Roburt

Again a bit 'off-topic' but Cathy Lynn also worked with Marsha Brody (of "Right Combination" fame). According to a youtube post, Marsha went to school in the early 60's in Chester, Pa (Smedley Jr High). Chester is just SW of Philly. On Marsha's tracks Cathy worked with Arthur Schroeck who was New Jersey born and from 1965 was a New York based studio musician. He posted a reply on the following youtube post ........... Cathy & Art Schroeck also worked together on the Preparations sides for Heart & Soul Records.

There are huge numbers of US soul 45's that refer to an upcoming LP that never actually materialised. This was usually due to financial problems the indie label experienced at the time. Many small 'new' indie labels sent out 45's to numerous distributors & / or record stores but were never paid for them as the records didn't sell initially & then were just dumped in discount bins to sell for a few cents. Thus the label never even got it's money back for the 45's that did go out to wholesale / retail outlets & soon found themselves insolvent. Mind you, sometimes labels had too much success too soon & so went into early bankruptcy. The LA based Canyon label (which distributed / ran a number of labels as well as Canyon itself) enjoyed good success with releases by the likes of Doris Duke, the Whispers, etc. But they put out so many 45's / LP's in such a short time that before the money really started rolling in, they had huge debts and so went out bust. BTW, Cathy Lynn was the Cathy in the group Jay & Kathy's Clowns and she was working with the likes of Lou Lawton ( of "Nic Nak Paddy Wack" fame) at the time (68/69). I guess that makes her & the group (+ S & K) New York based.

"Follow Through" is a gudun ................. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOmQda8brd0

After moving to LA, Wally & his mates (Dee Erwin, etc.) also worked with the likes of Ray Charles. One of the lovely records he had a hand in was Alex Brown's Tangerine outing "I'm In Love" ......... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COKge0zoKSU Wally (along with Monk Higgins) cut the original (ABC) version of Tyrone Davis's "Can I Change My Mind" at Ray Charles Tangerine Studios in LA. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjB16WhyPPc

Just found this Obit in the Chattanooga Times Free Press but no link to him being in the Impressions at all ............ Arthur Brooks, 82, passed away Sunday, Nov. 22, 2015, in a local hospital. Arrangements by John P. Franklin Funeral Home, 1101 Dodds Avenue. That seems strange as they ran stories about his involvement in the group just over a year ago .... https://www.chattanooganow.com/news/2014/jul/22/a-lasting-impression/ ........ & this one less than 3 years ago ...... https://www.timesfreepress.com/news/life/entertainment/story/2012/dec/02/rb-trio-with-two-chattanooga-members-still/94000/ Along with his brother Richard, he recorded in Detroit (as the Brooks Brothers) after quitting the Impressions.

It has been reported on Facebook that Arthur Brooks of the Impressions has passed away. However, I can't find details of this anywhere else, including in the local Chattanooga press. Anyone know anything about this sad happening ?

This clip from youtube has a few bits about the Mojo Club .......... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDZJpOHpNAE

There seems to be little or nothing about the Attic in Doncaster on-line, which is a great pity as lots of top soul acts played the venue till it morphed into more of a skinhead hangout. The Attic was 'housed' in the old Co-op building ballroom (top floor of the building I seem to recall). As the Co-op Ballroom it had been around for ages and it had a link to the early UK R&B (Beat) group era via the live acts booked to play the venue around 1962/63. By the mid 60's it was seen by local mods as very un-hip and not the sort of place we would have frequented. That only changed when it took on it's Attic identity. Back in 1962 the likes of Cliff Bennett & the Rebel Rousers (May) & the Beatles (August) played the Co-op Ballroom ............. Strangely, the most popular place for Dony Mods to hang out in 1966 was the disco room in the Excel Bowling Alley, right next door to the Horse & Groom (another place we wouldn't have frequented back then).

The guy on the left looks like Herb Reed to me, so that would make this outfit one of his 70's incarnations of the Platters. Here's a picture of one of his outfits ..........

Well Chuck Jackson is still around & I'd say he was always up there in the Premier League of soul singers. Also Garnett Mimms is still living though he has refused to sing anything but gospel for many years ............. https://articles.philly.com/2008-01-10/news/25253632_1_garnet-mimms-jerry-ragovoy-gospel William Bell made a great number of fine recordings as well.

The Jackie Opel sides were released on a King label 45 in the UK in 1965 and escaped in Jamaica on Studio One & Coxsone (but with a WIRL matrix). Don't know if the 1st Jamaican release was actually on WIRL though.

One of the gems he was involved with ...... Irma Thomas .... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNZFbgszrVY Another one ...... Diamond Joe ........ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LRy9gbC00E

Sad News: Allen Toussaint R I P View full article

Seems that an auction house in Stockport is selling a box of 47 different BBC Radioplay LP's towards the end of this month (29th/30th Nov). https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auction-catalogues/omega-auctions/catalogue-id-srom10031/lot-a032d4c4-7a06-4aa2-abf8-a43b0116c9f4 Their web site doesn't list what the individual LP's are but the front one in the box is titled 'Living For The City' so may contain Stevie Wonder 70's tracks. I'd guess that some of the albums in the box will contain soul cuts and it may be worth locally based 'Soul Sourcers' looking in at the auction house ahead of the sale to check out just what is in that box.

I got in touch with Gwen Owens and she confirmed that the 4 tracks by her included on the 'Ruler Of The Hunt' LP were cut for Woodford / Ivey's Wishbone Inc. Terry Woodford tells me that not all of the tracks (Rudy Love; Gwen Owens) were 'owned' by Motown but that he himself gave the BBC permission to include some of the cuts on these LP's. So it seems that some must have been released with Motown's permission and some with Terry Woodford's OK.

Another posting on a youtube video of the song states .......... Brenda McGregor was the lead singer, Delores McGregor, and Shirley Cook (the other members), I know because I'm Sandra McGregor the younger sister of Brenda. RE: Brenda then joining the Vonettes .......... the voices on the Vonettes 45 are supposed to be those of Sandi Sheldon & Van McCoy (according to Sandi / Kendra Spotswood), so maybe Brenda was only in the 'live' version of that group and not the studio version.

Info you want here (in the comments) ......... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mL23kfGh1M ........... The Dynells - 'Call On Me' The Dynells are one of many girl groups left out of music's history books. Frontwoman Brenda McGregor went on to join The Vonettes before tragically dying at just 25, but little else is known about the group aside from their corking songs. 'Call On Me' is a mind-blowing Northern Soul number that's utterly beautiful.Read more at https://www.nme.com/photos/20-forgotten-60s-girl-groups/290505#/photo/5#vMkzF6xUFPC3LlfG.99

James Lewis (Sho-Nuff) R I P View full article

One of the General Johnson tracks featured on this BBC LP ........ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgkO7XGUJyA

In the Rudy Love thread, I made mention of 2 BBC Radioplay LP's from 1985. Here I'm dealing with a 3rd of these 'internal-use' BBC releases. This one dates back to 1986 and features 6 tracks by General Johnson (+ 5 by Johnny Guitar Watson). The 'Gangsters Of Love' album (TAIR86014) has the following General Johnson tracks on it ....... All In The Family, Carolina Girls, Down At The Beach Club, Fool Am I, Only Love Can Mend A Broken Heart & We The People. Three of these cuts date back to the mid 70's and originally came out on Arista whilst three date from the 80's and were put out by Surfside Records in the US. The Johnny Guitar Watson tracks (all 70's releases originally) were cut for DJM. It seems strange to me that tracks from 3 different source labels should be packaged together on this BBC release. Anyone have any idea of the process the BBC staffers would have gone through to set up the licensing of these tracks ?

An old (2009) newspaper article about the music scene in the Overtown area (where Tropical Records was based ) ............. https://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/ent-columns-blogs/jordan-levin/article1931267.html

This track by Rudy (off his other Calla LP) was sampled by Jay Z .............

Rudy's brother Bob Love gave me this info on Rudy's work with Woodford / Ivey .............. "Those tracks originated when Rudy was doing pilot vocals for the Muscle Shoals Studio in Muscle Shoals Alabama. Rudy was given the task of recording one song after another written by various songwriters on the staff of the studio. Rudy recorded almost 48 hours straight, one song after another with just the lyrics in his hand and never having seen or heard the songs before. This was an amazing time for him. I was asked to help produce it because I knew Rudy`s voice so well. These were songs that they were specifically targeting certain artists. Everyone there was amazed at how they were coming out so they thrust one after another in front of Rudy. These sides plus a few more that aren`t on the UK album are incredible. Muscle Shoals Studio was owned by Terry Woodford and Clayton Ivey. That is where we recorded the 'This Song Is For You' album also. This studio was sometime called Motown South because they supplied some of the songs for other artists and they would record them there in a small town way away from the bright lights. Frank DiLeo who was Michael Jacksons manager at the time they bought the publishing writes to many a song and one of my songs titled Body Caress was among them. So these sides eventually turned up on that BBC album.' The album by Rudy ('This Song Is For You') was released on Calla in 1978. A track off the album ..... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0I47OxIeHGk Terry Woodford & Clayton Ivey's Muscle Shoals studio was known as Wishbone Recording Studios and was opened in 1976. The likes of Garland Green, Ann Sexton, Bill Brandon, Hot, Rudy Love, Millie Jackson and the Temptations cut tracks there. Bottom & Company (1976) and Reuben Howell's Motown albums (1973/74) plus cuts by Thelma Houston were cut for Woodford & Ivey's Wishbone Inc. in Muscle Shoals but I guess most were recorded in another Shoals Studio (Muscle Shoals Sound ?). "Scatchin" credited to Motown Disco Machine was probably also cut in the same studio.