Everything's Gonna Be Alright

Manifesto December, 2013

As another Northern Soul film threatens to peek at us over the popcorn stands and attempts to explain, via a narrative, what it was all about to the man-in-the-street of today, we will doubtless be due another blinding flash of the media spotlight.  In fact it’s just happened ….  

Whether by coincidence with the above, or design, the BBC’s ‘Culture Show’ decided to ‘do’ Northern Soul via economics presenter Paul Mason (who I believe hails from Leigh).  I was aware of this back in June when a young lady researcher telephonically picked my brains regarding the potentiality of the Culture Show featuring our beloved subject.  Given that virtually every televisual treatment has gone the same way – ‘Ooh, they stay up all night y’know… and take drugs.  By crikey, they can’t half dance as well!’ and that both the Wigan play and the film ‘Soul Boy’ had very similar storylines (or rather non-storylines) I was anxious to point them in another direction; not easy to do when much is reliant on Granada’s 1977 exposé regarding footage from the time.  In some ways the Northern Soul scene doesn’t have the originality it often claims (or at least is thrust upon it).  It wasn’t the first scene by any means where devotees stayed up all night (trad jazz fans were doing that in the fifties), and modern jazz fans were no strangers to amphetamines either.  Lots of dance cultures saw their aficionados dancing like dervishes and America’s doo-wop collectors knew all about high prices for old records before Northern Soul had really got going.  But it was the first meaningful youth culture built around music from another time and place (Belgium’s ‘popcorn’ scene could also rival that claim, but it was never anywhere near the size of the Northern scene);  music that had largely failed in its country of origin, music that it in its originations and its availability put it beyond the control of the UK record companies and British radio.  That the kids couldn’t be told what to do and that the makers of the music had no conception that a latterday demand existed is to my mind the essential facet of the Northern Soul enigma.  In promoting music, often of real quality, that had been left, covered in dust of the ghettos, there is a sense of some worth and pride.  At first the Culture Show looked like it might go there (as I suggested they should) but no, we ended up in ‘hands, knees, and boomps-a-daisy, everyone do the Northern Soul’ territory.  And what was the nonsense about Northern Soul borrowing its moves from the Kung Fu epidemic of the early seventies?  I think a few thousand Torchites and Wheelites might have something to say about that!

Not too much to reflect upon in August’s Manifesto although I almost choked on my volauvent when Sean Chapman compared L.J. Reynolds stentorious vocals on ‘What’s A Matter Baby’ to Steve Marriott!!  Rather like comparing Pele to Shaun Goater (well they’re both black I suppose).  What’s next codman?  Suzi Quatro and Aretha Franklin? Nice to see at least that Grimsby Town’s remaining fan raves over Gene Chandler’s ‘In My Body’s House’ (Checker).  Actually I should make reference to Keith Rylatt’s Blues and Soul pages.  It’s worth mentioning that the Solitaires, who Keith mentions via some of their last Old Town recording, pushed on into the early soul sound in 1964 with ‘Fool That I Am’ and MGM Records. ‘Fool’ really is an outstanding example of the hybrid between soul and duo-wop that was typical of the time, even slightly past its apogee really.  The song is, surprisingly,   courtesy of Neil Diamond, and Chris Towns, who knew a thing or two about Uptown Soul, arranges and conducts.  The line-up of one of those giants of fifties R&B was subject to considerable change and on this, their final disc, I’m not too sure who the impassioned lead actually is.  That he sings with considerable soul is beyond debate.  Just at the moment the demand flame for early soul (as opposed to a more vigorous R&B sound very popular on the continent) is perhaps a little dimmed, which is a great shame, but if ya liked Stafford you’ll like this one.

In the Shop Around section of the last Manifesto, Keith quite rightly raves of the new History of Soul CD series issued at remarkably low prices recently, but fails to mention that these are the price they are, courtesy of the current UK laws on public domain which take the tracks to no later than 1962.  Not so much the history of soul then, as the history of the genesis of soul, despite absolute thoroughness.  Courtesy of such paupers as Cliff Richard and Paul McCartney there is every chance that this door to democratic copyright (we are talking 50 years for goodness sake) will be closed soon via a change in the rules.  When I contemplate the depth and accuracy of the History of Soul series then I can only consider that the consumer, the fan, the black music lover, is the loser.   We might never see complete accumulations of the output of, say, Donald Height or Jimmy Lewis in one place due to the sheer difficulty and/or cost set against demand, and I can honestly question what good purpose that circumstance actually serves?  Certainly not the purposes of the dwindling band of folks that really care about it!

Talk of compact discs takes me onto that subject.  A few years ago I was one of the people behind the retrieval of various masters from Don Davis’ Groovesville/United Sound/Solid Hitbound setup.  That this should include the almost immortal Darrell Banks was to my absolute and total delight – after all, was there EVER a better double-sider than ‘Open The Door To Your Heart’ coupled with ‘Our Love (Is in The Pocket)’?  And don’t forget – that was his FIRST record!  Don, or rather his brother Will, was adamant that Don’s productions were not licensed out to other labels in perpetuity so Goldmine’s double CD ‘Darrell Banks – The Lost Soul’ covered tracks that saw the light of day on Revilot, Atco, Cotillion and Volt in the manner that would be such a problem with the above-mentioned Donald Height.  I was therefore delighted nay, proud, to offer what I considered to be the complete output of a genuine ‘great’.  Imagine my surprise then to see a new Ace/Kent Darrell Banks compilation hit the shelves recently.  Entitled ‘I’m The One Who Loves You’, the CD manages to unearth four new demo tracks on this great artist as well as featuring all of his other Stax/Volt recordings.  As ever, attention to detail is the key here and I have to confess that even I had never realised that the Volt singles had slightly different mixes to the same tracks on the ‘Here To Stay’ album.  There are four genuinely unissued cuts (with others listed but not found), which aren’t fantastic but it’s so good to hear Bank’s voice on ‘new’ material once more.  That these are ‘mere’ demos matters hardly at all.  Amongst the ‘listed’ is ‘Please Let Me In’ (which Johnnie Taylor had a then-unissued go at of course, with some success) – the mouth waters, even foams, but there is no evidence that Banks’ actually made a version.  As usual annotator Tony Rounce does a wonderful job in explaining the tracks by virtue of dated studio sessions.  Only two complaints on that count then, the first is that the untraced  ‘Recipe For Love’ is very likely to be the song that  Davis recorded on L.V. Johnson and which Goldmine retrieved from the tapes by him. Secondly, that Mr Rounce manages to keep Goldmine unmentioned throughout the whole 14 pages!  Anyway, the point is that Don Davis’ opinion or no, Tony Rounce’s omissions or not – this Darrell Banks compilation is one of the best things to happen in 2013.

Keeping the connectivity going here we can stay with previously-unissued material on a limited edition 45 from Soul Tribe Records of Canada in the shape of Wallie Hoskins and Rosemary McCoy’s ‘Switch Around’.  Around ten years or so ago this persistent sixties dancer on a Beltone acetate saw considerable action from Rob Thomas and Andy Rix when they briefly threatened to become the new Ginger and Eddie as a deejaying duo (these partnerships are something of a rarity on the Northern Scene, Ginger and Eddie’s was broken at St Ives when Eddie spun ‘Car Wash’ only to be sat on for two hours by Ginger until he agreed to retire!)  Anyway Rob and Andy saw quite a few bookings in London at the dawn of the current millennium (was it Scenesville? perhaps the Dome as well), the point being that ‘Switch Around’ became genuinely popular, particularly in the south east.  When I was deejaying I used a cut of it too and found that it was one of those useful ‘newies’ that didn’t necessarily clear a dance floor straight away (the Mayfield Singers and Joe Jama were two others like this at the time).  Recently the afore-mentioned Ginger has been playing it as well.  The days are long gone when a one-off acetate could rise to genuine, all-round popularity via weekly gigs at Wigan or Stafford, and the most popular new spins (as opposed to oldies) are always the ones at least a few deejays have.  With an intro not unlike Jessie Johnson’s ‘Left Out’, which in turn borrows from Eddie and Ernie’s ‘Outcast’, ‘Switch Around’ is at the one and the same time familiar-but-not-familiar and it was overdue a degree of availability to vinyl.

I usually finish my articles here in Manifesto with a few original 45s and I’m not going to change that now.  Ian Levine has been rather resurgent of late with a new personal theme tune of ‘Soon Everything’s Gonna Be Alright’ (Third Time Around – get it?) and some kind of podcast, whatever they are (actually I know, but I’m happier having less to do with computers rather than more).  Knowing Ian well, I can honestly say that when he’s into something I know of few people who can be more single-minded, and over the last couple of years he’s applied that mindset to record collecting once more.   Even allowing for the fact that the bespectacled one has a different yardstick to blue-eyed Northern than I have, I must concede that he has turned up some very interesting tunes, at least one of which was a current cover-up.  Also interesting is Levine’s ability to look at some records which have been around (but are perhaps nonetheless uncommon) with fresh eyes and ears.  In this category we must place the CAMOTIONS with ‘Sonny’ on La-Ro-Ke – known to the scene since the late seventies for the flipside ‘Motown’, from which Simon Soussan got the idea for ‘Uptown Festival’ by Shalamar and which segués together, in sixties style, various songs from Berry Gordy’s empire courtesy of Clarence Lawton and Bert Keyes.  Flip it over and ‘Sonny’ is a tremendous piece of midtempo harmony recalling groups like the Elgins and Monitors which mixed male and female leads.  I could do with this female lead having perhaps a stronger voice but the whole mix is decidedly pleasing, a case of the whole being much stronger than the parts.  As for the mantra ‘oh well it’s around, it isn’t very rare’ then check the various internet sales sites, or compilations of such, and a different picture emerges despite the current low price.

Given the essential rarity and obscurity of much of our music it never fails to surprise me how many times certain songs or even backing tracks were used.  And how did UK pop groups get to hear things like ‘You Don’t Know Where Your Interest Lies’ or ‘You Got Me Where You Want Me’ years before the scene found them?  I suppose, as far as the United States is concerned, studios and labels were so ubiquitous that an attempt at a hit single wasn’t such a big financial risk, whereas a UK act had to head to London with it’s formal studios and unionized musician’s rates.  This, and the regional nature of the US (only one national newspaper I can think of outside of specialists), account for a vast difference between the US record industry and that of any other country.  So it was that in Los Angeles three different labels went with one song, one backing track, three different vocalists and one outcome – uber-obscurity.  The song, with its track, was twice known as ‘Crazy, Crazy’ so perhaps that is our best point of reference.  On this title we have both male and female versions by TOMMY MARKS and LITTLE JEANETTE respectively.  It would seem that Zel and The Green Lights labels are related with exactly the same dull, black, label and silver/grey typeface although the two releases are separated by exactly two years – April ‛66 in the case of Little Jeanette, the same month in 1968 for Tommy Marks.  Musically, the track has a skipping 80 mph beat with brass injections that screams ‘Northern’ i.e., reaching out to Motown but not quite there.  Neither singer is particularly outstanding rather than competent. In fact it appears that Marks is singing over the Little Jeanette track and that she is still in there from two years before.  The same flip ‘Please Come Back Again’ is employed but Marks genuinely goes solo on this one.  Thus far, ‘Crazy, Crazy’ had been an A-side but then, in mid-1969, it crops up once more, as a B-side and with a different title ‘Joey’, (although it’s the same song).  This one is on the Boss label (unconnected to others of that name) and ironically, given the song’s relegation to flipside status, is the strongest of the three from singer JO JO PETITE. The A-side is ‘You Make Me Come Alive’ and although a little messy, in itself could set a few Northern hearts a-flutter.  Not one of the above trio will set you back less than a couple of hundred pounds today, but illustrate perfectly the world of diverse vinyl waiting for ordinary British folks to stumble across over 40 years ago.

AND DOUBLE FINALLY… although I write this whilst green leaves are still on the trees, let me wish all of you a very Merry Christmas with the thought that a not unuseful Christmas present may well be advertised in this very edition of Manifesto.

‘Til Next Time’

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Back In The Groove

Manifesto May, 2013

Good to see Manifesto back in the groove again, back to full colour once more, and in a paper quality which won’t curl up as it was prone to before! As ever one or two things to comment on from previous editions, and I’ll try not to make one or two big boys cry – honest…The October/November issue is rather too long ago to take in detail, but I really must put forward the alternate viewpoint on Ian Stebbing’s review of Manships ‘Guide For USA Rare Soul 45’s (6^th Edition)’. Now, as a person who has also produced price guides to Northern Soul my opinions might be regarded as biased, or as Mandy Rice-Davies once famously said, ‘he would say that wouldn’t he?’ However, there has to be an alternative to the above writer’s lack of criticism, which quite honestly bordered on the sycophantic.  Placing aside for the moment the rampant disregard for any possible registered trademark that is commercial exploitation via the cover then what do the pages inside contain?  Well at first the glossy, photographic-quality paper appears impressive – until we pick the volume up, in which case the book takes on the garb of Dark Matter so heavy is it.  And there aren’t actually any photographs to justify this inconvenient truth!  Already after a couple of months this un-needed extra weight is tearing the pages from the spine.  Common sense on the scale of building a bridge from Liverpool to Ireland when there is a perfectly good ferry service I would have said.  As an indication of a large number of soul singles the book is useful, but by his own admission John Manship claims a database of 200,000 records, so what is the reality of a mere fraction of that number priced up and offered in a paper format? Well my age-old reservations about the Deep, Funk, and Sweet Soul titles remain.  These inclusions smack of pressing a button on a database rather than looking into the subject matter with fondness so incomplete are they.  It’s not as if it isn’t possible quite easily to find out exactly what the total output of a Willie Johnson or a Mighty Hannibal is and price it accordingly.  If you want to that is.  Presumably some would say that ‘something is better than nothing’ and it’s a good point, though obviously not one I concur with.  The Northern and Modern aspects of the book are more worrying in that quite a number of titles are missing entirely, again one is tempted to point to a reliance on a computer rather than any collector’s investigation and this must be the truth, although it beggars belief that the author wouldn’t look at other price guides (which he plainly didn’t).  As for prices – well some are up on my view of them, others down on that same circumstance, although at the more expensive end they often appear startlingly out of touch – the C.O.D.’s ‘She’s Fire’ and Kell Osborne’s ‘Law Against A Heartbreaker’ for instance.  Then again, if you ain’t ever had ‘em for sale and the computer button is your lord and master, what can you do?  So there you have it – the view from across the trenches as-it-were, but beware the price because the construction of this tome is such that if regular reference is your aim you’re going to need repeat copies. Not that much to argue with in March’s Manifesto excepting Sean Chapman’s inability to spell ‘Brighouse’!  This was no mere typo as he repeats it ad infinitum – clearly the boy has been taking spelling lessons from Brighouse supremo Ginger Taylor. And, at a more serious level a note to Soul Sam that Mr Percolater (‘I Can’t Get Enough’ on Wax-Well) was actually a rather wonderful singer by the name of Perk Badger (or Pearstine Badger) long beloved of Japanese Deep Soul collectors.  Also rather good for Northern fans on the same label by the same artist is ‘Burning Up For Your Love’. In the ‘trendy end’ of the last Manifesto Pete Haigh gives us his run-down on his top 30 releases from 2012.  This is much harder to do in rare soul land of course because these days the true point at which an old record actually discovered is often up for debate with quite a number of ‘new’ things having been around for a few years or even longer.  On compact disc things are much easier of course, and whilst I am not about to muse and cogitate over last year then Ace/Kent’s retrospective of the Spinners ‘Truly Yours’ would probably take top honours with at least 4 outstanding never-heard-before cuts on it, all of which should be top of current playlists, but aren’t due to an over-riding, obsessional, ‘look what I’ve got’ mentality which often promotes sheer rarity above commonsense.  As an example of this factor a few people have ‘discovered’ Little John on Gogate recently, oblivious to the fact that, a) it is an atrocious piece of nonsense from a guy that can’t sing and b) was played out, even bootlegged, 25 years ago.  Get to ‘We’re Gonna Be More Than Friends’ on the Spinners CD. Say I.
 Turning to the current year I did think initially that, even this early in the annus (that’s annus Sean and Ginger), Kent’s ‘Pied Piper Presents’ would be release of the year.  It’s impressive, that much is for certain, but after a week of constant listening in the car, the flaws started to emerge.  Let us, however, look on the bright side first, and bright is indeed the word – no less than a dozen tracks out of the 24 are previously unissued in any shape or form, with standout tracks from The Cavaliers, Freddy Butler, Willie Kendrick and Nancy Wilcox, even a bustin’, stomper of an instrumental ‘He’ll Be Leaving You’.  Other versions of tracks we know already are included of which Lorraine Chandler’s original, faster take of  ‘I Can’t Hold On’ amazed at first, then irritated later, as I realized the issued take (on RCA) was superior.  Rose Batiste’s ‘This Heart Is Lonely’ improves on ‘I Miss My Baby’ issued (by her or not, it isn’t quite clear) on Revilot with added handclaps.  How this ended up at Pied Piper is anyone’s guess.  September Jones’ ‘Stuttering Sam’ and ‘Chink A Chank Baby’ both utilize existing backing tracks to ‘Set My Heart At Ease’ and ‘Candle In The Window’ but are ultimately ruined by banal lyrics whilst previously released goodies abound, even if the Sandpiper’s ‘Lonely Too Long’ will be lonely forever to these ears!  Ady Croasdell’s booklet is worth the price of the compilation in its own right – an important work (and that’s not too strong a word) which places most of these recordings in a factual, even historical, context – much of it for the first-ever time. I flatter myself that I’m one of the few who offer up an accurate critique of Ace/Kent material for the simple reason that, because I buy their releases, I say what I like and I’m not in their pocket.  By and large however, they do a fantastic job worthy of high praise.  Such praise came from my Canadian sparring partner Martin Koppel recently when he nominated the Ace CD ‘Dan Penn – The Fame Recordings’ as his CD of the year (thus far, one presumes).  A few years ago Penn performed (with Spooner Oldham) a version of his song ‘I’m Your Puppet’ on television (Jools Holland’s show I think) and I realized that he was a much better vocalist than his recording career provided evidence for.  I’m pleased to say that the soulful Dan Penn is on show in this compilation of previously unreleased material that presumably were song demos at the time.  Even though we can clearly see Penn to be as white as the driven snow, his versions of ‘Keep On Talking’, ‘Slippin Around With You’ and ‘Power of Love’ are totally as credible as those issued by soul men of some credence and credibility.  His version of Ben Atkins’ ‘Come On Over’ is very similar to the Youngstown release, although in this instance both vocalists are blue-eyed of course.  And although readings of ‘Northern’ records are interesting enough, a ballad is usually the ultimate litmus of vocal prowess, Dan Penn does a fine job here as well on southern classics like ‘Feed The Flame’ and ‘Take A Good Look’.  Truly convincing white soulsters are scarce but I can honestly say that we have one here.
 Outside of Ace/Kent the Rojac/Tayster material has surfaced via a rather mysterious source (on a revived ‘Rojac’ label) which admits that the longer term whereabouts of owner Jack Taylor is not known after his 1980’s sojourn into the club business (Harlem World Club).  How this fell into anyone’s ownership is debatable therefore and as the material on ‘The Rojac Story’ is all of an issued nature the mastertapes have presumably not been located.  It is perhaps unfortunate that a U.S. source has claimed this material because the compilation falls fairly uneasily on two discs.  One of these goes down a funk route, or funk-ish at least, the other down a soul route of varying eras and tempos.  Often the ages of the product sits ill as ease with each other and the Northern Soul is scattered around without contiguity.  The label scans show the reissue of Lillie Bryant’s ‘Meet Me Halfway’ presumably without the knowledge that it was such a thing, and why the 635 label isn’t included I’ve no idea.  On the other hand I’ve never seen the disco/funk 80’s Rojec label before.  The sleevenotes aren’t too bad but don’t tell us much we didn’t know already (I already knew the Master Four were the International GTOS).  A number of great records are missing from the selection and whilst not being wonderful, probably the rarest one ‘Love Has Taken Wings’ by the Master Four is not included.  Interestingly the Rojac discography lists a Master Four disc I’ve never heard of so I wonder if anyone out there owns ‘The Mojo Man’ please get in touch.  It is quite clear that these labels were worthy of at least 3, if not 4 CDs even, to represent the good stuff.  A mere 44 tracks from over one hundred represents a poor return and a lost opportunity methinks.
 Not all American reissues operate at a level somewhat below that of the Old World, a notable exception being Numero Uno Records out of Chicago who continue to plunder the most obscure corners of black music not only with aplomb, but with a policy of commercial viability that frequently has this compiler scratching his head.  Both these circumstances apply to a little box set of 45s culled from the miniscule Boddie Recording Studio in Cleveland, Ohio which operated from 1965 to 1983.  As far as I know nothing particularly famous came out of there, and it isn’t the time and place to record their story here, suffice it to say that it seems to be firmly rooted in the black community.  The box set has 6 previously unissued sides, all uncertain or unclear origins, with even the artists un-named.  Of interest to the scene is a reasonable, rather basic, take on ‘Selfish One’ (female) and two good midtempo seventies dancers which are most likely the ‘other’ Montclairs, or sometimes Monclairs, on Sunburst and Comet.  These two sides are ‘Never Let You Go’ and ‘Let The Children Play’ – nothing earthshattering but the fact that someone has put them out on vinyl is perhaps a testament to the current diverse times old soul finds itself in.
 Just time for a few more bits of dusty old vinyl then.  A few years ago I formed a kind of vague impression that if the Northen R&B thing wasn’t necessarily over, then it was in a definite regression.  In terms of ‘main rooms’ then this was true, there hasn’t been a Charles Sheffield or a ‘Catch That Teardrop’ for some time but that was to ignore a little subculture digging out tunes away from the mainstream of the Northern Soul scene.  In amongst the above subculture are a plethora of great discs with a good deal of soul in their grooves (and some weary antiques to be fair) which I’m currently finding more appealing than some of the obscure disco on some of the modern scenes (yes there is more than one or two of those).  One of the best is a rare one in the shape of MARRY CLAYTON ‘I’ve Got My Eyes On You’ on the Los Angeles label Teldisc.  Quite clearly you don’t have to be Sherlock Holmes to deduce that this is Merry Clayton on a Richard Berry song.  At one time this obscure 45 was touted for the flipside ‘The Doorbell Rings’ but the difference between the two sides does rather illustrate the way in which the new breed of R&B has progressed with ‘Doorbell’ coming over as a dated clichē very much of the pre-‘Heatwave’ era (‘Heatwave’ is arguably the most important record in pop history).  Flip the record over and ‘I’ve Got My Eyes On You’ is an insistent mover without much pop sentiment and with a raunchy gospelesque approach embellished by a croaking saxophone break that any fan of the black voice could surely not resist?  Although she was the original recorder of ‘The Shoop Shoop Song (It’s In His Kiss)’ on Capitol, Clayton’s career was largely in the pop/rock side of things, as a result her powerful vocalising is rarely appreciated in our circles.  The rare and obscure ‘I’ve Got My Eyes On You’ won’t change that circumstance, but will remain as yet another piece of vinyl worthy of remembrance by collectors and dancers. The term ‘crossover’ first came to Britain’s rare soul scene in the mid to late eighties.  At that time modern records were rarely played if over ten years old and with Stafford firmly in the grip of sixties (including older sixties sounds than had ever been previously contemplated), a swathe of music from the very late sixties (say ’68) to the mid-seventies was being ignored.  Embracing a variety of tempos with soul always at the forefront, ‘crossover’ was born, and it’s twin peaks rapidly became Parker’s and the Canal Tavern, Thorne, climaxing together (sorry!) at Alex Lowe’s weekenders.  One of the real highlights of that first swathe of record titles was FREDDIE TERRELL’S ‘You Had It Made’ which emerged from Atlanta, Georgia to appear on the mainstream Capitol label circa 1971.  Terrell, who was primarily an instrumentalist, drafted in one Eddie Maxey to perform the caustic vocals on this one – Terrell had no shortage of available singing talent after working with the likes of Lee Moses and Herman Hitson (who co-wrote ‘You Had It Made’).  Upon re-listening to the song I’m left to reflect that it has some of a ‘steppers’ tempo with a gritty edge to it – but wait!  How can I have missed ‘Why Not Me? on the flipside?  It’s actually even better than ‘Had It Made’ coming in as a fantastic midtempo track layered with brass and more of those fiery vocals.  A quite astounding double-sider therefore that no serious collection of obscure soul music should be without.

‘Til Next Time’

Tim Brown

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Let's Talk About Soul

Manifesto April, 2013

Summertime and the living is easy… not around these parts unfortunately with at least two floods!  Now as I write this article cloaked in stygian darkness and as rusty-brown leaves swirl around the windows, I am forced to contemplate the long hard winter.  Still, the Vibrations are on the way at the end of it all.  With that pleasant thought in mind – let’s talk about soul…

The BBC gave me a call recently upon the sad news that Frank Wilson had shed his mortal coil – as the only known owner of an original copy of his famous record it seems that I’m entwined in the legend that is the story of ‘Do I Love You’.  I was asked if I ever played the original 45, to which I replied that with various reissues of the said track I hardly needed to do that – and what is more I’m ever-so-slightly bored with the record anyway!  Incidentally is ‘Do I Love You’ the only case of a credible Northern Soul 45 being permissible for a deejay to play on the reissue?  Good job really because I’m not behind the decks at the moment and the other copy is in ‘Humberside’ (according to some sources).

Over the many years that I’ve been a record dealer I’ve seen a number of people enter the fray and fail to make it as an ongoing concern.  In the late eighties we had Labeat Records – a short-lived enterprise out of the East Midlands but one which managed to shape the future auctioning of Northern Soul records (a now regular circumstance).  A few years later one Pete Lowrie of Carlisle made something of a splash courtesy of scouring Detroit – but it didn’t last.  Both of the above, and others, had the lifespan of an antechinus but another has just retired after 30 years or so of purveying rare vinyl.  Based in Wolverhampton, Richard Domar was a controversial figure once voted (in a manner) ‘worst record dealer’ by a soul website!  Nonetheless Richard offered many interesting singles in his time – my copy of Ray Agee on Soultown came from him and I ‘discovered’ ‘Love’s Stormy Weather’ on his shelves filed as a poor cover of ‘Soul Man’ (the other side).  He also found ‘the box’ of Boss Four’s ‘Walkin By’ on Rim, tho’ had long since sold out of copies.  It might also be noted that he produced 7 issues of a fanzine ‘The Owl’s Effort’ in the late eighties.  They make interesting reading, coming from an era that is dismissed by many as ‘doldrums’ but which was actually very vibrant in many ways.  Domar was the victim of his own kind of brusque honesty as a telephone voice, but I got on well with him and wish him well in his record-less future.

In the search for CD-only tracks, recent months see Ace/Kent dominate this particular scenario – but not before comment on a release of their’s with no previously unissued tracks at all in the shape of ‘King Northern Soul Volume 3’.  The release takes advantage of the ever-widening spectrum of Northern Soul to produce a 24 track compilation which even the label itself (Kent) had doubted could occur after the first duo of volumes over 11 years ago.  The result will surely shock the vast majority for whom Northern Soul means ‘Do I Love You’ or ‘Get It Baby’ or, well, records like them that have traditionally defined the genre. One instrumental huge in 1975 (not ‛76 please Ady) in the shape of ‘Thunder’ (curiously depicted by the reissue) is about the only memory-jerker, to which we can add the fabulous Stafford spin ‘House of Broken Hearts’ by Hal Hardy and a bit of current demand for Charles Spurling’s  ‘That’s My Zone (He’s Pickin’ On).  The rest, and fine mid to uptempo soul they frequently are, stretch any definition of Northern Soul almost to breaking point.  Unusually for Kent (and Ady Croasdell) the sleevenotes are weak and error-strewn making for a very frustrating CD compilation overall.  I reviewed one of the first King Northern Soul albums at the time as ‘starting like the Champions League and ending like the Carling Cup’ – well the latter is now the Capitol One Cup, and 7-5 and 5-4 results apart is still not the most enthralling of football competitions; using that same old analogy I could perhaps say that at best this CD is the first two rounds of the old League Cup before the big boys come in.

Elsewhere amongst the Ace/Kent compilations the southern states offer up at least one track off George Jackson’s ‘Let The Best Man Win’ CD subtitled ‘The Fame Recordings Volume 2’, in the shape of the outrageous pounder ‘It’s Not Safe To Mess On Me’.  I’m tempted to say one or two other tracks from this comp would cause a stir if they were on tiny, obscure labels – and ‘It’s Not Safe’ would probably be worth a small fortune.  ‘We’re The Soul Girls!’ visits the output of Jeanne and the Darlings plus the Charmels from Volt Records.  The first of these two girl groups offer the fantastic gospelesque midpacer ‘Changes’ which has seen release on CD before in the nineties, ‘I’m In Love With You’is possibly too mellow for Northern Soulers but is a rather wonderful just-below-midpacer.  The Charmels have no less than 7 unreleased-at-the-time tracks on this CD and both ‘Baby Hurry’ and ‘Oo-oh A-a-ah’ would not disappoint fans of Memphis stompers such as ‘Keep My Woman Home’ or ‘Changes’.  Seventies fans could do a lot worse than Darrow Fletcher ‘Crossover Records – 1975-79 L.A. Soul Sessions’ (Kent) even if nothing actually touches the released 45 ‘This Time (I’ll Be The Fool)’, tho even that one is the previously unreleased ‘album’ cut on the CD.  Many of our heroes now plough undistinguished furrows – in the case of Darrow Fletcher he is now a painter and decorator – so all credit to Kent for putting him in the spotlight after all these years. Not all is Kent on small shiny disc however, and Outta Sight’s compilation ‘Crossover To Modern Soul’ sees Deniece Chandlers ‘I’m Not Like The Others’ see the light of day for the first time.  This is a version, probably the original, of the Little Jimmy Gandy song on Roulette that had crossover popularity at one time.  Chandler was to metamorphose into Deniece Williams of course.  Also of note is the launching of Point of Views’ ‘I’m Superman’ (Instant) as a seventies in-demander which seems to be very rare.  Available at the moment is a double CD of Mary Wells’ 20^th Century Fox (Soul Music Records) material which includes her two albums for the label, one of which, ‘Love Songs To The Beatles’ is quite awful, not due to the songs (which are classics of the pop genre) but the quasi-M.O.R. manner in which they are produced.  There are 4 tracks on the CD which didn’t make it to vinyl back in the day (mid-sixties) ‘I’m Learnin’ is up there with other Mary Wells post-Motown dancers on not only 20^th Century but Atco and Reprise too.  Actually these tracks came out previously on CD in 1996 on John Abbey’s Ichiban imprint but that release is very difficult to find now…. So here’s your chance.

Onto vinyl and another interesting previously unissued cut that has its 45 is ‘Psychedelic Soul Part 3’ issued by Outta Sight on a Thomas lookalike.  In some ways it is rather more of a curiosity with improvising in less-than-serious style over the backing track, makes a refreshing change although my mum doesn’t like it much (she goes for Part 1 having been subjected to it so much in the middle seventies – quite true!).  Had an order recently from a dyed-in-the-wool Northern fan for a clutch of JAMES BROWN singles, it was bound to happen really with at least a part of the current scene going rather funky.  Amongst them was ‘Sexy,Sexy,Sexy’ on Polydor – a track that caused me to remember more from the middle seventies and the Barker boys from Todmorden who put me onto the above when the Mecca/Cleethorpes had started to play Black Nasty, East Coast Connection etc.  At that time the disc in question was not rare enough to be played but I loved its remorseless rhythm.  And it shares more or less the same backing track as the great ‘Money Won’t Change You’ (King) from 1966 as well.

Far away from the hit status that James Brown enjoyed we move on to L.A.’s Flodavieur label and a 1964 release from the grammatically challenged INCONQUERABLES.  This label first came to the notice of the UK’s rare soul aficionados via The Antellects ‘Love Slave’ in the nineties.  Often held up as the 8^th wonder of the world, I always thought it to be somewhat dull and actually I prefer ‘For Your Love’ by the Inconquerables which is the release before it.  One thing that could be said in favour of the Antellects is that it sounds rather ahead of its time by a couple of years at least, whilst the Inconquerables is firmly of a 1964 vintage that saw doo-wop elements firmly incorporated into the new wave of soul music.  In actual fact these doo-wop influences impart a warmth to the record that Dell’s recordings on Argo and Vee Jay at, or before, this time.  Coming in at around 70mph ‘For Your Love’ has enough about it to encourage any dancefloor but I particularly appreciate the record when the lead singer injects urgency and passion into his pleas as the song reaches the finishing line.  Those who are into impassioned doo-wop ballads reaching out for the soul era really shouldn’t miss the flip ‘Wait For Me’ which in essence is a Deep Soul record with doo-wop overtones.  Incidentally, as if reputedly issued on yellow vinyl in addition to the more usual black.

A few issues ago, I reviewed the Kent Contours CD which included the infamous track ‘Do The See Saw’ – a previously unissued cut which escaped Motown’s vaults to emerge as the backing track to Tom & Jerrio’s ‘Boo-Ga-Loo’ (ABC) which was a big hit in 1965, resulting in a successful lawsuit from Gordy’s company. Well, I can now inform Ace/Kent that ‘Boo-Ga-Loo’ wasn’t the only occasion on which the track was used.  Word has it that Andre Williams was allegedly responsible for returning to Chicago with certain ‘prizes’ from the Motown studio (hence ‘Boo-Ga-Loo’) and the band track to ‘Do The See Saw’ also ended up on the tiny Soulville label (nothing to do with Philly’s label of the same name) and MAURICE JACKSON’S ‘ It’s To (Sic) Late Baby’.  Jackson was eventually to join the Independents but additionally had a few obscure solo releases on labels such as Plum and Parral with ‘Lucky Fellow’ on Candle Light achieving quite a demand amongst crossover fans and the old rare groove crowd.  In all fairness ‘It’s To Late Baby’ is more of interest for the circumstances surrounding it than the quality on offer but it is another piece of the gradually emerging jigsaw of our music.

Far from the two obscure Los Angeles and Chicago circumstances above is London, England and the Island logo (which actually started in 1959 in Jamaica hence the name).  Proving that even our own nation has not yielded up all of its sixties treasures is LLANS THELWELL and ‘Lonely Night’ (Island 262).  Actually it isn’t Thelwell that we fixate upon here but a very accomplished West Indian singer by the unlikely name of Busty Brown (don’t Google it, you will only get in deep waters!), if you look around you will find a number of excellently sung reggae/ska numbers putting him up there with the best of the genre such as Jackie Opel or Phillip and James.  Thelwell reveals his true personata on the reverse side in the shape of ‘Choo Choo Ska’ which is a decent example of that kind of thing I suppose. Much more heavyweight is ‘Lonely Night’ which hits a somewhat between midtempo and a ballad over which Brown delivers in a style not unlike America’s Little Buster (for a convenient comparison).  True, there is the cavernous slightly ‘tinny’ sound of a West Indian band (Thelwell and his Celestials) but I think that this only adds to the charm of a great soul record sitting at the very top of those from such a background.  From 1966 this has to be a tough one to find and as it isn’t in the only UK price guide to Northern Soul, I would have to place it at least at a £100.

Finally, a last minute addendum due to an interesting new CD from Kent ‘Kent 30, Best Of Kent Northern’ (isn’t that missing “the”?). Basically Adey Croasdell celebrates the 30^th anniversary of Kent Records with a selection of 30 tracks representing the afore-mentioned lifespan of the famous label. There are quite a few alternate takes and mixes of tracks like ‘The Magic Touch’, ‘You Only Live Twice’ and ‘I’m Shooting High’ plus three totally new-to-CD things of which the Marva Holiday is rather horrible, the Gary & Gary cut using the backing track from ‘Baby Without You’ rather interesting (but white) and Alexander Patton’s ‘(True Love Is) In The Heart’ totally fantastic. Of course I raved over the Alexander Patton in Manifesto some time ago only to have brother Croasdell inform me that it wasn’t up to scratch for a variety of bizarre reasons, now it seems it’s the primo piece on the compilation starring as the very first track! And I’ll bet good money that it ends up as a 45 too. Strange. Almost as good as the overall compilations is the 22-page booklet inside telling the story of Kent Records. In fact the whole Ace/Kent story would make an interesting book in its own right – yet another great suggestion from myself to the North London record company. Perhaps I should start charging a consultancy fee! 

Til Next Time

Tim Brown

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Soul on-line!

Manifesto December, 2012

Ooo.. I’m all disembodied!  Perhaps not literally but I write now so far away from the last available issue of Manifesto that I feel almost unconnected.  I’ll do what I can, I’ll make a few points, but I feel as if my pen is losing all vitriol.  Is that really the case?  Let’s see….

Well, I can observe a few things in my already-dust-covered June Manifesto.  Probably the most interesting for me is Rob Moss’ item on Ed Wolfrum and his observations, as a studio engineer, on Detroit recordings of the sixties.  Don Davis used to use United Sound studios quite a lot back in those days and at Goldmine, we hit a deal with Don to release material he owned, a lot of stuff came from there – a situation Goldmine financed in terms of retrieving material from old masters.  In fact stuff keeps emerging rather mysteriously from what would appear to be that source and I’ll say no more, suffice it to say that we obviously weren’t offered all the tracks mastered at the time.  It is also rather disappointing, nay astounding to learn that Wolfrum has a ‘library’ of unreleased material which Rob claims ‘will probably never gain a release’.  Hands up those that think that to be an acceptable situation!  If this is true then Wofrum is doing no-one a favour.  And whilst legal situations may be murky who is really going to complain or be precious about it?  If anything the producers of said music probably have legal entitlement anyway.  I’ll always remember Davis stating that he did not sell Solid Hitbound productions to Ric Tic or Golden World either outright or in perpetuity, and certainly not to Berry Gordy! 

On to Soul Sam in June’s Manifesto and those rather horrible scans in brown paper – a column which brought about a rather classic circumstance via the Jesse Slaughter review (‘I Had A Dream’ on Les-Stan).  For sure a great disc and one which had a small following in the eighties, perhaps more importantly it is a Florida recording/label co-written and produced by the great Paul Kelly.  A look in our price guide sees the disc rated at £30 and at £20 in the pie region of our sceptered isle, an area that also produces a price guide to rare soul.  However, our on-line price guide now sees this as a £250 touch for the simple reason that I’ve recently sold it at such a price.  Look around the world – Ebay, Pop Sike, Gemm, whatever you like – the Jesse Slaughter disc is not available at all.  The classic circumstance referred to above is that of an age-old price remaining constant while no-one thought about it and that of a revived sixties spin (in the absence of ‘new’ sixties discoveries) revealing a total dearth of copies i.e., ‘I Had A Dream’ is really rather rare.  And, by the way, it is also really rather good. 

Talk of Florida soul leads me onto another tremendous slab of sixties finally starting to make a name for itself after being known for a couple of decades at least.  I can’t swear that I haven’t reviewed REATHA REESE’S fabulous ‘Only Lies’ (Dot) before in Manifesto but it’s too big a job to check to be honest and I can’t swear it’s from Florida either, although the latter is a good bet, if not, then Nashville, certainly not Hollywood, California (the home of Dot Records).  Of course Dot leased material in from all over the place, but the clue here is Clarence Reid and Bob Riley on songwriting credits.  Florida stalwart Reid had releases on Nashville’s Dial label and his songs for that logo went under Tree Publishing.  Ditto the Reatha Reese – so it’s either/or as far as I’m concerned. So what about the music?  Well, this is a simply superb piece of uptempo soul with an infectious rolling rhythm pounding along.  Reese can sing – witness the wailing fadeout, a ballad flipside usually confirms this aspect and ‘Things I Should Have Done’ emphasizes that this artist should have had more than the solitary release I know of (although I’ve a sneaky feeling she’s someone else if you know what I mean). 

Curtis Futch Jnr… ever heard of him?  Well actually you have in the shape of Kurt Harris of ‘Emperor Of My Baby’s Heart’ fame.  Not only was the man Kurt Harris but his later releases reveal him to be KURTIS SCOTT.  Originally from Georgia, Scott (aka Harris, Futch) moved to New York in 1952 and was to feature in elements of the black music of the Big Apple for the next four decades.  In the ‘soul’ era most of his releases seem to be in association with famed all-rounder Robert Banks (of ‘Mighty Good Ways’).  Labels include Cherokee, Apache and Marky Ho (a soul version of ‘Moon River’).  He first came to the attention of the Northern Soul Scene via a track leased out to Don Robey’s Sureshot label in Texas.  Not heard in a dancehall for many a year is ‘No, No, Baby’ a vocal to an equally forgotten instrumental by the Soft Summer Soul Strings on Columbia, ‘I’m Doing My Thing’.  Handily, my copy is date-stamped ‘July 30 1966’.  A decent disc if a bit too ‘bouncy’ for today it is however, not the focus of my current attentions and we move into the seventies, 1975 to be exact, for that particular aspect.  The waxing in question is ‘Build, Build, Build’ (Happening) and, once more, Robert Banks is at the helm.  Rather different from anything else I’ve heard from Scott, this is a strong seventies dancer with a great arrangement that really does ‘Build, Build, Build’ the combination of strings, chorus and lyrics screams ‘minor league in a good way, mail immediately to Britain’. It features parts one and two as consecutive takes of the song rather than vocal/instrumental.  It’s a rare one too! We recently obtained £1200 for a copy in our on-line auction. 

Somewhere in the dim and distant past of soul literature I bemoaned the fact that what I call ‘staxified’-styled uptempo records didn’t have much of a place on the Northern Scene.  Well, ‘don’t wish too hard for what you want or you might just get it’ is my mantra here; of course Stax records have always had a place on the scene if not a vertebral role as does Motown, but recent spins by the likes of Clarence Murray or Don Varner lead me to believe that messier-but-soulful stompers are being accepted.  Two such items are in front of me now.  Gradually creeping up in price is CARL HOLMES AND THE COMMANDERS ‘Soul Dance No 3’ (Blackjack), quite rightly so because this is firmly in Wilson Pickett territory taking absolutely no prisoners with its pounding beat and caustic vocal delivery.  In fact I would like to know just who the singer is – other Carl Holmes 45s don’t sound like this gritty unknown, the Blackjack release credits Pervis Herder, but he was principally an organist with a light voice at best.  Cliff Nobles could do the searing vocals as we know and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if it were him.  Blackjack (Carl Holmes later fronted the Sherlock Holmes Investigation) was a Philadelphia label but it’s ‘down home’ to Atlanta and William Bell’s Peachtree label for GORGEOUS GEORGE and ‘Get Up Off It’.  Amazingly George’s real name was Theodopholus  Odell George, a former valet for Hank Ballard, George cut quite a figure on the southern chitlin’ circuit as an M.C.  Periodically George would enter the studio, for instance he had a 1965 one-off Stax release ‘Biggest Fool In Town’, and his seventies releases for Homark Records are valued.  The feeling is that Gorgeous George should have gone in to the recording studio more than he did and ‘Get Up Off It’ proves that weighing in with several punchy bouts of uptempo southern soul and a running piano not unlike a Little Richard record, all punctuated with typically healthy southern horns.  You won’t find this one in a hurry that’s for certain.  Like one or two other Peachtree releases this one is very rare and long in-demand in Japan for the Deep Soul flipside ‘It’s Not A Hurting Thing’.  Just realised that I have a rare early dancer by this guy as well on Neptune ‘Now I Believe In Miracles’ plus he was Georgie Boy on SSS International and Birmingham George on Marsi. 

Just to confirm that all is not what it would seem with Northern Soul collecting, I got asked for ‘Sax On The Track’ by Mike and Ike (Arctic) the other day.  It is of course a rather splendid and surprisingly raunchy instrumental on the famous Philly label.  Stroking my chin over the price, my potential customer (a noted deejay) admitted that he had never seen a blue-lettered original and that all copies he had seen were the black-lettered reissue/bootleg.  Went to my own collection and sure enough my own copy was less than pristine indicating that few if any, other copies had come my way. £60 in our current paper price guide but now £100 on-line.  I hate to admit it but the internet does have its advantages. 

I will finish with a killer CD track from the recent Kent compilation ‘Hall Of Fame’.  Consisting of 24 tracks, no less than 21 are previously unissued featuring names familiar to the UK like James Barnett and June Conquest.  Ralph ‘Soul’ Jackson does a reasonable version of Jimmy Hughes’ ‘You Really Know How To Hurt A Guy’ as does the unidentified Jackie on ‘Almost Persuaded’.  Clarence Carter answers Etta James’ ‘Tell Mama’ with the great ‘Tell Daddy’ (but why, oh why, Mr Rounce do we get O.B. McClinton?).  Northern Soulers however, will swoon (or should do) over BOBBY MOORE and ‘Baby Come Back’.  Possibly a tad too sprightly for the dance floors of today, somehow, somewhere, this effervescent mover reminds me of some very rare Northern in-demander which I just can’t put my finger on.  Apparently dating from a 1971 session ‘Baby Come Back’ sounds at least four years older than that year and incorporates great saxophone work from Moore (who rarely actually sang on his recordings).  Bouncy, trouncy, fun, fun, fun. 

Our website now includes loads of lovely soundbites for the delectation, delight and desire of potential customers.  To feast on this banquet of Northern Soul go to   www.raresoulvinyl.co.uk

R&B Time

Manifesto October, 2012

Well I’m off to Alaska, so no time to gnaw bones of contention with other Manifesto contributors merely time to select a few subjects bearing no reference to previous issues of the magazine. Let me see...

Over the last dozen years or so, some R&B styled record or other has tended to dominate the playlists, particularly good examples are ‘It’s Your Voodoo Working’ and ‘Catch That Teardrop’. These records didn’t particularly herald the Northern scene being taken over by John Lee Hooker soundalikes but did provide an added dimension that was clearly welcomed even by most ultra-conservative oldies-lovers. Some, (including one contributor to Manifesto) railed against these records, others (like myself) thought them to be a worthwhile inclusion provided that they didn’t herald the end of traditional ‘Northern’. But of course this so-called ‘R&B’ side of the scene is also well established in its own territory and across nations, even continents, as well. The accusation from the Wigan-styled Northern camp is that these records amount to Rock and Roll and on occasion this is true, some times there is a thin line between R&B and Rock and Roll due to the way that popular music evolved, but very often there is an essential blackness in the vocal delivery that a true soul lover (as opposed to someone who just wants to dance) will quickly recognise. All of which takes me to the latest Kent compilation ‘New Breed R&B Volume 2’ in which Brother Croasdell (the well-known spelling error) shows himself to be quite adept at providing a selection of early black movers. I use the word ‘quite’ advisedly because a couple of Deep Soul records appear to have crept in – I don’t know how they are dancing to things at the 100 Club these days but I’m sure a slow waltz isn’t in it! There’s lots of great stuff amongst the 24 tracks, all culled from the King/Federal/Deluxe archives (with just one from the King-distributed Hollywood) familiar names such as Little Willie John, Freddy King and the ‘5’ Royales mix with worthy lesser lights such as Dolph Prince, Mel Williams and Willie Wright. Of the few that were new to me I particularly liked the Doo-wop-influenced ‘Let’s Have A Good Time’ by the Hi Tones and I agree with Ady that Hal Hardy’s ‘Love Man’ is one brilliant record whatever the interpretation of its musical style. Just one minor point otherwise then – the cover picture is rather strange, appearing more like Canning Town than Toddling Town I would say!

The above mention of Hollywood Records, or at least the one started by Don Pierce (Disney started a label with the same name in 1989) which was distributed by Starday–King reminded me of a ‘new’ title on the label which we get asked for. The disc in question is ‘Shoe Shine’ by THE PRESIDENTS offered up in two parts or, in actual fact, a vocal/instrumental. Not the Van McCoy sweet soul group on Sussex, the Presidents in question seem to slightly pre-date the above group on Deluxe and Plum labels as does the Hollywood 45. Produced by Bob Riley out of Nashville one Phil Slaughter would appear to have been a leading light in the band, and a band they were, rather than a harmony group. There is a Phillip Slaughter in gospel music so if it’s him or not I wouldn’t know – it wouldn’t surprise me. The Presidents we are concerned with delivered a number of styles even down to the reggae-ish ‘Lovers Psalm’ (Deluxe). ‘Shoe Shine’ is absolutely manic uptempo soul with a funky, funky, twist. Pt 2 is instrumental, and possibly even more manic with a saxophone taking up where ‘The Trip’ left off. I would like to see people attempting to dance to this one, then again they manage ‘Ton of Dynamite’ and ‘So Is The Sun’ well enough! Nice to see the music moving off in yet another direction. Actually the above 45 led me into giving their Plum recording a play in many years and what a pleasant surprise ‘Love Pain’ is – probably more of a candidate for the dance floor than ‘Shoe Shine’ to be honest. A lazy melody floats over a mellow-but-happening rhythm track that could really garner quite a following. It’s not Northern as such, not Modern either, I suppose Crossover would be the nearest category. Definitions, descriptions, categories – they matter not really, it’s just a good piece of soul music.

A chance to show a nice picture sleeve should not be passed up now that Manifesto lives and breathes in glorious technicolour. And who better than PIC AND BILL when it comes to describing some sassy soul music to go with the visuals? Charles Pickens and Billy Mills were the real names of the duo hailing from North Carolina, but selected by Major Bill Smith for his Charay label in 1965, indeed 1967 saw a run of their 45s on the UK Page One logo but not the great Northern Soul mover ‘Talk About Love’ which also saw a release in Spain on the Belter label with picture sleeve (see scan). The latter seems to be a 70s release to be honest but it’s a nice item nonetheless. I first came across the track when Ginger Taylor obtained the Fiery Spartans on Charay around 1978 – and it’s the same record (actually the first release of it). This was the era for soul duos – Sam and Dave of course, but also Eddie and Ernie, James and Bobby Purify, the Soul Twins and more. The genre didn’t really last beyond the sixties as the trademark gospelesque approach was diluted by seventies sophistication. Pic and Bill hit a higher tempo on occasions other than ‘Talk About Love’ but only one of these tracks totally hits the Northern Soul nerve in the shape of the ultra-rare ‘What Does It Take’ a stomping stormer right out of the old school (and not the Jr. Walker song either) which actually has quite a thin rhythm track but is pulled along by a ferocious vocal attack from this great pairing. A release on Charay 60 that is often listed as their first (it isn’t) but is an easy mistake to make due to the fact that Charay managed to have no less than seven releases by Pic and Bill on that label and number. Through various deals the Pic and Bill Charay material has made it to album at least four times in the UK, Japan, USA and Spain even after the duo’s original album on Le Cam (another Bill Smith label) ’30 Minutes of Soul’. To the best of my knowledge none of the albums included ‘What Does It Take’, nor have I ever had a 45 copy of it in my hands (considering that I had both the Frank Wilson’s at one time that’s quite a claim). If you have a copy let me know…I would be VERY interested.

Talk of rarities takes me to another very scarce item which many of you will not ever have viewed (unless you follow our monthly auction) in the shape of the orange issue copy on RCA of JUDY FREEMAN’S ‘Hold On’. I genuinely thought this may be a one-off in my collection until we obtained a second copy fairly recently. We got £800 for it but honestly I thought it to be something of a bargain, after all the demo goes for £250–£300. Until a couple of years ago I had never even seen it although I knew one was listed in the late 70s (I thought it was the one I had). It meant that I had seen, or had in my collection more or less every RCA on a release copy, even a few years ago I would have said that one or two releases at least failed to go beyond the promo stage. And there is the definition of Northern Soul to consider also; Judy Freeman, for instance, had another RCA release (actually her first) in the shape of ‘All We Need Is A Miracle’ it’s a decent midtempo cut that might be described as Crossover and also saw a later release on RCA with a version by Detroit’s Dee Edwards in a similar style. Probable as a Jobete song it exists somewhere in the Motown catalogue too. The point is that I’ve yet to see an issue copy of that one as well. I wonder who she was? According to the internet, she is still alive (in her 70s) and living in Compton, Los Angeles, although she was born in New York. Producer of both RCA releases Ron Budrik was also a deejay who produced a whack of non-descript pop around LA in the late 60s/early 70s whilst arranger Dave Blumberg went on to much greater things (commercially at least; he arranged ‘I Will Survive’). All things considered they produced 4 good-to-great sides on Judy Freeman and Blackrock. Warren Sams wrote ‘Hold On’ and he too operated on the west coast soul scene of the 70’s through California Rock Choir, Water and Power, Christine Adams even Sylvester I believe. He produced the Jackson Sisters material that ended up on the rare Tiger Lily album (a tax loss label for Morris Levy). So many connections – in fact I do wonder if the California Rock Choir (whose Cyclone 45 is quite in-demand) are anything to do with Blackrock? Questions always questions?

We will finish with an artist who is well-known in the shape of BYRON LEE – a true originator of Jamaican Music who even appeared in the first James Bond movie ‘Dr No’. Rather less well-known is Lee’s brief flirtation with soul music which seems to coincide with Lee’s mid-sixties time as a general promoter in the USA (he brought many famous acts to Jamaica). One wonders if the peculiarity whereby certain failed soul tunes were covered by Jamaicans for Jamaican consumption – for instance ‘Wide Awake In A Dream’ by Jerry Jackson covered by the Blues Busters as Phillip James (they were in fact Lloyd Campbell and Phillip James) – is anything to do with Byron Lee. Maybe that’s too simplistic but the fact remains that a number of peculiar non-hit soul records were covered. On the Soul label Byron Lee and the Dragonaires covered Ben E. King’s ‘The Record’, Lee wasn’t ever a singer and on this one Ken Lazarus does vocal duty. There is no concession to any kind of Ska music, this is a pure note-for-note copy of Ben E. King’s version or perhaps H.B.Barnum’s weaker take on it for Capitol. Given that Lee was the Jamaican agent for Atlantic Ben E. King is more likely. ‘The Record’ also came on BRA records (had to get that one off my chest) where another Byron Lee and the Dragonaires release saw the Blues Busters release demoted as second billing to Byron Lee on ‘How Sweet It Is’ coupled with ‘I Had A Dream’ which is something of a West Indian classic soul coupling. The excellent Trojan anthology of the Blues Busters from 2005 makes no mention BRA so goodness knows what was really going on. I claim no particular knowledge of Jamaican soul, but I do know that there is probably much more of it than people generally realise.

For R&B movers, Northern Soul stompers, Modern groovers, Deep crooners, Motown marvels, Funk fever on 45 or CD go to www.raresoulvinyl.co.uk

YouTube Generation

Manifesto April, 2012

Computers eh?  Wonderful and horrible at one and the same time.  As a businessman, I would be foolish to dismiss any aspect of them but at the same time I find them slightly irritating, if not invasive.  I refuse to do emails from home because I don’t want the pressure of having to switch the damned machine on …. And as for Facebook, well I just don’t have the time.  They have changed the world however, (as we all know I’m sure) and introduced some very interesting, rather mind-bending concepts.  Let us look a little further…

Around a year ago a colleague informed me that ‘virtually all soul records are on YouTube’.  Turns out that the statement is something of an exaggeration, but basically correct.  I can often view the label on a screen and do other things that seem to me to infringe copyright given that YouTube has a worldwide audience of millions.  That said, the message in the music is being spread far and wide, jetting over the heads of the likes of Cliff Richards and Feargal Sharkey who seek to imprison the music for eternity (to their gain).  After all if a plumber installs a toilet you wouldn’t expect to pay him 10 pence a flush for 75 years would you?  The music industry is one heck of a cartel, and one which very quickly holds out its hand – mechanical copyright, copyright, performers rights, etc, etc.  It isn’t fair and it isn’t right.  By all means protect new music but extending copyright back beyond say 10 years, is ridiculous as if show business is somehow sacred.  To return to my point however, the internet seems to skate over much of the above, the latest caveat being that reproduction is fair and proper for review purposes – it should be, but does that include the dealer who puts his auction up there for commercial benefit?  I know of one who does and hides behind ‘fair use for review’!

In terms of breaking new records YouTube could be invaluable of course, no more ‘one man and his dog spins’ at some small all-nighter, because some YouTube records have many thousands of views. Or would the scene turn into the ultimate armchair experience?  And it goes on.  Recently in the USA a company by the name of Hephaestus books printed no less than 160,000(!) titles culled gratis from Wikipedia – their argument being that the internet virtually makes copyright redundant because in appearing free on a screen it is available anyway (and Wikipedia has no cited authors).  Could Manifesto give away a free CD of all records reviewed in every issue claiming ‘fair use for review’?  Personally I don’t actually see why not – if the magazine were a website then no-one would argue.  Get my point?  Clearly a very big genie is out of a very big bottle and the music business had better wake up to it fast – long term royalty protection is intervention and manipulation at a now-unhealthy level.  Get over it – or should the music industry adopt the motto of  ‘this thing of ours’ which has long belonged to an even cosier setup?

In the last issue of Manifesto I made comment on Ace/Kent’s recent acquisition of Pied Piper material and was kindly sent some review material by collector Andy Killick that is/was a little older but is nonetheless new to these pages.  Of the trio of tracks sent up to me the CAVALIERS is possibly not a Pied Piper jobbie but probably the best one in the shape of ‘Without Someone To Tell Me’.  One Cavaliers disc on RCA is partly a GWP Production so possibly the above is from the same source, even so no Cavaliers tracks have so far emerged from that source.  Only Adey knows.  I can’t say that ‘Without Someone To Tell Me’ crunches past ‘Hold To My Baby’ but it has many of the same ingredients and as such would rate as exceptional in this day and age.  Next up is NANCY WILCOX and the quite well-known ‘Gamblers Blues’.  Wilcox had the one issued side on RCA and this was a joint GWP/Pied Piper production which saw action over both sides (‘Coming On Strong’ and ‘My Baby’).  Like most RCA sixties soul releases, the black stock issue is much the rarer.  ‘Gamblers Blues’ takes up a typical tambourine-driven crisp Pied Piper stance with siren wails from the girl chorus making for a perfect Northern Soul production.  I’ve taken Adey to task too many times for an inability to spread the faith; I’m not driven by petulance but it is a fact that a forty-odd year old scene really does need records of this calibre.  Finally we have WILLIE KENDRICK and his version of the Metros ‘Time Changes Things’ which takes the tempo up a notch or two and the song is better for it – certainly the dancers will think so.  Unlike much Pied Piper material tambourines are eschewed, their addition would have made this one even better.  As it is, to put one over on the Metros is quite an achievement and this track does exactly that. 

If I were to do a Northern Soul top ten then the APOLLAS ‘Mr Creator’ would certainly be in it.  I’ve raved over it for 38 years and assiduously collected all the group’s other records in the following decades.  I knew the lead singer was Leola Jiles and I picked up her two solo 45s as well (on Warners and A&M).  Obviously I thought I knew quite a lot about the Apollas. WRONG.  The recent Kent CD on the group, ‘Absolutely Right!’, brought me right down to earth with a very pleasant bang.  We know by now that no-one can touch Ace/Kent when it comes to single artist compilation projects.  Recent releases on artists as diverse as Eddie Holland, Arthur Conley, Jackie Day and O.C. Tolbert amply prove this.  The Apollas release is particularly good, brought to life by Leola Jiles’ own album of colour photographs.  Their story involves other recorded artists such as Dorothy Ramsey (Melodynamic) and Blondell Breed (Acta) who were amongst a number of changes to the group – they were the Apollos on Galaxy, the Lovejoys on Tiger and Red Bird, The group toured with the Monkees and extensively in South East Asia, Japan, even New Zealand.  The girls sang back-up vocals on a number of Frankie Laine records and lead Leola Jiles came within a hair’s-breadth of replacing Jean Terrell in the Supremes.  The Love Salvation on Bell is also The Apollas. Amazing, simply amazing; all credit to Kent for this particular story and a number of others.  As for the impassioned ending to ‘Mr Creator’ – Help me, aw Help Me’ – well turns out Leola Jiles just followed her soul when the moment came along and improvised.  If I believed in a god, I would ask him to bless her.  Oh and I nearly forgot ‘See The Silver Moon; an almost-great previously unreleased stomper also to be found on the new CD.

Another very noteworthy compilation comes from the Hip-O-Select label in the shape of THE MARVELETTES ‘Forever More’ deemed by the label itself to be the ‘complete Motown albums’.  Well it certainly lives up to the description featuring, as it does, not only all their four albums but two of them in mono as well as stereo.  Not only do we get that but 24 tracks of previously unissued material and 13 tracks of various origin not included on album (previous compilations, singles etc).  If you were under the impression that the best previously-unreleased Motown had all been uncovered then this slew of Marvelettes material proves that quite a bit of the Berry Gordy iceberg is still submerged.  For Northern feet (and ears) then ‘There Is No Tomorrow (Only Tears and Sorrow)’ is the kind of tambourine-fuelled stormer that would have torn the Torch or Wigan apart.  Missing only a caustic saxophone break this could be filed in the same part of a deejay box as ‘Baby Hit And Run’ or ‘One Way Out’.  A more midtempo ‘Breakthru (I’ve Got My Freedom)’ will also find its fair share of admirers.  I’ve got to say tho’ that I find the early material from ’63 and ’64 a little too dated for my taste these days. 

In terms of previously unissued sixties material on vinyl, little today will equal the UNITED FOUR ‘Honey Please Stay’ on Outta Sight.  Presented in the format of the Harthon label this is a group harmony song over the same backing track as Eddie Holman’s ‘Where I’m Not Wanted’ which originally turned up via Rob Thomas in 2003.  Using a different approach to the Goldmine years (i.e. Johnny Styles rather than Weldon MacDougall) various new masters, or indeed original master, have been utilized and have breathed new life into the famed Harthon catalogue – a situation seen to even better effect on the ‘Groovin’ At The Go-Go’ compilation also newly-released by Outta Sight.

Sadly there is much to report concerning the soul scythe of the Grim Reaper recently.  Etta James, Dobbie Gray, Jimmy Castor, Walter Gaines of the Originals, Howard Tate, Lee ‘Shot’ Williams have all passed away recently and all added much to what is termed ‘Northern Soul’, in their time (‘Seven Day Fool’, ‘Out On The Floor’, ‘Suspicion’ just for starters).  Tellingly all of them were in their seventies.  One other was JIMMY NORMAN who died of lung disease in New York on November 8th of last year, and if we have a slightly softer spot for those soul artists who never really made it big in the charts then perhaps that is a fair reflection on a nation which virtually invented the concept of rare soul.  Although James Norman Scott was born in Nashville (August 12th 1937), he cut his musical teeth in Los Angeles and made his recording debut on Mun-Rab Records.  Actually his story is a quite amazing one with rather sobering final chapters.  The early sixties saw Jimmy Norman hop around a variety of labels from whence came Stafford-era interest in records such as ‘Talkin’ Bout The Times’ and ‘You Crack Me Up’ (both on Polo).  Norman even had a minor US hit in 1962 on Little Star with ‘I Don’t Love You No More’.  But Jimmy Norman was also a songwriter and in 1964 he moved to New York to better pursue his writing career.  This brings us neatly onto a point in time where Norman was commissioned to write lyrics to a Kai Winding instrumental ‘Time Is On My Side’.  Irma Thomas was to take the song on brilliantly and famously the Rolling Stones were to plunder it to greater effect.  Although Jimmy Norman received co-writing royalties for many years in the nineties, his name was removed from the credits with the publishing company citing ‘clerical error’ in the first place.  I’m sure Mick and friends put that one right (like, yeah).  The next name to crop up in the Jimmy Norman story is Jimi Hendrix by virtue of Norman’s release on Samar records in 1966, courtesy of Johnny Brantley’s Vidalia Productions.  Both of Norman’s Samar releases saw Hendrix play on them (an oft-stated ‘recollection’ of the New York soul scene of the middle sixties).  To this writer the claim to Hendrix’s session work is rather too ubiquitous but would seem to be very correct in this situation due to a failed b-side ‘That Little Old Groovemaker’ on the first of the two releases, which Hendrix himself re-hashed as ‘Groovemaker’.  This first Samar release is much harder to find than the follow-up ‘Can You Blame Me’ (No. 35 on the Billboard R&B chart) although the flip of ‘Can You’ in the shape of ‘This I Beg Of You’ is one of Jimmy Norman’s finest – an emotional beat ballad of real quality.  Samar Records folded shortly after this leaving Norman to move on to the major Mercury label.  Two fantastic sides for the UK crowd here in the shape of the storming ‘Family Tree’, co-written with Otis Blackwell, and the less-torrid but equally excellent ‘I’m Leaving (This Old Town)’ which saw some Stafford action.

By 1968, Norman was brushing shoulders with another famous name, Bob Marley, when the Jamaican came to New York looking for fame and fortune and was signed to Johnny Nash’s Jad label resulting in Marley recording some Norman/Pyfrom songs (Al Pyfrom was Jimmy’s co-writing partner at the time).  Norman even spent six months in Kingston, Jamaica working with Marley before a move to Lloyd Price’s Turntable imprint, for whom he produced the Coasters eventually becoming a regular replacement for various group members whilst pursuing a solo career (also as Joe Norman on Rosco) through the seventies.  He was lead vocalist for Harlem River Drive and his two Buddah 45s from 74/75 are well worth picking up.  Like many artists Jimmy Norman made little provision for old age and ill health with the result that the singer faced eviction around the turn of the last century.  Ultimately this circumstance forced a performing and recording revival, not only that but one housekeeping session revealed ancient Bob Marley jam session tapes which subsequently raised over $26,000 for Norman, together with old notebooks containing lost compositions.  He was to use some of these compositions in a 2004 comeback album ‘Little Pieces’ (Wallflower).  Norman himself summed up his career thus – ‘periodically I get chump change, nothing big.  A lotta people having been making money off it.  Not me’.  Whether Jimmy Norman was the architect of his own demise or a victim of the ‘dog eat dog’ music game is for others to decide but, whatever the truth, his life was, yet again, much more convoluted and varied than those dancers to ‘Family Tree’ would ever suppose.

Finally a farewell to ‘In The Basement’ magazine in its paper format after 65 issues.  A very good innings and another nail in the coffin of properly researched, orderly, concise information – particularly in the arena of soul music which is fast becoming a very poor cousin to the blues in terms of the written word.

‘Til next time

Tim Brown

Go to www.raresoulvinyl.co.uk for the world’s finest selection of online Northern Soul, Motown, Modern, Deep and Blues on original 45 plus reissues and CDs.