Roburt

Back to info on the people involved with the record as the discussions on a possible release of this track seem to be going up the usual cul-de-sac ......... ........ info on Co-PRODUCER RON 'TINY' CRAWLEY (I guess the Tiny is an ironic nickname) ........ Ron Crawley is still involved with music, being one of the lead vocalists with Pittsburgh based group Pure Gold. He's been singing with the outfit since the late 70s. Born in Pennsylvania he moved to Pittsburgh in the mid-1950s and there befriended guys active on the city's black music scene, they gave him tips on singing. One of his close friends back then sang with George Benson and the Altairs. From the mid 60's, Ron did stuff with DJ's such as Sir Walter of WAMO and Wash Allen of WABQ (Cleveland). Around 1970, along with another old friend, (Alex Richburg) he began to write song lyrics and signed up with a new local music operation; Steel City Recording based in East Liberty (Mervin and Melvin Steals were also working for the enterprise). Another of the talents at Steel City back then was the late Phyllis Hyman. In fact, Phyllis was one of the backing singers on a Crawley-Greenley-Richburg song “Dancing on a Daydream” in 1974 (Soulvation Army Band on Soulvation Army Records). Through the 70's, he continued to sing with local groups and for a short time worked for the late Ray Mitchell’s Pittsburgh Music Industries with acts such as the Reality Band, Youngstown based group JC and the Soul Angels and the group Ultimate Choice. Whilst there, he worked on the track “Gangster Boy” which escaped on Apple Ray Records in 1977. Soon after that, he began singing with Pure Gold. Ray Mitchell's organisation already had a track record by the time Ray Crawley joined the set up. Back in 1973, Aliquippa teenage group the Hifadelics had cut tracks at Hartman & Associates' studio (Pittsburgh) for their manager George Perkins. The recordings led to them meeting Ray Mitchell around the time of the release of the group's only single, "Hifidelics Groove / Quiptown" on Quip (actually released as by the Hifidelics). Signed to Ray Mitchell's Pittsburgh Music Industries, he immediately put them to work playing gigs on the rust belt (Pennsylvania, central New York state, West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Lower Michigan, northern Illinois and eastern Wisconsin) club circuit. The group fell apart when the heavy industries in their hometown were closed and the members had to head off to find new daytime employment. ......... related tracks .......... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfk2uxwi5xk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAFoWGz9FBU As some Ohio based groups worked with Ray Mitchell and Ron Crawley at Pittsburgh Music Industries, I wonder if Ultimate Choice were from Ohio. If so, this outfit that cut for Heat Records & Montage in the first half of the 80's may be related (or even the self same group) ............. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcNqaBZzI9s What Ron 'Tiny' Crawley looks like these days ........

Coz I'm old skool and like 'physical product'. Mind you, it being included on a comp LP or CD would be just fine too (not obsessed with 45's, though they are very very nice).

Here's the details ......... Release: January 7, 2014 ..... Label: Real Gone Music

So it is a version of the Isley's classic given a Bettye / Southern Soul type edge ...... I like it.

The Maydie Myles jazz number that she performed last night as an encore ............... What a great show ....... 'light & shade' from start to finish .... 60's & 70's (+ a 2011 cut); dancers & deep gems; a jazzy soul number ..... this show had it all. Sell out venue, great backing musicians (& singers) who had really prepared well. A 'star' who still has her full vocal abilities. A show I'm really glad that I made the effort to attend (and even though I'd travelled around 160 miles to be there, there were others who had come further).

Due out in the new year ............... https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Atlantic-Recordings-Bettye-Swann/dp/tracks/B00GJ7CSB2/ref=dp_tracks_all_1#disc_1 I wonder if track 16 is her take on the Isley's Motown anthem. If so, it could be interesting.

Can't agree with the feelings of many on this thread. It would be great to have this available on a Jazzman 45 so those who aren't interested in paying 100's for an old 45 can own (& listen to) a copy.

Just coz it's an old 60's UK mod / soul club classic, I'd put the Hit Pack's "Never Say No To Your Baby" on one side of one of these 7's. Not too much was ever known about the group, though I believe they were only a 'studio creation' and probably consisted of Robert Dobyne (lead vocals), Robert Staunton & Robert Walker with the Andantes on back up.

Will we get a chance to have 45's, photos, CD's signed by Debbie after her show has finished ??

Pittsburgh is about halfway between Baltimore & Cleveland (one of Ohio's soul recording hot spots), so these outfits could easily have come from the general area between Cleveland & Baltimore. However, many Baltimore artists 'left town' to record (going to Philly, DC, New York, etc.) coz the local recording studios and pressing plants weren't too advanced back in the 60's. Pittsburgh seemed to have better studios / pressing facilities (though lots of local acts also headed out to Philly to record). If the Montereys & Grandeurs were from Pittsburgh (where lots of their 45's ended up), I don't really see why their 45 would be pressed up in Baltimore. I have loads of Pittsburgh club ads from around 1966 thru to the 1970's but can't find any local shows that feature these outfits (looked at ones from the 67/68/69 period in particular). I'd guess that the group / band weren't actually from the Pittsburgh area itself (or from Baltimore) but were based somewhere in the Pennsylvania, Maryland, East Ohio or Virginia region and just had their 45 pressed up in Baltimore.

Got quite a few Pittsburgh club / show ads & so decided I'd look through them to see if there were any Billy Sha-rae shows amongst them. Struck lucky: Billy seemed to be ever-present on live work in the Pittsburgh area clubs from the beginning of 1967 through to at least July 67. Back then, he was usually to be found performing in venues such as the Sunset East (in Irwin, south east of Pittsburgh) and at the Las Vegas Club in Whiskey Gulch. At the start of 1967, his band was named the Dynamites but he was soon performing all his live shows with the Soul Congress (I have no idea if these were two different outfits or if they just adopted a different name). Lots of good live venues in the area back then, see show montage below -- all the ads shown date from the first half of 1967 except the one at the Hilton Hotel that was staged in October 67 (presumably after Billy & the Soul Congress had headed off to Detroit). Other local artists who feature include the Contrails, Bobby O Brown, the Captions, Chuck Corby, Gary Glenn, Georg(i)e Benson, Jimmy Beaumont, Soul Survivors (?), Cleveland Martin, Sonny Gilmore & more.

Seem to recall buying a couple of copies of the UK CD single of 'Where Do You Want Me To Put It' as the cover says it features 'Blowin' My Mind' as an additional track. BUT it wasn't actually on there (so have had to make do with my CD copy of the album to own the track).

Done a few cruises & always enjoyed them. Didn't realise a 'Soul Train cruise' was departing from Miami in March as it does seem interesting (do you know which acts will be on-board when you need to make your booking ?). ..................... ANYWAY .............. We've already booked a cruise in January from Florida to the Bahamas. Anyone know of any decent record shops or clubs (that feature soul / reggae bands) in Funky Nassau ??

There's another soul music related UK film about to come out ................ The story is based around a Liverpool based girl band who want to make it singing Motown-style music. The trailer ............. TAMLA ROSE .............. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMBhIR8Kaxo Not aimed at the NS crowd but should be of some interest to many soul fans.

That Exciting Legion Aires track has got me interested in stuff on the D-Vine Spirituals label now. What are the tracks by Evelyn Taylor, the Kingdom Aires, the Jackson Golden Aires, Supreme Travelers, M&N Singers, Sensational Six. Elder J Ward & the Gospel Four and the Gospel Wymics like ? They certainly did make some great (gospel & soul) music in Memphis back in the day.

Bit rushed this morning as we're gettin ready to dash off for a 3 day break at a National Trust owned country house hotel in Suffolk and so I'm expected to help get prepared (loading the cases, checking the car over, etc) BUT just had to listen to as much of this as possible. Have managed to hear the first 7 tracks and as usual, they're all of a high standard. Like the Exciting Legion Aires track best on 1st hearing. Probably coz it's the most familiar, seemingly taking the Temps "I Wish It Would Rain" as it's inspiration. Pity these old gospel 45's are gettin so hard to find these days.

Strangely, the DCSoul web site, that sets out to list every Washington, Baltimore & Maryland label soul 45 release doesn't even detail any outings on the label. Not even this one ..............

Is much known about this B'more based label and it's output ?? I know it operated in the early & mid 60's and released all sorts of stuff; white & black doo wop, soul, country, etc. so it doesn't have a high profile on the soul scene but a few decent soul 45's were released on the label. The likes of the 5 strong (4 male + 1 female) Satisfactions were going strong in 1962, the group's lead singer and song writer was Charles Carrington I believe. Also signed to the label around that time were the Wonders & their 45 ("Oh Why") was re-issued some time later, so it must have had a few fans. Those outfit's efforts were followed by more soulful tracks from the likes of Gwen Porter and Monroe Taylor (with the Soul Masters). Lots of the cuts were produced by song writer Ray Donahue but though he cut some soul stuff, his own main musical genre didn't seem to be soul related. Any help with regard to other good tracks released on the label and anything about it's ownership. Kenny Hamber recalls the label being owned by a local Italian American and big things being expected of their releases in 62/63 but the label just seemed to fizzle out without achieving much commercially. The Monroe Taylor outing ................. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fn9YXoTXhWA

you could mean this track .............. "Help Me" ......... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8xYqAyQ_pM

As I remember things (& my memory is shot these days), the US recording was sent to Dave Godin for his consideration (of a UK release). He thought the song / singer had potential but asked for changes to be made to the finished recording (mix / overall sound wise). Back in the US they made the changes he had asked for & the resulting track is what was issued on the Soul City 45. The US release used a different version (not sure if it was the original take as sent to Dave Godin initially or not). UK 45 sold well and so Chris (Marke) cut further tracks for UK release but Soul City (shop & label) went bust just as the follow-up was about to escape here. Chris had made the trip over here with a view to promoting his British releases and a big article on him (based around an interview) was published in B&S at the time.

Bob, you have to right as no doubt the name was phoned in to Billboard and their typesetter just went with the first way of spelling her name that occurred to him ........ PLUS ........... her 2nd Dakar 45 (issued in 69) was produced by Williams .......... guess she never got her flagged Uni release though. https://www.sirshambling.com/artists_2012/K/shirley_karol/index.php

Thanx for the info. The Wasters 45 seems to have been the 1st 45 that Williams placed with Uni (#55148) back in summer 69. Wonder why they didn't manage a 2nd Uni outing. So did Charles Williams and Shirley Carroll stay with Williams and have releases on other labels ??

Russ Regan, who signed Andre Williams to the deal with Uni, had earlier worked for Motown and had headed up 20th Century Records. He was involved with Mary Wells work for 20th Century and Andre Williams also worked on some of those tracks. It seems highly likely then that Regan and Williams already knew each other before the Uni deal was set up. I'd guess that Regan was LA based by the late 60's and as Williams was Chicago based by then, I wonder how the deal with the DC based Passionettes came about ?

Andre Williams had a bit of a bad reputation in the late 60's with record company owners. He had worked for labels such as Motown, M-Pac, Blue Rock, Mar-V-Lus in the early to mid 60's as a producer and A&R guy. After his post with Blue Rock ended, he moved on to work for the likes of Toddlin' Town and Chess (he even cut for Chess as Jomo). He had, briefly, been tasked with running the Bamboo label out of St Louis in late 1968 but that relationship soon broke down. Then in May 1970, a big announcement was made in Billboard mag that Uni had signed up Andre Williams and a string of artists associated to him as part of their push into the soul market. This announcement seemed a bit late as Andre had produced the Green Berets 45 ("Lord Send Me Somebody / We Must Make Things Right" Uni # 55186) which had escaped in December 1969. But after the big announcement a 45 from the Passionettes (June 70) & two more from the Green Berets did actually escape on Uni. However, I can find no trace of singles being released by Uni on the likes of Carl (Karl) Tarlton, Charles Williams and Shirley Carroll. Did anything ever get released (on any label) by them ? The Passionettes some changed their name to the Fuzz (probably as they were still contractually tied to Williams or Uni as the Passionettes) and had signed with Calla before the end of the year. The Green Berets also soon changed their name and moved on. Karl Tarlton was a well known song writer who had been associated with Andre for some years but (apart from the odd demo version) I don't recall him ever recording himself. I guess Uni's relationship with Williams soon went sour and that few of his intended projects for the label reached fruition but I would still like to know what became of those artists that he was listed as signing to deals with Uni. I wonder if unissued cuts by those people went into the Uni tape vaults ?

As you would expect with a track produced by Verdine & Robert White, "Catch Me" sounds very EWF-ish. The 7" and LP versions (which I have) are only 3mins 15 secs long, whereas the 12" disco version is almost 6 mins long. I don't think the 12" version is much different (apart from the extra length) from the 45 version. Is that right ? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwKxinilEfA