Roburt

An older gospel version of "Wade in the Water" ......... the Angelic Choir ..........

MORE good gospel releases that should be easy to track down ...... 1979 US ABC label comp LP 'Hallelujah Disco' ...... 8 tracks Carl Bean, Salem Travelers, etc. 1973 UK Checker label LP 'Groovin With Jesus' .... 11 tracks from likes of Violinaires, Soul Stirrers, Williams Singers. 2006 UK Soul Jazz 2fer LP 'Soul Gospel Vol. 2' .. .... 20 tracks from likes of Angelic Choir, Dixie Wonders, Clara Ward. ..... ALSO got the Vol.1 version of the later, it's on CD somewhere (no idea where though). I made mention of Mary, Mary above ... so here's their take on "Wade in the Water" .........

AND ANOTHER ......... The Impressions "In The Palm of My Hands" .... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ep2skQNfcH0

Another Mystro & Lyric goodie ......... Ecstasy, Passion & Pain "One Beautiful Day" ......

The Caprells tackled an old song & the track went on to become their signature tune .......... A piece out of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in 2006 ........... I interviewed Rena Dixon at her home in Hazelwood, just up the hill from Second Avenue. Glen and Rena Dixon had only met around 16 years ago. She was a barmaid at the High Rollers club in Homestead in 1990 and he was a chef Downtown at what was then the Vista Hotel. Glen would leave that job and come to the High Rollers to spin records, and after a while Rena was telling him he couldn't always be late. One night the manager put a record on, and Rena told him, "I know that song. That's the Caprells!" When she was about 10 years old, her older brother, Flint, a bouncer at a club in Beltzhoover, had let her in to see The Caprells, a family band that was Pittsburgh's funky answer to the Jackson Five. The manager laughed at her reference. "You don't even know who they are," he said. "Rodney and Glen and Joyce and Mickey. You work for The Caprells." She'd had no idea the Dixons, owners of the club, were the Caprells. Nor had Glen Dixon ever let on that he was one of the owners. When she later asked him why, he just told her none of it was important. He was nothing but kind. They became friends, fell in love soon enough, and in January 1992 they flew to Las Vegas to get married. They became inseparable. "People didn't say Glen's name without saying my name." In 1998, Glen couldn't shake a cold. He went to a string of doctors ending with a lung specialist who diagnosed him with sarcoidosis. Tiny lumps, called granulomas, were on his lungs. He took steroid treatments for a year to shrink them. He was in seemingly perfect health. He never missed work, never smoke, drank or ate meat, took his vitamins and, as a singer who cared for his voice, would never be in the same room with anyone doing so much as spraying deodorant. The Dixons weren't overly worried about this disease that can be treated but not cured; they'd been told the mortality rate for sarcoidosis was about 2 percent. But on January 31, 2006, he passed away. An autopsy showed Kenneth Glen Dixon Sr. died at 54 of cardiac sarcoidosis. The disease had spread to every organ in his body.

If you check out Mister Chandler's new CD via either his web site or CD Baby (see links above) ..... give a listen to "I Just Want To Thank You" .... its a very fine modern slow dance track.

The Pittsburgh-based family the Dixons (Rodney, Joyce, Mickey and bandleader / vocalist / arranger Glen) released their records as the Caprells on its self-funded Bano label. The first stands as its most popular. "Close Your Eyes," as arranged by Glen Dixon and backed by The Sul Brothers Band, not only revitalizes a Tin Pan Alley classic, but utterly transforms it. A modern listener would be forgiven for thinking Dixon wrote the song himself, hired Ethiopian jazz legend Mulatu Astatke to produce, and sneaked Bernard Purdie into the drum chair. In 2006, just as "Close Your Eyes" looked as if it might catalyze a Caprells renaissance, Dixon died at age 54 from complications due to sarcoidosis, a rare and treatable yet little-discussed disease. But the song he handled lead vocals on (with his fine falsetto) some 34 years earlier stands as testiment to those he left behind. The Caprells competed on the Pittsburgh soul music scene with the likes of Black Love, the Deltones, Family of Eve, Brass Monkey, Pyramid / Pyrymyd and others. However, many of the other outfits didn't get to commit as many tracks to vinyl as the Caprells did. The group even had cuts picked up for national distribution (by Ariola America) and they also got to head across to Philly's Future Gold studio to cut songs that escaped on the C.R.S. label. More of their recordings ........

The Pittsburgh soul music scene has long fascinated me. Loads of blue eyed soul singers did really well there, local artists cut in local studios & had releases on local labels but the addresses on the labels were in other cities (LA, Detroit). Lots of acts eventually headed out to Philly to try to make the big time and so the local gene pool was diminished. But more acts kept coming through and so the local clubs always had decent live acts to showcase. A guy who was involved with one such group has just put out a CD album that is currently getting some praise. The guy in question is Mister Chandler and he now lives in Florida and sings gospel. When he was much younger (the 70's) and still back in Pittsburgh, he was hooked up with the Caprells. His older sister had recorded when he was still young and after hearing her voice on the record, it inspired him to follow a music career himself. He tells me that he played on the Pittsburgh music scene a lot in the 70’s. He worked with Al Dowe (who was involved with the Millage label), Cecil Brooks III, Roger Humphries RH Factor (and Rodgers Big Band) and more. He actually recorded with the Caprells (on tracks such as "Close Your Eyes", "Walk On By", "I Believe in the Stars" and many more). He also worked with a 3 piece blues trio called 'Black Lick' in conjunction with guitarist Cordell Dudley. Cordell also played with Betty Davis (the original Nasty Girl funkster). DeWayne Chandler got to play at all of the major venues in Pittsburgh; the Crawford Grill, The Tiger Tail, Walt Harpers Attic, the Encore, the Pyramid Lounge and other venues. He has a very good music pedigree and this shows through on his latest CD,'Teach Me Lord' ........... Check out his web site to hear the tracks ......... https://www.iammisterchandler.com/ The CD is available for sale at CD Baby ......https://www.cdbaby.com/cd/misterchandler2 Some old Caprells tracks ......

A picture of Melvin with his wife (she inspired the words to many of his songs) .....

A new release of 'Mystro & Lyrics' biggest song (commercially) ............ ... the Tom Moulton remix on Philly ReGrooved 3 ........

"Mercy, Mercy, Baby" .............

A Mystro / Lyric song .............

People still ask if the Showstoppers shared any members with the Four Perfections, I guess coz both appeared on the tiny Party Time label. I know Dave knows the answer to this question & has told folk that have asked him, but he's been holding back info that will (I'm sure) be in his book (SORRY DAVE, I'm gonna spill some beans but it was thru me & Kenny that you made contact). Anyway, the makings of the Four Perfections actually came about in the Pittsburgh area originally. Two twin brothers, who were great in school at basketball decided music was the way forward for them, not sports. One hooked up with a girl from another part of Pittsburgh, so he used to travel thru to her place most weekends but that didn't stop the two brothers from developing their song writing skills (one handling the music, the other the words). Anyway, in the mid 60's, they went off to college in Philly. There they hooked up with guys such as Eddie Holman and started writing songs with him as well. With Eddie, they wrote a song "Don't Forget That I Love You" and they recorded it (but they don't know what became of the recording). One song the 'Steals' wrote that was cut was "I'm Not Strong Enough". They had formed a group and started to sing the song on gigs. Their group, the Four Perfections were spotted and they got to record their song. When college was over, the group broke up & they returned to the Pittsburgh area. But they still retained their Philly music contacts. A song they had written, "Gotta Find My Way Back Home" was selected by Kenny Gamble to be cut by the Jaggerz (though it was only credited to Melvin & Mervin'). Anyway, the song was a hit & the two brothers thought they had hit the big time. But the music biz can be cruel and young guys easily get ripped off. That's what happened to the 'Steals'. They took day jobs but still kept on writing songs. Knowing some other guys on the Philly music scene, they got in touch with a few influential folk and pitched some of their new songs. One, "Could It Be I'm Falling In Love", was picked up by Tom Bell for the Spinners. From then, it was one song success after another ........ SEE HERE ........ https://www.discogs.com/artist/Mystro+And+Lyric What's your favorite 'Mystro & Lyric' / 'Steals & Steals' song ? I'm currently in touch with Melvin Steals and he tells me that now the two brothers have both retired from their day jobs, they are back into song writing mode again. IN FACT, they are currently writing new songs for Kenny Hamber that should be recorded in the near future. DAVE, drop me an PM and let me know which 'cats to leave in the bag' CHEERS

More from the guys ....... another interview .............. Marvin wasn't even in it for the money, what a star the guy is !!!!

Getting Bettye Swann on, singing her old soul songs for the 1st time in 30 years is a real coup. There are lots of jealous Yank soul fans who would like to be able to get to this show. Guess (though its a stone cold certainty) this will be a really great show to be at, wouldn't miss it for the world. When she has run out of songs that she & the UK band have (re)learnt, She'll have to sing "Make Me Yours" at least 3 times (encore & 2nd encore included) .... .... though on the 2nd & 3rd attempts, she can probably leave most of the singing to the audience.

I was buying Bunky import 45's as far back as 1970 (always loved the Esquires) and back then lots of the 45's I got came in company sleeves.

No doubt Clarence Thompson is on this track as well (he was a member of the Opels in the 60's). The backing band on this track, the Blue Rhythm Combo (or BRC) also back him up on "You, Me & Love" ...........

A documentary on the group .............

A tribute paid to the group by US celebs ......... "There Is" kicks in just after the 3 minute mark ....

A great UK comp LP to look out for is 'The Soul of Black Music' (on Sonet from 1979) .... 14 gospel tracks from the likes of Gospel Keynotes, Supreme Angels, Bright Stars, Consolers & more. I have a spare copy somewhere but it don't have an original cover. Here's the Supreme Angels track .........

Don't think his language would have gone down too well at a Buckingham Palace Garden Party though !!

This Be Be & Ce Ce Winans album (from 84) is good throughout ('Lord Lift Us Up') ........ .... (the PTL label version is rare but I think it was re-released on anuda label later) ..... .... this track being the best dancer on it ...

West coast King George .........

More Marvin Yancy ........... .... deep soul type gospel .......

The Marvin Yancy track ...............