Guest Paul Posted March 28, 2012 Posted March 28, 2012 (edited) NEW RELEASE THE HYPNOTICS - One Way Ticket / Don't Burn No Bridges Soul Intention SI-006 Release date: 31 March 2012 All enquiries to Phil Dick: info@soul-intention.co.uk website: www.soul-intention.co.uk THE HYPNOTICS Edited March 28, 2012 by Paul
Roburt Posted March 28, 2012 Posted March 28, 2012 That's James Thompson's shirt & I have 'first bags' on it as I know James.
Roburt Posted March 28, 2012 Posted March 28, 2012 And here's a copy of the rare US original 45 ...... Tracks cut during the same period as the group's Reprise releases.
Roburt Posted April 3, 2012 Posted April 3, 2012 Last years Soul Intention 45 release "I Got To Have You / Take Me Back" by Otis Williams created quite a stir. This sublime double sided soul gem was the first output from a deal the label have set up to highlight the great 1970's tracks that escaped in very limited quantity on Kent Washburn's LA based Emkay Records. The cuts that were issued on EmKay were laid down in St Louis in the mid 70's and the second 45 to result from the deal features a local St Louis group. The Hypnotics were led by James Thompson who had started out in the Voice Masters who have highly collectable outings on the Copa, Frisco and Bamboo labels. Putting together a new trio in 1972, James was soon working in the studio with producer Kent Washburn. A number of tracks were laid down and a deal for the group signed with Reprise Records. Two singles were soon issued; "Beware of the Stranger / Memories" in May 1973 and "Girl You Know That I Love You / Dance To The Music" shortly after. Neither of these got much promotion from the record company and so achieved little commercial success at that time. Kent moved on to work for Motown in LA and it wasn't until the end of the decade that any other tracks from the group would emerge. After Kent had hooked up with Spirit Records the opportunity for him to release some of his old soul recordings presented itself and one of these was the Hypnotics "One Way Ticket / Don't Burn No Bridges". "Don't Burn No Bridges" had also been recorded by Jackie Wilson in conjunction with the Chi-Lites and their version had seen the light of day on Brunswick Records back in 1975. The Hypnotics take on "Don't Burn No Bridges" (a song written by a member of Kent's team) was tackled in psychedelic soul style whereas "One Way Ticket" (penned by James) is a classy Northern Soul / Modern Soul dance number of the highest order. With both of the old Reprise 45's by the group now being much sought after items, I'm sure this new Soul Intention single will ensure the Hypnotics once again find favour with UK record buyers.
Roburt Posted April 6, 2012 Posted April 6, 2012 "Don't Burn No Bridges" by Jackie Wilson & the Chi-Lites charted in November 1975. It proved to be Jackie's last ever national US chart single.
Roburt Posted April 12, 2012 Posted April 12, 2012 James Thompson (lead singer of Hypnotics & Voice Masters) wrote a lot of songs for Gene Chandler after he was spotted by Gene when signed to Bamboo Records. He (James) wrote "Good Guys Only Win In Movies" for Mel & Tim plus the B side to Gene's 45 Groovy Situation" (song titled "Not The Marrying Kind"). Much later he wrote "Get Down" for Gene (massive worldwide disco hit) ....... but here's a very fine example of another of his songs that Gene cut in 1970; "Simply Call It Love" ........ could have done without the whistling though !! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIZErjZqaHU
boba Posted April 12, 2012 Posted April 12, 2012 here is the full lineup of the group, don't know if it remained the same from like 1970-1975: James Thompson and Arthur Jeffries, both formerly of The Voicemasters, Paul Robinson (deceased). I think I vaguely remember Arthur Jeffries having a webpage or something. This is their best song IMO, this rules so hard:
Roburt Posted April 12, 2012 Posted April 12, 2012 (edited) Bob ............. By 1972, James Thompson was back in St Louis and looking to resurrect a recording career. He formed a trio named the Hypnotics made up of himself, Arthur Jeffries (ex of the Voice Masters -- now deceased) and Paul Robinson (2nd Tenor - also now deceased). Kent got the group to record some tracks and then set about getting them a record deal. For some months, Kent drove Vice Presidents at many of the major record companies crazy. He pestered them until they finally agreed to meetings at which he pitched the tracks the Hypnotics had recorded. Three offers resulted, from RCA, Warner Brothers and Playboy Records. A deal was signed with Warner Brothers / Reprise and everyone involved at CMC was thrilled as the production company was now off and running. Their initial 45 release on Reprise coupled "Beware of the Stranger" with "Memories" (May 1973) but with little promotional effort put behind the single by the label, it failed to register commercially. A second single ("Girl You Know That I Love You" / "Dance To The Music" followed but that met a similar fate. When their Reprise 45's flopped (mainly due to zilch promotion), Reprise lost interest in their additional tracks (which include these two efforts on the Soul Intention 45). The group were very unhappy about their lack of success & started to 'play up'. As a result the studio put more sessions with them on the backburner and the group fell apart. James has moved on in life (& has relocated) but he still returns to the greater St Louis area once a year to team up with old musical mates & play a couple of local gigs. Edited April 12, 2012 by Roburt
boba Posted April 12, 2012 Posted April 12, 2012 the problem with the warner bros singles not being successful had to be due to bad selection of material. They pushed a weak version of a track already done by the Krystal Generation and the Voices of East Harlem. On the second single, "Girl you know that I love you" was awesome but they pushed a sly stone cover. I didn't know that Arthur Jeffries had passed, that is sad news.
Roburt Posted April 12, 2012 Posted April 12, 2012 RE: I didn't know that Arthur Jeffries had passed .... Well that's the info that Kent Washburn & James Thompson told me.
boba Posted April 12, 2012 Posted April 12, 2012 RE: I didn't know that Arthur Jeffries had passed .... Well that's the info that Kent Washburn & James Thompson told me. I wasn't questioning you, just noting that it was sad news
Flanny Posted April 12, 2012 Posted April 12, 2012 A TRULY Hypnotic release i'll be picking one of these babies up at Soul Essence this weekend in Great Yarmouth and what with Lee Fields release last month it looks like a good year for real soul please form an ordely line
Phild Posted April 15, 2012 Posted April 15, 2012 Only available via our website at the moment ...... www.soul-intention.co.uk
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