Soul Source - First Issue 1997 - Record Corner Page

.Stumbled on some old pages from the early days, posted as may be of interest to some long time members and also just in case lose them again...

The Record Corner Page from the first year of Soul Source (opened in Aug 1997)

Originally published in Sep/Oct 1997

THE RECORD CORNER 1997

This is the place for all things to do with Vinyl and CDs, news reviews etc

Looking to end up with a large database of "Northern soul on CD" i.e. details of all tracks on all compilations, will start getting this together soon

{CD Reviews}

{Vinyl Reviews}

{Record News}

GROOVESVILLE REVIEW (GSCD 121)

OUT ON THE FLOOR TONIGHT (GSCD 107)

THE GOLDEN TORCH REVISITED (GSCD 92)

THE MAGIC OF DETROIT VOL 1 (GSCD 93)

Here's some goldmine cd reviews fresh from the pages of Beatin Rhythm (-issue 16 just about to be unleashed ), which is a soul fanzine published by Pete Smith , email him for details at

Going by the reviews and the info here seems like well worth getting:

GROOVESVILLE REVIEW (GSCD 121)

The vaults of Detroits's finest are plundered yet again here, but this has to be the strongest Goldmine/Soul Supply set in a long time. There are many highlights on this CD, for most the big one would appear to be Edwin Starr's Has It Happened To You Yet which is a new song over the old Sweet Sherry backing track. It's fantastic, but what strikes you most about the track is that the backing is so powerful, much more so than on the original J.J. Barnes version, awesome, driving Detroit soul at it's very best, can't wait to hear the instrumental version. Puzzling how you can still hear J.J. wailing in the background during the intro though.

Steve Mancha figures heavily once again, though I think we could have been spared his duet with Melvin Davis on I Need My Baby, as it adds nothing to the Jackey Beavers original. Mancha's Let's Party is a solid dancer, but offers little lyric-wise, and the tune sounds uncannily like Val Simpson's version of It's Just Love. Barbara Mercer performs a version of Happiness Is Here, but this is lack luster compared to the wonderful Tobi Lark original, compare the two versions on the "I hope and pray happiness is here" part towards the end - Tobi stretches one note to around 10 seconds, while Barbara is content to simply sing the word 'Here' , clocking in at, ooh, about 1 second I should think - she sounds as if she's really going through the motions.

The Parliaments' Heart Trouble needs no introduction and appears on CD here for the first time. Next is the legendary Bari Track (under the title I Miss My Baby, which it is I suppose) but this version differs from the Sound Impression cut by reducing the baritone sax and bringing the piano to the forefront, and consequently stripping it of it's awesome power. There's yet another version of The Professionals' That's Why I Love You, great song but this is stretching it a bit now, I make this 6 versions out on CD now including the original 45 and an instrumental version. Edwin Starr's You're My Mellow has stayed rare and is superb, Melvin Davis performs an early version of Chains Of Love, best known via Jimmy Hughes on Stax, and there's the B side of Andrea Henry's I Need You Like A Baby, Time Fades Away, which is nice but not a patch on it's better known top side.Other notables include Spyder Turner (apparently) with a great track called trying To Forget You, Steve Mancha with A Good Understanding (who did this on vinyl?), an instrumental entitled You're Gonna Be Sorry which turns out to be the backing track to The Tempos' I'll Never Forget, and staying with the instrumentals there's the vocal-less version of Geni (Teri Bryant), which is nice. There's another cruncher from Steve Mancha, He Stole The Love That Was Mine, again sheer magic with a strange chorus ("He talked a hole right through your head"), this is superb. J.J. Barnes' Deeper In Love is performed here by Robert Ward and for some reason is credited as being called Pigfeet! Oh, and there's what sounds like an alternative version of Darrell Banks' current flavour of the month, I'm The One Who Really Loves You to keep everybody happy. Add more goodies from J.J Barnes himself, Darrell Banks, David Ruffin etc, and you've got what is easily the strongest of Goldmine Soul Supply's venture into the Groovesville archives, top quality throughout and some grade 'A' Northern dancers to boot (not literally). This is perhaps the last of the Groovesville releases - I can't recall hearing anything else floating around on tape - so they're going out with a bang. Packaging is fairly minimal with a very brief introductory note from Mr. Koppell, but the music here speaks for itself and I think that we have all possibly been spoiled with the previous releases in this series. Maybe if we take a retrospective in a couple of years time I'll even grow to enjoy hearing Silky Hargreaves massacreing Emanuel Lasky's immortal Lucky To Be Love By You!

 TRACK LISTING

EDWIN STARR - Has it happened to you yet

STEVE MANCHA - Let's party/BARBARA MERCER - Happiness is here

PARLIAMENTS - Heart trouble/

INSTRUMENTAL - I miss my baby/

PROFESSIONALS - That's why I love you/

WILLIE HATCHER -Searching/

MELVIN DAVIS & STEVE MANCHA - I need my baby/

SPYDER TURNER - Trying to forget you/

STEVE MANCHA - A good understanding/

INSTRUMENTAL - You're gonna be sorry/

JOYCE VINCENT - Solid as a rock/

EDWIN STARR - You're my mellow/

MELVIN DAVIS - Chains of love/

STEVE MANCHA - He stole the love that was mine/

ANDREA HENRY - Time fades away/

INSTRUMENTAL - Geni/

STEVE MANCHA - Need to be needed/

ROBERT WARD - Pigfeet (deeper and deeper)/

DARRELL BANKS - I'm the one who loves you/

J.J. BARNES - The goings on/

STEVE MANCHA - Unyielding/

INSTRUMENTAL - Everlovin'/

DAVID RUFFIN - You're still in my heart.

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THE GOLDEN TORCH REVISITED (GSCD 92)

I think that the mood you're in affects CD reviews - one day you might love to hear a CD of oldies, next day you think "Oh no, how many times I have heard these before?" I'm afraid that today I'm suffering from the symptoms described in the latter scenario and I couldn't wait for this collection to end. Why? Because I first heard Mamie Galore, Lenis Guess, James Bounty et al nearly 25 years ago and I'm just bored with them. Having said that, they're still good, great records, but familiarity breeds contempt. The highlight of this CD is actually an instrumental (hello Andy!), Frantic Escape by The Innocent Bystanders which has no melody at all but is Popcorn Wylie and his session men cooking up an absolute storm on this vibe-laden Detroit crasher. Juxtapose this with the other instrumental selection, Bob Wilson's Suzy's Serenade and you get a chalk and cheese situation where you can't believe something as dreadful as that could ever have been played. Ditto The Dramatics' hideous Inky Dinky Wang Dang Doo, a record everyone went crazy over in 72/73, but the actual record is even worse than it's title, what a mess. Those two plus The Exciters' Number One which is a nothing song, are the only duds on this CD, but I have to say that there are at least 7 previously released on CD tracks here, so check the listing carefully. So apart from Frantic Escape, the other main highlights are Lou Johnson's perrenial Unsatisfied, a record which sounded dated from day one but one that contains a masterful vocal performance and is worth the price of the CD alone; Jimmy (James) Conwell with Too Much, a terrific dancer which has the same backing track as Len Jewel's Bettin' On Love and was pressed many years ago but in such bad quality that it was barely recognisable - here you get it in perfect sound quality. Oh and there's Luther Ingram's vocal version of Exus Trek which isn't a patch on the instrumental but for some crazy reason is preferred by a few people, trouble is it's not a very good song.So basically, this is another superb release, it just caught me at the wrong time I'm afraid. Incidentally, check out the accompanying booklet, centre pages, there's a photo of people dancing at the King's Hall, Stoke at the Togetherness allnighter and bugger me, it's your truly, bottom right of the pic with the blue and purple checked shirt - but wait, I've never noticed that sodding bald patch coming before!

TRACK LISTING

LENIS GUESS - Just ask me/

VIBRATING VIBRATIONS - Surprise party for baby/

DEE DEE SHARP - What kind of lady/

PHILLIP MITCHELL - Free for all/

MAMIE GALORE -It ain't necessary/

PROPHETS - I got the fever/

VALENTINES - Breakaway/

BOB WILSON - Suzy's serenade/

DRAMATICS - Inky dinky wang dang doo/

SUPERIORS - What would I do/

LOU JOHNSON - Unsatisfied/

ROSCOE SHELTON - Running for my life/

TYMES - What would I do/

SEQUINS - A case of love/

ROYAL JOKERS - Love game a-z/

JIMMY CONWELL - Too much/

OVATIONS - They say/

LUTHER INGRAM - If it's all the same to you babe/

JEANETTE WHITE - Music/

DYNAMICS - Bingo/

INNOCENT BYSTANDERS - Frantic escape/

PARLIAMENTS - Don't be sore at me/

JAMES BOUNTY -Prove yourself a lady/

EXCITERS - Number one/

TONY MICHAELS - I love the life I live.

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OUT ON THE FLOOR TONIGHT (GSCD 107)

At first glance I thought this was a reissue of an old GM/SS title, Out On The Floor, but no, this is Out On The Floor Tonight. The concept is a little different too - the first CD conatined 24 or so classics, I mean extremely well established sounds, hear them at every oldies night you go to kind of classics like Queen Of Fools, The Snake, What's Wrong With Me Baby and so on.

This compilation, doesn't really include any early classics but concentrates on the mid to late 70's biggies. There are also a handful of UK releases thrown in including Kiki Dee's On A Magic Carpet Ride which to these ears is beginning to sound quite nice (after 18 years of it sounding like shit).Other UK's come from John E. Paul, great at the time but sounding like like something from another planet now, can you imagine them laying this at Albrighton or some other 'soul connoisseurs' venue? Ditto Five And A Penny's awful version of Dana Valery and Tony Blackburn's shocking cover of I'll Do Anything. John Drevar's Expression still sounds okay I suppose, as do The Flirtations and Timebox, but the best of the UK recordings is Dusty Springfield's What's It Gonna Be which sounds as authentic as anything else here. But it's not just the UK recordings that provide the shockers here: Otis Leavill's Boomerang sounds like a Gene Chandler/Major Lance recording but is hideous, and is apparently a Twisted Wheel classic, Jeez! One of Levine's old biggies, The Petals - You Can't Close The Windows To Your Heart is bad beyond description, Susan Farrar's The Big Hurt was big for literally two weeks at Wigan before it was pressed then thankfully we never had to suffer it again, and as for Keith, Brian Hyland, Eddie Garrigan and so on, they're records of their own era and just don't fit in today. Strangely enough, Many's The Slip by The Present, although being a semi-psychedelic record, still sounds good but that's probably because of the memories it inspires rather than the quality of the record. Worst of the lot, and perhaps the worst record ever to appear on a GM/SS CD is undoubtedly Marc Copage's Who Can I Turn To, a dire recording by a 6 year old TV star who sounds like he was having his foreskin chopped off while recording this turd. Far and away the best track is He Loves Me by The Chalfontes which is a Detroit sounding dancer I've loved for years but never seems to be remembered with any fondness by anyone else. Oh, and whoever mastered this needs a severe beating around the head with a 3 week old pork chop because, okay, occasionally it's acceptable to miss the first split second of an intro to a track, but there are something like 15 seconds cut from the intro of Jeanette Harper's Put Me In Your Pocket - a small mercy, some may say, but there's just no excuse for it, it actually begins more or less on the vocal when there's a perfectly good and quite exciting intro to the original recording. Remember when they cut off the intro to John & The Weirdest - Can't Get Over These Memories? Why do people have to tamper with things?Let's face it, this is a real mish-mash of sounds and styles and it doesn't come off, and when the likes of Kiki Dee are your saving grace, well perhaps it's time for a bit of a rethink in the quality control department. Having said that, there are probably many, many people who bought the K-Tel Soul Survivors package which was ten times worse than this, so I may be putting on a soul snob hat here to look 'cool' - so, let's end by saying that there's probably something for everybody here, but not too much for me personally.

TRACK LISTING

OTIS LEAVILL - Boomerang/

PRESENT - Many's the slip/

JOHN E. PAUL - I wanna know/

KIKI DEE - On a magic carpet ride/

SANDY & THE PEBBLES - He's my kind of fellow/

SWEET - Broken heart attack/

DUSTY SPRINGFIELD - What's it gonna be/

JEANETTE HARPER - Put me in your pocket/

JAY & THE TECHNIQUES - Baby make your own sweet music/

JERRY BUTLER - One night affair/

PETALS - (You can't close) the windows of your heart/

BRIAN HYLAND - The joker went wild/

NAT WRIGHT - Mr. Love/

EDDIE GARRIGAN - I wish I was/

NICKY NEWARKERS - Woman/

ARNOLD BRYANT- House in order/

SUSAN FARRAR - The big hurt/

GROOVERS - He will break your heart/

LENNY (TONY BLACKBURN) GAMBLE - I'll do anything/

TIMEBOX - Girl don't make me wait/

FIVE AND A PENNY - You don't know where your interest lies/

JOHN DREVAR'S Expression - The closer she gets/

FLIRTATIONS - Little darlin'/

KEITH - Daylight saving time/

MARC COPAGE - Who can I turn to (questions and answers)

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THE MAGIC OF DETROIT VOL1 (GSCD 93)

A collection of material culled mainly from Mike Hanks stable of labels including Mah's D-Town, Wheel City etc and for the Detroit afficinados out there, this really will be your cup of tea! D-Town dominates this set with well known items like Silky Hargreaves - Hurt by Love, Fabulous Peps -My love looks good on you and Ronnie Love's Detroit Michigan being the stand outs, though the previously unknown to me Dee Edwards- His Majesty My Love was my favourite track here, a strange marching beat with Brass fanfares blaring out all over the place as if real royalty was paying a visit to downtown Detroit. this is way from left field and is really great. As for Melvin Davis- Find a quiet place, I actually had a copy of this back in 79, I got it from Pep who had 3 copies, I sold it for something like £15 and I believe its now worth over £500! Ah Shucks!

Well I wont go into detail about the rest of the CD because due to the labels utilising the same group of musicans many of the tracks have a similar feel andwhile its all quality stuff its not earth shattering, though well worth buying for the aforementioned tracks. Plus theres The Precisions £500 rated I wanna tell my baby, funny that none of thier other records are worth more than £20, Oh and there's the The Kansas City Playboys version of Big Maybelles Quitting time too which is a dancer and a half. I would guess that this is one of many complitations on the way fromthis source as you cant have a CD featuring wheelsville tracks that doesnt include the mighty Save your love for me baby by Freddy Butler can, you?

Sleeve notes wise, theres a brief history of the label and pen portraits of each of the artists and a couple of backroom boys by Tim Brown.

***

Track listening to follow....

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soul on vinyl

Thanks again to Pete Smith for the use of his reviews from Beatin Rythm (first 5 newies) to start this section off:

Ralph Graham - She just sits there - UPFRONT

This has been around for years as James Conwell- sitting at the window. This is a stunning track a slow beat dominated by spanish guitar riff to begin, with a plthora of instruments joining in one by one, and the song is a sad tale of a young girl waiting for her guy to come back from Vietnam . Shes got a long wait. Middle 8 is a bit messy but the staccatto verses are incrediable and this is one of the most atmospheric records of the last few years . Vocalist is surely white with a name like "Ralph" but this is wonderful *****

Annabel Fox - Lonely girl - SATIN

A 100 club biggie, this is a fantastic Little Anthony style beat ballad, again produced by Teddy Randazzo (well it sure sounds like one of his jobs), Dianne Warwick soundalike vocalist performs well, but with a production like this she cant fail and whilst listening to it for this tape I got actually got goosebumps during the chorus which features a 100 piece orchestra and angelic chorus. Breathtakingly brilliant.*****+

Hayes Cotton - I'll be waiting - CLAIRE

An exciting intro on this R+B dancer and it pounds along in a similar vein to the same artists Black Wings, but the guy has a voice that sounds identical to Barney the Bar fly from the simpsons! Not bad ( but how could anyone pay £200 for this) **

Cody Black - Im slowly moulding - KING

Solid Northern thumper from the profilic Mr Black this is one of his best, great backing and instrumentation. ***1/2

Pat Lewis - GENI - UNISSUED

Connoisseur via SS/GM have already put out a version of this which sounded identical to the wonderful Teri Bryant version. This second version has diffrent brasswork and vocal styling and a bit more punch to it. Great song this, and featuring a superlative string arrangement from those solid hitbound people. ****

more to follow!!!! ..........soon

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RECORD NEWS

The following article is an extract from LineOne's 'Staying In' Interactive Guide to Home Entertainment.

Rarest Motown tracks to be released at last by Simon Holden

Two British Tamla Motown fans have won a10-year battle to persuade record giant Polygram to open their vaults and release an album of rare tracks. Chris King and Jim Stewart refused to take no for an answer from the owners of the Motown catalogue and are now celebrating the release of

This Is Northern Soul.

It features 24 rarely-heard tracks from legendary singers from the mid-60s like Marvin Gaye,Gladys Knight, Frank Wilson and even Motown's backing group the Andantes.Jim, 50, a CD supplier from Swanley, Kent, and Chris a DJ from Nottingham, hope to sell 12,000 copies of the compilation to ensure a second album is commissioned. They estimate fans would have to pay about £40,000 to privately assemble a similar collection from original acetate and vinyl recordings from the Detroit label.

The collection contains Brenda Holloway's 1966 song Reconsider, Frank Wilson's Do I Love You?,Marvin Gaye's Love Starved Heart (1965) and three tracks by Gladys Knight, including It's Too Late For You and Me (1966).''We asked Polygram on numerous occasions with no joy,'' said Jim. ''They obeyed a directive from Motown who were loath to issue the back catalogue. ''It's almost as if they are frightened the older songs would overshadow their current artists. We couldn't see why the two couldn't work hand-in-hand. Now my head is buzzing.''They are good pieces of music and stand up against anything of the other Motown releases.''

A second album is already being planned from the 66 remaining catalogued tracks available to them.

page originally posted in 1997