to Otis Redding.

This red hot record we have here was lifted from his much sought after 1969 GRT LP, The Tunnels Of My Mind. Just dripping with soul, Taylor's high energy delivery takes no prisoners. "Let me spell it for ya - S.A.M.!" Simply amazing stuff. The rest of the album cranks as well (special thanks to our friend Kevin Kiley for sending along the audio), with soulful versions of songs like Dark End Of The Street and Hey Girl that will give you chills... but that's not all.

Sam was the man behind those infectious disco-era hits by the B.T. Express, like Do It ('Til You're Satisfied) and Peace Pipe, something I never knew until now. I admit it, I loved that stuff. 'Disco' or not, it was homegrown Brooklyn funk (even though it was recorded out in La-La land). The left coast took it's toll on Sam, I'm told, and he wound up drying out in Arizona, which is where he would begin to re-invent himself as the 'Bluzman' (like so many others were doing around the same time).

He built quite a following in and around Tuscon, and the Blues CDs he released in the nineties are as good as anything else out there. Eventually, Sam came on home, and took up residence as Long Island's own Ambassador of the Blues. I guess I kind of took him for granted... he'd always be there on stage somewhere in Port Jefferson or out here in Riverhead at the Blues Fest or at some bar in Bay Shore or Patchogue. I could turn on my radio and listen to his incredible 'Blues With A Feeling' show on WUSB every Friday. He was an actor, an author, one hell of a songwriter, and just a cookin' guitar player.

I guess the last time I saw him was at the Get Busterized! tribute a couple of years ago. He was absolutely fantastic.

There will be a public viewing tomorrow, Wednesday, January 7th, from 4pm until 7pm at the Moloney Funeral Home at 130 Carleton Avenue in Central Islip, New York.

A private ceremony will be held on Thursday in Brooklyn for family and close friends.

The public service will be held on Friday, January 9th at 11am at the Moloney Funeral Home, followed by a procession out to Calverton National Cemetery, where he will be buried.

Please join Sam's family and friends for a celebration of his life and music tomorrow night, January 7th, at Bobbique in Patchogue at 8pm.

...and Keep The Blues Alive.

Benny Gordon - Gonna Give Her All The Love I Got (Wand 1188)

2008-12-29T09:12:00.000-08:00

Gonna Give Her All The Love I Got

BENNY GORDON
1932-2008

As the best working R&B band in New York (ranked #1 by the Daily News throughout the sixties, Benny told me), The Soul Brothers influenced other up and coming outfits (like The Young Rascals) as the house band at Trudi Heller's fabled club in Greenwich Village.

This smoking version of Jimmy Ruffin's 1967 hit, blows the original right out of the water, in my opinion. According to Benny, that's King Curtis leading the horn section.

Play it loud, folks.

Fare thee well, my friend.

Charles Brown - Christmas In Heaven (Jewel 814)

2008-12-18T05:51:00.000-08:00

Christmas In Heaven

With the possible exception of Nat 'King' Cole, the first person I think of when it comes to Christmas music is Charles Brown . The composer of two yuletide standards, Merry Christmas Baby and Please Come Home For Christmas, his music will continue to be heard as long as people still hang up 'dem socks. Despite the seemingly infinite cover versions of both of those songs, Brown's originals are still the best I've heard (although neither of those King 45 versions appear to be available here in the digital age!).

Both of them get a lot of play in the ol' jukebox this time of year, though, as does this great tune we have here. Again written by Charles (with an obligatory co-writer's credit given to Jewel label owner, Stan Lewis), it was cut in 1970.

Merry Christmas, everybody!

They're Here Too...

2008-12-11T15:28:00.000-08:00

That's right y'all...

"Blogger has been notified, according to the terms of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), that certain content in your blog infringes upon the copyrights of others. The URL(s) of the allegedly infringing post(s) may be found at the end of this message..."

"Please note that repeated violations to our Terms of Service may result in further remedial action taken against your Blogger account..."

Sincerely, The Blogger Team

Affected URLs:

http://redkelly2.blogspot.com/2008/10/four-tops-standing-in-shadows-of-love.html

Which was my appreciation of the late great Levi Stubbs.

Is nothing sacred?

Otis Clay - All Because Of Your Love (Kayvette 5130)

2008-10-12T05:02:00.000-07:00

All Because Of Your Love

Like I was saying over on the other side, Otis Clay has appeared on a variety of labels, sometimes, it would seem, all at the same time.

While Atlantic was recording him down south, Otis apparently kept the home fires burning, and a single cut on him by Carl Davis (featuring Willie Henderson and the rest of his 'Sound Of Chicago' crew), appeared on his Dakar label in 1969. This was right around the same time that his good friend Tyrone Davis began his remarkable run of breakthrough hits for the label (like Can I Change My Mind, which would spend three weeks at #1 R&B earlier that year), and I suppose if Clay hadn't been signed to Atlantic at the time, things might have worked out differently.

In 1975, after Hi apparently lost interest in him, Otis hooked up with super-arranger Benjamin Wright. After one single on Wright's Elka imprint, Otis started up his own label, Echo, where he would continue to work with Washington as well as with Chicago legends like Johnny Moore and Marvin Griffin.

In 1976, Otis travelled back down South, and signed with Henry Stone in Miami. After an initial release on Glades (where he would join label mates Latimore and Little Milton), Stone moved him over to his Kayvette subsidiary (go figure), and came up with this awesome record we have here today. Working with producer Brad Shapiro back in Muscle Shoals, he took this great George Jackson - Raymond Moore composition to #44 R&B in the summer of 1977. No mean feat, considering this was the height of the disco era, it would be his last chart appearance.

Just to keep matters interesting, 1977 also saw the release of his last album for Hi (by then a a subsidiary of Cream Records), I Can't Take It. At the turn of the decade, Otis was back on Echo backing another cool George Jackson number, Messing With My Mind, with a cover of O.V. Wright's A Nickel and A Nail. Like so many others around the same time, though, I think Clay realized that it was the 'blues' market that offered him the best chance of selling some records, and he signed with Bullseye.

Much to their credit, they paired him back up with Hi Rhythm and captured Soul Man: Live In Japan for posterity. He was apparently reunited with Willie Mitchell on Waylo for one single in the late eighties, then continued to record for Bullseye through the nineties, with records like I'll Treat You Right and This Time Around keeping him out there in the public eye. Although he may have 'crossed-over', Otis never really left Gospel behind.

His 1993 Blind Pig LP The Gospel Truth showed the depth of his commitment, and still holds up as one of his best records. The fact that a version of If I Could Reach Out is included on the album shows, I think, just how closely all of this stuff is related, and how silly this whole concept of 'genres' really is. As it says on his excellent website: "Is he Soul? Is he Blues? Is he Gospel? Yes..." Which is further exemplified by his 2005 live release Respect Yourself, as well as his latest project:

Walk A Mile In My Shoes, released last year on Clay's newly reactivated Echo label, pulls it all together, with an excellent take on the title track (again blurring the line between Soul and Gospel), as well as guest appearances by The Soul Stirrers, Carla Thomas (helping out on yet another rendition of George Jackson's classic), and our friends Hi Rhythm. No matter what you call it, this is a great record, yet another in a long line from one of the premier voices in Black American Music. We are honored to have him with us for O.V. Wright Night.

God is good.

Nappy Brown - Don't Be Angry (Savoy 1155)

2008-09-24T09:49:00.000-07:00

Don't Be Angry

NAPPY BROWN
1929-2008

A giant of early R&B, Nappy Brown was just a huge influence on everybody from Ray Charles to Jackie Wilson. Convinced by Savoy Records chief Herman Lubinsky to leave his Gospel past behind him, he began singing the devil's music in 1954. This monster hit we have here spent 15 weeks on the R&B charts in 1955, including 3 weeks in the number two slot, held there by Little Walter's My Babe and Brother Ray's I've Got A Woman. If it sounds a little like the records Atlantic was cutting across the river, that's probably due to the presence of Sam 'The Man' Taylor, the elemental sax man on so many of their great sides. Brown's smokin' 1957 version of (Night Time Is) The Right Time preceded Charles' smash by a couple of years (not to mention our man Lattimore Brown's 1961 cover), and further illustrates what a pioneer he was. He toured constantly throughout the fifties, and it was his full-bodied vocal style and fabled stage antics that helped lay the groundwork for Soul.

After reportedly spending some time behind bars in the sixties, Nappy kind of disappeared from the public eye for a couple of decades before he came roaring back on the Blues circuit in the 1980s, recording albums for Landslide, Black Top and New Moon. Just last September, his Blind Pig release Long Time Coming was nominated for a Blues Music Award, and Nappy was featured as the cover story in an issue of Living Blues. He was back on the road, touring Europe that fall.

According to Wikipedia; "At the ceremony for the Blues Music Awards in May of 2008, Brown gave one last electrifying performance, capping an incredible comeback year." Well, as fate would have it, I believe that I actually witnessed his final performance at the Crawfish Festival in New Jersey on June 1st. He gave it his best shot, but It was obvious that he wasn't well, and he all but collapsed as he left the stage. Nappy was hospitalized for a 'multitude of illnesses' later that month, illnesses which finally took him home this past Saturday.

Funeral services will take place at St. Paul's Baptist Church in Brown's hometown of Charlotte, North Carolina this coming Saturday, September 27th at I pm.

It Don't Hurt No More.

Earl Palmer - Honky Tonk Part II (Liberty 55356)

2008-09-22T05:55:00.000-07:00

Honky Tonk Part II

EARL PALMER
1924-2008

"He was my right hand. He was a professor of music... it's like I died myself." - Dave Bartholomew

Earl Palmer joined Bartholomew's band in 1947, and it was his drums on Fats Domino's 1949 breakthrough record, The Fat Man, that essentially created Rock & Roll. As the number one session man at Cosimo's J&M Studio there on Rampart Street, the big beat he laid down on seminal records by Fats, Smiley Lewis, Lloyd Price and, of course, Little Richard changed the face of American music forever.

In 1957 he was lured to the west coast by Eddie Mesner of Aladdin Records. Once he got there, he found as much work as he could handle, continuing to cut Domino's big hits for Imperial, and working with the newly 'crossed-over' Sam Cooke. Within a few years, he had established himself as the 'first call' stick man in Los Angeles, recording with everyone from Sinatra to The Beach Boys... Count Basie to Tom Waits. He was an integral part of Phil Spector's 'wall of sound', and that's him playing on songs like You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling and River Deep, Mountain High. The list of soundtracks he worked on for both film and television out in Hollywood are too numerous to mention, but included personal favorites like The Flinstones and Mission Impossible.

This cool single we have here is taken from Drumsville!, a 1961 album he cut for Liberty Records. It was produced by the label's A&R man, Snuff Garrett, the guy who had 'discovered' Buddy Holly down in Texas, and gave Brill Building hack Phil Spector his first job out on the coast. That's fellow New Orleans transplant Plas Johnson blowing that wild sax and, even though it's a little too heavy on that sixties bachelor pad vibe for me, Earl's drums are right there in the pocket.

Just like they always were.

May He Rest In Peace.

The Temptations - Cloud Nine (Gordy 7081)

2008-09-18T07:08:00.001-07:00

Cloud Nine

NORMAN WHITFIELD
1940-2008

Motown giant Norman Whitfield passed away this past Tuesday. The music he left behind him will live on forever.

In 1966 he replaced Smokey Robinson as the producer of The Temptations, and sent a song he had written for them with Eddie Holland all the way to #1 R&B, where it would sit for two months. Ain't Too Proud To Beg remains one of the truly great songs of our time and, like a cannon shot across the bow of American popular music, it let the world know that Norman Whitfield had arrived. Whitfield and Holland would provide the group with three more #1 smashes, (I Know) I'm Losing You, Beauty Is Only Skin Deep and I Can't Get Next To You, but Norman wasn't through.

He teamed up with Barrett Strong to form a songwriting team whose output just boggles the mind. They would write all time classics like:

I Heard It Through The Grapevine
Too Busy Thinking About My Baby
I Wish It Would Rain
Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)
I Could Never Love Another (After Loving You)
War
Smiling Faces Sometimes

Which were all, of course, #1 hits.

This incredible single we have here today was released around Thanksgiving in 1968. It only made it to #2, because Johnnie Taylor's monster Who's Making Love (produced at Stax by Detroit transplant Don Davis) still owned the top spot that fall. I was in the ninth grade when it came out and it spoke in many ways to where I was coming from back then - "...you ain't got no responsibilities!" I heard that. It remains one of my favorite songs ever (check out Dennis Coffey!).

The monumental work that Norman would go on to produce with the Temptations on Whitfield-Strong compositions like Runaway Child Running Wild, Ball Of Confusion, Psychedelic Shack, and the mighty, mighty Papa Was A Rollin' Stone sound just as powerful to me today as when I first heard them on the radio back in high school.

Thank You, Mr. Whitfield for a job well done. May you rest in peace.

O.V. Wright - You're Gonna Make Me Cry (Back Beat 548)

2008-09-08T08:02:00.000-07:00

You're Gonna Make Me Cry

The news is out...

O.V. WRIGHT NIGHT
NOVEMBER 15th, 8pm
GROUND ZERO BLUES CLUB
MEMPHIS

That's right folks, we are going ahead with our plans to hold a very special night of music in Memphis this fall in conjunction with the dedication of the memorial at O.V.'s final resting place. After many months of behind the scenes work, we are pleased to announce that the event will take place at Morgan Freeman's brand new Ground Zero Blues Club downtown on Saturday, November 15th.

With accompaniment provided by the one and only Hi Rhythm, we will be celebrating the timeless music they helped create with O.V. and Willie Mitchell. We are in the process of working out the rest of the details, and will post more information about the show here as it becomes available...

This cool 45 is O.V.'s first hit after he left Goldwax. Recorded at Royal in those pre-Hi Rhythm days, note the very cool Reggie Young guitar.

Amazing stuff.

Wiley And The Checkmates - Guess You Wouldn't Know Nothin' About That (Rabbit Factory 05)

2008-08-12T05:56:00.000-07:00

Guess You Wouldn't Know Nothin' About That

VINYL RECORD DAY 2008

That's right, folks, just like last year, we've joined the blogswarm organized by J.A.Bartlett in honor of Vinyl Record Day. In keeping with our motto, 'In Vinyl Veritas', this is a subject that is right up our alley. Last year we focused on the Numero Group, and their series of quality vinyl re-issues. This time around, I thought we'd take a look at a brand new 45 put out by our friends at The Rabbit Factory.

Building on their genuine love for the music, owners John Ciba and Derek Evers have taken their Chicago based company to another level. Last month, they released the second volume of their archival The Birmingham Sound, which chronicles even more undiscovered soul gems from the vaults of Neal Hemphill. With previously ureleased tracks by Ralph 'Soul' Jackson, Frederick Knight and Fletcher Flowers, it is simply a must-have.

John and Derek are also the guys behind the traveling circus that is their Rabbit Factory Soul Revue, wowing audiences from New Orleans to Brooklyn with an incredible line-up that includes Roscoe Robinson, Hermon Hitson, and our man Ralph Jackson (pictured at right), whose ponytail must be seen to be believed. The real star of those shows, though, is the ultra-tight backing band, Wiley and the Checkmates.

Led by Oxford, Mississippi legend (and all-around ladies man) Herbert Wiley, these guys are the genuine article. Wiley put the original Checkmates together around 1960, and they went on to become Chitlin' Circuit regulars, backing everyone from Percy Sledge to Syl Johnson at one time or another, before dis-banding and getting 'day jobs' sometime in the seventies. He formed this latest incarnation of the band in 2002, and they've been going strong ever since. Their performances at The Ponderosa Stomp have drawn rave reviews and, like I was saying, their ability to shift gears and play behind everybody from Bobby Patterson to Eddie Bo is pretty damn impressive.

Their new Rabbit Factory CD, We Call It Soul, was recorded at Jim Lancaster's Playground Recording Studio. Real music recorded by Mississippi musicians in a lovingly restored Florida studio, this is authentic Southern Soul, folks. What's really cool though, in my opinion, is that John and Derek decided to release this actual vinyl single from the album, just like they did in the old days. There's just something about putting that needle down on the record and watching it spin around that does it for me... but you already knew that.

Hey, that's what Vinyl Record Day's all about, right?

Sir Lattimore Brown - Shake And Vibrate (SS7 2575)

2008-07-28T09:20:00.000-07:00

Shake And Vibrate

Here's the positively smokin' dance number Sir Lattimore cut with Bob Wilson at Bradley's Barn in 1966, the flip of It's Such A Sad, Sad World. As a member of his band in those days, Bob was a first-hand witness to some incredible performances. Lattimore, he said, just brought the house down wherever they went...

"When I first moved to Nashville, my band came down too and hung out, trying to get in, and while I was very successful in the session end, they were not so much... through me, they got in with Lattimore and Sam and Roscoe and toured with them, my Bass player and Drummer. So, I could hang out with all these people anytime I wanted and join the show... They just thought it was too cool that they had these white brothers from Dee-troit, that could play funky soul music.

"He had these twins, dark skinned 6 footers, with knock out bodies, in scant, red bikinis and white go-go boots that came dancin' on stage with him when the MC brought him out on the chitlin circuit clubs. It was too much, men went beserk.These girls could Do It!!! Pumpin those pelvis', Mercy!! The horns blaring, the drums kicking and the bass pumpin, and the MC saying "and now" here's Laaaaaaaattaaaamore Brown and then he comes dancing out with these two beauties prancin (doing the Watusi? or maybe the Pony?) then they go to the right and left side of the stage, still gyrating and Lattimore grabs the mic stand and lays it down sideways, ala James Brown and starts screaming in the mic, very much like Otis did. The men in the audience went BeZZZZerk. Men would storm the stage and try to climb up there, waving handfuls of hundred dollar bills... Lattimore had these dudes standing by that would walk up and literally throw these dudes back off the stage and my drummer would never miss a beat. The show just kept on kickin...

"The dancers were an actual act and occasionally toured with others, but, mostly, they toured with Lattimore's revue (Lattimore, Sam Baker, Roscoe Shelton, Big Marion, etc.). They were called 'The Twirlers'. I think, maybe Lattimore was the only one that could really handle them. They were out of this world sexy, I kid you not... He put on a hell of a show back then, really worked the crowd into a frenzy.

"...the whole show used to live at Big Marion's house, white brothers in the band and all, when they were in town."

The Twirlers, Sir Lattimore told me, were indeed twins and were named Shirley and Derris Ellis.

That must have been some show, huh? Shake and Vib-a-rate, baby!

Chuck Carbo - Second Line On Monday (504 SP4)

2008-07-22T06:37:00.000-07:00

Second Line On Monday

CHUCK CARBO
1926-2008

Please join me in saying goodbye to yet another legend of R&B, the 'Voice of New Orleans', Chuck Carbo.

As a founding member and lead vocalist of The Spiders, that voice could be heard on no less than five top ten R&B hits between 1954 and 1956. The group broke up shortly after that, with both Chuck and his brother Chick pursuing solo careers. Although he would never reach such stellar heights again, Chuck remained a well known and much-loved performer in his hometown, with singles on local labels like Rex and Fireball.

Thanks to the efforts of folks like Larry Grogan, his best known song is no doubt the uber-funky, Eddie Bo produced, Can I Be Your Squeeze, which is truly one of the hottest records to ever emanate from the Crescent City. It was picked up for national distribution by Wally Roker's Canyon label in 1969, but still never got the airplay it deserved. You can check it out over at Funky 16 Corners, along with it's B side, Take Care Of Your Homework. Great Stuff.

I picked up this cool single you're listening to now down at Mardi Gras in 1988. A big local hit, it was overshadowed by it's mighty B side, Meet Me With Your Black Draws On, which would become the big 'Carnival Song' that year, and remains heavy in the rotation to this day. It was recorded with 'Ed Frank's New Orleans R&B Band', which would include our man Alvin Robinson on guitar in his last session before he died...

So raise dem umb-a-rellas high y'all - "Over in the Glory Land, he's going to meet the Holy Man!"

Yeah, you rite.

Thanks, Chuck. May you rest in peace, my brother.

Lattimore Brown - Don't Trust No One (77 2144)

2008-07-21T08:01:00.000-07:00

Don't Trust No One

When Lattimore pointed this side out as one of the songs he had recorded at Stax, I figured it was the flip of I'm Not Through Lovin' You (now up on The B Side), but I was wrong. The upbeat I've Got Everything (My Baby Needs), another great record, has that distinction, and while it definitely sounds like it was recorded at those Stax sessions, this cut here has more of that MG thang goin' on, in my (and Lattimore's) opinion. Cropper's guitar just rocks.

Apparently left 'in the can' for years, it wasn't released until John R started up his 77 label in the early seventies. Once again, I love the way Lattimore goes off there on the fade-out; "...do you know sometimes I don't even trust myself! What a character, man!

Lattimore Brown - Sweet Desiree (Renegade 1201)

2008-06-29T05:21:00.000-07:00

Sweet Desiree

I know I say this a lot, but these Renegade singles of Lattimore Brown's are just about as good as it gets.

After John R apparently lost interest in Brown in 1969, Chuck Chellman stepped in and took him down to Muscle Shoals to work with Rick Hall at FAME. Chellman had come up through the ranks in Nashville, working with Shelby Singleton at Mercury before moving up to high level positions at Starday, Monument and Kapp. He started up his own independent Renegade label around 1970, and these two releases are the only ones I've ever seen on there...

I'm not sure which of them was released first (although, I guess it really doesn't matter in the long run). 1201 here says it was produced by Chellman and distributed by Nashboro, while 101 (over on The B Side) says it was produced by 'The Chuck Chellman Company' which by then is listed as 'A Division of Starline Productions'. In any event, like I was saying, they just crank. Check out Lattimore's way cool vocals over that funky Fame Gang arrangement... that's what I'm talkin' about, y'all! How these records failed to hit at the time, considering Chellman's clout with the record companies and everything, is beyond me.

Chuck, like our man Lattimore, is still around, and is the founder of the Country Music Disk Jockey Hall of Fame and the Parade Of Stars.

Jimmy McGriff - I've Got A Woman Part 1 (Sue 770)

2008-05-27T18:14:00.000-07:00

I've Got A Woman Part 1

JIMMY McGRIFF
1936-2008

I got the sad news today over at Funky 16 Corners that organ groove guru Jimmy McGriff has left us. One of the last of a breed, his good time music defied categorization.

This smokin' number we have here was his first recording, cut way back in 1962. Part II was posted on The B Side in January of 2006, as part of a discussion that included Brother Ray, Kanye West and The Southern Tones:

"... It was a huge hit in 1962, breaking into the top 5 R&B as well as landing at #20 Pop, proving once again the power of this incredible song... Jimmy and his combo (featuring Morris Dow on the guitar and Jackie Mills on the drums) are just wreckin' the joint, y'all!

McGriff would go on to become one of the giants of the genre-busting funky organ, recording everything from acid jazz to straight ahead gospel, soul, and blues.

His 1969 album The Worm would crack the R&B top ten, and pave the way for his 70's classics like Groove Grease and Soul Sugar. He has recorded over 100 albums, collaborating with everybody from Junior Parker to Hank Crawford and Dr. Lonnie Smith...."

Jimmy's funeral will be on Tuesday, June 3rd at 11 a.m. at the Harold O. Davis Memorial Baptist Church, 4500 N. 10th Ave., Philadelphia, PA 19140.

May he rest in peace.

Johnny Adams - I Won't Cry (Ric 961)

2008-05-20T05:40:00.000-07:00

I Won't Cry

Here's where it all started for our man Johnny Adams in 1959. As the story goes, Dorothy Labostrie (the woman who had supplied the 'clean' lyrics to Little Richard's 'Tutti Frutti') lived in the apartment upstairs from him, and when she heard him singing 'Precious Lord' in the shower, she was so impressed with his voice that she talked him into 'crossing over' and singing a new song she had written entitled 'Oh Why'.

Dorothy brought him down to see Joe Ruffino who (after taking half of the composer's credit on her song) signed Johnny up to his new Ric label. Ruffino's producer and A&R man at this point was the young Mac Rebennack, who worked on the song with Adams, creating this timeless slice of New Orleans in the process. I'm not sure who changed the 'Oh Why' to 'I Won't Cry', but it really doesn't matter. Long Johnny's signature tune (he recorded it again for Shelby Singleton in 1970 and took it to #41 R&B), they just don't come much better than this, folks.

As you know, I'm a huge fan of The Tan Canary, and he's been featured on these pages several times. I was recently contacted by his widow, Judy, who wrote to tell us about the brand new book she's written about Johnny's life and times, The Johnny Adams Story. She has started up a website where you can purchase the 'E-book' as well as some other cool stuff...

"The Johnny Adams Story E-book is about a man, his music, and a life long struggle to become free from a corrupt music industry that often denied legal counsel, worked hard to keep many black recording artists under their tight control, and ultimately robbed them and their families of their earnings and royalties. How Johnny sang his songs to a nation while being shackled and enslaved by corrupt record labels and record producers. By purchasing the book by e-mail the funds go directly to the widow and estate of Johnny Adams. Hard and softcover book copies will be released later this year..."

Judy has also set up the Johnny Adams Memorial Fund, and donations are being accepted at her site.

"The Johnny Adams story may shock you; it may even anger you; but one thing is certain…it will inspire and teach you that even when it seems the whole world is conspiring against you; that love is still the binder that holds the pages of life together."

Amen.

Thank You, Mrs. Adams.

The Neptunes - House Of Heartaches (Instant 3255)

2008-05-08T09:06:00.001-07:00

House Of Heartaches

At the risk of an 'Instant' overdose, I just had to put up one more...

In the comments over on The B Side, vinyl scientist Zlatko posed this very interesting question:
"...do you/anybody know anything about that Neptunes record on Instant? Who they are, what else they may have done?"

Hmmm... well I sure don't, so I figured I'd give all of you a chance to hear it, and see what we can come up with. I'm loving the lead singer's soulful baritone (tres Roy Hamilton) and, while it takes them a while to get in the groove there, by the end of the record them crazy Neptunes have got it goin' on!

Anyway, here's a couple of clues that might help us along the way...

The song is listed in the BMI Database under the title House Of Broken Hearts. If you look at the label, the songwriters are credited as Allen & Holbert. A closer look at BMI reveals that the 'Allen' refers to someone named Bill Allen... that ringing any bells with you? How about our man Bill 'Hoss' Allen, the much-loved WLAC disk jockey and host of those way cool THE!!!!BEAT TV shows? As you know, it was common practice in those days to throw a composer's credit to a dee-jay as a form of promotion, but there's more (I think); according to the Wikipedia article, "Allen's popularity grew steadily until the early 1960s, when he decided to branch out into the record business. He took a job with a label as a field representative..." In the liner notes to The Rogana Story, Fred James had this to say: "...his first outing into the record business came with his Athens label in the late 1950s... he folded the company in the early 60s and went to work for Chess Records. Record promotion involved a lot of traveling, though, and Hoss was soon back in Nashville at WLAC..." After he returned home, Hoss formed his own production company called Rogana which leased songs to labels like Jewel, Excello and Hollywood throughout the decade. I believe it's entirely possible that this Neptunes 45 was an early example of that kind of thing, and was a Nashville record leased to Irving Smith for his Instant label, and consequently had nothing to do with Allen Toussaint (which is why it didn't make the podcast).

What makes me think that? Well, the only other reference I can find to Allen's co-writer Thomas Holbert is in the Kirk Collection Country Music Index, where he's listed as a Nashville songwriter affiliated with Acuff-Rose Publishing. Another clue that points in the direction of ol' Music City is that the B side of this Neptunes single here was written by Country music stalwart Warner Mack...

Whoa, hold on... after writing all of that, I decided to google 'Neptunes Nashville' and lo and behold, I found this:
Night Train to Nashville? Wait one minute, I sez to myself, I got that!

I'm Coming Home

Sure enough this great tune was on there. Here's what the liner notes had to say: "Founded by Tom Holbert and Paul Hendricks in the late 1950s, Nashville vocal group The Neptunes recorded under various incarnations for a handful of small labels..."

"Hal Hardy (who would later become known for his caped performances on the Nashville produced TV program Night Train), Robert 'Dickey' Dixon (a professional boxer), Joe Wade (singer Johnny Bragg's nephew), Hendricks (recorded solo as P.W. Cannon), James Porter Box, and Henry 'Sonny' Short were part of the ensemble when this little known gem was recorded. Singer Gene Kennedy produced 'I'm Coming Home' for his short-lived imprint Victoria Records. The Rivieras, also on Victoria, provided backup, and Cliff Parman arranged the music. The recording was made at Fred Foster's Sound Studio... with assistance from engineer Billy Sherrill, who went on to become one of Country music's most influential producers..." The liner notes say that this song was recorded 'circa 1964'. Sherrill, of course, had left Rick Hall behind in Florence a few years earlier, and was making a name for himself there in Nashville.

It would appear, then, that the Instant 45 (which Global Dog has dated as 1963) was recorded first... which kind of makes me wonder if this wasn't where Allen Orange (who was still signed to Minit at that point) first got the idea to head to Nashville. Wild, huh?

There you go, Travis... I hope that helps!

Tony Owens - I Got Soul (Soul Sound 145)

2008-04-17T04:23:00.000-07:00

I Got Soul

When Grapevine released their wonderful overview of Tony Owens' work in April of 2005, it seemed that he was finally going to get some of the recognition he deserved as one of the most unsung heroes of Crescent City Soul. After Katrina hit that August, however, all bets were off, and the future of New Orleans music (indeed of the city itself) was up in the air. Nobody knew what was going to happen.

When I went down there myself in April of 2006, it was still, for the most part, a ghost town. Traffic lights didn't work, gas stations, stores and restaurants remained closed. Most of the population was still out there in exile, and unsure if they'd ever be able to return. The Ponderosa Stomp was held in Memphis... dark days, my friends. According to Jeff Hannusch's excellent article in The Soul Of New Orleans, Tony Owens operated his own 'mule & trap' in the French Quarter. I went down to Jackson Square and asked the other drivers if he was around. They told me that as far as they knew, Tony hadn't come home yet, and they weren't sure where he was...

Owens had sung with a vocal group called The Emeralds in junior high, and won some local voice competitions. He pushed to attend Walter Louis Cohen high school, as it was the most music oriented in the city, and put on a well-attended 'talent show' that showcased their students. It was at one of those that he met Isaac Bolden. Bolden loved his voice and, with backing from one of his father's business partners, started up his own label to record him when Tony was just eighteen. This amazing record we have here today was written, produced, 'arranged & conducted' by Isaac, and gives you an idea of the raw soul and ability these guys had. It's got this this whole big fat atmospheric thang goin' on that puts me in mind of the the stuff Toussaint was producing on Sansu around the same time. I love it. Although it made some local noise, that was about it, and Bolden's partner, Sam Whitfield, pulled out.

Undaunted, Bolden renamed his label Soulin', and kept on cutting great records on Owens. The B sides of his next two releases, Wishing, Waiting, Hoping and I Need, I Need Your Love were again local hits, but Bolden was having trouble breaking into the national market. Soulin' (like so many other small regional labels) was being distributed by Cosimo Matassa's Dover Records, and they were in trouble. Word is that Matassa didn't want to 'play the game', and wouldn't come across with as many free 'promo' copies as the other guys, a practice which had come to take the place of 'payola'. The dee-jays knew that if they pushed a record, the 500 or so copies they had would become worth something, and so, they would hype it. Cosimo didn't care. I've been told that when certain radio guys saw 'Distributed by Dover Records' on the label, they 'threw the record in the garbage'. A situation which I'm sure contributed to Matassa's enforced bankruptcy, and the seizure of his assets in 1968.

Bolden forged ahead and, after taking on Virgil Engeran as a partner, he released the great Confessin' A Feelin' in August of 1970. Tony's romantic vocals over Isaac's great big production made it a huge local hit, and it was all over the radio that summer. Larry Mckinley, the influential WYLD dee-jay who had been a partner in Minit Records way back in 1960, thought it had the potential to break nationally, and started making some calls.

One of the calls he made was to Henry Allen, who was heading up Atlantic's Cotillion subsidiary at the time. He liked the record, and put it out in early 1971. With the big company behind it, it spent a month on the R&B charts, breaking into the top 40. The B side of both singles, Got'a Get My Baby Back Home, just cranks and things were looking good for Tony. He went out on tour in support of the record, and was packing them in at his regular Bourbon Street gig every night.

For whatever reason, Cotillion passed on Tony's follow-up record, and when it was released on Soulin', it didn't do much. His next single didn't come out until 1973, on a local label named Listening Post. Needless to say, any momentum they might have had from the Cotillion hit had evaporated by then and, after WYLD changed it's format that year, any airplay they might have gotten dried up as well. Bolden was now recording at Sea-Saint, and the quality of the work he was doing convinced Marshall Sehorn to go to bat for him. He was able to place I Don't Want Nobody But My Baby with Buddha in 1975, but just as it was breaking big in some southern markets, the company went bankrupt. The Letter That Broke My Heart was leased to Island the following year, but it too failed to dent the charts.

By 1978, Sehorn had re-activated his Sansu label, and Bolden was put in charge of production. Disco-oriented records on both Tony (including a remake of Confessin' a Feeling) and Lee Bates (including covers of songs originally cut by Owens like Wishing, Waiting, Hoping and All That Matters) died on the vine. Tony got on with his life and he and Isaac went their separate ways at this point. Bolden would go on to produce records on local talent like Bates and Jean Knight on his own re-activated Soulin' and Soul Sound imprints well into the eighties.

Tony had begun writing his own material, and Charles Brimmer would cover one of his songs on Chelsea in the late seventies. In 1984, 'Tiger' Owens started up his own label, Melody World, and produced a record on himself that didn't sell, but kept his name out there in the public eye. In 1990, he brought in his friend the late, great Willie Tee as his arranger, and released one last single on the label (which featured yet another remake of Confessin' A Feeling on the flip). He still performed from time to time, and even opened his own club just across from Louis Armstrong Park in the Treme, but closed it down sometime in the late nineties...

Well, Tony's back.

Thanks in large part to the good ol' Mystic Knights of the Mau-Mau, Owens is now the featured vocalist with the Wardell Quezergue Rhythm & Blues Revue, and began singing with them at the French Quarter Fest last year. His positively killer performance at the Stomp last April just stopped everybody in their tracks. He was awesome, man.

So awesome that I went to see the revue the following night at Preservation Hall, where he was able to expand his set a little bit. I sat down with him for a couple of minutes after the show, and we talked for a while about his music. A warm and gracious guy, it's great to see him out there singing like this once more.

He'll be at the Ponderosa Stomp again this year, on April 29th. So will I. Can't wait!

O.V. Wright - Ace Of Spade (Back Beat 615)

2008-04-07T05:20:00.000-07:00

Ace Of Spade

Okay...

Norwegian O.V. Wright afficionado Tom Pelvis had this to say over on The B Side:

"...I have a question regarding his 'Ace of Spades'. I have a compilation CD called 'The soul of O.V. Wright' that features a shorter version of AOS than the version on the album 'A Nickel And A Nail And Ace Of Spades'. Was this shorter (and better) version the one that was released on single? (I also have another long version released on the album 'Treasured Moments')."

I figured the best way to try and answer that would be to check out the original vinyl. One of Wright's biggest hits, Ace Of Spade spent 13 weeks on the R&B charts in the fall of 1970, climbing as high as #11. According to the label, it was penned by 'D. Malone' which, as we all know, is the pseudonym Don Robey used after he paid off the actual writers and claimed the composer's (and publisher's) royalties all to himself. Just a fantastic song, I wonder who really wrote it?

Now, as far as Tom's question goes; There is no time given on the 45, but my rip of it here clocks in at 2:16. That makes it longer than both the 'album' version on the 'A Nickel And A Nail And Ace Of Spades' LP (which is 2:11) and the 'single' version included on 'Treasured Moments' (which is even shorter at 2:08). I don't have that 'Soul of O.V. Wright' compilation, nor do I have the scratch to buy the new Japanese P-Vine box set...

SO, I'm not sure if that answered your question, Tom, but like I've always said:

"In Vinyl Veritas"

By the way, we are still accepting donations over at The O.V. Wright Memorial Fund website. Don't miss your chance to become a part of the team.

Thank You Very Much.

Clifford Curry - She Shot A Hole In My Soul (Elf 90002)

2008-04-02T08:56:00.000-07:00

She Shot A Hole In My Soul

...continued from The B Side.

Clifford Curry grew up in Knoxville, about two hours east of Music City. While still in high school, he joined a vocal group called The Echoes. Heading out to seek their fortune in 1955, they signed with Savoy Records up in Newark, New Jersey. The label renamed the group The Five Pennies, and a song Curry wrote for them, Mr. Moon, became a minor hit in early 1956. After one more single, he quit and headed back to Knoxville. Clifford formed another vocal group at this point, and christened them The Bingos. They signed with Nasco, a subsidiary of Nashboro/Excello, at this point, and the label changed their name yet again to The Hollyhocks. Their lone release died on the vine.

Moving him to their primary imprint, the label decided to record him as a a solo artist, calling him Sweet Clifford. Whether he was sweet or not, the Excello releases didn't do much, and Curry moved around a bit, taking work wherever he could get it, appearing as the lead vocalist with outfits like The Bubba Suggs Band, The Contenders, and The Fabulous Six for a variety of small labels. Gayden heard Sweet Clifford performing out on the fraternity circuit and, once again, brought him to the attention of Buzz Cason. Viewed as a perfect fit for the new label, Buzz signed him to Elf straightaway.

As the story goes, Mac Gayden's friend Chuck Neese heard a DeeJay on WVON mention that some song or other 'put a hole in his soul', and told Mac about it, planting the seed for this amazing record we have here today. I can't help but wonder if what really happened was that Neese heard them play the great Potato Salad Part One by Philadelphia Jock Georgie Woods (The Guy With The Goods), in which he admonishes his listeners to never eat chicken on Sunday, as it will 'put a hole in your soul...'

Be that as it may, Cason's production of this Gayden composition is simply untouchable, and is one of the hottest R&B records to emanate from Nashville in the 1960s, in my opinion. I'm lovin' Clifford's 'Help Me Somebody!' there, right before Mac kicks in with an early example of the 'slide-wah' style that he would later lend to records like J.J. Cale's Crazy Mama. Great Stuff, y'all! That's Gayden on the right in the picture up above, with Wade Conklin on bass and Buzz Cason on the tambourine there in the middle, backing up Curry at an outdoor gig in Nashville shortly after this record came out. It would make #45 R&B, and become a huge favorite on the 'beach music' scene down in the Carolinas, where Curry still makes a living off of it, appearing regularly at clubs throughout the region.

Seven more Clifford Curry releases on Elf failed to sell much, and although the label would produce some coveted deep soul records like Cry, Baby, Cry by Van & Titus (which you can go listen to over at Sir Shambling's place), by the end of the decade it was little more than an outlet for an occasional single by Cason or Bobby Russell themselves. After Russell hit big, with two of his compositions Honey and Little Green Apples bringing in the big bucks for Russell-Cason Music in 1968, he moved on, and both Rising Sons and Elf became history.

Mac Gayden, as we've seen, would go on to become one of John Richbourg's 'Music City Four', playing on those great Sound Stage 7 records we all love, and was in demand as a 'go-to' session guitarist on Music Row for years. He was also a founding member of both Barefoot Jerry and Area Code 615, the influential Nashville 'country-rock' bands.

Buzz Cason went on to open his own respected studio, The Creative Workshop, in 1970, and remains involved in all aspects of the Music City recording scene. His great book Living The Rock 'n Roll Dream: The Adventures of Buzz Cason is well worth checking out, and is where I got most of this information from in the first place.

Thanks, Buzz!

Sam Hutchins - I'm Tired Of Pretending (AGP 106)

2008-02-25T08:59:00.000-08:00

I'm Tired Of Pretending

Here's one of those great Sam Hutchins records I was talking about on The B Side. What a voice this guy has, huh? Another fantastic Moman-Cogbill production of a Masqueraders (Jones-Thomas) composition, it's records like these that demonstrate the depth of what was going on at American in those days.

Like I said, you can go see Mister Hutchins sing with the Masqueraders on Beale Street most Friday nights. How cool is that?

This 45 was submitted by one of our newest soul detectives, Peter McKernan. Thanks, brother!

Show Me - Joe Tex (Dial 4055)

2008-01-19T17:58:00.000-08:00

Show Me

Alright. In the comments on the latest installment of the Chips Moman saga, 'rpj' asked:

"Hoping you could solve a quandary for me from this time period: Is Chips playing that great, simple pick lead on Joe Tex's 'Show Me'?"

Hmmm... while the guitar intro at the beginning is (I think) almost definitely Reggie Young, those leads later on don't really sound like his style. He has a point... it just might be Moman!

Here's what Chips told Allen Smith; "Joe Tex was an unbelievable talent. He was a great songwriter but he couldn't play an instrument. He'd have all these songs that he knew the words to but no one knew the chords! He would just stand there and sing a cappella. Usually Bobby Emmons would sit there for an hour or so on every song and put some chord changes to what Joe had. And then we'd just take it from there. Cause Joe would have all these things in his head but he didn't exactly know how to get them out. But he was brilliant. He was one of the most brilliant recording artists I've ever known."

Word.

This rockin' little number (kinda like I Can't Turn You Loose on steroids), went to #24 R&B in the spring of 1967.

What do you think?

Joe Simon - (You Keep Me) Hangin' On (SS7 2608)

2008-01-15T05:07:00.000-08:00

(You Keep Me) Hangin' On

Like I was saying over on holy ghost, I had the pleasure of speaking with Bishop Joe Simon on the telephone a few days ago. I asked him about the time he spent at American in Memphis with his partner, John R. cutting the No Sad Songs LP.

He told me that it was simply an outstanding environment to record in, and that everybody worked together, contributing ideas and suggestions. Chips Moman was the arranger as well as the engineer, and a great guy to work with, he said. When I mentioned that the label read (as usual) 'Produced by J.R. Enterprises Inc.', Joe said "that sounds about right, the whole thing was a group effort." This phenomenal tune we have here was released as the second single from the album, and just missed the R&B top ten in the spring of 1968, landing at #11.

As you may have heard, Bishop Simon will be headlining the Porretta Soul Festival in Italy this summer. How great is that?

The Triumphs - Burnt Biscuits (Volt 100)

2008-01-09T12:29:00.000-08:00

Burnt Biscuits

As I was saying on the B Side, here's the one that started it all. If it kind of sounds like Booker T. and the M.G.'s to you, that's because half of the original group is on here, with Booker on the Hammond and Lewie Steinberg on bass. There's no guitar on this side, however, as Chips was apparently working the board. Instead of Al Jackson, Jr. on the drums (who wouldn't start doing sessions at Stax until the following year), that's Howard 'Bulldog' Grimes, the man who would go on to anchor Hi Rhythm.

According to Rob Bowman, "Burnt Biscuits did well in both Memphis and New Orleans, selling about thirty thousand copies in the latter city alone. Although this proved enough to get the record charted in Record World, elsewhere it died a quick death, and The Triumphs as such never attempted a follow-up. As an inter-racial instrumental ensemble, however, in many respects The Triumphs were the forerunners of what became known as Booker T. and the M.G.'s."

Indeed.

I wonder who's blowing that wild harmonica, son?

Johnny Adams - Part Of Me (Watch 633)

2007-12-20T07:24:00.000-08:00

Part Of Me

Here's a little bit of Christmas 'lagniappe' for ya, Johnny's big local B side turned A side that I was telling you about over on the other side (got that?). It would become the Watch label's biggest hit, at least until Earl King and Wardell Quezergue collaborated on another little number for the label called Big Chief...

In the liner notes to the great New Orleans Soul 60s: Watch Records, King (aka 'E. Johnson', the songwriter) says "I did 'A Part Of Me'. Johnny and I had worked so many gigs prior to that... Johnny's easy to work with, anyway. He's a terrific singer. It did good up in New York..."

It's still doing good as far as I'm concerned. Check out this man's pipes!

I wonder whatever became of 'The Spellbounds'?

Merry Christmas Everybody!

Solomon Burke -Take Me (Just As I Am) (Atlantic 2416)

2007-12-04T16:08:00.000-08:00

Take Me (Just As I Am)

Hey everybody, here's that other 'Chips-Moman-Dan Penn' production I was talking about over on the B side.

Just like Cheater Man, it's a cover of a Penn-Oldham tune that had been released by Dan Penn earlier on Fame. This certainly is the definitive version, as the King of Rock and Soul takes it home and makes it his own. I love the ad-libbed name check of his future Soul Clan members, and I believe this is the first appearance on record of his admonition to all of us lovers to give our woman 'what she wants, when she wants it, how she wants it, where she wants it, and every time she thinks she wants it' (which, believe it or not, he would use as our wedding vows all those years later...). I'm lovin' the Sweet Inspirations there at the end, man!

Absolutely top shelf stuff.

Syl Johnson - Take Me To The River (Hi 2285)

2007-11-26T09:28:00.000-08:00

Take Me To The River

Here's Syl Johnson's biggest hit, which hit #7 R&B in April of 1975. I love the combination of his blistering Chicago harp wailing over the rolling Memphis beat laid down by Hi Rhythm at the absolute peak of their powers. Look out!

Like we were saying on the other side, Mabon 'Teenie' Hodges co-wrote this one with Reverend Al for the groundbreaking Al Green Explores Your Mind album in 1974. After Hi refused to release any singles from that record (making it one of the highest selling R&B LPs ever up to that point), they cut this version on Johnson and it just took off...

The real deal, yo!

Oscar Toney, Jr. - For Your Precious Love (Bell 672)

2007-11-06T04:28:00.001-08:00

For Your Precious Love

Here's Oscar's deep soul masterpiece, recorded in one take down in Memphis in 1967.

As I was saying on the other side, Papa Don Schroeder overdubbed the strings and background vocals on West 47th Street in Manhattan. It doesn't get much better than this, y'all.

Ann Sexton - You're Gonna Miss Me (77 133)

2007-10-24T13:02:00.000-07:00

You're Gonna Miss Me

OK, here's that positively combustible tune I was talking about over on The B Side. Written by Miami's own Paul Kelly, and produced by 'BoLegs' Miller, it was reportedly recorded in Memphis for a Nashville record company... this record sure got around! It would be Sexton's biggest hit, climbing to #47 R&B in September of 1973, the month after John R 'retired' from WLAC.

I don't have any session info here, but It actually sounds more Muscle Shoals than Memphis to me. In any event, it remains, like I said, one of my favorite songs. Check out that bass line, the wah-wah, the fat Hammond, and that drum kit, whoa! Miller's horn charts just burn, not to mention the sheer power of Ann's vocal performance. My kind of stuff, man. As you may know, it was included on Oliver Wang's Soul Sides Volume One just last year (great minds thinking alike, and all of that... you know how it is).

Spencer Wiggins - Old Friend (You Asked Me If I Miss Her) (Goldwax 312)

2007-10-15T05:44:00.000-07:00

Old Friend

Here's the incredible A side of our Spencer Wiggins post. I couldn't resist putting it up for you, as it's one of my favorite Goldwax sides. What a voice this man has! Check out Reggie Young on here, man... is he great or what? This is one of the best George Jackson compositions out there, in my opinion.

Here's an interesting question for you... if you check the BMI Database, you'll find that George co-wrote this song with someone named Jimmy Webb. Jimmy Webb? Like Up, Up & Away, By The Time I Get To Phoenix Jimmy Webb?? Further inspection reveals that, no, it's not that Jimmy Webb...

Well, then, who was he?

The Sandpebbles - Forget It (Calla 134)

2007-10-09T04:03:00.000-07:00

Forget It

By request, here's some way cool New York Soul.

The Sandpebbles were apparently named after the hit movie that was sweeping the nation back in 1967. That film starred Steve McQueen and Richard Attenborough and had something to do with China. I remember that much. I don't quite get the connection here but, hey, no problem.

The Sandpebbles we have here today were made up of Calvin White, Andrea Bolden and Lonzine Wright. Their sassy vocal interplay puts me in mind of The Soul Children, who wouldn't show up on the scene until the following year. Today's selection was their first release, and also their biggest hit, cracking the R&B top ten during the 'Summer of Love' (just to kind of put things in context, the flip of this 45 was called Psychedelic Tecnicolor Dream).

Great stuff.

The brainchild of New York producer Teddy Vann, they would go on to bring two more Vann compositions to the charts for Calla (including the great Love Power which, as David pointed out, was just featured over at DJ Prestige's smokin' Flea Market Funk) over the next year. Teddy had come up as a producer and A&R man for the interestingly named Triple X records in New York working with 'girl group' The Bobettes. He was married to Estelle Bennett, Ronnie Spector's sister and fellow Ronette. A well known figure on the New York music scene in the sixties, he would go on to write for Broadway and Hollywood later on. As Jamison pointed out, he shared a Grammy with Luther Vandross and Marcus Miller in 1991. Vann was also the man behind the cult classic, Santa Claus Is A Black Man. Word.

The Sandpebbles, meanwhile, changed their name to "C and the Shells" and moved to Atlantic with Calla label mate Little Jerry Williams (soon to become known as the inimitable Swamp Dogg) in 1969. With Williams now producing them, they would chart twice more on Atlantic's Cotillion subsidiary. When a third release, a cover of William Bell and Judy Clay's Private Number failed to make it, they were apparently dropped by the label in 1970. I found this Zanzee 45 on eBay, anyone know anything about it?

Betty LaVette - He Made A Woman Out Of Me (Silver Fox 17)

2007-09-25T06:42:00.000-07:00

He Made A Woman Out Of Me

Hey y'all. Just dropping in here to say a few words about the positively excellent show that Bettye LaVette put on last night at the Highline Ballroom in Manhattan. At 61 years old, the 'Great Lady Of Soul' has still got it going on!

After some forty six years in 'the business', Betty has lived it all. At sixteen years old, Atlantic Records picked up a single she had made for Johnnie Mae Matthews (the 'Godmother Of Detroit Soul'), My Man - He's A Lovin' Man, and sent it all the way to #7 R&B in late 1962. After her follow-up, You'll Never Change, failed to make much noise, Atlantic dropped her. When a one-off single for Robert West's LuPine label back in Michigan didn't do much, Betty headed for the big town.

Becoming a part of the burgeoning New York Soul scene, she began working with Don Gardner and Dee Dee Ford, whose amazing R&B revue performed regularly at places like Small's Paradise up in Harlem. A song Dee Dee wrote for her would become the second release on the brand new Calla label, and Betty would make it her own, taking Let Me Down Easy into the R&B top twenty in the spring of 1965. After two more Calla releases failed to chart, Betty moved on to labels like Big Wheel and Karen, but nothing much was happening.

I'm not sure how she got hooked up with the 'Silver Fox', aka Lelan Rogers (yes, he's Kenny's brother), but I'm sure glad she did! This absolutely incendiary hunk of sweltering sexy southern soul we have here today just kills me. Whew! Like one of those Tony Joe White swamp songs on steroids, it cranked its way to #25 R&B as 1969 turned into 1970, despite being banned by many radio stations down south. I'm not sure of the session details here, but it sure sounds like Muscle Shoals to me...

[listen, I just got the incredible My Goodness, Yes!, the Sundazed Silver Fox collection, and according to the liner notes, Betty met Lelan through Kenny himself, when he was the lead singer of the First Edition and she covered their Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In) for Ollie McLaughlin on Karen... our selection here today was cut at Sounds Of Memphis Studio with the Jim Dickinson led band that was soon to become Jerry Wexler's Dixie Flyers. There ya go.]

When the follow-up for Silver Fox, Do Your Duty, broke the R&B top forty as well, Shelby Singleton began releasing Betty's 45s on his primary imprint, SSS International.

By 1972, however, he had apparently lost interest. Atlantic re-signed Ms. LaVette to their Atco subsidiary soon after that, sending her back to Detroit to work with Ollie McLaughlin (whom she had recorded with in her Karen days). They came up with a soulful cover of Neil Young's Heart Of Gold (Atco 6891) that, unfortunately, died on the vine. They had big plans for Betty, and flew her down to Muscle Shoals later that year to record a full length album, tentatively entitled Child Of The Seventies.

With producer Brad Shapiro in tow, Betty cut what she felt was the best music of her career down there in November of 1972. Your Turn To Cry (Atco 6913), an achingly beautiful rendition of a 1971 Joe Simon tune, was released as a single in early 1973. When that missed the charts as well, Atlantic pulled the plug on the album, and never released it. Betty was shattered. She couldn't believe it. Those tapes, after lying dormant in a vault somewhere for like thirty years, were finally issued on a French CD entitled Souvenirs in 2001. More recently, the kind folks at Rhino have released it as part of their limited edition 'handmade' series under it's original title, Child Of The Seventies. It's REALLY good, man. Buy one.

Her stellar performance last night combined elements from all of those early years with some of the the top shelf work she's been creating recently. Her Handy Award winning 2003 effort A Woman Like Me, along with 2005's I've Got My Own Hell To Raise (which was produced by Joe Henry... no not the Joe Henry mentioned in today's selection!), have proved to the world that Bettye LaVette is still a force to be reckoned with.

The material from the new album just gave me chills, as Bettye put her heart and soul into compositions by folks like Elton John and Willie Nelson, giving them new life in the process.
Her crack touring band, led by musical director Alan Hill, moved effortlessly between the decades, and gave Bettye plenty of room to stretch out. At once intimate and in-your-face, this was an evening I won't soon forget.

You go, girl!

On the new album, recorded at Fame down in Muscle Shoals (The Scene Of The Crime, get it?), Bettye is backed by the way-cool Drive By Truckers, the cookin' band which features good ol' Spooner Oldham on the keyboards, and is led by guitarist Patterson Hood, the son of 'Swamper' David Hood, who also shows up on the album.

It was just released today. Get one.

Bobby Byrd - Keep On Doin' What You're Doin' (Brownstone 4205)

2007-09-13T06:17:00.000-07:00

Keep On Doin' What You're Doin'

So here we are saying goodbye to yet another giant of this music, Bobby Byrd, an absolutely pivotal figure in the history of Soul.

I don't know if you'd be right to say that without Bobby Byrd, there would never have been a James Brown, but you'd be close. It was Bobby who took James under his wing, and welcomed him as a member of his own family after he helped get him paroled from a Georgia juvenile prison in 1952. It was Bobby who welcomed him into his Gospel quartet, The Avons, a group which would soon 'cross-over' and rename themselves The Famous Flames.

While Brown soon asserted himself as the leader, Bobby didn't seem to mind. "I've never seen a man work so hard in my whole life," he said, "...it was hard to keep up. He was all the time driving, driving, driving." That fire inside soon translated into a record deal with Syd Nathan in 1956. Whether it was early vocal group sides like Please, Please, Please and Try Me, or groundbreaking classics like Out Of Sight and Cold Sweat, It's important to remember that all of Godfather's King and Federal sides were credited to 'James Brown And The Famous Flames', right up until late 1968.

Their incredible run of over 45 R&B chart hits (placing over 20 in the top ten, including five #1's) during that 12 year period just boggles the mind. The Flames' soulful moan, along with their precision dance steps, helped define the James Brown experience, and have become an indelible part of our culture. After original Flames Bobby Bennett and 'Baby Lloyd' Stallworth walked (in a squabble over money soon after #2 R&B smash Licking Stick-Licking Stick), Bobby Byrd stepped into his role as 'Soul Brother Number One and a Half' (as Fred Wesley would come to call him).

It's hard to imagine what songs like Soul Power, Make It Funky, Get Up (I Feel Like Being A) Sex Machine, and I'm A Greedy Man might have sounded like without Bobby's equally important (yet uncredited) vocals. As I've mentioned before, the banter between Bobby and James (saying things like, "Don't get so funky!" "I can't help it, Byrd") just does me in. Soul personified, y'all. His keyboard skills and songwriting abilities would prove equally essential in those days as the James Brown Band evolved into The J.B.'s.

Byrd's solo records are just as important, as he took James Brown productions like I Need Help (I Can't Do It Alone) and the mighty, mighty I Know You Got Soul onto the charts in the early seventies. He and his wife Vicki Anderson would become an integral part of JB's People label, and produce some of the funkiest music this planet has ever heard. This high energy mover we have here today, issued for some reason on Brownstone (another Polydor subsidiary) would crack the R&B top 40 in early 1972. Get out da way! This is just as tight as it gets, man. Shortly after the release of this monster, Byrd would leave all of it behind, finally tired of 'not getting paid'.

Although he charted twice more on his own, by 1975, he was basically off the map.

He and Vicki continued to perform overseas, and a whole new generation of fans was waiting as Polydor began it's ambitious CD reissue campaign in the mid eighties. Despite their differences with him over the years, both Bobby and Vicki were there last December in Augusta as James Brown lie in state. I'll never forget watching him perform I Know You Got Soul that one last time with the solid gold casket of his fellow Flame there at his feet...

Fred Wesley won't you blow one time.

The Wild Magnolias - Smoke My Peace Pipe (Smoke It Right) (Barclay 30)

2007-09-11T15:45:00.000-07:00

Smoke My Peace Pipe (Smoke It Right)

When my partner Dan Phillips emailed me just three days ago to tell me that Willie Tee was hospitalized with terminal cancer, I couldn't believe it.

As Dan had reported only five weeks before, Willie's brother Earl Turbinton (aka the African Cowboy) had lost his long battle with cancer himself on August 3rd. It seemed positively unthinkable that this could be happening. What a blow to the family.

When I received an email this morning that Willie had passed on, it just knocked me down.

I saw Willie perform with the New Orleans Social Club at Jazz Fest this year, and stood there with Dan in Lafayette Square In New Orleans on May 3rd watching his killer set with Galactic and Chief Bo Dollis. Little did I know it would be the last time I'd ever see him.

I met Willie and his wife Marilyn in Memphis after his set at the Ponderosa Stomp last year. I had just driven up from New Orleans, where I had spoken to Snooks Eaglin before his show at the Rock 'n Bowl with Eddie Bo. It was soon after Katrina, and New Orleans was still basically a ghost town. We talked about the Wild Magnolias (members of which were supposed to show up that night), and the landmark 1974 album Snooks had recorded with them as part of the 'New Orleans Project', the smokin' band organized by Wilson and Earl Turbinton.

"Where Willie Tee at?" Snooks asked me. I had to tell him I didn't know. When I told Willie that Snooks had been asking about him, he broke into a wide smile."That's one of my favorite people on earth, man..." We talked, and we talked. I think Willie was glad to speak with someone who had just been 'home', as he hadn't been back since right after the storm. I ended up driving Willie and Marilyn to their hotel (after we got lost a couple of times), and they were just such sweet and genuine people. Willie gave me his card, and told me about the gig he had just gotten as 'artist in residence' at Princeton University in New Jersey.

I told him I was on my way to Jackson, Mississippi to check out the Malaco Studios, and he told me he was headed there next to visit family as well... why didn't I give his cell phone a call when I got into town, and maybe we could go together. I was floored. What a nice thing to do, man. When I did get to Jackson a few days later, Willie told me that his grandkids had taken the day out of school to be with their Grandpa... we both agreed that family came first.

To the Turbintons, family always came first.

Perhaps the title of the 1988 Rounder album Earl made with Willie said it all - Brothers For Life.

Brothers Forever.
____________
A funeral Mass will be held on September 22nd:
Our Lady Star Of The Sea Church
1835 St. Roch
New Orleans

The same church where Earl's funeral was held on August 11th.

My heartfelt condolences to the Turbinton family.

O.V. Wright - A Nickel And A Nail (Back Beat 622)

2007-08-28T04:54:00.000-07:00

A Nickel And A Nail

OK folks, like I was saying over on The B Side, they just don't come much better than this. One of those 'Mount Rushmore of Soul' songs that we've talked about in the past (like The Dark End Of The Street), it never fails to knock me out.

Released on this date in 1971, right in between Al Green's smash hits Tired Of Being Alone and Let's Stay Together, it gives you an idea of just how amazing things were back then on South Lauderdale Street.

Slim Harpo - I've Got My Finger On Your Trigger (Excello 2309)

2007-08-10T15:22:00.000-07:00

I've Got My Finger On Your Trigger

OK folks, by popular request here's the other song Slim recorded on that last fateful trip to Music City.

The personnel remains the same as on Folsom Prison Blues, with the notable addition of the great Pee Wee Ellis arranging the horn charts. It's a little known fact that after the famous 1970 'mutiny' in the James Brown Band (led by Maceo Parker), many of the 'King's Men' wound up in Nashville. There are 45s on Excello from this period by Maceo and Marva Whitney, and Bob Wilson would later work with Richard 'Kush' Griffith at the label as well.

Pee Wee liked what he heard from the band Wilson had put together for the session, and told him that Karl Himmel's drum pattern on here 'messed his mind up!' I'm right there with that, baby.

Oliver Morgan - Who Shot The La La (GNP Crescendo 318)

2007-08-02T05:35:00.001-07:00

Who Shot The La La

Please join me in saying goodbye to the king of the second line, Oliver Morgan, who passed away this past Tuesday in exile in Atlanta.

Morgan came up in the Ninth Ward of New Orleans, running partners with Jessie Hill, Eddie Bo, Papoose Nelson and his brother, the fabled Prince La-La. His first recordings, like La La's, were made for A.F.O. under the name of 'Nookie Boy'. This monumental party classic we have here today, was released in 1964 and helped turn La-La's untimely death into the stuff of legend. It also became Oliver's signature tune, performed with his trademark umbrella, as he led the 'second line' every year at Jazz Fest, and anyplace else that would have him.

He and his wife Sylvia had made their home on Tennessee Street in the Lower Ninth Ward until Hurricane Katrina took it from them in 2005. Relocating to Atlanta, their heart never seemed to have made the trip. "He had 9th Ward soul," said Antoinette K-Doe, the widow of Ernie K-Doe and a friend of Mr. Morgan's for more than 40 years. "And he was a good father and a good husband."

May he rest in peace.

Slim Harpo - Folsom Prison Blues (Excello 2306)

2007-07-30T07:35:00.000-07:00

Folsom Prison Blues

In 1969, Bob Wilson began doing some session work for Shannon Williams, then the head of A&R for Nashboro/Excello. The company's recently completed modern facility, Woodland Sound Studios in East Nashville, was a far cry from the room over Ernie's Record Mart where most of their early material had been recorded.

Williams made a deal with him; if Wilson helped him record Gospel for his Creed and Nashboro labels, he'd allow him to produce R&B acts on Excello. He brought in old pals Karl Himmel and Billy Cox (freshly returned from his stint with the Band Of Gypsys), and went to work. Backing up folks like Willa Dorsey and The 21st Century Singers (who they would also tour with), they came up with some excellent music.

Although he would later produce artists like The Kelly Brothers and Eugene Kemp (a former member of the Bright Stars that was 'crossing over'), Wilson had his sights set on Excello's biggest seller the whole time, the one and only Slim Harpo. Once he got the approval from Williams, he brought in buddy Ben Keith as his co-producer, and 'Music City Four' compadre Mac Gayden on the slide guitar. Building on a riff that Gayden had come up with a few days earlier, Bob worked up this smokin' arrangement of Johnny Cash's 1956 classic that Cash himself had taken to the top 40 the year before when he recorded it live at the prison itself.

Laying down the positively sizzling instrumental backing tracks, both for today's selection and it's follow-up I've Got My Finger On Your Trigger (for which Pee Wee Ellis would write the horn charts), they convinced Shannon Williams to fly Harpo up to Nashville to overdub his vocals and harmonica. Sadly, these two amazing singles would be the last things he ever recorded, as he died of a massive heart attack shortly after he returned home to Louisiana.

Absolutely superb stuff, I'm sure you'll agree that it just doesn't get much better than this, y'all!

Rosco Robinson - That's Enough (Gerri 001)

2007-06-16T07:57:00.001-07:00

That's Enough

Hey, folks. I just wanted to drop in here today to rave a little bit about the excellent show that John Ciba put together at Southpaw in Brooklyn last night. Starting things off was a positively incendiary set by the Southern Soul Group's own Eli 'Paperboy' Reed and his smokin' band The True Loves. These guys have got it goin' on, man.

Next up was the great Ralph 'Soul' Jackson, whose short set that opened this year's Ponderosa Stomp offered only a glimpse of his powers. With a scream to rival the Wicked Pickett's, 'Soul' let 'em know what it's all about. That way funky version of Sunshine Of Your Love still knocks me out every time I hear it! He told me this was his first trip to New York. I hope it won't be his last.

When Roscoe Robinson took the stage, the place went nuts. Backed by Eli & the True Loves (who were obviously thrilled to be there), he was simply fantastic. A true professional (after sixty years in 'the business'), he held the crowd in the palm of his hand. Talk about a living legend!

The cool record we have here today was Roscoe's second 'secular' 45, appearing here on his own Gerri label before it was picked up by Wand for national distribution. The Wand release would become his biggest hit, going all the way to #7 R&B in the summer of 1966. He sounded every bit as good singing it last night, as did those groovy go-go girls The Dansettes crooning those sexy "Oh baby, that's enough!"s in the background. Simply wonderful stuff, y'all.

Although Roscoe was certainly a tough act to follow, Clarence Reid and his crack band more than held their own, burning it up on great tunes like Masterpiece and Nobody But You Babe. The self-proclaimed 'Inventor of the Miami Soul Sound', Clarence has just released a brand new 45 on Rabbit Factory, Prime Time. Get yourself one.

My thanks to John and the rest of the Rabbit Factory crew for one awesome night of soul. They'll be doing the whole thing again in Chicago on June 23rd. Go.

Roy Head and the Traits - Treat Her Right (Back Beat 546)

2007-05-14T17:10:00.000-07:00

Treat Her Right

This song just kills me. Two minutes and five seconds of in your face Texas swagger that just doesn't let up. How cool is Roy Head, man?

When this record was released in 1965, Roy and his band The Traits had already been a fixture on the southern 'fraternity circuit' for almost ten years. They had some hot local records down there in Tejaño country, but this is the one that busted things wide open. Huey Meaux had paved the way when he managed to maneuver the Sir Douglas Quintet into the #13 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 that April with She's About A Mover (no mean feat considering this was at the height of the 'British Invasion').

Roy and the Traits did even better, steamrolling their way to the #2 slot on both the Pop and R&B charts that September. Treat Her Right would spend two weeks at that position - bested only by The Beatles (Help!) and James Brown (Papa's Got A Brand New Bag)! Not bad. Roy would hit the Hot 100 six more times in the sixties, then go on to cut the cult classic The Same People You Meet Going Up You Meet Coming Down in 1970 before charting 24 more times on the Country charts through the mid-eighties.

His set with Lil' Buck and the Topcats at this year's Ponderosa Stomp was simply amazing, with the 64 year old Roy showing no signs of slowing down. His legendary on-stage acrobatics (crawling across the floor on his belly at one point) just wowed the crowd, and his soulful growl sounded better than ever. The man is an absolute trip, and a true character whose sense of humor shines on through his music.

He's a lot of fun to watch!

Ralph "Soul" Jackson - Sunshine Of Your Love (Atlantic 2593)

2007-04-02T05:05:00.000-07:00

Sunshine Of Your Love

Like I was saying over on The B Side, this record just positively cranks!

A cover of a tune released the year before by one of Atco's new 'rock era' acts, it was produced at Fame by Spooner Oldham, making it like the 'harmonic convergence' of all things Atlantic, or something. Check out the horn charts! I'm not sure if that's a Harrison Calloway arrangement, or if Spooner came up with the idea himself, but get out da way!!

Play this one LOUD children, and dream of a world where Ralph "Soul" Jackson had the top ten hit, not those other guys.

Roscoe Robinson - We're Losing It Baby (Paula 378)

2007-03-18T07:00:00.000-07:00

We're Losing It Baby

In the early seventies, Stan Lewis' Jewel/Ronn/Paula empire would become home to some of the truly great names in Gospel and R&B. As many independent labels folded or were sold off to the highest bidder, Lewis was positioned to scoop up the cream of what they left behind. When Roscoe Robinson came into the fold in 1971, he joined an already impressive roster of talent that included veterans like Charles Brown, Ted Taylor, Lowell Fulson and Clarence Fountain. In many ways the perfect environment for him, the company walked the line between Gospel and R&B with ease.

The six singles he released on Paula over the next couple of years are simply fantastic. Some were deep ballads that featured old Chicago pal Cash McCall on guitar, like Without You and Prove It, while others were just straight ahead funk, like the way cool song you're listening to now. Written and produced by the in-house Jewel team of Jerry Strickland and Bobby Patterson, Roscoe's backed here by the seventies Sound City rhythm section known as The African Music Machine (dig the congas). Great Stuff! How records like this didn't make the charts is beyond me.

The fact remains, however, that they didn't, and Roscoe decided to go back to singing Gospel. He didn't have to go far, as Stan Lewis was just as happy to have him as a Gospel artist, and released the great He Still Lives In Me on his Jewel label in 1972 (for more on that, please visit holy ghost). That album, along with the Paula sides (and his first Gerri single as well) have been collected on the great Japanese release Heavenly Soul Music on P-Vine records. You need to own a copy.

Please rejoin me over at The B Side for the rest of the story...

The Golden Toadstools - Silly Savage (Minaret 138)

2007-03-06T12:51:00.000-08:00

Silly Savage

Hey everybody, check it out! I came across this one in the stacks the other day, and knew right away it was destined for the A side. I have no clue who the Golden Toadstools were (or for that matter, Merlin Jones and Wayne Branham), but this good time sice of funk sure kicks it up a notch!

The Minaret label was founded in Nashville in the early sixties by Herb Shucher. It was bought by another Nashville record man, Finley Duncan in 1966.

By the end of the decade, Finley had hooked up with the legendary Shelby Singleton and, using some of the money Singleton had earned from the smash hit Harper Valley PTA in 1968, they built the Playground Recording Studio in Valpraiso, Florida the following year. Great records by the likes of Big John Hamilton and Doris Allen would follow, and the studio's output remains in demand to this day.

The good news is that Playground has just undergone a major restoration, and is poised to get back into the game of recording great Southern Soul once again. During the renovations, new studio chief Jim Lancaster discovered hours and hours of unreleased master tapes amid the debris, and has just issued the first volume of material culled from those tapes, Soul Resurrection. You should go out and buy one right now. It's the real deal.

I'm not sure if 'Silly Savage' was recorded at Playground or not, but it has the same good time vibe as the 'hidden track' on the Playground CD... that one's about worms.

It's all good!

Bobby Byrd - I Know You Got Soul (King 6378)

2006-12-30T14:38:00.000-08:00

I Know You Got Soul

It did my heart good to see Bobby Byrd reunited with The Godfather at his memorial service in Augusta today. Bobby's family took James in when he was released from juvenile prison back in 1952, and the two men were, literally, like brothers.

Byrd was a founding member of the Famous Flames, and the second most recognizable voice in JB's music. That's him singing 'Get On Up' on Sex Machine, telling James not to get 'so funky' on Make It Funky (to which, in my personal favorite moment in all of Brown's recorded legacy, he replies "I can't help it, Byrd"), and chanting Soul Power behind the man himself.

This big fat slice of funk was released in May of 1971 (somewhere between Soul Power and Hot Pants), and is one of the first records to showcase that Fred Wesley and The JBs sound that would dominate the next few years of Brown's People releases. As anybody who's ever been to one of our parties can tell you, this has long been a favorite of mine, and never fails to get people out on the floor.

Despite the clueless boneheads at CNN talking over most of the music at The Godfather's send-off (and cutting to a commercial during Bootsy Collins' bass solo!), it was absolutely incredible to see Byrd and Wesley performing this almighty song together again.

Soul Brother Number Two, baby!

George Jackson - Find' Em, Fool 'Em And Forget 'Em (Fame 1457)

2006-12-08T11:48:00.000-08:00

Find 'Em, Fool 'Em And Forget 'Em

This fantastic A side of our recent George Jackson post was just too good to pass up. Although it may become available on a CD soon, you can say you heard it here first. The co-writer on this one is none other than Rick Hall himself. I love the way George says "remember the four F's", even though there are only three listed in the title... Dig that crazy fuzzed out wah-wah guitar, baby!

Like I said on the other side, this is either one of the last sessions with the 'second' Fame rhythm section of Johnson, Beckett, Hawkins and Hood, or one of the first with Junior Lowe's Fame Gang.

It's all good!