Northern Soul records that should have been hits?

[Jem Britttin]

Not sure whether this has been done before or in this way? I know most of us view the records from a totally different perspective as they fall into our Northern Soul world. However most of the records that were cut by artists were an attempt to gain chart or commercial success, they certainly would never have envisaged them being classed in the future as a Northern Soul record. We often say about some records "can't understand why this never got anywhere" and whilst it is true some of that was down to poor promotion or not getting picked up on radio for airplay. It is also true that some were probably deemed as not very good! We embrace them all and have formed our own opinions. As we are now all older (well most off us)  and obviously music lovers:  I thought it would be interesting to take an objective and honest view. Some records are classed as iconic by artists like The Beatles for instance, not my cup of tea but I can appreciate why, great arrangements lyrics etc. My question is: given better exposure what records that we class as Northern Soul would you nominate to have gone on to gain wider acclaim or respect and why?

I will start the ball rolling: Linda Jones 'I just can't live my life' fantastic musical arrangement, haunting vocals superb lyrics. If Adele was to slow it down to a ballad today and release it. I bet it would sell!

over to you!

Edited June 15, 2016 by Jem Britttin

[Woodbutcher]

3 hours ago, Jem Britttin said:

I will start the ball rolling: Linda Jones 'I just can't live my life' fantastic musical arrangement, haunting vocals superb lyrics. If Adele was to slow it down to a ballad today and release it. I bet it would sell!

over to you!

Please refrain from putting thoughts like this in writing in the public domain ... you never know who might be reading them ... last thing the world needs is that talentless twat warbling a soul covers album to the masses thank you very much ... 

[Zed1]

1 hour ago, WoodButcher said:

Please refrain from putting thoughts like this in writing in the public domain ... you never know who might be reading them ... last thing the world needs is that talentless twat warbling a soul covers album to the masses thank you very much ... 

Given the crap some of todays talentless and lazy DJ's try and pass for Northern Soul,  I'd take a night in with '21' anytime.

[Guest colambretta]

9 minutes ago, Zed1 said:

Given the crap some of todays talentless and lazy DJ's try and pass for Northern Soul,  I'd take a night in with '21' anytime.

what like kylie minogues cover of time will pass you by 

/www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOu10YH82vQ

[Gilly]

I think this is a rather good question, ( I also don't want to see our music being watered down and end up in the charts) but I always thought "You've been gone to long" Ann Sexton could of made it and if revamped would still have a chance

Let me quickly add by her that is

[Hooker1951]

For Gods sake don't let Adele or any of the current crop near anything NS, Even no disrespect Beverly Knight they just  haven't got it and never will, I'm sorry but I can't detect any real soul or substance in Their voices.

Somethings are better left alone

ML

 

[Shsdave]

9 hours ago, Hooker1951 said:

For Gods sake don't let Adele or any of the current crop near anything NS, Even no disrespect Beverly Knight they just  haven't got it and never will, I'm sorry but I can't detect any real soul or substance in Their voices.

Somethings are better left alone

ML

 

like the "extended" mix of Epitome of Sound, which is just a bit of guitar added to the beginning. to my ears it just doesn't fit, the first time i listened to it I thought wtf ! The second (& last time ever) I just laughed at how awful it was.

Edited June 15, 2016 by SHSDave

[Geeselad]

1 hour ago, Gilly said:

I think this is a rather good question, ( I also don't want to see our music being watered down and end up in the charts) but I always thought "You've been gone to long" Ann Sexton could of made it and if revamped would still have a chance

Let me quickly add by her that is

sure someone did a cover a few year back?

[Zed1]

1 hour ago, geeselad said:

sure someone did a cover a few year back?

https://www.whosampled.com/The-Frank-Popp-Ensemble/You've-Been-Gone-Too-Long/

[Spacehopper]

pretty sure there was also at least one house/dance track using ann sexton but not sure if it was a chart hit?

loving this at the moment and the way she sings some of the lines reminds me of amy whinehouse..im sure amy could have or any of the present young girl singers would chart with a version of this, especially with the attitude in the lyrics too!

 

 

Edited June 15, 2016 by spacehopper

[Codfromderby]

4 hours ago, geeselad said:

sure someone did a cover a few year back?

frank popp

[Len]

I think Jem was asking - Among all our 'acquired taste' tunes (to the outside world that is), which tunes do you think would appeal to the general public, but sadly (not due to lack of talent), never got the appreciation they deserved. 

Forget people doing covers (and ruining the tunes) Simply - What tunes do you think would appeal to the general public in their original form (sound-wise) ((Some we like, they simply would not))

All the best,

Len 

P.s - Jem understands the 'keep it underground' bit 

 

[Woodbutcher]

If the tunes we cherish had appealed to back then or do appeal to the 'general pop-buying public' now then we'd all turn "secret soul-snob" and dismiss them as run of the mill pop-songs , kinda the point of this strange scene we're a part of no ... ?

[Len]

1 minute ago, WoodButcher said:

If the tunes we cherish had appealed to back then or do appeal to the 'general pop-buying public' now then we'd all turn "secret soul-snob" and dismiss them as run of the mill pop-songs , kinda the point of this strange scene we're a part of no ... ?

Yup 

Len 

[Guest MBarrett]

Are you thinking of something like this? I don't know the exact recording date but I am picturing this as a summer release in the mid to late 1960s. Getting plays on the pirate radio ships, Tony Blackburn on the new Radio 1, clubs up and down the country. Sweet sentiment, sweet but sophisticated arrangement, driving dance beat. People already accustomed to the vibe of the Temps & the Tops. Surely has chart record written all over it.

But then of course would have been sniffed at by the NS fraternity.

 

Edited June 15, 2016 by MBarrett

[Geeselad]

what makes a pop hit today aint shit all like what made a hit in the 60's or 70's. Song structures, tempo's and arrangements have in the main changed so much, ok, you get throwback traditional style compositions al la 'happy' but in the main its a very different market., image is so much more important for instance., so are we talking hit today, or in its original context? the time it was released?

[Len]

Let's say the time it was released (Unless Jem comments otherwise of course) 

Len 

[Jem Britttin]

Sorry if this is confusing it's not meant to be. I am just asking people to think 'out of the box' for a moment!

Ok for instance... George Gershwin wrote 'Summertime' in 1933 it was actually for a play called Porgy & Bess. However it went on to be covered by countless artists over the years and still is today even 'Billy Stewart' did a 'pepped up version' in the 60s, point being it is classed as an 'iconic' song now..Whether people like it or not is irrelevant..I am not asking for opinions on that.

Let's take the example I opened with 'Linda Jones - I Just Can't Live My Life' When George Kerr penned it, do people honestly think he wrote it with us in mind? A bunch of a few thousand people predominately in the UK that might share a few hundred second hand copies of it around, with other like minded people at some point hopefully? Answer most definitely is NO! Like all songwriters he was hoping for great things for it, whether Linda Jones or anyone else for that matter recorded it.

In my opinion this song had the qualities to do what the authors, performers and record publishers (Warner Brothers) hoped for.. major success. I don't know why it didn't achieve it and I am sure they were all disappointed as well.

So let's reset the thread and ask if you have any similar nominee's ? forget who may have recorded it then or now or whether you personally like it, that is irrelevant..I personally don't like 'Hey Jude' by the Beatles but it doesn't detract from the fact that it is an iconic tune 

Edited June 16, 2016 by Jem Britttin

[Jem Britttin]

11 hours ago, geeselad said:

what makes a pop hit today aint shit all like what made a hit in the 60's or 70's. Song structures, tempo's and arrangements have in the main changed so much, ok, you get throwback traditional style compositions al la 'happy' but in the main its a very different market., image is so much more important for instance., so are we talking hit today, or in its original context? the time it was released?

Have to politely  disagree with a lot of that, music is music! Beats, rhythms, chord structures etc. haven't really changed much in 60 years! The way it is presented may have with the advent of electronica. Listen to any stuff recorded by current artists like Ed Sheeran (not that many people on here will going by some of the replies) and nothing much has changed at all...whether people think he is a 'ginger prick' or not is irrelevant he sells millions to people all over the world...I quite like some of his stuff 

[Stateside]

The Temprees absolutely murdered "At last" in terms of the way it was interpreted. Having said that, I do like it as it doesn't particularly remind me of the original.

Clydie King - Missing my baby would probably be a good song to cover by some of the current Divas

Danny Moore - Somebody new - As an acoustic type backed track by one those Glastonbury types

Kev

 

 

 

Edited June 16, 2016 by stateside

[Geeselad]

2 hours ago, Jem Britttin said:

Have to politely  disagree with a lot of that, music is music! Beats, rhythms, chord structures etc. haven't really changed much in 60 years! The way it is presented may have with the advent of electronica. Listen to any stuff recorded by current artists like Ed Sheeran (not that many people on here will going by some of the replies) and nothing much has changed at all...whether people think he is a 'ginger prick' or not is irrelevant he sells millions to people all over the world...I quite like some of his stuff 

Sadly I'm very familiar with said ginger prick, and his music is totally of 'the now' and would have done nowt in any other era, totally disagree with you pal, a whole lot has changed, most of the 6ts tunes we know and love are four on the fours for a start, you hardly ever here that timing in contemporary music, most dance is four on the floor before anyone counters.

 

 

 

2 hours ago, Jem Britttin said:

Have to politely  disagree with a lot of that, music is music! Beats, rhythms, chord structures etc. haven't really changed much in 60 years! The way it is presented may have with the advent of electronica. Listen to any stuff recorded by current artists like Ed Sheeran (not that many people on here will going by some of the replies) and nothing much has changed at all...whether people think he is a 'ginger prick' or not is irrelevant he sells millions to people all over the world...I quite like some of his stuff 

totally s

[Frankie Crocker]

On 15 June 2016 at 01:59, Jem Britttin said:

Not sure whether this has been done before or in this way? I know most of us view the records from a totally different perspective as they fall into our Northern Soul world. However most of the records that were cut by artists were an attempt to gain chart or commercial success, they certainly would never have envisaged them being classed in the future as a Northern Soul record. We often say about some records "can't understand why this never got anywhere" and whilst it is true some of that was down to poor promotion or not getting picked up on radio for airplay. It is also true that some were probably deemed as not very good! We embrace them all and have formed our own opinions. As we are now all older (well most off us)  and obviously music lovers:  I thought it would be interesting to take an objective and honest view. Some records are classed as iconic by artists like The Beatles for instance, not my cup of tea but I can appreciate why, great arrangements lyrics etc. My question is: given better exposure what records that we class as Northern Soul would you nominate to have gone on to gain wider acclaim or respect and why?

I will start the ball rolling: Linda Jones 'I just can't live my life' fantastic musical arrangement, haunting vocals superb lyrics. If Adele was to slow it down to a ballad today and release it. I bet it would sell!

over to you!

Many, many of them Jem, and judging from what's happening now albeit on a modest scale, plenty of tunes in one format or another. Maybe Timi Yuro 'It'll Never Be Over' had it had a US 45 release? Perhaps Frank Wilson's 'Do I' had copies not been binned. Countless others. Some of us have hundreds and hundreds of good/excellent/brilliant records that eclipse everything the pop music industry came up with. Ironically, there isn't a pop music industry as such anymore apart from a few girls who are branded soulful eg Joss, Duffy, Amy don't know the names of any others sorry but there must be some as I keep hearing awful ringtones.

[Woodbutcher]

5 hours ago, Jem Britttin said:

Sorry if this is confusing it's not meant to be. I am just asking people to think 'out of the box' for a moment!

So let's reset the thread and ask if you have any similar nominee's ? forget who may have recorded it then or now or whether you personally like it, that is irrelevant..I personally don't like 'Hey Jude' by the Beatles but it doesn't detract from the fact that it is an iconic tune 

Getting more confusing by the minute ... how does "Hey Jude" or similar 'iconic' tunes enter the equation ... ? ... They were popular to the masses on release , millions of Beatles fans about ( myself not included I might add ) buying millions of copies , can't see how you can possibly nominate a tune if you don't like it either ... !

 Baffled in Newmarket ...

[Stateside]

7 hours ago, Jem Britttin said:

Sorry if this is confusing it's not meant to be. I am just asking people to think 'out of the box' for a moment!

Ok for instance... George Gershwin wrote 'Summertime' in 1933 it was actually for a play called Porgy & Bess. However it went on to be covered by countless artists over the years and still is today even 'Billy Stewart' did a 'pepped up version' in the 60s, point being it is classed as an 'iconic' song now..Whether people like it or not is irrelevant..I am not asking for opinions on that.

Let's take the example I opened with 'Linda Jones - I Just Can't Live My Life' When George Kerr penned it, do people honestly think he wrote it with us in mind? A bunch of a few thousand people predominately in the UK that might share a few hundred second hand copies of it around, with other like minded people at some point hopefully? Answer most definitely is NO! Like all songwriters he was hoping for great things for it, whether Linda Jones or anyone else for that matter recorded it.

In my opinion this song had the qualities to do what the authors, performers and record publishers (Warner Brothers) hoped for.. major success. I don't know why it didn't achieve it and I am sure they were all disappointed as well.

So let's reset the thread and ask if you have any similar nominee's ? forget who may have recorded it then or now or whether you personally like it, that is irrelevant..I personally don't like 'Hey Jude' by the Beatles but it doesn't detract from the fact that it is an iconic tune 

I agree, but I wonder whether there was an element of it being more down to promotion by the radio stations, than whether the song was good or not. I'm sure we've all got hundreds of records in our collection that are absolutely brilliant in terms of performance, lyrics, production etc. that have never seen the light of day.   We have the radio on in our office, with Radio 2 in the morning and Radio 1 in the afternoon.  There are two different age groups targeted here, but more often than not, records that become popular on Radio 1 cross over (if that's the right phrase to use on this website) to Radio 2 a few weeks/months later. Sometimes, the other way around, but not often. Lunchmoney Lewis - Bills is an example of a radio 2 first Radio 1 later.  The general public that aren't pedantic about their music buy what they are fed through the radio, Coldplay, Adele, etc etc. Back in the day of Porgy & Bess there wasn't much choice other than the radio or theatre/cinema, so you got what you got.

Just a thought.

 

Kev

 

[Sceneman]

not only the DJs didnt play em but there was little promotion at the time they were issued in a weekly avalanche of unknown issues of which you knew very little info in days before the gooogle and net....and 45 were deleted quickly from the catalogues ..major lance monkey time was deleted 4 weeks after it came out ,same with a lot of good titles that sank without trace

[Sceneman]

and nobody to play them at the time they were issued only the BBC light programe that played nonsense records ,the record papers had small ads but you hadnt heard em on the radio to assess them worthy to buy and most youths earned little money at the time ,6 shillings and 8 pence took a big chunk from yur salary so many many good 45s vanished without trace...its alarming how many died without trace .....hence somes rarity now...as few sold

 

[Rick Cooper]

Assuming Jem is referring to US releases only the success, or not, of a record is not as obvious as it may seem from a placing in the Billboard top 100. To get a position on the national chart a record had to be selling and getting radio plays across the whole country. Plenty of records we like could have sold very well in large cities or areas without registering at a national level. This type of record must have sold or the record companies wouldn't have kept on issuing them.

Anyone who looks at the Billboard magazine archives from the 60s will have seen that many titles that were once dismissed as having vanished without trace get mentions, reviews or chart placings. Some of the smaller labels also placed adverts for their products. Searching the Billboard site can be a bit of a pain but a good example is on the recent post "Dear Family" from Lorraine Chandler. John (Roburt) put a page from Billboard April 66 on this. Record picks are O'Jays- I'll Never Forget You, Dee Edwards-All The Way Home,Lorraine Chandler-What Can I Do(RCA), Tony Middleton- Don't Ever Leave Me (To the Ends of the Earth on the flip) and Ray Pollard-It's a Sad Thing. Not a bad list, even if they didn't make the pop charts they got noticed and probably sold a few thousand or more.

However I'd agree that it is hard to see why some great records didn't do better whilst others were successful , probably just got lost in the hundreds of records issued each week. Small labels had an excuse but the majors let some good records fail. As Jem wanted nominations I'd put forward George Carrow - Angel Baby. Columbia tried their best with two demo issues but it seemed to fail as I don't think he had any other Columbia releases.

An explanation for the failure of Jem's pick of Linda Jones- I Just Can't Live My Live could be because it sounded out of date by it's issue in 1969.  My feeling is that the Summer of Love -1967 meant that soul music was dropped by the pop (mainly young white) buyers in favour of hippie trippie stuff. Then the riots of 68 could have had an effect on the play lists of pop radio stations. Soul music then got marginalised to the fringes of the record industry, hence many of the great indie labels closed down and majors folded their soul labels. This is just a theory but maybe the US members like RobK could confirm or deny this.

Rick

 

[Dave Moore]

I often thought that Boyz To Men would have done this justice. Not that the original needs improving. 

Regards,

Dave

INTENTIONS

 

[jam66]

Always thought Jackie Lee's Oh My Darling is a tune missing from the general public's life. A mate of mine's mum used to love Toby Legend so perhaps that could have made a stir at the time. Things like Walk With A Winner perhaps fit in with the mood of that time as it contains elements of a generation before's formative musical experiences and a look at the charts at the time would confirm this. So many of the 'Big City Sounds' could perhaps have been hits with the generation with disposable income. Bill Bush is another that springs to mind as the pop buyers are as much a sucker for the quirky as we are. Sad Girl comes to mind for similar reasons.

What about the Charades Key To My Happiness is another piece of perfection that perhaps should have shifted a few copies. One thing I noticed when I used to be at a rock fan's house having a couple of beers and what have you was the absolute full on sound if I could get him to play some Otis Redding etc. The lushness of the tunes in the sense of how textured they were could have something to do with why so many were ignored although Tamla got away with it they tended not to steamroller the aural senses in such a manner and without digging through lists of '60's charts weren't the lyrics of many Northern Tunes (Soul in general really), a little on the mature and insightful level in comparison? Could be quite a list of what the public missed out on at the time. 

 

One that I would have loved to have been a hit rather than could have as I'm not sure, was To Win Your Heart, always as close to a classical operatic aria and production as pop has ever got in my humble opinion.

[Robbk]

On 6/19/2016 at 19:57, Rick Cooper said:

Assuming Jem is referring to US releases only the success, or not, of a record is not as obvious as it may seem from a placing in the Billboard top 100. To get a position on the national chart a record had to be selling and getting radio plays across the whole country. Plenty of records we like could have sold very well in large cities or areas without registering at a national level. This type of record must have sold or the record companies wouldn't have kept on issuing them.

Anyone who looks at the Billboard magazine archives from the 60s will have seen that many titles that were once dismissed as having vanished without trace get mentions, reviews or chart placings. Some of the smaller labels also placed adverts for their products. Searching the Billboard site can be a bit of a pain but a good example is on the recent post "Dear Family" from Lorraine Chandler. John (Roburt) put a page from Billboard April 66 on this. Record picks are O'Jays- I'll Never Forget You, Dee Edwards-All The Way Home,Lorraine Chandler-What Can I Do(RCA), Tony Middleton- Don't Ever Leave Me (To the Ends of the Earth on the flip) and Ray Pollard-It's a Sad Thing. Not a bad list, even if they didn't make the pop charts they got noticed and probably sold a few thousand or more.

However I'd agree that it is hard to see why some great records didn't do better whilst others were successful , probably just got lost in the hundreds of records issued each week. Small labels had an excuse but the majors let some good records fail. As Jem wanted nominations I'd put forward George Carrow - Angel Baby. Columbia tried their best with two demo issues but it seemed to fail as I don't think he had any other Columbia releases.

An explanation for the failure of Jem's pick of Linda Jones- I Just Can't Live My Live could be because it sounded out of date by it's issue in 1969.  My feeling is that the Summer of Love -1967 meant that soul music was dropped by the pop (mainly young white) buyers in favour of hippie trippie stuff. Then the riots of 68 could have had an effect on the play lists of pop radio stations. Soul music then got marginalised to the fringes of the record industry, hence many of the great indie labels closed down and majors folded their soul labels. This is just a theory but maybe the US members like RobK could confirm or deny this.

Rick

 

There were thousands of song performances that never got ANY airplay or sales, that I think were much, much better than most of the cuts that charted and were hits.  There were probably several causes that contributed to that happening.  One of them was lack of business acumen of the group or single artist's manager and the label owner and R&D man of the labels that released the records, in addition to the lack of funds by the given label needed for proper distribution, numbers of records pressed, and payola to get it played, and money to get into the music business with enough credibility to have access to the people who could market the record and get it heard by the right people.

Also, first, the "British Invasion" changed the situation in the Pop record market, and the resultant changes by the US major labels' market strategies also started a slow drift away from R&B and Soul in the Pop market starting in 1964, and continuing throughout the remainder of the '60s and into the '70s.

The Major US labels (Columbia, RCA, Warner Brothers, Decca, Capitol, 20th Century Fox, and to a lesser extent, ABC/Paramount, didn't really know how to market their R&B and Soul product.

Motown, alone, had literally thousands unreleased cuts that were better than most charted Pop cuts.  There was just no room for those to make the charts.  There were so very many talented singers who could have been stars.  There just was no room for all of them.  Most of them had no chance from the start, because they were never seen, nor heard, by the right people.

 

[Dave65]

On 16 June 2016 at 13:51, stateside said:

The Temprees absolutely murdered "At last" in terms of the way it was interpreted. Having said that, I do like it as it doesn't particularly remind me of the original.

Clydie King - Missing my baby would probably be a good song to cover by some of the current Divas

Danny Moore - Somebody new - As an acoustic type backed track by one those Glastonbury types

Kev

 

 

 

Please lord no! I don't want to hear anyone other than Clydie King singing Missing My Baby. That would be like buying an Aston Martin and fitting it with a body kit ?

[Stateside]

7 hours ago, Dave65 said:

Please lord no! I don't want to hear anyone other than Clydie King singing Missing My Baby. That would be like buying an Aston Martin and fitting it with a body kit ?

Ha ha . Like this you mean

[Dave65]

1 hour ago, stateside said:

Ha ha . Like this you mean

Noooooooooooooo, wrong on so many levels 

[DeltaSouth]

On 6/14/2016 at 23:52, WoodButcher said:

Please refrain from putting thoughts like this in writing in the public domain ... you never know who might be reading them ... last thing the world needs is that talentless twat warbling a soul covers album to the masses thank you very much ... 

What instruments do you play? What records have you released? What talent do you have other than whining like a little girl, not being able to dance, or are you someone with out any soul in their veins? I bet you like Kanye, don't you...

What are your qualifications? Some of us are musicians who work for record companies that have been around since before your pathetic ass was born.

Some folks have actually seen and worked with soul legends at live shows. What is your claim to fame? Being a whiner with no talent or musical skill but you can play records?

 

You sound like a yuppie brat. Do you live in your mum's basement by any chance? I've read your posts. You're not a nice person. We call people like you assholes in the USA. What do you redcoats call brat punks in the UK?

Edited June 23, 2016 by VinylvilleLA

[Mike]

abusive post removed - member given warning

[Guest Dave Ward]

I think that many NS records that are favourites with the 'in-crowd' often have something wrong with them, a slight off-key moment if you like, where a more heavily productionised 'pop' hit would have re-recorded or dubbed. To us, those little quirks are part of the mystique and attraction.

[Guest Carl Dixon]

Does 'Can't stop a man in love' by Reuben Howell qualify, or is it too modern? The verse works, the pre hook very uplifting and when the chorus comes in, just magic. Seems to be getting a lot plays here and there. May have had some chart action at some time. To me, the production is exquisite, very emotional lyrics and a passionate vocal. A number of covers too suggests a quality song. I do not know who the original is.

I agree with the notion of quirks and mystique Dave Ward. I think when the cat is out the bag, it spoils the show a little. That Mamie Lee song 'I can feel him slipping away' has hit potential to me, at the right time. When I first heard it I ended up with a tear, because it is so well written and produced. Her delivery out of this world. Very cleverly arranged and executed.

 

Edited July 10, 2016 by Carl Dixon

[Chris L]

On 6/15/2016 at 02:59, Jem Britttin said:

Not sure whether this has been done before or in this way? I know most of us view the records from a totally different perspective as they fall into our Northern Soul world. However most of the records that were cut by artists were an attempt to gain chart or commercial success, they certainly would never have envisaged them being classed in the future as a Northern Soul record. We often say about some records "can't understand why this never got anywhere" and whilst it is true some of that was down to poor promotion or not getting picked up on radio for airplay. It is also true that some were probably deemed as not very good! We embrace them all and have formed our own opinions. As we are now all older (well most off us)  and obviously music lovers:  I thought it would be interesting to take an objective and honest view. Some records are classed as iconic by artists like The Beatles for instance, not my cup of tea but I can appreciate why, great arrangements lyrics etc. My question is: given better exposure what records that we class as Northern Soul would you nominate to have gone on to gain wider acclaim or respect and why?

I will start the ball rolling: Linda Jones 'I just can't live my life' fantastic musical arrangement, haunting vocals superb lyrics. If Adele was to slow it down to a ballad today and release it. I bet it would sell!

over to you!

I haven't read all the posts on this thread but there is a body of opinion that "Heartaches away" by Christine Cooper should have been, possibly also Sweet Darlin' by Jimmey Soul Clark

[Robbk]

16 minutes ago, Chris L said:

I haven't read all the posts on this thread but there is a body of opinion that "Heartaches away" by Christine Cooper should have been, possibly also Sweet Darlin' by Jimmey Soul Clark

" Sweet Darlin' "  WAS a big hit, at least on the Soul stations.  And, it did even get some play on the Pop stations.  Yes, it could have been an even bigger hit on the Soul stations, and could have charted a lot higher on the Pop stations.  But one must remember that there were literally THOUSANDS of good-sounding Soul records pressed up in 1966 and 1967 that were good enough to be big hits.  There just wasn't enough air time to get them all played, EVEN if every radio station in USA played only Soul music, and no one record got played more than twice per day.

It was a matter of having the right producers, record companies and the right contacts, as well as lucky timing, and random chance as to which records did very well, decently, poorly and nothing at all.  A large portion of my favourite songs were never heard by  more than a handful of Caucasians at the time of their first pressing, and many were never heard by the public (including the Black Community in their town of origin), at all.  They were only heard by the artists, producers and a handful of relatives, until they were found in thrift shops by people like me, or got shipped to The UK after warehouse buyouts 15-50 years later.

[jam66]

6 hours ago, Carl Dixon said:

I agree with the notion of quirks and mystique Dave Ward. I think when the cat is out the bag, it spoils the show a little. That Mamie Lee song 'I can feel him slipping away' has hit potential to me, at the right time. When I first heard it I ended up with a tear, because it is so well written and produced. Her delivery out of this world. Very cleverly arranged and executed.

Just have to agree with this.