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  • 7 years later...
Posted
18 minutes ago, Steve Foran said:

FYI There was a thread on FB on Rare Soul Talk. I expressed my view that George Lemon is an awful dirge which makes my ears bleed. Just to fill in the gap. Just my opinion! 

Dirge that too............................

Posted

No doubt the price is higher today than 2009 when the post started.

Must be more likers than dislikers or it would not be so expensive!

I think parts of the record are great, but I can see why its its not every bodies cup of tea.

 

Ed

Posted

A brilliantly sublime tune. Clever backing track. Vocal, whilst flawed, is still good - a reminder that not all tunes sound the same, but if you listen hard and with an open mind, you might hear something a bit different. Like a fine wine, it's there to be savoured.

Now, when you own a copy, you start to appreciate it a bit more, or even a lot more. My copy has been stamped DJ Copy so that clears up the non-existence of white demos. My copy sits in a hand-customised birth sleeve, 'companified' in an amateurish way with a DIY rubber stamp: there is a Detroit phone number amongst the details to phone for free copies but my feelings have been hurt so badly, a scan will not be featuring in the near future...

Guest son of stan
Posted
On 08/09/2009 at 17:31, Premium Stuff said:

 

Buddy Smith however is in my top ten. I love the pace and atmosphere - I love the lisp - but most of all I love it when Buddy sings the lyrics "When You Lose The One You Love ..." so damned bloody fast that you have to stop and work out what he actually just said ohmy.gifbiggrin.gif

 

Cheers

 

Richard

I've always thought he's obviously trying to sound like Billy Stewart the way he sings that..

Posted
10 minutes ago, chalky said:

I once posted the newspaper clippings from the time on here....

I quite like the song, so do 100s of others as it rams the floor every time.

I'm surprised George had time to record the song with all his other wheeling and dealing, unless he turned to the scheming after a failed recording career.

Posted

I think Fascinating Girl is a brilliant record, to me it's one of those records where the individual elements are not exactly polished performances, but when all mixed together, you end up with a bit of musical magic.

I see the George Pepp 45 in much the same way.

  • Helpful 2
Guest son of stan
Posted (edited)
1 hour ago, Soul16 said:

I think Fascinating Girl is a brilliant record, to me it's one of those records where the individual elements are not exactly polished performances, but when all mixed together, you end up with a bit of musical magic.

I see the George Pepp 45 in much the same way.

Love 'Fascinating Girl' for the reasons you describe

But ffs,  the comparison with George Pepp is way off, I think! That's from New Orleans, isn't it? Absolutely first  rate musicians / arrangement, etc

Edited by son of stan
Posted

I think the comparison is relating to the vocal effort.

Both Jud's wail along for large parts of the songs, and then find some soul to get your attention.

Probably why, as always, these records fail as chart hits because of the inconsistencies of effort.

And why we get to cherish them!

Neither record would have passed the motown hit or miss test, I suspect.

Ed

  • 2 weeks later...
Posted

I have the same 'customised' paper sleeve with the rubber stamped image running around the hole in the middle.  There was me thinking I had a unique 'one-off'...b*gger.

 

  • Helpful 1

Posted
42 minutes ago, scooterboy said:

I have the same 'customised' paper sleeve with the rubber stamped image running around the hole in the middle.  There was me thinking I had a unique 'one-off'...b*gger.

 

And here I was thinking mine was the only one n existence... Just goes to show that any 'one-off' is probably not.

Posted

It`s like caviar!

The George Smith & George Lemons are both hideous i`m afraid. Records which no one actually likes even when they say they do, as it`s not possible to enjoy such atrocious droning.

Of course that`s only my arsehole......and everyone has one so i`m told.

:P

Posted

OK, probably the most vivid picture of George Lemons' background and the esteem in which he and his family is held by the citizens of Detroit is probably here:

 

https://www.detroityes.com/mb/showthread.php?10332-Notorious-1987-Inkster-cop-killer-dies-in-prison-Finally-Some-Good-News

 

and the link within the comments to the Soulful Detroit forum gives you a picture of his standing in the Detroit recording community.  Of most interest is his involvement with Tera Shirma studios.  I say 'involvement' - the thread may be somewhat eye-opening when you read it.

 

These details go some way to explaining how a record which lots of people see as having noticeable quality shortcomings came to be made, and probably how it then didn't sell, too, as the buying public probably saw the same shortcomings as some of the people in this thread see.  There's only so far acting heavy will get you.  Personally, I quite liked the record, and could forgive its vocal wobbles (let's face it, lots of Rare Soul records share that characteristic with GL), but reading this put me right off it and now I don't want one.

 

Slightly creepily, the events that put him away happened right when we were playing his record - gives me a bit of a shiver to think that. 

 

I'm also guessing the 'artist detectives' are pretty glad they never managed to track this one down - don't think you'd want to meet up with him somewhere off the beaten track with lots of $$$ cash in your pocket for the 150 copies of his single he's told you he has.

 

No mafia connections, just small-time but persistent and very nasty until the big one.

 

All the best,

 

Nick

  • Helpful 2
Posted
1 hour ago, Driveller said:

OK, probably the most vivid picture of George Lemons' background and the esteem in which he and his family is held by the citizens of Detroit is probably here:

 

https://www.detroityes.com/mb/showthread.php?10332-Notorious-1987-Inkster-cop-killer-dies-in-prison-Finally-Some-Good-News

 

and the link within the comments to the Soulful Detroit forum gives you a picture of his standing in the Detroit recording community.  Of most interest is his involvement with Tera Shirma studios.  I say 'involvement' - the thread may be somewhat eye-opening when you read it.

 

These details go some way to explaining how a record which lots of people see as having noticeable quality shortcomings came to be made, and probably how it then didn't sell, too, as the buying public probably saw the same shortcomings as some of the people in this thread see.  There's only so far acting heavy will get you.  Personally, I quite liked the record, and could forgive its vocal wobbles (let's face it, lots of Rare Soul records share that characteristic with GL), but reading this put me right off it and now I don't want one.

 

Slightly creepily, the events that put him away happened right when we were playing his record - gives me a bit of a shiver to think that. 

 

I'm also guessing the 'artist detectives' are pretty glad they never managed to track this one down - don't think you'd want to meet up with him somewhere off the beaten track with lots of $$$ cash in your pocket for the 150 copies of his single he's told you he has.

 

No mafia connections, just small-time but persistent and very nasty until the big one.

 

All the best,

 

Nick

Grim reading Nick. Thanks for posting. But when the record was cut, presumably the late 60's, George had something of a future ahead of him, an interest in a recording studio and a belief in his talent. The record evidently failed to sell. George was possibly unlucky in love at the time... Perhaps from this point onwards, George was on a slippery slope and stuck with an awful family who were of no long term support. I think it would be safe to assume that the unsold copies of 'Fascinating Girl' were disposed of decades ago when the family were sent to prison. This makes the record even better as it hints at unrequited love and a spiral of despair that unravelled in disaster.

Posted (edited)

Didn't all the Gold Soul stock and studio tapes get destroyed in a fire? Well not all as what was recovered were released if memory serves on the the three CDs Goldmine/Soul Supply put out via Ron Murphy?

I am sure I read that the Lemons bought the studio with the intent to laundering money through it?  Whatever the reason it didn't't last long as they defaulted on payments after a couple.

Edited by chalky
Posted
5 hours ago, chalky said:

Didn't all the Gold Soul stock and studio tapes get destroyed in a fire? Well not all as what was recovered were released if memory serves on the the three CDs Goldmine/Soul Supply put out via Ron Murphy?

I am sure I read that the Lemons bought the studio with the intent to laundering money through it?  Whatever the reason it didn't last long as they defaulted on payments after a couple.

Yes, that's what Ron told me.  I knew several Detroiters that had known George.  Apparently, he was a fairly sinister character.  Ron put out some cuts from Gold Soul masters out on some of his small oldies labels during the late 1980s and beginning of the 1990s, and 2 Dynamics' cuts from Gold Soul as a special edition Soulful Detroit funding mechanism.

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