Junior McCants.

[Wheelsville1]

When listning to The Boy Needs A Girl,i have to ask myself how the hell Pat Brady was able to cover up Try Me as being by Carl Carlton.We were all deaf or simply had our heads up our arses.Any thoughts on this? Chris. 

[Tlscapital]

Hmm... Carl's early efforts with 'there's nothing sweeter than love' or 'compare to what' where he didn't got his man's voice yet but singing with enthusiasm could have fool me not knowing any better. I was not there then in the first place though. Later I knew Junior for himself through the Kent cd only.

[Tony Turner]

I can remember myself and quite a few others having our suspicions that it was Junior. There just wasn’t any way to confirm it, and obviously Pat wouldn’t share!

[Wheelsville1]

11 minutes ago, Tony Turner said:

I can remember myself and quite a few others having our suspicions that it was Junior. There just wasn’t any way to confirm it, and obviously Pat wouldn’t share!

Unfortunatley i was one of many who went along with the cover up at the time.However 20 odd years ago i was at a soul night in Goldthorpe With Andy Dyson when he bought 4 records off Gary Spencer on behalf of Tim Brown,Junior McCants,Don Gardner,Springers on Whale and the Cairos.I think all four came to about 3.5k if my memory serves me well. Chris. 

[Dave Pinch]

1 hour ago, Wheelsville1 said:

Unfortunatley i was one of many who went along with the cover up at the time.However 20 odd years ago i was at a soul night in Goldthorpe With Andy Dyson when he bought 4 records off Gary Spencer on behalf of Tim Brown,Junior McCants,Don Gardner,Springers on Whale and the Cairos.I think all four came to about 3.5k if my memory serves me well. Chris. 

ye i think that was right chris

[Wheelsville1]

1 minute ago, Dave Pinch said:

ye i think that was right chris

We had some great nights back then Dave. 

[Dave Pinch]

52 minutes ago, Wheelsville1 said:

We had some great nights back then Dave. 

ye for sure..  think that was around 1995/96 gary spencer guest dj in goldthorpe..think that was his finale before he packed in.. to think all that money changing hands and i scraped up £40 to buy sonny craver on teri de from gary the same night 

[Wheelsville1]

1 minute ago, Dave Pinch said:

ye for sure..  think that was around 1995/96 gary spencer guest dj in goldthorpe..think that was his finale before he packed in.. to think all that money changing hands and i scraped up £40 to buy sonny craver on teri de from gary the same night 

Lol,i remember Andy could hardly get his hand out of his pocket with all the cash in it.You are right it was Garys last spot before he called it a day. £3.5k was a lot back then,i wonder what the same 4 would cost now. 

[Chalky]

It mattered not who it was covered as, or any record for that matter, half the fun was trying to work out, find out who it actually was. 

[Dave Pinch]

9 hours ago, Wheelsville1 said:

Lol,i remember Andy could hardly get his hand out of his pocket with all the cash in it.You are right it was Garys last spot before he called it a day. £3.5k was a lot back then,i wonder what the same 4 would cost now. 

ye doesnt bear thinking about..i would hazzard a guess at  30k tho.. at least sonny craver has gone up to 300

Edited February 16, 2021 by Dave Pinch

[Wheelsville1]

1 hour ago, Dave Pinch said:

ye doesnt bear thinking about..i would hazzard a guess at  30k tho.. at least sonny craver has gone up to 300

I was thinking on similar lines Dave,yes the sonny craver was a good investment. 

[Garethx]

In answer to the original question, about how nobody could work out it was Junior McCants, remember that Marvin Gaye's Love Starved Heart was played covered up first, fifteen years before it came out as the box set promo single. If you can successfully cover up Marvin Gaye you can certainly cover up an obscure artist like Junior McCants. Bear in mind his 'known' 45 was just considered a cheap collection filler for decades.

Very few people have ever been able to guess a singer's identity simply by listening. Covering records which are semi-known and rumours subsequently getting out is a different thing. Once they're uncovered it seems obvious but the detectives who can hear something and put all the pieces together are few and far between in my experience. 

[Wheelsville1]

28 minutes ago, Garethx said:

In answer to the original question, about how nobody could work out it was Junior McCants, remember that Marvin Gaye's Love Starved Heart was played covered up first, fifteen years before it came out as the box set promo single. If you can successfully cover up Marvin Gaye you can certainly cover up an obscure artist like Junior McCants. Bear in mind his 'known' 45 was just considered a cheap collection filler for decades.

Very few people have ever been able to guess a singer's identity simply by listening. Covering records which are semi-known and rumours subsequently getting out is a different thing. Once they're uncovered it seems obvious but the detectives who can hear something and put all the pieces together are few and far between in my experience. 

I understand what you are saying,however to my knowledge Marvin Gaye was never coverd up as a different artist just the song title. Heart attack. 

[Chalky]

3 hours ago, Wheelsville1 said:

I understand what you are saying,however to my knowledge Marvin Gaye was never coverd up as a different artist just the song title. Heart attack. 

Marvin Gaye was covered up as JJ Barnes and there is a similarity in their voices, apparently why JJ never got anywhere once Motown took over Ed Wingate’s labels. 

[Wheelsville1]

2 minutes ago, Chalky said:

Marvin Gaye was covered up as JJ Barnes and there is a similarity in their voices, apparently why JJ never got anywhere once Motown took over Ed Wingate’s labels. 

Your quite right Chalky,thats the reason why JJ. Barnes was held back at motown. I wasnt aware that Marvin Gaye was covered up as JJ. Barnes. 

[Andy Rix]

Nigel Parker had clocked that 'Try Me' was Junior McCants ... he spoke to Pat about it but Pat, as one would, denied it .. Nigel had done a compare and contrast to 'The Boy Needs A Girl' which makes it barn door obvious

When Marvin was first played it was pitched up .. not intentionally as the cassette tapes had everything at a faster speed .. so it wouldn't have been immediately obvious it was Marvin

Andy

[Wheelsville1]

1 hour ago, Andy Rix said:

Nigel Parker had clocked that 'Try Me' was Junior McCants ... he spoke to Pat about it but Pat, as one would, denied it .. Nigel had done a compare and contrast to 'The Boy Needs A Girl' which makes it barn door obvious

When Marvin was first played it was pitched up .. not intentionally as the cassette tapes had everything at a faster speed .. so it wouldn't have been immediately obvious it was Marvin

Andy

When you say its barn door obvious this is exactley what i was meaning Andy when i started this topic a couple of weeks ago. I hope that one day The boy needs a girl starts to get played out regularly and gets the credit it deserves. 

[Chalky]

If you go through the history of northern soul cover ups though, not many sound like the artist it is covered up as.  The fact it was covered up usually served the intended purpose for some time and give the Dj the exclusivity he wanted. 
 

It was and still is good fun trying to work out who they are though. 

[Will]

An even bigger surprise to me was how Pat managed to successfully cover-up an already world-wide known singer's record, complete with the artist's 'signature' vocal traits, when he announced a Wilson Pickett record as being by 'Brother Louie Brown'. I think a number of factors have to have been involved in Pat's success, including addled minds at the time, due to drug use and the sound systems not being exactly state-of-the-art 

[Andy Rix]

1 hour ago, Chalky said:

If you go through the history of northern soul cover ups though, not many sound like the artist it is covered up as.  The fact it was covered up usually served the intended purpose for some time and give the Dj the exclusivity he wanted. 
 

It was and still is good fun trying to work out who they are though. 

Agree ... I think the strangest one was Jackie Beavers - I Need My Baby ... covered up as Mel Britt ... what was that all about !!!

Andy

[Simon T]

10 hours ago, Chalky said:

 

 still is good fun trying to work out who they are though. 

Can anybody offer up some C/Us that  still to be exposed?  if i was to make one, it would be 'A glimpse of'

by Fanny Button & the Ghosts

 

Edited March 4, 2021 by Simon T

[Blackpoolsoul]

On 04/03/2021 at 12:06, Chalky said:

If you go through the history of northern soul cover ups though, not many sound like the artist it is covered up as.  The fact it was covered up usually served the intended purpose for some time and give the Dj the exclusivity he wanted. 
 

It was and still is good fun trying to work out who they are though. 

You didn't mention Anorak's corner but I bet you know it

https://www.anorakscorner.com/cover-ups

[Modernsoulsucks]

On 03/03/2021 at 20:28, Wheelsville1 said:

Your quite right Chalky,thats the reason why JJ. Barnes was held back at motown. I wasnt aware that Marvin Gaye was covered up as JJ. Barnes. 

J J Barnes "It's killing me"

[Chalky]

4 hours ago, Blackpoolsoul said:

You didn't mention Anorak's corner but I bet you know it

https://www.anorakscorner.com/cover-ups

why would I mention it???

 

[Blackpoolsoul]

2 hours ago, Chalky said:

why would I mention it???

 

Cos it's a fantastic list of a lot of cover ups

[Solidsoul]

On 04/03/2021 at 13:40, Andy Rix said:

Agree ... I think the strangest one was Jackie Beavers - I Need My Baby ... covered up as Mel Britt ... what was that all about !!!

Andy

Mel Britt and the Mighty RicTics!

As you will know, a Richard Searling C/U.

A lot of cover up artists sounded better than the real names!

 Rose Valentine and the Sisters Three.

Al Johnson and the Hitmen!

Spyder Turner and the Webs.

and many more!

 

Edited March 6, 2021 by Halogen

[Solidsoul]

I often thought that "Try Me, For A New Love" Junior McCants was a one of those instant monster records that become's huge on their first play. 

What must it have felt like to turn up to DJ at an allnighter, with a relatively unknown record like this, and you just knew it was going to be an instant knockout!

 

Edited March 10, 2021 by Halogen

[Chalky]

18 hours ago, Blackpoolsoul said:

Cos it's a fantastic list of a lot of cover ups

It is indeed

[Garethx]

On 04/03/2021 at 11:54, Wheelsville1 said:

When you say its barn door obvious this is exactley what i was meaning Andy when i started this topic a couple of weeks ago. I hope that one day The boy needs a girl starts to get played out regularly and gets the credit it deserves. 

I've always thought the cheap Junior McCants 45 is far superior to the rarity. Just a far better record in every department: better song, more danceable, more instant. The deep side on the more affordable single is far better than the ballad on the reverse of Try Me too. 

[purist]

13 minutes ago, Garethx said:

I've always thought the cheap Junior McCants 45 is far superior to the rarity. Just a far better record in every department: better song, more danceable, more instant. The deep side on the more affordable single is far better than the ballad on the reverse of Try Me too. 

I had a small quantity of the Boy needs a girl Junior McCants 45 some years back and couldn't sell them for love nor money. I liked the messiness of it and didn't think it was that well known so it fitted my agenda of bringing forward lesser knowns at that time. I virtually had to give them away to get rid. This would have been the early Albrighton era when most folk were very open minded to the whole spectrum of rare soul. In fact I put it on one of my snippet sales cassettes and didn't sell a single copy (think I was aking £8 and dropped it to £4) which never happened with those cassette sales lists, where people judged a tune by what it sounded like not the label, artist, rarity etc. 

[Mal C]

47 minutes ago, Garethx said:

I've always thought the cheap Junior McCants 45 is far superior to the rarity. Just a far better record in every department: better song, more danceable, more instant. The deep side on the more affordable single is far better than the ballad on the reverse of Try Me too. 

totally agree, its a far better song...

[Wheelsville1]

1 hour ago, Garethx said:

I've always thought the cheap Junior McCants 45 is far superior to the rarity. Just a far better record in every department: better song, more danceable, more instant. The deep side on the more affordable single is far better than the ballad on the reverse of Try Me too. 

Totaly agree with you,its now selling at just over £100 for a mint stock copy and a little more for the white promo in the same condition.As i mentioned earlier in this topic,it would be great to start hearing played at venues. 

[Dave Pinch]

46 minutes ago, Wheelsville1 said:

Totaly agree with you,its now selling at just over £100 for a mint stock copy and a little more for the white promo in the same condition.As i mentioned earlier in this topic,it would be great to start hearing played at venues. 

i sold mine for 80 recently and wondered if i`d get a sale.. had about 6 messages for it

[Wheelsville1]

29 minutes ago, Dave Pinch said:

i sold mine for 80 recently and wondered if i`d get a sale.. had about 6 messages for it

You sold it a bit cheap there Dave,hence having 6 people contact you.

[Dave Pinch]

3 minutes ago, Wheelsville1 said:

You sold it a bit cheap there Dave,hence having 6 people contact you.

absolutely.. i looked around thought 100 might not be a sure fire sell.. and when i pulled it out to sell thought it may still be a £30 /40 record and was surprised it was so high so settled on the 80. at least i made a good profit on it and cant grumble too much

[Wheelsville1]

26 minutes ago, Dave Pinch said:

absolutely.. i looked around thought 100 might not be a sure fire sell.. and when i pulled it out to sell thought it may still be a £30 /40 record and was surprised it was so high so settled on the 80. at least i made a good profit on it and cant grumble too much

Not at all mate. 

[Simon T]

.

Edited March 9, 2021 by Simon T
wrong thread doh!

[Solidsoul]

20 hours ago, Garethx said:

I've always thought the cheap Junior McCants 45 is far superior to the rarity. Just a far better record in every department: better song, more danceable, more instant. The deep side on the more affordable single is far better than the ballad on the reverse of Try Me too. 

I think "Try Me For A New Love" is much better in the all-nighter venue, playing loud!

That's where it comes into it's own!

It has a awesome production and arrangement.

Proper monster Northern Soul for the allnighter!

 

Edited March 10, 2021 by Halogen