Roburt

The death of the Spinners Bobby (Bobbie) Smith has been flagged up on his page on Wiki. Tap to view this Soul Source News/Article in full

Recorded at a TV stn (WSTV-TV) in Ohio back in the day ..... Most US TV shows were 'integrated' by 67/68 (much work to free up the TV execs done in Baltimore around 64 ....the movies HAIRSPRAY were based on those events) ... Seems this show up in a industrial Ohio town (Steubenville -- a steel making town) hadn't caught up yet.

So which version is on the CD album ?? (& why weren't both takes included as that seems to have every other track she cut for Calla on it).

The show has now opened on Broadway ( but it's still in the PREVIEW stage) ...... By all accounts it is over running its time slot and so some of the 60 or so song snippets are gonna have to be edited out. Hope they don't edit out two of the new songs in the show -- “It’s In the Groove That Counts” or “Hail to the Beat”.

I've got it on Spanish Sono Play. Produced by Bob Schwartz who also did Vernon Harrell (Calla), Rubin ("You've Been Away") & Chuck Woods ("7 Days ... ") & more. So he knew what he was doing.

The post above was made by one of the top 'Wigan Rejects' .......... am I going off topic again

Doesn't sound very soulful at all (vocal wise). The organ is good but the vocals don't do it for me at all. .... and as this is the other lady on the label, guess Beverly was also a white gal ............. Choo Choo Collins (her tracks also written by Hal Gordon & Athena Hosey) .......

Nearly all sold (44 of 50 sets gone) ....... so unless they just renew the ebay page & add more sets into the pot, they'll all be gone quite soon.

F L Moores were advertising in US music trade papers (asking for cheap old / new US 45's) from November 68, so I guess they were on the go with decent quantities of US soul 45's from late 68 (think I made my 1st trip down there in early to mid 69).

I bought from Soul City from 1967 & if they were out of a certain 45 on UK issue, they would offer me the more expensive US 45 version of the track. Used to actually visit the shop on trips to London plus buy on a regular basis from them via mail order (still got a few letters from Rob Blackmore who dealt with mail order stuff at the shop). Always went for the UK version (if they had it) as they were 8/4d whereas most of the import 45's were 15/-. ALSO used to send off to quite a few dealers who sent out mail order lists of US import soul 45's (haven't kept any of those old lists but seem to recall most originated from guys based in the greater London / Kent areas). My faves back then were the auction listings as I would bid silly money (2/8d) on singles that were unknown to me by artists I knew of. I got the Sapphires "Slow Fizz" that way around 68 but never liked it. But I did get loads of good 45's for little money that way. Sometimes I'd also put in a low bid for a 45 by an unknown (to me) artist on a label I knew had put out some other good stuff (Congress, Ric Tic, Calla, Thomas, etc). Known tracks (allniter club plays) always went for a lot more than the minimum bid (which was 2/6d if I remember correctly). You had to bid around 12/- to 15/- to even stand a chance a winning one of them.

How anyone that listens to BowsieWowsy can hold such a view is totally beyond me. .... TODAY'S RESULTS .......... Modern Soul 10 BowsieWowsy 0 ..... and thats for sound & vibe !!! 60's Soul 9 60's pop (Northern) 0 .... one has guts the other just makes me want to throw up my guts 70's Soul 9 Wigan Stompers 1 ..... had to give the weaker side one goal as a fraction of it is listenable

The Jimmy Bee cuts were produced by Jackie Mills who had hits on the likes of Bobby Sherman and was head of A & R @ 20th Century Fox Records in 1966 (working out of their LA office). Mills seemed to work mostly with white pop artists (but he did also produce the Vel-Vets 20th C F tracks that were released around the same time as the JimB's). Jimmy Bee's "If It Wasn't For Love" was tipped by Billboard as a likely R&B chart entry in early July 67. Mills went on to own / operate Larrabee Studios (LA) from 1969 -- this grew into one of the biggest record studios in LA. ..... BUT ... JUST WHO WAS JIMMY BEE ....... (A guy called James B???? in real life I'd say). ANYONE KNOW ?

Another TCF label 45 ....... this one has input from NY's Otis Pollard but I guess it has to be another southern cut ....

MORE on this George Jackson. I don't know who initiated the Baltimore / New York connection around 66/67/68, but it was most probably a Balto soul radio stn DJ ...... .... WHATEVER ...... it's clear that someone introduced the likes of George Jackson & Jimmy Dotson (also from Baltimore) to Otis Pollard and Richie Adams up in New York. Both singers travelled up to NY to work with those guys (Pollard / Adams) on cuts that were picked up for release by Mercury. GJ had a couple of Mercury releases (in 67 & 68; after the Double R 45), whilst Jimmy Dotson's Mercury 45 also escaped in 68 and did quite well (making local charts in some areas of the US back then).

Just about all the (UK slanted) Radio Luxembourg shows were sponsored by UK record companies. EMI had a show and Jimmy Saville presented a Decca Records Show (I remember well coz I mate of mine back then was a massive Stones fan & always made a big deal out of the fact that JS had never played a Beatles track on his R Lux show .... when in fact he couldn't play a Beatles cut as they were not on a Decca label). I lived in Sth Yorks back then & usually got a decent R Lux signal on an old valve radio (though in the summer, atmospherics played up with the stns signal, as it did the AFN signal which I think was beamed out of Germany). As stated above, R Lux had 1000's of UK listeners until the pirate stns hit the airways around 1964.

This 'George Jackson" was from Baltimore .... though like other Balto Soul singers, he recorded elsewhere. This guy usually cut his solo tracks in New York. He had started out in Baltimore based group, the Plants. Much info on them & George here ........... https://www.uncamarvy.com/Plants/plants.html

Reave Watkins seemed to have a big hand in The "Q" record. I'd guess that he was this guy (though there are a few Reave Watkin's across the US even though it can't be that common a name) .......... Reave M Watkins, 952 Bethany Tpke, Honesdale, PA 18431 The above guy probably originated in Pittsburgh (where quite a few Watkins still live) and seemed to spend his college years in the New Orleans area. Might be worth contacting him to check out if he is the right guy to get The "Q" info from. Phone number removed and slight edit made to text to reflect this. Although it is possible that this Reave Watkins was involved in the 45, it is by no means certain. Imagine how miffed you would be if you started receiving unsolicited phone calls about something someone else did 40+ years ago.

Stang # 5000 was issued in 1968. Stang # 5010 dates from 1970. Stang # 5033 -- Moments "Key To My Happiness" -- dates from 1971 Stang # 5039 -- Linda Jones & Whatnauts -- dates from 1972 Stang # 5042 will also date from 1972 Stang # 5058 dates from late 1974 Stang # 5059 dates from 1975 Stang # 5066 dates from 1976

Sit at the back of the class with the dunces hat on, Moore. .... and have you done your homework yet (the History of 919 Studios Project) ???

Back then, for a record to be based on a dance, the actual dance had to exist. So, somewhere (in a long lost almost 50 year old US teen mag) there will be the steps / moves of 'the Pearl' explained / demonstrated. Lots of dance moves were self explanitory (the Monkey, the Jerk, the Shake) but I can't even begin to guess what the moves were in 'the Pearl'.

Lots of specialist UK DJ's have done a good job on radio down the years but most were just following the example set by (black & white) US DJ's from the 60's. US radio station plays were reflected in chart positions and some cities / stations were very influencial. Baltimore had 2 / 3 soul stns through the 60's (1 was pop in the day, soul at night) and the DJ's held quite a lot of power (till they were no longer allowed to select what they could play themselves). Lots of cuts were 'trialed' on Baltimore Stns by record companies. If they put a 'push' behind a particular track and it took off there, they would instigate a major promotional push behind it across the US. So DJ's such as Fat Daddy, Hot Rod (both influential in getting Kenny Hamber's recording career started) and the like did a great job and influenced what pirate radio DJ's got up to / sounded like over here back in the day.

On US Amazon you can 'Look Inside' his book -- though the most interesting pages can't be viewed there (there's chapters on the various incarnations of the TV show and even a chapter on the Apollo & one on Motown) ...... the index for the book is there in its entirity though and Dean Parrish's name isn't shown. Seems Dean was a guest on the show at least 3 times (who was on EVERY show isn't known anymore) ...... anyway Dean was on at least once in 65 and twice in 66). Some others of interest I didn't list above .... Dobie Gray was on twice in 65, Skip Cunningham actually performed in late November 65, Barbara Mason was on in 65 and Tamiko Jones in 67. The Motown Special went out in April 67 and featured the 4 Tops, Marvelettes, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Isley Brothers, Chris Clark & R Dean Taylor. The Wiki entry for the Clay Cole Show states that its Motown edition was historic (for US TV) as it was the 1st show to feature a full hour of all-black performers --- with Chris Clark & R D Taylor on there ..... yes, I'm sure. As Dean Parrish isn't listed in the book index, it seems the full list of guests on the show isn't included in the book.

If you do a search (under his name) on the on-line Billboard Mag site, you get 20 / 30 entries about him & his show ..... also about the records he made (he had 45's out on Roulette & Imperial -- mainly twist related) and he starred in a 'Twist' film alongside Chubby Checker. But exact details on who the guests were on his show do not pop up there. Do a general Google search and you get more info on him & the show, but still not all the 'show guest' details. The show has its own Wiki page ..... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Clay_Cole_Show I was interested in his TV show, especially after I found out that Skip Cunningham (Coral, 20th Century Fox recording artist) deputised for him when he went on holiday. Coz of my interest I posted a thread on SDF as that has lots of 'old' US based members (who are a great source of info for 60's Philly, NY, LA, Detroit info .... as they were there back in the day). Got responses across there from folk who used to attend the live shows he staged at Pallisaides Park (NJ) and at Coney Island PLUS a guy there posted details of just about all the guests he had on the show (in the 60's). He had 6 / 7 live guests every show, so during the 60's years when the the show was running he must have had around 2000 guests appear (some being repeat performances by previous guests rather than it being 2000 different guests). Not all were soul related, loads of UK / US pop acts were also on. But a fair number of 'lesser known NY based' singers such as Dean Parrish were among those that got to appear more than once. When Clay lost interest coz the rock acts started to take over from 67, he quit the show and another guy (can't recall his name at present) took over the presenting from him and it ran for a further period under the replacement MC's name. Cole passed away a few years back but not before a book about him & his career had been published. Maybe the guest listings for his TV show are detailed in that book ('Sh-Boom; The Explosion Of Rock & Roll' -- I ain't got it so can't be certain).

Seeing as we currently have a thread going about old radio DJ's, thought I'd post this up here. The Clay Cole Show (1959—1967) was a music television show based in New York that seemed to be quite innovative but didn't really garner as much praise as say 'American Bandstand'. The show had a few variations in name and when the original station that broadcast it (WNTA-TV) was sold in 1963, it moved over onto WPIX-TV. There it lasted almost 6 years (to late December 67) and helped usher in the 'British Invasion' (I believe that the Who and Rolling Stones made their US TV debuts on the show). BUT IN ADDITION ........ the show staged a full 1 hour long Motown Special that was said to be quite groundbreaking at the time (for US TV). the Motown Special was screened around February 1967. Cole & his TV crew visited Detroit to film interviews with Motown execs & artists that January . The usual format of his show was to have 5 or so live acts on and break up their performances with shots of kids dancing in the studio to some of the latest records. When Clay took a break from presenting the show (to have short holidays) recording artists such as Skip Cunningham were brought in as replacement hosts (August 65). Acts who featured on the show included Helena Ferguson, Chris Clark, Tammi Terrell, Chuck Jackson, Lit Anthony, Maxine Brown, Dean Parrish (at least twice), Mongo Santamaria, Ramsey Lewis, Joe Cuba, Dee Dee Sharp, Tommy Hunt, Roy Hamilton, the Exciters, Christine Cooper, Lenny Welch, Deon Jackson, Percy Sledge, the Royalettes, Robert Parker, Bobby Hebb, Five Stairsteps, Dee Dee Warwick, Bunny Sigler, Patti LaBelle, Jay & Techniques, Brenda Holloway, Marvelettes, Jackie Wilson, Duprees, Shirelles, Isley Bros & all the top Motown acts. It seems that just about all the tapes were wiped many years ago, so little evidence remains today of its content (mores the pity).

A link to a typical Radio Caroline Chart from back in the day ....... https://www.radiolondon.co.uk/caroline/stonewashed/carolinecharts/040%20June%204%201966.htm This one is from when the World Cup was first held in the UK; Percy Sledge was No.1 (on this chart), "Stop Her On Sight", "The Drifter" + cuts by Diane Ferraz & Jackie Edwards also figured.