Roburt

The great SirShambling web site has posted up some new pages and one of them is on Earl Harrison ...... .... https://www.sirshambling.com/artists_2012/H/earl_harrison/index.php I never realised that "Humphrey Stomp / Can You Forgive" was the guys only release ............ ... even though it came out on 3 US & 1 UK legit labels . ... PLUS ... was one of the 1st British soul bootleg 45s. A UK 45 release on the London label back in the day, "Humphrey Stomp" quickly became a top UK mod / soul club anthem. The track was a big allniter play from 1967 onwards. The track was such a club anthem that when copies of the 45 on UK London 'dried up' (& imports were still hard to get here in 1970), the record became one of the 1st ever UK soul 45 bootlegs when put out on the SOUL SOUNDS label. A great double sider that has stood the test of time well. Is much of anything known about Earl ??

Don't know why they can't have acts like these on at the Children's Centre near me ...............

Just goes to show then. A few copies must have found there way over here in the last 20 years or so.

I know that the Soul Machine 45 is rare. I guess most copies were sold in Baltimore back around 1966/67 and then disappeared into collections / were lost / thrown out. So the few copies that are in the collections of US / UK soul 45 collectors must be minimal. Anyone on here own a copy of the 45 ? RELATED INFO ....... When Denny (Picasso -- the lead singer on these cuts) joined the Hitchhikers they were an all white group (there's a young Balt pop trio who have tracks posted up on youtube who go by the same name and I'd guess that they are the same outfit prior to Denny joining them). The group (with Denny) appeared on a music TV show in Baltimore in 67 and were appointed as the house band at a local black club --- the Black Jack. Kenny joined them after Denny quit & took over as their lead singer on dates at the Black Jack. As guys dropped out of the group, he got old musician friends (black guys) to replace the leavers. One such guy was James Gilyard who had led the Shyndels (the outfit who backed up a lot of artists on Ru-Jac recordings). James was an old hand & good arranger. He soon took over leadership of the Hitchhikers.

With the current thread on soul dances, I thought I'd ask some questions about the above 2 tracks. Cliff Nobles & Co cut vocal & instrumental tracks (with producer Jesse James) for Phil LA of Soul back in 1968. The instro version ("The Horse") of Cliff's vocal track became a big hit after a radio DJ flipped the 45. That hit prompted tracks to be cut for an album, the album featuring both vocal & instro cuts. One of the tracks on the LP (a 1968 release) was the instro "The Camel" ...... ... no doubt the dance was just supposed to be a variation on "The Horse". Anyway, in 1969 "The Camel" was lifted from the LP and put out on a Phil LA of Soul 45 (C/W "Gettin Away" -- another instro). Whatever the reason (perhaps Phil LA were experiencing problems getting airplay on the Cliff Nobles & Co version), Jesse decided he wanted to put out a vocal version of the cut. He 'borrowed' Kenny Hamber from Jimmy Bishop's Arctic Records and took Kenny straight into a Philly studio.There Kenny added his vocals to the original instro track and a single was quickly issued on Mean Records (the B side of this 45 again featuring the instro take on "The Camel"). It's noted on the net that Kenny's version features his usual live backing band -- Baltimore based the Hitchhikers -- but that info is totally false. ....... QUESTIONS ........ 1/ Anyone know why Jesse didn't just get Cliff Nobles to add a vocal to the instro track ? (I know Cliff was pissed coz the records bore his name but his vocals weren't featured on any of the hit sides). 2/ Anyone know why Jesse chose to put out the Kenny Hamber version on Mean Records ... Was Phil LA of Soul having difficulties at the time -- mid 69. 3/ Are there any other releases on the Mean label ? 4/ Why does this Mean 45 seem to be rare (though there are both demo & issue versions of it out there) ? 5/ Why have two 45's out there at almost the exact same time that featured the same track ("The Camel" instro) especially as it had also been put out a year earlier on an album ? 6/ DANCE RELATED Q ..... is there actual footage out there (youtube?) of people actually doing 'The Horse' dance ??

An article about a US documentary on radio DJ's and the influence they had back in the day .... in Richmond, Va .... https://www.styleweekly.com/richmond/i-know-you-got-soul/Content?oid=1590226

Already posted a few ads for 1950's shows at the Palms in Hallandale .......... James Brown was playing gigs at the club from the mid 50's .... ....... here's a booking he landed there at New Year 1958 ......

Bob & Earl were always big in the UK (& in other parts of Europe) ......... "Harlem Shuffle" sold solidly from its 1st release here (1965) right thru to 1969 and beyond ..... .... so any label with access to Bob & Earl tracks were putting them out to get some easy sales off the back of HS. That was why, IMO, UK Warner Bros released "Everybody Jerk" in 69 (when "Harlem Shuffle" was on the pop charts).

An ad for a gig at Tony's Fish Market Restaurant ........... Back then a young Alice Day was singing soul songs. She soon progressed to jazz and put out a rare album in the early 80's. Now a good age, she still performs on a regular basis & even does shows in Europe.

There was a long Loma thread on the old RARESOULFORUM .......... sadly that's now lost to us.

Expanding this theme ....... to what was played at late 60's (or very early 70's) niter venues .......... What were the early 'import only' tunes to get regular plays on the scene back then ..... ... two that became big that instantly spring to mind to me were ........ Fuller Brothers -- Times A Wasting Soul Brothers Six -- You'd Better Check Yourself What were some of the others ??

Hasn't it already been established that the B&E Loma release doesn't actually exist.

Well if you mean, punters attending normal high street clubs / ballrooms in the 1960's think that they were NS type venues then I'd have to say that back then (1964 - 69) they were. There was no such thing as a NS club back in the 60'; first there were blues clubs that became mod clubs and then morphed into soul clubs. The sort of sounds that were big at say the Wheel, Mojo, Nit Owl in 1967 (& later) were being played by your Locano / Top Rank / Mecca DJ's by about a week or so later. There was no real 'import scene' until around 1968/69 and then it was mostly chasing copies of UK releases that you couldn't find as a Brit release anymore, so you chased US copies of those releases. The 'rare soul' scene hadn't even reared its head then. So 95% of the niter plays were UK released tracks and so available to the DJ's in all the high street club / ballroom type venues. I know our crowd up in Sth Yorks attended niters each Saturday (& Mojo alldayers on Sundays in 67) BUT in the week & on (other) Sundays we attended normal high street venues (there was nowt else). The younguns that followed on from our lot were hearing niter tunes when they attended youth clubs. That is why anyone who didn't attend niters till the 70's refers to the big 60's club plays as 'youth club tunes' (which is quite demeaning to those top plays IMO).

If you want to know how to do the swim ..... ....... it ain't too hard to imagine what the moves were ..... but here goes anyway ..... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBEwqQU5s_0

The Wreck Bar again ......... May 71 .......... the Fabulettes ..........

A good newspaper report on the day ............ https://www.freep.com/article/20130321/ENT04/130321063/Watch-live-Motown-s-Funk-Brothers-honored-with-Hollywood-Walk-of-Fame-star

Back to the Wreck Bar for a show by a local outfit ....... the Bell Brothers ..........

I'm back on the case (with regard to this topic) with a bang (IMHO anyway) ........... A summer 1971 show at the Fontainebleau by a guy who was born in Jamaica, grew up in London & relocated to the USA to build his singing (& acting) career. Tory Wynter (who cut some good tracks back around the late 70's & 1980) .............

US newspaper article on Jamie / Guyden ( + Arctic) ...... https://www.citypaper.net/cover_story/Original_Spin.html

Seems this Baltimore based blue-eyed soul group made a 45 that has remained popular down the years. SUDDEN SOUNDS RECORDS was based out of 1100 GREEN ACRE ROAD, BALTIMORE ........ and the songs featured on the 45 were as follows ......... "YOU'D BETTER WATCH YOUR FOX" written by LARRY J FOX and REX LITTLE ............... PLUS ................ "HANG ON" written by KEITH COLLEY & LAWRENCE LYNN MANNERING "Hang On" was a cover version of the song first cut by Gene McDaniels for Liberty (released around November 65). "Hang On" had formed one side of Gene's follow-up 45 to "WALK WITH A WINNER" (that song also having been written by KEITH COLLEY & LAWRENCE LYNN MANNERING in conjunction with JILL JONES). Because the Soul Machine covered Gene's song, I'd guess that their 45 escaped in 1966. This Baltimore outfit (with no connection to the groups who had a 45s out on Sound House Records or Pzazz Records) featured Dennis (Denny) Picasso on lead vocals. The group soon broke up and Denny found himself leading another Baltimore R&B group, Denny & the Hitchhikers. When Denny decided to 'go it alone', the group recruited Kenny Hamber as their new lead singer (around late 1967). With Kenny up front, they were soon one of the most popular live draws on the Baltimore soul club scene. Back in 1962,Denny had been in another local group; the Dynamics. They had cut an album which was never released although a single from it did escape on the Dyna label (an acetate of the LP was floating about some years back). Denny passed away a while back. I have no idea what sort of shape he was in later on, but from the picture below, he didn't look too trim way back in the mid 60's.

SIMPLE ANSWER ........... DEFINITELY !!!! Can't beat Curtis, either in 60's, 70's or 80's mode.

Just read a piece about the Irish soul scene (or lack of one) back in 1969. By all accounts, all the Irish show bands (think of much worse versions of the Commitments) filled their acts with covers of soul hits but the original artist 45's weren't selling too well there. Clubs played soul records to a reasonable response but few soul acts visited the country to play live dates. Apparently Ben E King added an Irish date on to a UK tour he undertook back then but he was booked to play a ballroom. The local 'soulies' back then had long hair and wore 'way out clothes' (their words, not mine). When they tried to gain admittance to his gig, they were turned away as the usual crowd that attended the venue wore suits & ties. So the show wasn't a major success and no more soul acts were booked to play there.

Back to the US ........... if you wanna hear what one of the 'originators' sounded like 'on air' then ........ ... click on the link below & listen to around 21 mins of Fat Daddy's WWIN radio show (Baltimore) back in July 1966 ........... .......... Going Back, Way Back ............ "Um, Um, Um, Um, Um, Um" ...... there's even an ad for a WINN "Golden Oldie Album," (a joint venture release with Roulette Records) ...... ..... there's also an ad for Salem Cigarettes .... sung by Chuck Jackson ..... https://archive.org/details/PaulfatDaddyJohnson-WwinBaltimore-July1966

But the Saints tracks aren't soul (or even at all soulful), so can't see why they would be 'essential' to anyone on here.

Cut (in the US) in 72, the Contempo 7" dates from 73 and the Contempo-Raries from 75. Wouldn't think the 2nd UK release was any rarer than the 1st. £10 for a M- Contempo label copy from Crazy Beat .... no idea why JM should be asking so much for his copies.