Buddy Smith Interview on YouTube

[G F]

I've just uploaed the inyertview in which Budy talks about Tony Clarke and his own Brute recording...

 

 

 

[Yann V]

That's exactly why we go it right! when we put out his new version

[Mal C]

He is a read dude isn't he, I Love this interview with Buddy Smith, and I love the track 'Jail Bait' a very cool track!

One sentence in there, they are all at the 9th floor at the Lafyette, lotta people singning paper, but nobody was gettin paid... ! great to see that he is now Yann...

[Yann V]

Indeed!

[G F]

Hardly any singers got paid from 45s released - even when they were hits.

Hopefully Buddy is doing well - it seems like he is from Yann's message. 

1 hour ago, Yann V said:

That's exactly why we go it right! when we put out his new version

 

Please let Buddy know the interview is on YouTube - it was done over 25 years ago. 

[Robbk]

Great interview!  Thanks very much for uploading it, and all the rest.

[G F]

Cheers, Robb.

 

I'm now working on an interview with Edward Hamilton (Arabians). The audio quaity is poor, as I just had a cheap cassette tape recorder and mic, and Edward was on the other side on the room. I've spent some time (a day!) trying to get it to sound right, but it's like trying to make a silk purse out of a pig's ear.

Here's a sample of what it's like now - please let me know what you think...

[G F]

Here's another clip - more typical of what it sounds like.... 

[Robbk]

1 minute ago, G F said:

Cheers, Robb.

 

I'm now working on an interview with Edward Hamilton (Arabians). The audio quaity is poor, as I just had a cheap cassette tape recorder and mic, and Edward was on the other side on the room. I've spent some time (a day!) trying to get it to sound right, but it's like trying to make a silk purse out of a pig's ear.

Here's a sample of what it's like now - please let me know what you think...

The sound quality of that 5 seconds is fine.  It was clear, and I understood every word without straining to hear (I'm 77 years old and have been begged, for the past 10 years, by my younger siblings to get a hearing aid.  That sounds crisp and clear, considering you were on the opposite side of the room.  Luckily, no one else was talking at the same time.   Considering that no one else seemed to have been in the room, why were you so far from him?  Was he ill with a communicable disease, at the time?

[Robbk]

2 minutes ago, G F said:

Here's another clip - more typical of what it sounds like.... 

This clip was a bit muddier, but still clear enough to understand.  If most of it is that good, it is well worth dubbing into an MP4 for uploading to this forum.

[G F]

Thanks, Robb - I'm frustrated, but have spent some time using different audio software and it's not sounding much better.

There was one other Brit there with me, plus a local guy who had taken us to see Edward. At the time I wasn't thinking of making clear recordings - just getting the salient points so I could write about him. I reckon Edward was sat about 10 feet away and recall sitting on the floor - not on chairs, around a table. This was over 20 years ago. 

Here's another edited audio clip which will form the start of the finished YouTube interview - it gives a better idea of how it sounds...

 

 

 

[Robbk]

That's not too bad.  It was a bit muddier at the beginning (1st 12 seconds, or so), when Edward was speaking faster, and slurring his words a bit.  So, I missed too many in the first few sentences to get much from that part.  But the rest was understandable.  It sounds like his memory for dates was mixed up.  It sounded like he and his group (The Arabians?) were still in high school when they went to interview and try out at Motown, but were told they were too young, and to come back after they'd have graduated.  So, they must have been about 16 or 17 years old.  But, the year mentioned was 1966.  Yet, Edward mentioned that they had had 3 records out before that interview.  But the interview with Don Davis, who had been recording The O'Jays andThe Playboys/Fabulous Playboys was during Davis' and The Coleman's DaCo period, before the changeover to "Thelma Records".  That must have been during 1961.  So, Edward must have been born in 1944 or 1945.  Then, he mentioned being interviewed by Harvey Fuqua (Maybe that was when Harvey owned Tri-Phi, in 1962 or 1963.  THEN they visited Motown in '66?  That sounds too late.  I think they went to Motown in 1963 or 1964.  Maybe his memory for the years was cloudy, or he was coming up with memories so fast that the listener can't tell which information he popped up with matched with which bits of information he'd given us before.  At least we now know around which years he was born, which usually had just a question mark on his bios which I've seen.  He'd be just about my age now, maybe one year older.

Anyway, we'll be glad to hear the entire interview even at this quality.  Thanks for your hard work.  I always like to hear what happened in the 60s Detroit music scene, when I was a late teenager scrounging around in that City's thrift shops, and record shop bargain bins.  I had little knowledge of what was going on inside the record companies, at that time.  I've learned a lot since, but really enjoy filling in the gaps even this many years later, when many of us who were around, are now gone from this Earth.

 

[G F]

I think Edward's interview is an interesting one and his memory was good, which is why I want to make a video, despite the poor quality of the recording.

Edward was born in 1944 and left school in 1962 - those two bits are said at the very start, but fast and unclearly. I may just delete them and type the dates on a graphic.

Edward doesn't mention any other dates (1966) in that segment. Obviously it's easy to get confused with dates, but he says the group had records out before he graduated in '62 - these would be his Jam 45 for Johnnie Mae Matthews (the group's first recording) and on Carrrie for James Hendrix.  

I have c. 1960 for The Shack (Jam 3738) and 1961-62 for My One Possession b/w Somebody Tell Me (Carrie 1516) 

As you say, he mentions Don Davis and the Fabulous Playboys, who had a Daco release in 1961, so to me it all fits in.

If anyone is a dab hand with Adobe Audition and is willing to have a go at improving the audio, please get in touch.

 

 

[G F]

I don't recall hearing a record by Chris Clark called Call Me. Have I missed it? 

Please take a listen to Edward Hamilton...

 

 

 

 

 

[Robbk]

20 hours ago, G F said:

I don't recall hearing a record by Chris Clark called Call Me. Have I missed it? 

Please take a listen to Edward Hamilton...

 

 

 

 

 

I don't recall coming across any tapes or acetates, or demo records of "Call Me" by Chris Clark while sifting through The Motown Vaults in the 1970s, or seeing any reference to that on any Motown Unreleased CDs, or lists of Motown Recordings.  I certainly would have listened to it for possible inclusion in "From The Vaults".  I also don't remember seeing it on the website with the list of all Motown recordings.

Chris Montez had a hit with "Call Me" in 1965 in USA; while Petula Clark did in The UK.  But that was a completely different, Pop song.  Edward Hamilton's song is a long-time favourite of mine, I bought when it was out.

 

Edited September 28, 2023 by Robbk

[G F]

Thanks, Robb

I'm sure he has the name wrong, but imagine the gender and race are right, so it could be Petula Clark.

I think Picket's song started climbing the charts in January 1966 and Petula Clark's song was released in the UK in Nov '65 - was it released over in the US?  

[Simon T]

On 24/09/2023 at 08:40, G F said:

.

 

 

 

 

Edited September 28, 2023 by Simon T

[Simon T]

On 24/09/2023 at 06:30, G F said:

Here's another clip - more typical of what it sounds like.... 

 

?? how's that one

i spoke to him last summer i did, i did, i did, i

Edited September 28, 2023 by Simon T

[G F]

I'm sure that I read somewhere that Edward had passed away - back in 2020.   

I think the basic problem is I transferred it to MP4 at too high a volume as there's distortion in parts that's really annoying... I plan to do it again.

[The Yank]

10 hours ago, G F said:

Thanks, Robb

 

I think Picket's song started climbing the charts in January 1966 and Petula Clark's song was released in the UK in Nov '65 - was it released over in the US?  

  Petula Clark's "Call Me" was never released as the A side of a single ( it might show up as a B side or on a reissue 45).  It is on the "I Know A Place " album though. Chris Montez had the hit version of "Call Me" in the U.S. 

 

Edited September 28, 2023 by The Yank

[G F]

13 minutes ago, The Yank said:

  Petula Clark's "Call Me" was never released as the A side of a single ( it might show up as a B side or on a reissue 45).  It is on the "I Know A Place " album though. Chris Montez had the hit version of "Call Me" in the U.S. 

 

Thanks - I had doubts about it being a hit over in the States.

I wonder who Edward was thinking of?... I didn't consider Chris Montez, but the date of his version is about right. 

[Mal C]

Tony Hatch wrote 'Call Me' it was released on Petula Clark in 65, then on Chris Montez I think in 66...  then every man and his dog recorded it thereafter. No idea when Eddie Bishop did his version for ABC... Nice to have a Tony Hatch song in the same thread as Edward Hamilton

[The Yank]

9 hours ago, G F said:

 

I wonder who Edward was thinking of?... I didn't consider Chris Montez, but the date of his version is about right. 

   I appears that Edward morphed two people into one with CHRIS Montez and Petula CLARK = CHRIS CLARK? I don't see a version of Tony Hatch's "Call Me" on Motown until the Supremes and Four Tops did a version in 1971.

[The Yank]

9 hours ago, Mal C said:

Tony Hatch wrote 'Call Me' it was released on Petula Clark in 65, then on Chris Montez I think in 66...  then every man and his dog recorded it thereafter. No idea when Eddie Bishop did his version for ABC... Nice to have a Tony Hatch song in the same thread as Edward Hamilton

     Eddie Bishop's "Call Me" is mentioned in Billboard and Cashbox during the week of July 2, 1966.

      Chris Montez's version was released in October of 1965.

Edited September 29, 2023 by The Yank

[Mal C]

17 minutes ago, The Yank said:

  I appears that Edward morphed two people into one with CHRIS Montez and Petula CLARK = CHRIS CLARK?

a work of genius :-)

[G F]

Yank - you must be good at crosswords.

[Mal C]

Forgot I have a UK demo of Chris Montez, stamped January 66...

Just a nice thing to look at.

Malc

[G F]

That confirms it... Thanks .