Blowing My Mind To Pieces

[Goldsoul]

Well if we ever update the Top 500 book. Here's a neat piece of trivia from the original producer Lou Barretto.

Jimmy Mcfarland cut it originally with the Tiaras on background vocals.

Lou of course produced 'Gone With The Wind Is My Love' on Dore.

Rita now lives in Georgia.

Lou, now aware of the Northern scene, hopes to dig out a few rarities for us all to listen to.

Hopefully he will link up with Kent or similar.

Blowing My Mind To Pieces- Jimmy Mcfarland eh!

[Guest]

Well if we ever update the Top 500 book. Here's a neat piece of trivia from the original producer Lou Barretto.

Jimmy Mcfarland cut it originally with the Tiaras on background vocals.

Lou of course produced 'Gone With The Wind Is My Love' on Dore.

Rita now lives in Georgia.

Lou, now aware of the Northern scene, hopes to dig out a few rarities for us all to listen to.

Hopefully he will link up with Kent or similar.

Blowing My Mind To Pieces- Jimmy Mcfarland eh!

Will this be possibly one that we may get to hear Kev ?

Unsure if it will / can match the BR original , but I will get the kleenex out in readiness ...........

Malc Burton

Edited April 24, 2009 by Malc Burton

[Guest Paul]

Hello,

It's a fascinating story which I mentioned a couple of times on other threads recently.

The Jimmy McFarland version wasn't ever issued but somehow the master tape got into the hands of someone who passed the backing track on to Aki Aleong or Bob Relf and they put a new vocal on to Lou's track - without his knowledge. They also edited it so the spoken section from the intro ended up towards the end.

When I listen to "Gone With The Wind Is My Love" by Rita Graham I can hear the musical similarities to "Blowing My Mind To Pieces". There's no doubt that both tracks were produced by Lou Barreto and arranged by Jack Eskew.

Lou wasn't even aware of the Bob Relf version until late last year so he's bemused by the whole thing. And when he found out about it he assumed it was a cover version until he realised it used his original backing track.

Sadly, since Bob Relf passed away we probably won't find out the full story. When Bob was quite ill he couldn't recall many details anyway, apart from the fact that he cut his version at Ray Charles' studio, RPM.

Amazing that it's taken more than forty years for these facts to emerge.

Best wishes,

Paul

[Guest Paul]

...Unsure if it will / can match the BR original , but I will get the kleenex out in readiness ...........

Malc Burton

Well it has the same backing track, Malc, so I think you'll like it.

[Guest mel brat]

Well it has the same backing track, Malc, so I think you'll like it.

It may well be a terrific version - but unlike Bob Relf, won't benefit from the magic of dancing to it when we were only careless teenagers!

That chilling "Ooo-oo-oo" break on Bob Relf's cut takes some beating for raising the old goosebumps, huh?

Edited April 25, 2009 by mel brat

[Guest]

It may well be a terrific version - but unlike Bob Relf, won't benefit from the magic of dancing to it when we were only careless teenagers!

That chilling "Ooo-oo-oo" break on Bob Relf's cut takes some beating for raising the old goosebumps, huh?

In total agreement .......

No disrespect to what JM may have done with the recording , but it is always your " first love " - i.e. Bob Relf - that stays with you forever ......

Malc Burton

Edited April 26, 2009 by Malc Burton

[harpo1]

Hope it is similar to Bob Relfs, or indeed Mr McFarlands Lonley Lover, and not Rita and the Tiaras, as in my personal opinion it is one i have never taken to, thats me being as diplomatic and inoffensive as i can, to put it mildly.

[Guest Paul]

Hope it is similar to Bob Relfs, or indeed Mr McFarlands Lonley Lover, and not Rita and the Tiaras, as in my personal opinion it is one i have never taken to, thats me being as diplomatic and inoffensive as i can, to put it mildly.

I might be biased but I think both "Blowing My Mind To Pieces" and "Gone With The Wind Is My Love" are great romantic songs with wonderful uplifting arrangements.

I still haven't heard the Jimmy McFarland version of "Blowing My Mind To Pieces" and I have a feeling the original tapes may never surface because Lou Barreto plans to record Jimmy's vocals again onto the original backing track.

I'm looking forward to it but I don't expect the once-in-a-lifetime magic of Bob Relf to be surpassed.

[Guest mel brat]

I might be biased but I think both "Blowing My Mind To Pieces" and "Gone With The Wind Is My Love" are great romantic songs with wonderful uplifting arrangements.

Sadly lacking in many of today's recordings, from what I've heard...

That indefinable "uplifting" quality is a fundamental requirement of genuine Soul music don't you think? (and of good Disco music too as it happens!).

[Guest nomad]

Well if we ever update the Top 500 book. Here's a neat piece of trivia from the original producer Lou Barretto.

Jimmy Mcfarland cut it originally with the Tiaras on background vocals.

Lou of course produced 'Gone With The Wind Is My Love' on Dore.

Rita now lives in Georgia.

Lou, now aware of the Northern scene, hopes to dig out a few rarities for us all to listen to.

Hopefully he will link up with Kent or similar.

Blowing My Mind To Pieces- Jimmy Mcfarland eh!

I know this is a little off thread but...

I spoke to Rita about GWTWIML some time ago and she told me she never even met the Tiaras as the backing vocals were put on post to her recording it. She was also unaware that her first record had reached iconic status on our scene. She is interested in visiting our shores though as she did tour here sometime ago with Ray Charles and enjoyed that experience.

Nomad