RossyBoy

How sad that Boba has gone. So young. So unexpected. So unnecessary. Respect.

It's on a Japanese 2007 Re-issue CD on Blockhead BKHDCD-002 titled Kickin 1 - Heavy Funk & Soul From The '60s - '70s under the name Tommy Knight and The Knights Notes say: Originally released as a mix tape in 2000 without track listing to promote the "Searching - Playing The Real Stuff" / "SOSTokyo" club night. CD reissue includes track listing on back cover, Artist for track 3 ("Tighten Up") is credited as "Unknown" on the back cover.

Mike & The Censations - Don't Mess With Me - Highland

G MAN, here's what I know..... From L.A. - line up: Michael Kirkland (lead) Robert Kirkland (2nd tenor) Armand Postell (1st tenor) Lonnie Wade The roots of the 1965 recording of "Victim Of Circumstance" go back into the Missisippi delta where the Kirkland family originated, There were seven siblings in the musically gifted family. As the Seven Seals Juniors, the Kirklands performed on the gospel music circuit. Around the time Michael turned ten the family had packed up and moved to Los Angeles. After graduating from Dorsey High School, Mike started attending L.A. Valley College. It was around this period that Robert Kirkland put a group together, consisting of himself, Mike, their sister, her husband Armand Postell and Michael Trotter, called The Censations. They started working on a song Mike had written called "Victim Of Circumstance" and eventually ended up at Madelon Baker's Audio Arts Studio. Originally released on their own Brian label "Victim...." was eventually re-released on Sid Talmadge's Highland Records. The record got its first spin from DJ Al Scott at KGFJ - that was the push it needed. It started to get airplay throughout the West Coast and climbed L.A.'s soul charts at KGFJ to the No. 5 position by early March of 1967. By August the same year their second single "There's Nothing I Can Do About It" was also sitting at KGFJ's No. 5 spot. After six singles the Censations split with Highland and signed a deal with Revue that produced three quality recordings, all of which were released in 1969. (courtesy of Ruben Molina) Good luck with the project, looking forward to it !! RossyBoy

Here you go..... (L-R Jay Johnson, Bill Frazier, Vernon Williams, Sylvester Potts) RossyBoy

Hi, Flynny, Wasn't paying attention (rap my own knuckles!) - this one is actually out of Philadelphia. I suppose Ballads was a common enough name for groups across the country (...he said as a feeble excuse...). Anyway, I'm glad you enjoyed it and I'm sure Michele has been put right by now!?! RossyBoy

Here you go, Michele, Thought I'd just post the link here in since a few others seem to be interested .....

Hi, again, Michele, Uploading now so will PM you link shortly - have included "Bless Our Love" also. Here's what I have on The Ballads From Berkeley, California Personnel: Nathan Robertson, John Foster, Rico Thompson, Lesley La Palma, Stan Harris The Ballads hit big in 1968 with "Bless Our Love" (Venture 615) a Chi-Town classic which was written by Billy Butler (brother of Jerry Butler) and was a hit for Gene Chandler in 1964. The Ballad's sultry version of "Bless Our Love" stayed on the R&B tracks for 12 weeks, peaking at No. 8. In Los Angeles the Ballads did a little better climbing to No. 4 on the soul chart at radio station KGFJ. Friends since the late fifties Foster and Harris met while attending Burbank Junior High School – soon after they started singing together as The Holidays. They were joined by Oakland High friends La Palma and Robertson and later by Rico Thompson who was from Delano, California. The group started recording in 1965 as The Fabulous Ballads. By the time the Venture single hit the streets it had been around for about a year. It was first released as Bay View 1142 in 1967, then on the Soul Trip label. (courtesy of Ruben Molina) RossyBoy

Hi Michele, I have Confessing A Feeling I Love You, Yeah The Gift Of Love This Is Magic Treat Me Like Your Woman Some nice stuff from a good group. Lucky you to get to talk yo them! Will upload them this evening and PM you a link. RossyBoy

Baz, there's supposed to be a listing for this label in Voices From The Shadows magazine Issue 7. One for sale for a fiver here: https://www.soulrecordsforsale.co.uk/acatalog/MAGAZINES.html RossyBoy

Here you go......... Cookie Jackson - Try Love - Progress 121.mp3

Thx, Boba, I love to see old farts enjoying themselves.....and I was too !!!!

Here you go.............in the absence of Refosoul............

Here you go, Chalky, ... a few crackles and pops.... don't reckon it had been played in 25 years when I ripped it today. ...LOL Cheers, RossyBoy Something_In_The_Way_She_Moves_James_Taylor.mp3

Foolish Fool - Dee Dee Warwick

I'm with Drew on this - I rate all his quoted artists - why would you even want to rank such a great set of soul singers ? EMBRACE DIVERSITY - theme of the day ! RossyBoy

If anyone's interested, I've split this EXCELLENT mix into individual tagged tracks. Zip file can be downloaded at https://www.megaupload.com/?d=HB277C1I or https://rapidshare.com/files/181340104/Take...radise.zip.html (10 downloads only). Enjoy! RossyBoy

Nice one, Lenny. I'm a Big Soul Man originally from the people's republic too !!! My granny lived in the Citadel. Ross

I see a few other fans missed the passing of Dee Dee too. Thanks for the comments and the references to your faves - all great memories. I'm gonna have a Dee Dee night to myself tonight. There are quite a few tracks of hers on Refosoul already, but I have some more I can put up quickly. Is there any protocol about swamping Refosoul? Or are attachments better? I've got: Suspicious Minds Monday Monday You Don't Know What You Mean To Me Lock In Your Love I'm Gonna Make You Love Me I'm Only Human She Didn't Know She Just Kept On Talking I Want To Be With You I Ain't Got To Love Nobody Else Any comments or requests?

Apologies to all you better informed members, but I only learned yesterday about the death of Dee Dee in October. I was abroad when the obituaries were in the papers, so that's probably why I missed it. I always thought she was one of the greats, and to mark her passing I'm attaching one of my favourites "Foolish Fool". RIP. RossyFoolishFool.mp3Boy Here is one of the obituaries: The Guardian, Tuesday 28 October 2008 Dee Dee Warwick, the American singer and younger sister of Dionne Warwick, has died, aged 63, after a long illness. Celebrated in the 1960s and early 1970s for the beauty of her voice and appearance, her career was overshadowed by record-company mismanagement and the fame of her sibling, older by five years. Born Delia Mae Warrick in East Orange, New Jersey, Dee Dee came from a family who were prominent members of the East Coast gospel community. Her father was the director of gospel promotion for the Chicago black-music powerhouse Chess Records, while her mother managed the Drinkard Singers, a gospel group that recorded for Savoy, Verve and RCA Victor during the 1950s. The Drinkard Singers were led by Dee Dee's aunt, Cissy Houston (the mother of Whitney Houston), and both Dee Dee and Dionne sang with the group as teenagers. The sisters then formed a trio called the Gospelaires that sang both in church and on secular recording sessions in the late 1950s. Dee Dee's dulcet tones graced hundreds of soul and pop recordings over the next decade and she can be heard on hits cut by Garnet Mimms, the Drifters, Wilson Pickett, Aretha Franklin and Nina Simone. Dionne Warwick was discovered by the songwriters Burt Bacharach and Hal David in early 1963. Dee Dee was signed later that year by the celebrated songwriting-production team of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller and, following her sister's lead, changed her surname from Warrick to Warwick. Leiber & Stoller produced her first single, You're No Good. Although not a hit when it was released, the song became a US hit for Betty Everett in 1964 (and a UK No 3 when covered by the Swinging Blue Jeans) and topped the US charts in 1975 when sung by Linda Ronstadt. Leiber & Stoller tried again with Standing By (1964), but the single failed and Warwick signed with Blue Rock, a black-music subsidiary of Mercury Records and, with Ed Townsend as the producer, scored R&B top 30 hits with We're Doing Fine and I Want To Be With You. Dee Dee's 1966 hit I'm Gonna Make You Love Me was remade into a huge pop hit the following year by Madeline Bell and then reached No 2 in the US pop charts (No 3 in the UK) when recorded as a duet between the Supremes and the Temptations. Warwick continued to issue high-quality soul music, her records possessing stronger rhythmic and gospel vocals than those of her sister, and in 1969 she scored an R&B and pop hit with Foolish Fool. The song won Warwick a Grammy nomination and a guest spot singing on Dick Cavett's popular talk show. She then signed with Atco, a subsidiary of Atlantic, and was sent to Miami to record with top session band the Dixie Flyers, immediately enjoying a top 10 R&B hit with She Didn't Know (She Kept on Talking). This won Warwick her second Grammy nomination. Her 1970 album Turning Around was well received, yet her career stalled, with the singles Suspicious Minds and Cold Night in Georgia being minor R&B chart hits. Dee Dee returned to Mercury in 1973, claiming that Atlantic concentrated its energies on Aretha Franklin and Roberta Flack to the detriment of her career. In 1975 she enjoyed an R&B hit with Get Out of My Life. It was her last chart placing. Thereafter, she recorded for a variety of small labels before concentrating on providing backing vocals for commercial sessions and singing with her sister (most notably on Dionne's Why We Sing gospel album). Earlier this year the sisters toured Europe, Dee Dee providing background vocals for her celebrated sibling's My Music and Me performances. She is survived by her sister. - Dee Dee Warwick (Delia Mae Warrick), singer, born September 25 1945; died October 18 2008