Andy Rix

I doubt they are the same person.... As you know the O'Jays started off in Ohio and had a solid career ... I've struggled for years to find info on William Powell but it seems he was a peer of the Pipkin Brothers & Brice Coefield working as a songwriter in L.A. He composed the Cinderellas 45 on Tamara in 1964 and I'm pretty sure, but haven't had time to check, that he had a couple more tunes published by Jobete ... the Pipkins & Brice were also connected to Motown via the West Coast office through Hal Davis & Marc Gordon. Additionally he had songs placed with Gary Paxton so he might be able to shed some light given the Ace connection https://repertoire.bmi.com/writer.asp?blnWriter=True&blnPublisher=True&blnArtist=True&page=1&fromrow=1&torow=25&querytype=WriterID&keyid=274196&keyname=POWELL+WILLIAM&CAE=39933649&Affiliation=NA If you look at BMI, as you connect from co-composers, I get the impression that they have merged the L.A. William with the O'Jays William ... but I'm happy to be proved wrong as stranger things have happened Andy

Do you have a link for that ? Andy

I'm a bit late coming to the discussion .... There are two alternate versions of 'Believe Me' prior to the version which eventually gained release on Assault Records. The first version, under discussion here, was recorded at Herb Abramson's A-1 Sound Studio located at 234 West 56th in Manhatten. I got this version from Jim, the studio engineer, who did this session alongside 'She Went Away' c/w 'Bad Apple' that eventually became the first Shrine release after Eddie Singleton had relocated to Washington D.C. ... Jim still had his copy of the Shrine 45 signed by Linda. This is what Harry Bass recalled about the events "Yes A-1 studio. Think it was located at 1650 Broadway. Been there many times. As a matter of fact I remember being there for Believe Me and for He Went Away recordings; both written by Eddie, as I recall. Although, Linda may have had a hand in the penning of one of the tunes. 'Believe me... "believe me when I tell you. Believe me... believe me when I say" It has a Moderate tempo etc. 'He Went Away' is a bit slower in tempo. Well I wrote Bad Apple for Linda and it was actually the first Shrine Release. Can't recall just what was on the other side of that record. I think that I went up to A-1 with J.J. Jackson when we had penned a tune called "Just Friends". We put the song down on tape as a demo. But we scrapped that one. Later J.J. would go over to Mercury and the folks over there would release It's Alright (Alright Girl)for J.J. .... I had nothing to do with that ! Now that is one of the most played oldies ever! .... Linda sang like a rare beautiful bird" It is quite different in it's arrangement and the male backing vocals are more prominent .. The second version was a new recording done at Bell Sound on 27 March 1963 and the annotation on the acetate indicates it was scheduled for release on Pawn .. this was a label owned by Eddie. This version is not really that much different to the last version that gained release on Assault. I never did ask Eddie why there was a change of plan concerning its chosen label for release. This is what Harry said "Ok this mix done at Bell .... when you compare this with the earlier version you can also hear that the background vocals jump right in from the beginning ,unlike the original. Echo has been turned up a notch or two and I want to say that the tempo is down a notch. In my opinion this is just a better rendition more relaxed singing. As I recall Linda was nervous the first time in the studio. The cat playing the flute was a studio musian named Zane who worked with Jimmie Tyrell whose label I appeared on with the Toreador's "Nothin But Rock N' Roll" .... I think Jimmie is playing Bass for this recording. Zane was a slightly built white guy with a moustache who always wore a bee bop tam and could play every woodwind instrument known to man. A soft spoken trooper was he. We were quite a family Andy. You can also hear Zane on some of Eric Gales Sr.'s jazz recordings. Those cuts came along in the late 70s and perhaps 80s. Richard Tee was also involved with those cats. Together and/or separately they made much music" I believe Linda died a few years ago but I don't have definitive proof Hope that is of some use andy

With regard to the Metros, Disco-File lists 5 unreleased sides .... My Imagination, Push A Little Harder & Losing You Again ... and then 2 tracks that appear to be still unreleased It's Right Now You Don't Know Me Do You both recorded on 23 Feb 67 Has anybody heard them ? Andy

The Little Anthony version was recorded for United Artists on 3 October 1967. When I spoke to Teddy Randazzo he still had the master but sadly he died before we got anywhere near doing anything. I must confess I was very disappointed when I finally got to hear it. Andy

and many years ago when I was talking to Bobby Allen, the trumpet player for Shrine, and a member of the El Corols he told me Frank Beverley's uncle was also a member which would probably account for the connection Andy

Hi i agree it's not Chris ' Why Don't You Love Me Anymore' was written by Clayton Ivey, Terry Woodford and Barbara Wyrick 'Words Don't Say Enough' was written by Barbara Wyrick and Melissa Adamson the songs are not Jobete published but assigned to Pajill, owned by Terry Woodford and Stone Diamond based in Nashville Wyrick has co-written songs recorded by the Supremes, Candi Staton, Crystal Gayle, James Brown, Ronnie Milsap and many others Andy

This is an awesome tune ... does anybody know who was in the group Andy

The vocal version on the recently released 'Soul Master' CD is much longer than the 45 version ... worth a listen for those many extra seconds ! Andy

Here's one .. The Parlettes ... a.k.a. The Pets (Carnival) .. Vivian 'Tamala' Lewis, Betty Jean Taylor & Linda Hayles When I first played it I thought it sounded like an embryonic version of the Debonairs 'Loving You Takes All Of My Time' in terms of tempo and BVs Not many, if actually any (Keith Hughes will know for sure), of the tapes of NY Jobete recorded songs ever made it to the Hitsville Vaults so we'll only hear them if acetates have survived ... and of course they were Jobete published as opposed to Motown in-house recorded Andy

This is sad news indeed ... Rose was a wonderful woman. Her contribution to the evolution of R&B was immense and the stories she told from those days were fascinating. I'm so pleased that I got to spend time with her on a couple of record buying trips. Her basement was crammed with 45s and she was kind enough to let Rob Thomas and I purchase things from her but she was never keen to let us play through a massive pile of acetates. mostly without labels, that looked as if they dated from the 50s onwards. She had this enormous chest full of lyric & music sheets that she said were her original charts for just about everything she'd written. I didn't get chance to go through it properly but I'm sure it would have included the songs that Elvis recorded as well as those that have been played on the Soul scene .... 'Spellbound' (Tamiko Jones), 'Can't Shake It Lose' (Pat Lewis), 'The Thrill Of Loving You' (Jimmy Radcliffe), I Remember The Feeling' (Barbara Lewis) amongst many others She also co-wrote a song with Dorian Burton called 'Just Not The Marrying Kind' which got extensive plays off acetate credited to Keni Lewis. When I first talked to Rose about it she thought it might be Larry Reynolds on vocal but upon hearing it she said it wasn't him ... sadly she could never recall who the singer was. She will be sadly missed but I am happy that I have some great memories to remember her by R.I.P Rose Andy

I couldn't agree more Arthur ... It is indeed a wonder to behold Andy

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All sorted now Andy

Hi .. having just trod on my copy I need to find a replacement Miss Madeline - Behave Yourself/Lonely Girl - Mar-V-Lus 6019 Must be in top notch condition please No snap, crackle or pop ! PM me if you have one with details Thanks Andy

The thought had crossed my mind !! Andy

In March 1976 Dave McCadden wrote an article for ‘Hot Buttered Soul’. I replicate the pertinent parts of that article below as it raises some interesting questions. “I’ve had a letter from a guy called James Scarborough with an explanation of the Cigarette Ashes/Trips/Jimmy Conwell saga. James was a studio session man on ‘Cigarette Ashes’ so I’ll quote him….. “I was a friend of Len Jewell’s and he introduced as a writer to Harry Graham. I showed him a few songs and I think he only released one, that was ‘Set Me Free’ (Performers — Mirwood 5536 — released 1967) … I’d been there a few years by then. I’d been there about 5 months and Jimmy Conwell made ‘Second Hand Happiness’ (Mirwood 5530). We were stuck for a B side so we used the backing track of one of his earlier songs. We called it ‘Cigarette Ashes’ same as the vocal, but Jimmy didn’t record the vocal under his real name. He called himself David Graham, his son’s Christian names, and the A side of that was ‘Why Don’t You Say I Love You’. ‘Second Hand Happiness’ didn’t do so well so Jimmy’s next release was recorded under the name Richard Temple, a detective hero in a TV series at the time, and was called ‘That Beatin’ Rhythm’ (Mirwood 5532) and once again we used that backing track. We had a hit this time so we dropped the tune, but by 68 we had a few newcomers and we tried them out by using backing tracks to our own songs. One of these newcomers was Roy Willis and we did a few demos on him using ‘Cigarette Ashes’ and the backing track to the Olympics ‘Same Old Thing’ …….. Roy’s record using ‘Cigarette Ashes’ was a monster number called ‘And I Kept Laughing’ and it was in the can when we closed down. I found out later that Len Jewell had used ‘Cigarette Ashes’ as the backing track for a group disc on his own label …. The group contained Jimmy Conwell, Earl Nelson, Len and two brothers Paul & Harry Colbert (The Tripps — There’s That Mountain — Soundville 101) Jimmy is now working as a teacher in Florida and Len runs a deli with me, but he still does a bit of production” Dave goes on to say “I recently got hold of the David Graham vocal cut and it has a spoken intro, but I’d like to get hold of Willis’ version” So the story doesn’t quite fit to the date of release of the 45s but might from a studio recording perspective. When Dave refers to the David Graham version does he actually mean Jimmy Conwell or is it another version .. and interesting to note James gives another song ‘Why Don’t You Say I Love You’ as the flip, has this David Graham release ever been seen assuming it exists … and have the Roy Willis songs ever surfaced .. maybe a queston Mr Croasdell could answer…. Your views are welcome Andy

It was me ... I think it got it's debut at the first showing of SWONS ..was that Kings Hall at Blackburn ? ....... I can't recall the date exactly I personally love her version ... And if you listen you can still hear Tommy's vocal in the background ! Andy

Check out the Eddie Holland Ace CD ... and maybe Keith Hughes could advise how to filter the 'Don't Forget The Motor City' data base to identify tracks they composed or performed Andy

At a guess the Ringleaders - Win You Over Andy

Does anybody have a video type recording of this or know if it can be viewed anywhere ? Andy

Yes ... one and the same Andy

I agree with Pete Andy

Wanted Edwin Starr - Time - Gordy Demo Four Tops - Baby I Need Your Loving - Motown Demo Vinyl copies, as opposed to styrene, preferred Please PM with price, condition & details please Thank you in advance Andy