Arnold Blair

[Guest Netspeaky]

Came across this site while surfing:

Welcome to Dead Flowers -- regrown, reinvigorated, and, most importantly,

returned to continue our obsessive excavations of music, culture and other tangents concerning rock'n'roll, its ancestors and offshoots, in all their many varieties. We are not purists, ideologues, taste-tyrants, or anything other than open-minded music lovers and record collectors who want to share a serious passion for wild, soulful sounds with anyone who wants to listen.

Site covers everything Garage, Punk, Soul, Beat, Blues, R&B,R&R and Much More.

It's a forum were people discuss there current playlists etc, forum member James Porter discussing his top ten monthly playlist had this to say about number 2 on his list, this was dated 2003 by the way and the site doesn't seem to have any updates after that date.

2. Arnold Blair - "Trying To Get Next To You" (Gemigo)

When I was a kid in the '70s, there was a small mom'n'pop record store on Chicago's South Side, right by the Illinois Central railroad tracks. Like most wax emporiums, there was a mess of promo posters in the window that looked old and faded even THEN (although they were brand new!). The one that stood out to me was a poster advertising Arnold Blair. Why would this catch my attention? Probably 'cause I thought that was a mighty big sign for a guy I hadn't heard on the radio. (I was still in grade school, gimme a break!) A simple picture of a bearded African-American man in profile, casually wearing a red baseball cap, captioned "Arnold Blair!" in raised black letters. My research (such as it is) indicates that he never released an album, and the All Music Guide website tells us that Blair earned his money primarily as a background vocalist. In between he released a single on the Curtis Mayfield-owned Gemigo label that is reportedly a rare, big-money item with UK soul collectors. And lookee what I found at a rekkid convention last fall for only a quarter! This 1975 single was produced and co-written by Leroy Hutson (another '70s soulster who had a hit or two but never really got his props), and reflects where soul was going just before the disco thing changed the game. Worth the hype? Yes. Blair has a high voice that sounds almost feminine, but he still soars -- it's too bad he couldn't follow this up with a whole album. Why would Curtis Mayfield's people issue a big ole poster on somebody who only released a little bitty 45? Were there high hopes that didn't work out? Well, can't blame the promo department for marketing him this way -- smooth stepping soul ballads like this deserve an entire billboard.

I thought it was interesting enough to post here an american collector's thoughts on a tune that's collectable over here in the UK. His taste in music is quite varied, his ten included following:

Alvin Robinson,Sleepy LaBeef,Bellrays,Roy C.,Vagrants,T-Bone Walker,Hugh Roy,In-ovations and V/A - Original Greatest Hits Of The Great Country & Western Stars LP (Mercury)

[Simon T]

One of the finest "two steppers" ever?