Street Soul, And More On The 'bristol' Sound

[Mike Shawe]

meant to post this in the ''Uk Street Soul - The Tsr Label' thread - sorry!

I've had fun reading this thread, reclling my time in Bristol during this period. As previously mentioned, TSR were one of the pioneers of the Street Soul sound along with Jet Star whom distrubted stuff including the previosly mentioned Rick Clarke (who signed my promo of 'I'll See You Along The Way lol) and who incidentally had a release entitled 'Grooving On The Bassline' later on the same label, Wa records, further testiment to the bass.

I was involved with a couple of pirate stations here in Bristol and recall playing at some of the basement 'blues' parties spinning exactly this type of sound which was massive at the time (& in Birmingham i believe!). I remember a particualr occassion, spinning tunes at a popular blues party venue called 'Dingy's' in St.Pauls, when playing 'against' another sound (an idea borrowed from the reggae sound sytems) an inpromptu Tricky grabbed the mic and started hyping the crowd! As I'm sure you're aware, Tricky joined Massive Attack around this time and featured heavily on their 'Blue Lines' LP. This bassline-led scene was a breeding ground for future Bristol Artists who, possibly inspired by Massive Attacks' 'Any Love', released a whole bunch of covers in this style, more of those later.

The music was imo designed to be receptive to the ears of a reggae/soul crossover audience hence the slow'ish tempo & bass-heavy rhythms that would slot nicely alongisde some Lovers Rock or similar. No doubt why reggae distributor Jet Star started to distribute the 'sound' further helping it imbed itself in all the 'right places'.

Here are just a few records I remember playing/or were played frequently in Bristol at the time:

52nd Street - I'll Be Your Friend

Lalah Hathaway - Baby Don't Cry

The Controllers - Stay

Deluxe - Just A Little More

Rick Clarke - I'll See You Along The Way

JB Rose What's On Your Mind

Kleer - Intimate Connection

Rosaline Joyce - Just A Little More

Special Touch - You're So Good

Joanna Law - The First Time

Sahara - Love So Fine

plus these, all Bristol related releases...

Dorothy - Reflections

Smith & Mighty - Anyone

Smith & Mighty - Walk On By

Carlton - Do You Dream

Fresh Four - Wishing On A Star

Massive Attack - Any Love

Fond memories indeed

Edited April 6, 2007 by mikeshawe

[Guest uroffal]

meant to post this in the ''Uk Street Soul - The Tsr Label' thread - sorry!

I've had fun reading this thread, reclling my time in Bristol during this period. As previously mentioned, TSR were one of the pioneers of the Street Soul sound along with Jet Star whom distrubted stuff including the previosly mentioned Rick Clarke (who signed my promo of 'I'll See You Along The Way lol) and who incidentally had a release entitled 'Grooving On The Bassline' later on the same label, Wa records, further testiment to the bass.

I was involved with a couple of pirate stations here in Bristol and recall playing at some of the basement 'blues' parties spinning exactly this type of sound which was massive at the time (& in Birmingham i believe!). I remember a particualr occassion, spinning tunes at a popular blues party venue called 'Dingy's' in St.Pauls, when playing 'against' another sound (an idea borrowed from the reggae sound sytems) an inpromptu Tricky grabbed the mic and started hyping the crowd! As I'm sure you're aware, Tricky joined Massive Attack around this time and featured heavily on their 'Blue Lines' LP. This bassline-led scene was a breeding ground for future Bristol Artists who, possibly inspired by Massive Attacks' 'Any Love', released a whole bunch of covers in this style, more of those later.

The music was imo designed to be receptive to the ears of a reggae/soul crossover audience hence the slow'ish tempo & bass-heavy rhythms that would slot nicely alongisde some Lovers Rock or similar. No doubt why reggae distributor Jet Star started to distribute the 'sound' further helping it imbed itself in all the 'right places'.

Here are just a few records I remember playing/or were played frequently in Bristol at the time:

52nd Street - I'll Be Your Friend

Lalah Hathaway - Baby Don't Cry

The Controllers - Stay

Deluxe - Just A Little More

Rick Clarke - I'll See You Along The Way

JB Rose What's On Your Mind

Kleer - Intimate Connection

Rosaline Joyce - Just A Little More

Special Touch - You're So Good

Joanna Law - The First Time

Sahara - Love So Fine

plus these, all Bristol related releases...

Dorothy - Reflections

Smith & Mighty - Anyone

Smith & Mighty - Walk On By

Carlton - Do You Dream

Fresh Four - Wishing On A Star

Massive Attack - Any Love

Fond memories indeed

Seem to remember talk of a Rick Clarke album, but can't remember if it ever came out (think there was another single too other than the 'Bassline' & '...Along The Way' ones you mention).

Had forgotten that it was Smith and Mighty who did 'Anyone Who Had a Heart' and not Massive Attack (as I said on the other thread).

[Guest MARTIN SNOW]

Seem to remember talk of a Rick Clarke album, but can't remember if it ever came out (think there was another single too other than the 'Bassline' & '...Along The Way' ones you mention).

RICK CLARKE HAD AN LP IN ABOUT 87/88 CALLED "TIME KEEPS MOVING ON" ON RAVEN RECORDS, AN EAST LONDON LABEL. IT'S NEVER BEEN VERY COMMON.

IN TERMS OF TWELVES, HE HAD APPROX 6 OR MORE IN THE LATE 80'S THAT I CAN THINK OF, "PERFECT LADY" ON RCA BEING BY FAR THE BEST IN MY OPINION.

HE WAS THE VOCALIST IN THE GROUP POTION IN 1981, THEY HAD ONE TWELVE PLUS A COMPILATION-ONLY TRACK ON CHAMPAGNE. HE ALSO HAD ONE OTHER UNRELEASED RECORDING FROM THE SAME PERIOD, I'D BE AMAZED IF ANYONE ELSE ON HERE HAS OR KNOWS IT.

SPECIAL TOUCH - THIS WAS A MATE OF MINE DOVAL ROPER AND HIS BROTHER. MANY TIPPED DOVAL AS WEST LONDON'S ANSWER TO WILL DOWNING, THOUGH THESE WERE THE SAME PEOPLE THAT ALSO TIPPED WATFORD FOR THE PREMIERSHIP TITLE. ALTHOUGH EXCESSIVELY BASIC, I DID QUITE LIKE "THAT SPECIAL TOUCH."

DELUXE - LET'S JUST AGREE SHE WAS HARDLY GOING TO MOUNT A SERIOUS CHALLENGE TO RENE DIGGS OR CHAKA KHAN WAS SHE, AND YET PEOPLE ACTUALLY BOUGHT IT !!!

[Mike Shawe]

Seem to remember talk of a Rick Clarke album, but can't remember if it ever came out (think there was another single too other than the 'Bassline' & '...Along The Way' ones you mention).

Had forgotten that it was Smith and Mighty who did 'Anyone Who Had a Heart' and not Massive Attack (as I said on the other thread).

A few of Rick Clarke's other releases ...

If You Think Your In Love / I Really Wanna Be With You (12") Wa Records

Perfect Lady (12") RCA 1987

Get Busy / Love (12") Wa Records 1988

If You Think You're In Love (12") Wa Records 1988

You Can Depend On Me (12") Funki Dreds 1993

[Guest uroffal]

Cheers Martin and Mike - he had a lot more releases then I remember. Nice to hear that the album eventually saw release ... can recall thinking at the time that '...see you along the way' was gonna see chart (top 20) action, but it never did (probably due to distribution probs - think we had trouble getting them when demand was high).

Was loads of other stuff of this type around at the time as you say ... Tongue 'n' Cheek for example who had a few singles (and again possibly an album) in the late '80s - it's almost as though Soul II Soul going mainstream killed that (street soul) sound off - although I stopped working in a record shop around that time so could be totally wrong about that!

[Guest MARTIN SNOW]

Was loads of other stuff of this type around at the time as you say ... Tongue 'n' Cheek for example who had a few singles (and again possibly an album) in the late '80s - it's almost as though Soul II Soul going mainstream killed that (street soul) sound off

Don't take this the wrong way please, but a lot of the artists/titles Ive seen on this thread were in my opinion actually the real crap of the UK street soul scene. For example, overall what was the point in Tongue In Cheek, most of what they offered was just a load of shit cover versions of tracks that didnt need any remaking because they were perfect first time round. This shows an appalling lack of creativity and musical ability.

In order to set the record straight as I see it, in the coming days I'll post up a list of the UK street soul tracks that I believe really were so good that they were fit to stand in the company of the purveyors of that scene, they being Loose Ends, The Cool Notes, and 52nd Street. And yes, I know I can often be self opinionated so don't remind me !

Watch this space. Martin

[Guest uroffal]

Don't take this the wrong way please, but a lot of the artists/titles Ive seen on this thread were in my opinion actually the real crap of the UK street soul scene. For example, overall what was the point in Tongue In Cheek, most of what they offered was just a load of shit cover versions of tracks that didnt need any remaking because they were perfect first time round. This shows an appalling lack of creativity and musical ability.

In order to set the record straight as I see it, in the coming days I'll post up a list of the UK street soul tracks that I believe really were so good that they were fit to stand in the company of the purveyors of that scene, they being Loose Ends, The Cool Notes, and 52nd Street. And yes, I know I can often be self opinionated so don't remind me !

Watch this space. Martin

Blimey - UK Street Soul elitism

Only joking - I certainly don't take it the wrong way - this type of stuff isn't my cup of tea anyway, just remember a lot of it from working in a record shop in a relatively urban area of north London at the time (can't even remember what half of 'em sound like except one or two of the Rick Clarke things) . Tongue 'n' Cheek were just one of quite a few that used to sell relatively well at the time (which is why I remember the name), not sure about the others you mention (except Loose Ends of course), but will certainly be interested to see your list - might jog my memory banks a little!

Edited April 10, 2007 by uroffal