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How Come They Never Made It Big?


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Have these ever had their day in the sun

Casualeers-You Betta Be Sure (Laurie)

Chris Calloway-Youre Something Else(CUB)

Alaina Reed-Don't Let Me Fall In Love Alone (Capitol)

Debbie Taylor-Don't Nobody Mess With My Baby (GWP)

Marvellows-Piece Of Silk (WB)

Gambrells-Fall In Love For The First Time (CUB)

Otis Brown-Will You Wait (Lujuna)

Timoth Carr -A Stop Along (Hot Biscuit)

Jeannie Fortune-Once More With Feeling (RCA)

Southwind Symphony-Coming Home (Glolite)

Gentle Persuasion-Dynamite Explodes

The Casualeers I thought would have had plays off the back of Dance Dance Dance??,The Southwind Symphony off the back of Lou Pride it being the instrumental (in every Domar soul pack I bought) and the Gentle Persuasion a cheaper version of Honey and the Bees Dynamite explodes...........all still cheapies.

Not to my knowledge Kev. A couple of plays here and there at the smaller soul nights but they never gravitated to the big time. Also many of 'em suffered from the 'cheap as chips' syndrome - quite a few of the above were Bradford market goodies or fairly easily available which was always the kiss of death back then.

In fact I used to carry the Debbie Taylor in my box for a while but never played it. That was doomed by availability again along with loads of others like the Hoagy Lands as well......

"Don't Nobody Mess With My Baby" - Debbie Taylor

"Why Didn't You Let Me Know" - Hoagy Lands

I bought both of the above on the same day for 10p each from either Leeds or Bradford market hence the reason why I'm posting 'em now. Wish it were like that nowdays!

Ian D :rolleyes:

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I was speaking to Russ recently about things he would try to break that never took off three of which were Trade Martin-She Put The Hurt on Me,Gerri Grainger-I Can Take It (straight off the back of I Go To Pieces) and Family Child-What About The Music....gave them a week and they got dropped...turnover of sounds was that fast.Trade eventually made it but the others didn't.........makes me think about the Phillips 45 The Free-Taking It Away that Richard S is holding in that photo ....another never made it tune....I've the Observer colour supplement article from 76 and all the lads in the photo are gathered round a box with Debbie Flemings-Long Gone.....never hear this out anywhere....must have been big but now forgotten.

post-18577-0-94877000-1290517332_thumb.j

Edited by wiggyflat
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I was speaking to Russ recently about things he would try to break that never took off three of which were Trade Martin-She Put The Hurt on Me,Gerri Grainger-I Can Take It (straight off the back of I Go To Pieces) and Family Child-What About The Music....gave them a week and they got dropped...turnover of sounds was that fast.Trade eventually made it but the others didn't.........makes me think about the Phillips 45 The Free-Taking It Away that Richard S is holding in that photo ....another never made it tune....I've the Observer colour supplement article from 76 and all the lads in the photo are gathered round a box with Debbie Flemings-Long Gone.....never hear this out anywhere....must have been big but now forgotten.

It took yonks for "I Go To Pieces" - Gerri Grainger to take off 'cos I had the first copy (thanks Brad) and I couldn't really break it, so hats off to Russ for that one. He programmed it in the right slot otherwise I don't know if it would have made it otherwise.

That "Taking It Away" by Free was in Richard's box forever but it never caught fire along with this.....

"You're A Puzzle" - The Jive Five

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YUPRhWm7do

And this......

"Livin' The Nightlife" - The Charts

The Debbie Fleming record was pretty much all Mecca and Cleethorpes action - it didn't really take off @ Wigan I seem to remember.

And that Family Child record was easily available at the time. In fact I left a UK Polydor copy in a shop the other week 'cos it never really appealed to me!

Ian D :rolleyes:

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another russ spin was paul clemens - it aint gonna happen again on playboy....nice little 70s northern but not for the purist............love it personally............

Yep another poppy like stormer.

Talking of which, I found a beautiful UK promo of Watson T. Browne's "What Can I Say" t'other week. Can't find it on either You Tube or Refosoul but that used to be a Torch secret sound. Do you know it Mark? It's right up your street.........

Ian D :rolleyes:

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[/rs]

Other sides even better I think..........."I Don't Need Another Baby"..........girlie dancer perfection but both well worth a play.

chris calloway - i don't need another baby - cub

Cheers

Martyn

Sorry mate far too slow .....what we call down here "Giffer Soul".Pleasant enough.Flip it back over for the dancer.Reminds me of all the people who play the wrong side of the Jack Montgomery record Do You Believe It.

Edited by wiggyflat
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Is that on UK Mam label the black one......... one I see everywhere is 5 Flights Up-black cat which is basically a reworking of Loves Gone Bad...even got a UK release on Bell.Great sound tho.

No, it's on PYE. It's a much much better re-working of a song he did on President called "Crying All Night". I've never seen a demo before so I snagged it. Great record!

Ian D :rolleyes:

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[/rs]

Sorry mate far too slow .....what we call down here "Giffer Soul".Pleasant enough.Flip it back over for the dancer.Reminds me of all the people who play the wrong side of the Jack Montgomery record Do You Believe It.

Always thought the top side a little poppy but great dancer as you say, I know Col Woods has been playing it recently, sounds great out.

Cheers

Martyn

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Always thought the top side a little poppy but great dancer as you say, I know Col Woods has been playing it recently, sounds great out.

Cheers

Martyn

Another one i've been quietly pluggin' for a age biggrin.gif

post-1986-0-33977700-1290520398_thumb.jp

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Yep, killer record. I've revived it on the radio show over the last couple of years too and it always sounds great. There's two pressings of it too 'cos the one I used to have was just a plain yellow label with black print.

A bit like this one in fact. Another one from the same era which could have slotted in nicely with some of the Mel Britts, Anderson Brothers etc, etc

"I'll Always Love You" - Quinn Harris

Ian D :thumbsup:

Remember my mate Colin D buying this from Francis Tee at the Ritz 76ish

Great Record!!!!

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Can't believe this one never took off big. Woulda worked nicely with something like "Take Me Back" - Lee Fields possibly?

Perfect record for time like this!

"The Economy" - Lee Mitchell

Ian D :thumbsup:

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love this one ian...richard did spin it for a bit didnt he....had this on the blue and yellow label Roll....

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Another vintage Chicago record from a vintage act which used to be rare as hell (and I presume it still is). Maybe not as commercial as some of the others but all the right credentials........

"You Make My Heart Sing" - The Eldorados

Ian D :thumbsup:

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had this for 20 yrs now...bought for £15 still about the same ian,,,,,as u say a gr8 little tune...

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OK let's have a couple of killer album tracks from two Detroit veterans from back in the day that should have been biggies but which are picking up a bit of attention finally.....

"I Can Take The World On" - Popcorn Wylie

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5yUWWl9vYI

"I'll Fly To Your Open Arms" - Jack Ashford

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glTM-32LbYw

Ian D :thumbsup:

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love this one ian...richard did spin it for a bit didnt he....had this on the blue and yellow label Roll....

Looking through one of my old lists today , and this is one I picked up in 1976 . Despite it being a great side IMHO , it was possibly passed over as being too adventurous for the time .

I am not sure if it was an IL HR spin .

Pleased that there was a clip on youtube .

Malc

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love this one ian...richard did spin it for a bit didnt he....had this on the blue and yellow label Roll....

Yep, it first appeared on a Soussan list and no one knew whether it was real or not until a couple of originals came through. Initially we thought some of those Roll copies may have been advance bootlegs but they turned out to be the real thing! By then it was too late and people had moved on.......

Ian D :thumbsup:

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Looking through one of my old lists today , and this is one I picked up in 1976 . Despite it being a great side IMHO , it was possibly passed over as being too adventurous for the time .

I am not sure if it was an IL HR spin .

Pleased that there was a clip on youtube .

Malc

Killer record Malc! Levine wrote about this one in his Black Music column. What killed it stone dead was that it appeared on a Soul Bowl list for £1 not long after, so it's another one of those that was simply too available. I suspect if had been a one-off it would have been a biggie at the time......

Ian D :thumbsup:

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And how could this have failed first time around? Vintage Detroit, catchy hook, great vocal but simply not enough copies back in the day. Probably down to rarity I guess.......

"I'm Catching On" - Betty Lloyd

Ian D :thumbsup:

Might have failed first time round (whenever that was) but it's been worn out since the mid 80's.

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this===

Killer record Malc! Levine wrote about this one in his Black Music column. What killed it stone dead was that it appeared on a Soul Bowl list for £1 not long after, so it's another one of those that was simply too available. I suspect if had been a one-off it would have been a biggie at the time......

Ian D :thumbsup:

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this is one of my TOP 3 OLDIES ,,,just brilliant ,...still rarely heard...i spun it at the last but one radcliffe.....................

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Killer record Malc! Levine wrote about this one in his Black Music column. What killed it stone dead was that it appeared on a Soul Bowl list for £1 not long after, so it's another one of those that was simply too available. I suspect if had been a one-off it would have been a biggie at the time......

Ian D :thumbsup:

I think my copy cost me 10 bob Ian :thumbsup:

If I remember rightly , the record was not alone , as records IL informed the public about in BE , always seemed to turn up - invariably on SB - shortly after , and usually for an attractive price .........

Malc

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this===

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this is one of my TOP 3 OLDIES ,,,just brilliant ,...still rarely heard...i spun it at the last but one radcliffe.....................

As my copy cost me 10 bob Mark , what is the going rate for a copy these days ?

Malc

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Now if you still want to spin a Dee Dee Warwicke track but without those tiresome Mamas & Papas comparisons, you could do a lot worse than this......

Was always surprised that this never took off in the 70's. Pretty faultless to these ears.....

"Don't You Ever Give Up On Me" - Dee Dee Warwicke

Ian D :thumbsup:

yes i agree ian especially as it has the sublime we've got everything going for us on the flip side,

kev

dee dee warwick - we've got everything going for us - mercury

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Might have failed first time round (whenever that was) but it's been worn out since the mid 80's.

Ah, OK. First time round was in the mid 70's for me Chalky. I wasn't around that much in Northern clubs the 80's and early 90's like a lot of people so there's bound to be a few knowledge gaps here and there. Was it huge everywhere then?

Ian D :thumbsup:

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Just skimmed through this since I last had a look and noticed that the following have been listed:

Gwen Owens

Dee Dee Warwick

Steinways

Casanova Two

Terry Callier

Uptights

Magicians

Dee Irwin

Wooden Nickels

Ronnie Savoy

Pearline Grey

Dave Love

Chants

Betty Lloyd

Surely these are all underplayed oldies that were all reasonably big at the time rather than 'never made it' sounds?

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Just skimmed through this since I last had a look and noticed that the following have been listed:

Gwen Owens

Dee Dee Warwick

Steinways

Casanova Two

Terry Callier

Uptights

Magicians

Dee Irwin

Wooden Nickels

Ronnie Savoy

Pearline Grey

Dave Love

Chants

Betty Lloyd

Surely these are all underplayed oldies that were all reasonably big at the time rather than 'never made it' sounds?

Sure Godzilla but one man's underplayed oldie could be another man's unheard song full-stop. Also I'm assuming that there could be a large contingent of younger people or new to the scene people who may not have heard some of these ever. There's songs on this thread which I've never heard out in 40 odd years. Also, a lot of it depends on when people were on the scene, when they were off the scene, when they came back on etc, etc.

Feel free to straighten the balance by all means. I'm sure there'd be a load of goodies that were'nt found 'til the early 80's but those are 30 years old now, so hence will be new to many ears who maybe weren'r around at the time........

Ian D :D

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Sure Godzilla but one man's underplayed oldie could be another man's unheard song full-stop. Also I'm assuming that there could be a large contingent of younger people or new to the scene people who may not have heard some of these ever. There's songs on this thread which I've never heard out in 40 odd years. Also, a lot of it depends on when people were on the scene, when they were off the scene, when they came back on etc, etc.

Feel free to straighten the balance by all means. I'm sure there'd be a load of goodies that were'nt found 'til the early 80's but those are 30 years old now, so hence will be new to many ears who maybe weren'r around at the time........

Ian D :thumbsup:

Yeah

I get that Ian. Just think there's a difference between "never made it big" and "wasn't big during my period". Even when I was off the scene I read about records and was aware that - even if I hadn't heard them - they were big sounds.

Still, any thread that brings attention to tunes that people have missed, for any reason, has to be applauded. Lord knows I missed enough tunes in my time :D

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Remember getting 3 Copies of Casanova Two (Still one of my favourites and don't have one now !) off Bob Cattaneo late 70's early 80's ? these were Black & White labels but have been told these were a bit dodgy , is that true ?

Cheers

Swifty :thumbsup:

P.S. Great thread loads of great stuff i've never heard :D

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Still, any thread that brings attention to tunes that people have missed, for any reason, has to be applauded. Lord knows I missed enough tunes in my time

:D

Yep, unlikely as it seems, there'sprobably a few young Godzillas out there right now feverishly devouring this thread and filling in their notebooks looking to start thinning down that vinyl mountain over here! I guess most of these will be comparitive cheapies these days........

Ian D :thumbsup:

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Remember getting 3 Copies of Casanova Two (Still one of my favourites and don't have one now !) off Bob Cattaneo late 70's early 80's ? these were Black & White labels but have been told these were a bit dodgy , is that true ?

Cheers

Swifty :thumbsup:

P.S. Great thread loads of great stuff i've never heard :D

I do kinda remember some dodgy copies with what looked to be unconvincing labels. Can anyone confirm? This is one of those records which requires thick vinyl to soak up those killer harmonies and screams LOL....

Ian D :thumbsup:

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Remember getting 3 Copies of Casanova Two (Still one of my favourites and don't have one now !) off Bob Cattaneo late 70's early 80's ? these were Black & White labels but have been told these were a bit dodgy , is that true ?

Cheers

Swifty :thumbsup:

P.S. Great thread loads of great stuff i've never heard :D

We got some Casanova Two's off Disco Bob July 74, the red ones.thumbsup.gif ordered some more Jan 75 than we got the dodgy black and white ones.laugh.gif

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Looking through one of my old lists today , and this is one I picked up in 1976 . Despite it being a great side IMHO , it was possibly passed over as being too adventurous for the time .

I am not sure if it was an IL HR spin .

Pleased that there was a clip on youtube .

Malc

Got this recently and will be spinning it out.....must have been tipped for big things as it

was booted.

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Sure Godzilla but one man's underplayed oldie could be another man's unheard song full-stop. Also I'm assuming that there could be a large contingent of younger people or new to the scene people who may not have heard some of these ever. There's songs on this thread which I've never heard out in 40 odd years. Also, a lot of it depends on when people were on the scene, when they were off the scene, when they came back on etc, etc.

Feel free to straighten the balance by all means. I'm sure there'd be a load of goodies that were'nt found 'til the early 80's but those are 30 years old now, so hence will be new to many ears who maybe weren'r around at the time........

Ian D :D

I agree most of this list are underplayed oldies and have all been played at different times............Betty Lloyd cost me a few quid.I think/hope this thread is about records that had massive northern potential but never made it big....not about good/OK ballads/midtempo/album tracks that would have never made it in a million years..........Sunny And The Sunliners-If I Could See You Now (but you were looking at Lonely Lover)

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Got this recently and will be spinning it out.....must have been tipped for big things as it

was booted.

Never knew that .

An great record , but one I would have never considered to be alternately reproduced .

Malc

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Never knew that .

A great record , but one I would have never considered to be alternately reproduced .

Malc

To paraphrase Mr. Manship, according to the boot guide, it wa a classic case of sell the boot as an unknown original and rake in some dosh before anyone found a real one - not uncommon at tne time, remember those Mr. X lists? :D

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