Mr Floods Party - Compared To What ?

[Guest Andy Kempster]

US Release: GM 714

UK Release: Ember 312

perfect, thanks

[viphitman]

Fantastic track

[Soulmanden]

what label is th original release of this please

if you like the record listen to the origanal by ray charles its ten times better.

[Reg Scott]

if you like the record listen to the origanal by ray charles its ten times better.

The original version was not done by Ray Charles. Ray Charles did record it, and it's a good version, but that was recorded in 1980 on Crossover/Atlantic 3762. Other notable versions include Della Reese.

The original version appears on the album 'Swiss Movement' by Les McCann with saxophonist Eddie Harris from their performance at the 1969 Montreaux Festival. Also interesting is that the lyrics and Swiss Movement vocal came courtesy of Gene McDaniels

There's a good blog here for more https://funky16corner...ed-to-what.html

Regards

Greg.

Edited October 16, 2010 by ClearVinyl

[Guest]

The original version was not done by Ray Charles. Ray Charles did record it, and it's a good version, but that was recorded in 1980 on Crossover/Atlantic 3762. Other notable versions include Della Reese.

The original version appears on the album 'Swiss Movement' by Les McCann with saxophonist Eddie Harris from their performance at the 1969 Montreaux Festival.

There's a good blog here for more https://funky16corner...ed-to-what.html

Regards

Greg.

della reese - compared to what -

Bulldog version is best.

mr floods party - compared to what -

Of coarse my opinion.

[kevinsoulman]

In 1969, Atlantic Records released Swiss Movement, a recording of McCann with regular collaborator and saxophonist Eddie Harris and guest trumpeter Benny Bailey at that year's Montreux Jazz Festival. The album contained the song "Compared To What," and both the album and the single were huge Billboard pop chart successes. "Compared To What" featured political criticism of the Vietnam War. The song was not actually written by McCann; fellow Atlantic composer/artist Eugene McDaniels (A Hundred Pounds of Clay) wrote it years earlier. "Compared To What" was initially recorded and released by soul vocalist Roberta Flack. Her version appeared as the opening track on her debut recording, First Take (1969).

kev

[Mike]

merged with recent similar thread

[45cellar]

merged with recent similar thread

Here's a >>> <<<

I will merge this & put into Sharp End in a week or so.

[Steve Plumb]

When this thread first started a few months ago, I had a couple of unplayed copies on UK Bulldog which sold straight away.

I've just got a couple more unplayed copies in at £8 each (plus £2 postage anywhere in the world)

If anyone fancies a copy, please PM me or you can buy it directly from www.soulmusic.co.uk/Northern_Soul.htm

Cheers

Steve

[Guest Gogs]

knew i had it somewhere

played it out once was told "it's nice but i couldn't dance to it"

[Guest Paul Spinner]

HI ALL..I HAVE ASUMED IT WAS RELEASED ON THE (PATCHES RECORD LABEL) 1st, in fact i am sure it was??? DAVE KIL

MR FLOODS PARTY 001.jpg

Hi again, everybody!

Got my copy on patches record label, but still don't have much information about it. Please help! Someone here suggested it was a bootleg... Is this true? Has anyone info 'bout it? Found only one auction (https://www.popsike.com/Mr-Floods-Party-Compared-To-What-Rare-Issue/160623009648.html) where it is sold for 32 GBP. It is stated as the rare issue. Is the price fair?

Edited February 11, 2014 by Paul Spinner

[arnie j]

evening soul folk,i love this record,always have done,its just got something about it that i love,maybe its those horns ! anyway,is the original label GM ? how much does a real one go for now ? also does anyone know who was responsible for finding it and playing it first ? i imagine it was a big wigan spin ? i understand its a bit of a played out marmite oldie but id be interested to read about the history of this record,any help appreciated,thank you

jason

[arnie j]

sorry,justr realised this is in wrong forum,mods can u move to layb please ? thanks

[Soulstu]

Try this Arnie

Stu

 

https://www.soul-source.co.uk/forums/topic/136684-mr-floods-partycompared-to-what/page-2?hl=%2Bfloods+%2Bparty#entry2051345

[Peter99]

Its a great dancer Arnie.

 

Peter

[Gilly]

^{Sure it was an Alan Day discovery around the time of Up the junction Crewe}

[Scal]

From what I remember about them in an article they were something like 9 students from Detroit who made up the band, one female.

I think that Richard Searling did champion it's cause.....however maybe as a UK release as that was his bag early doors.

I only ever knew it as an "oldie" at Wigan.

[Julianb]

Played at the Torch

[arnie j]

Try this Arnie

Stu

 

https://www.soul-source.co.uk/forums/topic/136684-mr-floods-partycompared-to-what/page-2?hl=%2Bfloods+%2Bparty#entry2051345

thanks bud,will read through it,hopefully it will answer my questions but will leave thread open if anyone wants to contribute

jason

[Scal]

And it wasn't worth anything on Ember back then......you could buy Garnet Mimms "Looking For You" for £3:00 in those days.

[Scal]

On British: United Artists that is.

[Mal C]

Great track, Very Nice on Aussie Ember (W&G)

------

Ahhhh, see I was late to the party on the Aussie scan, mines an issue which cost me 40 aud, cheap I reckon!

Fabulous track, but then you all know that....

M

Edited March 26, 2014 by Mal C

[Julianb]

And it wasn't worth anything on Ember back then......you could buy Garnet Mimms "Looking For You" for £3:00 in those days.

Got 10 Ember copies from Barry Kingston of Spark records - sold them £2.50 each.

[Winsford Soul]

I like Ray Charles 70,s version as much. Think it was a 1976 release if memory serves me right. Steve

[Scal]

Got 10 Ember copies from Barry Kingston of Spark records - sold them £2.50 each.

[Scal]

Like I said it wasn't worth a great deal.......I doubt if it's value has increased exponentially....as say Garnet Mimms.

And when I say as an "oldie" I mean before the. advent of the Friday night sessions at Wigan and Mr. M's.

It was one of those records you could find on Oldham market....a bit like, err, Garnet Mimms.

[Mike]

merged with recent similar thread

 

merged  with recent similar thread again 

[Guest turntableterra]

don't see many of the patches copies, a local florida release most likely, with patches scratched into the r/o. bought from soul sam with his name written on the label. back in 79 at the casino. never bothered buying the gm copy so don't know if its a diff recording!

[Roburt]

The details surrounding who the members of Mr Floods Party were when "Compared To What" was cut seem to have been lost in the mist of time. The group started out in the greater New York area as a psychedlic rock outfit in 1968 but many of it's early members soon moved on and left the group.

........ Here's a bit of related info .........

Gary Van Scyoc's music career kicked off at Salem College (Clarksburgh, West Virginia) when he joined the group the Dynatones and they recorded “And I Always Will” plus "The Fife Piper" at Gateway Studios in Pittsburgh. Their 45 was put out on the Pittsburgh based St. Clair label before Hanna Barbera Records picked up the bands contract and released the single nationally in 1966. The 45 made the Top 50 R&B charts in October 1966 and it also almost made the national pop Top 50. HBR wanted an LP from the Dynatones to cash in on the 45's success and so the group's manager took them into Glen Campbell's studio (Pittsburgh) and cut 10 or 12 additional tracks. But their manager wasn't a producer and the  studio was just too basic. HBR Records rejected these new tracks and cut all the tracks that would appear on the album in LA using local studio musicians. That experience finished off the original group and Gary Van Scyoc moved on to join Mr. Flood's Party who had landed a deal with Cotillion in 1968. The group cut an album in New York that escaped on Cotillion in 1969 but Van Scyoc's name doesn't appear as a member who played on those tracks. Some of the guys who did cut the tracks that had escaped on the LP already had successful careers outside the music world. I guess they didn't want to quit those to tour and so they seem to have left the group quite early on. Van Scyoc soon moved on himself (1970), this time joining a band called Pig Iron who played lots of festivals & toured the US college circuit. He then hooked up with with Elephants Memory who played / recorded with John Lennon (1972). He was also in the house band at Jerry Ragavoy's Hit Factory studio on West 48^th Street (NY). In that role he played on lots of R&B records for Atlantic Records acts including the likes of Howard Tate and Carl Hall (1972). 

"Compared To What" must have been cut in the first half of 1971 at GM studios in Detroit (it had been licensed by Ember and released in the UK by September 1971 under a deal the label had with Larry Douglas which had already seen Tony & Tyrone, Jones Girls, Mary Fraser Jones and Eddie Robinson 45s escape here). The GM label was an offshoot of GM recording studio which was on Nine Mile Road. The label / studios owner, Guido Maresco, also owned a car repair business located next door to the studio. The labels name would later be changed to Bumpshop (for obvious reasons no doubt). Who the members of Mr. Floods Party were when "Compared To What" was cut and how the group ended up recording in a Detroit studio will no doubt remain a mystery.

 

It ("Compared To What") never really made any impact back in the US and no doubt the group's member who played on the cut have little idea of the 'fame' it attained here in the UK.

[Ian Seaman]

I have a Greek Melody copy and it does play quiet