Garethx

You're right Tony. The point I was clumsily trying to make is that the Gloria Walker and Angela Davis records share the same backing track, based on the earlier recording by The Chevelles.

Not the same session as such but over exactly the same backing track: first released as "The Gallop" by The Chevelles which actually spent time in the Pop Top 100 in 1968 as well as being a big R&B hit. Wildly different mixes on the three tracks though. The Gallop is extremely treble heavy, while the Gloria Walker cut could also benefit from the bass being bought up in the mix. I used to think the Angela Davis was an inferior record until I heard it in a big hall with a decent sound system. That's where it comes into its own despite the Gloria Walker song and vocal being technically more proficient. As everyone else has said the Gloria Walker 45 should be relatively easy to pick up as for years it was practically impossible to sell to soul collectors who were of the opinion that it was 'too funky'. There are a couple of label/pressing variations with the most desirable being the Atlantic-distributed white demo on vinyl. I'd value that variant at around £40-50.

The best thing about youtube are the comments from the people who made the music and their families. Great examples I can think of off the top of my head are Bonnie Blanchard on CRS where her son, who had never heard the record, posted some wonderful pictures of his mother; Jesus Alvarez's family comments on the Nicky Newarkers clips and the clip of Billy Proctor's "Keeping Up With The Joneses" where Billy's daughter revealed that he was Billy Hill of Anita Humes & The Essex fame. There are obviously numerous other examples of this kind of content, all helping to aid our understanding of the people who were once just names on record labels to a lot of us. Mike is correct in highlighting the staggering depth and breadth of the Refosoul feature. It's something he and the contributors should be rightly very proud of. However the sheer ubiquity and breadth of reach of youtube means that it can unlock a lot of the hidden history of this wonderful music, and reinforces the idea that the past was a magical time of ordinary people doing extraordinary things in music.

The issue is a tough one. I'd say it was outnumbered by the demo by a factor of at least fifty to one. Problem in trying to sell one for the premium price is that the only difference is the colour of the label: orange as opposed to yellow. Unlike RCA demos of later in the decade the dj copy has both sides so you're only really going to get the very top end price from someone looking to specifically collect RCA issues rather than someone who merely wants the record to play or deejay with.

That version actually sounds surprisingly good in a club Ian. As some of you will know Hit was like an American version of the Top Of The Pops albums: covers made for the cheap jukebox market (in places where the owner or the crowd wouldn't cough up for the original versions of hit songs). The likes of Thomas Henry or Herbert Hunter would sing in the appropriate style over utilitarian backing tracks. The singers could do fantastic renditions of all kinds of singing: blues, gospel, country or pop. The backing tracks were usually pretty accurate but I'm guessing the Tighten Up rhythm was so new and so different that the Hit house band couldn't accurately copy it, thus producing this slightly lop-sided but extremely funky version.

For the life of me I can't see why anyone would play The Bamboos version: so sterile and squeaky clean it might as well be 'Stock, Aitken & Waterman plays The TSU Toronadoes'. It would show more originality and taste to play Archie Bell's original Part II. There are some very good alternates to this and most have been mentioned. I would add the Big T & The Peacemakers version on Nasco which also has the bonus of a scorching piece of female deep soul on the reverse.

Definitely one of my favourite singers. Don't forget the other Okeh single, Big Blue Diamonds coupled with A Lover's Reward, which also came out on Columbia in the UK. Then there is the Tommy Yates single on Verve, which exists as a light blue demo, plus blue and black label issues. The Andy Chapman 45 on Atco features one side of Tommy singing Happy Is The Man. The other side is apparently blue-eyed Memphis singer Ben Atkins, but Happy sounds like it was cut at the same session as the Verve record. I have never heard his Musicor single (as The Imperial Showband with Tommy Tate) and wonder if anyone can post up a soundfile. Tommy's Japanese Malaco collection Hold On is one of my favourite albums of all time: truly wonderful and individual singer-songwriter soul music of the very highest quality from the golden age.

A really great record. With this and the Spencer Wiggins Ady has become the King of Crossover!

Right at the tail end of her pop career she recorded a couple of singles with Gamble & Huff and Thom Bell. "I'll Be Standing By" was written by G&H with Cindy Scott. The other side, "Look The Other Way" was written by none other than Mikki Farrow! "Standing By" would be a great record with Cindy Scott behind the mike. "Take Good Care" from the same sessions also has a good Philly backing track. Although she was never a soul singer in any sense I feel she's a somewhat under-rated vocalist. The limitation on her career was the massive success of her first single, the pretty naff "It's My Party". Producers tended to multi-track her voice as on the smash hit single whereas by the end of the 60s it was a far stronger instrument. She certainly got to record some great songs: "Maybe I Know" by Ellie Greenwich & Jeff Barry, and an earlier version of The Inspirations "What Am I Gonna Do With You" written by Gerry Goffin & Russ Titelman.

Thanks for clearing this up Mr S. I think both the Spyder and Richie versions are great records in their own right and for me at least it's never a case of either / or as both take very different approaches to the same great song. I think in general terms it's only really fair to compare records on a like-for-like basis: i.e. if there are two or more different vocals over the same backing track, or if that instrumental track is provided by the same band or arranger.

Hi Mark Mixed Bag isn't a compilation: it's the first RH album on Verve Forecast. There were two earlier albums on small, independent labels but Mixed Bag was his first nationally released record. There is a re-released version of Mixed Bag on MGM (to cash in on Richie's Woodstock appearance) with a slightly different cover layout. I haven't heard it but wonder if this isn't the source of the other mix of I Can't Make It Anymore. From memory the other version has less orchestration. Both used to be on refosoul.

Taken from the Harmless CD/LP Life:Styles compiled by Coldcut in 2004. I would assume that the track is legally licensed. For my money the best way to get this track is the Japanese album The Only Way Is Up on JVC/Victor from 1980. Re-issued by Rooster Blues in the US later in the 80s. The sound quality on the Japanese album is absolutely brilliant.

The rhythm guitar playing has that kind of feel I associate with the shuffling, midtempo southern soul that has sometimes found a place on the UK Northern scene from time to time (think of records like Imperial Cs "Someone Tell Her", Eddie Giles "Losing Boy", O.V. Wright "Poor Boy", Robert Parker "Caught You In A Lie" etc.) This wouldn't have sounded terribly out of place at Stafford. To me its biggest downfall as a record is that the vocal isn't all that strong. Also at over four minutes in duration it's a bit too long. Had it been recorded ten years earlier than 1981 it would have been a better record for my own tastes: better drum sound etc. Like I said above the final price was a bit of a shock: who knows if shilling went on in the auction but someone had a high enough snipe on it to take it over $600. Only time will tell if that was way over the top.

I don't know if anyone's mentioned it yet but Kurtis Scott is Kurt Harris of "Emperor Of My Baby's Heart" fame.

"I Don't Want To Go" is the other side of "Young Lover" on Sure-Shot 5015. My Best Friend's Girl is on the Kent LP "Sure Shots": lesser known dancers from Duke/Peacock/Sure-Shot. It's a cool fingersnapper with a great bassline and very instant hook. Tony's comment about the Bell Bros. record being cut at Royal in Memphis with Willie Mitchell seems so obvious when I listen to it again. It's one of the limitations of Don Robey's labels that the credits, both for writers and musicians are often sparse or even misleading. The 'D. Malone' writer credit often masks the work of some of soul music's great writers. It also creates the impression that the labels' output is generic, whereas in reality the music itself is really quite varied and comes from all over the states: Bobby Williams from Detroit, Kurtis Scott from New York, Lee Mitchell 45 cut in Tacoma etc. I'd love to know where the Malibus records were cut.

The b-side sounds very good played out. Surprised at the closing figure but wouldn't be surprised if it bought a few more copies out of the woodwork.

Alfie, that's a completely different label, owned by Duke Reid and part of his Treasure Isle empire.

The ballad sides of The Bell Brothers 45s are fantastic examples of the male duo genre.

Personal favourites are Bobby Williams "When You Play You Gotta Pay" / "It's All Over", the Mr. Lee recordings (especially the Kent-only track Sean Mentions above) and the Lee Mitchell 45, which is great bluesy deep soul. I also have never seen or heard of Bobby Williams "Hate Myself Tomorrow" with the other side mentioned above: it's usually the b-side of "I've Only Got Myself To Blame".

Many thanks Dave.

Don't know if anyone's mentioned it yet but the Roy Redmond cut of "A Change Is Gonna Come" is one of the best revivals of that particular song. A wonderful Jerry Ragavoy production with a really committed vocal by Roy, whom I know nothing about. Does anyone have any biographical details on him?

Ian is right in lots of ways. Transmission media informs the kind of music being made as well. The truly awful N-Dubz mix their records for crappy mobile phone speakers in the same way Berry Gordy mixed his to be heard on a transistor radio at the beach. The more banal and nursery-rhyme-like the hook is the better. No teenager will listen to a whole album any more so the idea of complex and profound music which requires a little effort on the part of the listener will be a non-starter in the decades to come. Obviously the age group at the other end of the spectrum bought up on pop music (for want of a better word) is expanding but if we're looking at the future (and I guess we are in this topic) I can only foresee bad times ahead for music. Visionary musicians will spring up in the future: they always have and always will. Whether those visionaries can become worldwide stars in the way Sinatra, Presley, Dylan, Lennon & McCartney once did is open to huge question. Perhaps the future will see a return to a local or parochial sphere of influence for musicians like the folk musicians of the nineteenth century. I don't give two hoots for the record industry as such: they were warned about all this but didn't do enough to think about how technological change would fundamentally challenge their stranglehold on delivery mechanisms. Record companies are a peculiarly 20th century phenomenon if you think about it.

Agreed. The only chance this thing has to continue is to NOT WATER IT DOWN IN ANY WAY. The very esoteric and uncompromising nature of the music and the scene will attract some. Others it will repel. Same way it's always been. On a broader note deejays should stick to only playing good records. If you think it's crap don't play it. If you've only got crap records give up deejaying. This is my opinion and I am right.

Don't think was a US single either, at least on original release. May have appeared on the later red re-issue label through Fantasy though.

Unless I've been completely led up the garden path on this both versions were recorded at the same session, with different leads within the group. Charles 'Diamond' Perry on the pink 70s release, Johnny Hendley (yes, that Johnny Hendley) on the super-rare orange 60s release. When Joey Jefferson was approached to put out the record again in the 70s he chose the Charles Diamond version. May have been that no master of the JH version survived or it may have been that he simply thought it was the better version. To me the pink label version is a better record: the vocal on the other one is all over the place really. Obviously from a collectibility point of view the orange label is one of the scene's true Holy Grails.