Roburt

More on the original group that after it split up, formed the newcleus of Soul Congress ........ https://sites.google.com/site/pittsburghmusichistory/pittsburgh-music-story/rock/arondies

The picture in the Twisted Wheel section of the book (@ 1 min 34 secs in the above video) LOOKS LIKE four of the Hull lads who used to go to the Wheel (Mike Bird - big bro to Martyn aka Hullsoul on here + Stu Mumby and others). I know Mike submitted a piece on the Wheel for inclusion in the book. Looks like his piece made it into the finished publication, so no doubt my Donny mate (Tom Sleight) & I get a mention or two. Ain't got the actual book yet, can someone confirm that Mike Bird's Wheel memories are in there & who the picture is captioned up as showing (I know I'm not on it but its too small for me to make out the other 2 guys).

"Let's Do It Again / I'm Gone" was issued in France on Disques Vogue ..... PLUS .... "Do It" was put out here on Action and reissued in the US on Laurie (Double Gold) in the late 70's (c/w Bobby Hebb's "Sunny").

Pittsburgh (like Baltimore, Washington & the like) had a thriving soul club scene back in the 60's / 70's. This local success for club acts encouraged local entrepreneurs to put up the money to get some of them in the recording studios.

Yep, I knew I'd done some research on Billy a few years back (2008). As Robb just said, Billy was recording from the early 60's. He cut for Greensburgh (Pa) based Bay-Uke Records, owned by song writer and music publisher Matt Furin. Billy Sha-Rae was the main artist on the Bay-Uke label. He had 4 singles released out of the first five releases on the label. Greensburgh is just north of Uniontown, to the east of Pittsburgh. As Teacho Wilshire was involved with his early recording work, does that make it likely that he actually recorded his tracks up in the New York area ?

Dave, I found this bit of info that makes mention of Billy and his origins 'on the net' ............ In 1965, the Arondies, teens from Clairton, sold 10,000 copies -- which today would still be pretty major numbers -- of an instrumental classic, "69," a record that Get Hip archivist Baran likes to call our town's "Bolero." "Everybody learned to play guitar to '69,'" he says. "If you wanted to play it simply, you didn't have to even have a tuned guitar. You could keep it on one string." Although the original three-man lineup, as captured on "69," would go its separate ways before the year was out, the song remains a local cult hit on the underground, as resurrected in the '80s by the Cynics, whose Gregg Kostelich in 1999 released the first Arondies CD on Get Hip. At times, the music -- cut in sessions dating from November 1964 to a radio appearance on McKeesport's WMCK in '65 -- takes on the primal feel of something the Arondies might have played in Hamburg while sharing a bill with the Beatles. But they never made it to the Reeperbahn. Instead, they worked the local circuit from the Juliot Hotel in Clairton to the Sigma Nu fraternity -- immortalized (for those who knew the band) in "Sigma Nu" -- to the Clairton VFW, where they packed the joint, especially during football season. As drummer Bill Scully recalls, with a grin, "We were big celebrities -- in Clairton." After cutting "69," the Arondies started working with a local DJ/show promoter/all-around Svengali Terry Lee, who'd already discovered the Larks, whose name he changed, in honor of his own profession, to the Dee-Jays. While Terry and Porky were spinning the record, other stations balked at the idea of a song called "69." "My uncle Al McDowell was at KDKA at the time," says Scully, "so my aunt and uncle took the record to Clark Race and asked if he would play it. So Clark is listenin', and it's got this nice sound, and we say '69,' and he says, ' can't play this.' My aunt didn't know." A month after making a splash with "69," they split with Lee in a royalty dispute. Then, Scully quit and the other Arondies formed the Soul Congress, featuring Uniontown soul artist Billy Sha-Rae. Eventually, the Congress moved to Detroit, where it played on sessions by such artists as the O'Jays, and in '71, scored a minor R&B hit with "Do It." So Billy was originally from Uniontown, a small place about 40 miles south of Pittsburgh. I'm sure I have some club ads somewhere here for gigs he did back in the day in Pittsburgh. I seem to recall it was his local club profile that landed him the lead singer's role with Soul Congress.

Found my copy of "I Don't Wanna Leave You / Just Don't Pay" on Brazilian Arista. "I Don't Wanna Leave You" (the A Side) lasts 5 min 30 secs and is the 'Tom Moulton' remix. "Just Don't Pay" lasts 3 mins 10 secs (or so it says on the label) and is the 'Tom Moulton' remix. This 7" plays at 33rpm like most Brazilian singles (though it doesn't say so on the label) and it was put out in Brazil by EMI - Odeon Fonog. The Odeon label had started life in Germany but after WW2 the label name was used by EMI on records pressed up in Germany, Brazil, West Africa, Spain, Argentina, India, France & elsewhere. Debbie's Brazilian release (from EMI-Odeon) came out on Arista though just like it did in the US / UK.

Dave, Cas is too far north for me. I grew up in the much warmer climate we enjoyed in Doncaster !!! Kids at my senior school traveled down from places like Upton & South Elmsall and told me tales of the 8ft deep snow drifts they got up there every November.

Paul, retired now so HAVE to take lots of holidays ..... so only usually have a few free weekends .... but the missus is plagued by the thought that this winter will be another 'bad un' (especially after this great summer we have enjoyed). She's convinced we'll get snow in November, so she's stopped me booking much so far that month. Away for a short break in the days running up to that weekend, but 9th November is free & should be just right for a visit back up to 'God's country'.

Which of her GWP tracks also escaped on these two LP's ?? ............

RE: ‘I Don’t Wanna Leave You’ was the first Debbie Taylor single to gain international release but when Arista’s UK office issued the single via EMI in early 1976 they disappointed soul fans by using a short edit which was also sonically inferior. The uptempo flip side ‘Just Don't Pay’ was also edited, losing over a minute, and lacked the vibrancy of the original Tom Moulton mix. The single was also released by Arista licensees in Japan and Brazil. I've got the 45 on a Brazilian copy (& a UK copy). I posted a scan of the label up on the old 'raresoulforum' site many moons ago but that has now disappeared. Can't seem to find a copy of that jpeg anymore either (good job I still have the single itself somewhere). I seem to recall discussing the edit issued on the Brazilian version with John Benson over on 'raresoulforum' and believe it is the longer version that escaped there.

Pity you're not going to New York then ...........

Don't know it ...... BUT ...... was it on this Space label ?? (there have been quite a few different Space Record labels)

Two good shows to catch in Vegas on Friday October 25th & Saturday October 26th .......... The O'Jays with guests Shirley Murdock & Zapp (Friday) + Stevie Wonder, Jeffrey Osbourne & Johnny Gill (Saturday) .... Price-y but its for a good cause ........

Back to Savoy gospel tracks .......... .... unada un from the World Wonders ..... They get a bit funky here .... the cost of living is very high .... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VEPGkufLRg

The track is pure pop pap, no soul content at all.

RE: a UK Acetate of Thelma H's "Stealin In Name of Lord" .... ....... She toured the UK (as a support act for the 4 Tops) in 72 and I guess EMI were thinking of puttin out an extra UK 45 on her to tie in with her shows here. As "Stealin" by Paul Kelly didn't get a UK release, maybe EMI were thinking of going with that track here.

Details on Barbara's tragic death (in childbirth) here Robb ........ https://www.theguardian.com/music/2012/oct/05/frank-wilson

I've also got a Savoy LP that features tracks cut during a (radio stn) WAOK Gospel Caravan Show. This features 2 tracks that just consist of sermons but also lists 6 musical numbers (2 each from the Fulton Singers & Gospel Coronets + 1 from the Pattersonaires & 1 from Rev Squeekie Morgan), However when you play the LP, another track is also on there. This is the 5 Saints singing "Jesus Looks After Me" and it's a really nice male harmony track.

A piece about the song "Money" and Barrett Strong's contribution to the song .............. Newspaper article from NY Times (shorter version also in today's (London) Times ........ https://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/01/arts/music/for-a-classic-motown-song-about-money-credit-is-what-he-wants.html

I started collecting soul stuff around 1964, only buying 45's initially as they were all I could afford. My 'collection' grew but I still only spent what I could afford (though many times I would go without other stuff). I soon built up a decent collection of UK stuff but when family commitment's kicked in, I had to sell some of my best UK 45's. I 've bought (& sold some) down the years and now have a massive collection though most are cheaper valued 70's / 80's / 90's UK 45's / 12" / LPs (I like all types of black music). My biggest failing is never getting around to cataloguing my collection. So I can never work out if I have sold a particular item or if I still have it. Because of this, when such an item crops up in good condition & at a good price, I have to buy it 'just in case'. Coz of this I now have many (way too many) spare copies of things. Mind you I'm not really an addict, I'm just a collector !! Just because I have to own a particular 'LIKE' on UK demo 45, UK issue, French picture sleeve copy, a Bajan copy & more -- that surely doesn't make me an addict does it?

Some record companies got a bit luckier. They would submit photos (with text) picturing a 'newsworthy' event (in their opinion) and these could get placed in the mag without payment being necessary. No doubt, if a big label (such as say United Artists) placed a full page ad in almost every edition of the mag, this could easily help in influencing the mag's editorial staff to use a submission coz it was 'newsworthy'. The top left part of the following montage of Sharon Redd related bits is one such item. Of course, Sharon would go on to bigger (& better ?) things in the 70's / 80's but the picture documents her start in the recording biz. OF COURSE ...... I doubt this was her first actual experience of a recording studio, as no doubt her dad (King Records Gene Redd) and her brother (Gene Redd Jr -- Old Town, Mercury, Stephanie) had taken her along to some sessions they were in on.

Only a couple of pages in each edition of Billboard were full colour (the front & back pages usually). Some other pages had limited colour (2/3 different colours) but most pages were just black pictures & print. To take extra advantage of the front page being full colour, the mag sold advertisements there (no doubt at an additional charge) that basically were just pictures of a group or artist with text relating to their latest release. No real graphics AND if you didn't see the small extra word tagged onto the blurb, you might even think it wasnt even an advert .............

Glasshoppa know this one ............

Is the book on Mary Well's life ('Mary Wells: The Tumultuous Life of Motown's First Superstar') a good read (well written) ??