Roburt

Another really big Mojo track was Willie's US Hi 45 "Oh, Baby You Turn Me On" ....... don't think I ever heard that played in a club after the Mojo closed. The Mojo had a very big influence on most soul clubs in the Yorkshire area. If a track was spun at a Mojo niter, it would be play listed at clubs in Dony, Gooole, Scunny & Hull within a week. Some clubs (guess the Wheel had a similar effect in Lancs) were truly all powerful with regard to their effect on their surrounding area.

Available in both printed & electronic formats on US Amazon (only Kindle in the UK as of now) ..... A new book by 'Pip' William Guest ..... Midnight Train From Georgia: A Pip's Journey Should interest soul folk with taste, such as Bradford's Mr. Kegsy.

When 45's like Gene Chandler's "Nothing Can Stop Me" (on Soul City) & all the reactivated Motown 45's started hitting the UK Pop Charts, all the British Record Companies woke up to their soul 'back catalogue' (though by 69 / 70 some labels had lost the rights to certain tracks that had put out in the mid 60's). To press up a 45 & put it out there without any promotion at all cost next to nothing from the likes of EMI, Decca, Polydor, etc. So they had very little to lose if say Jamo Thomas's "I Spy" or an old Chess or Bell track did next to nothing when reactivated. For every re-release 45 that just sold enough copies to cover the new pressing costs, loads (Tams, O'Jays, Tami Lynn, Fascinations) made enough to keep the Accounting Dept. very happy. Of course, the blunderbuss effect soon kicked in & just about any soul dance track they had the rights to was put out.

"Scratchy" certainly seemed to fit the bill at the Wheel back in the day (well we all danced to it & went looking for copies of the 45) ..... but it may well have been more of a Wheel record than a general big sound on the scene back then. I certainly don't recall it being played at the Mojo or the Nite Owl (though that don't mean it never was). ............ certain sounds were just linked with a particular club ...... At the Mojo, really big sounds in 66 / 67 included Stevie Wonder's "Love A GoGo", Billy Stewart's "Exodus", Brenton Wood's "Gimme A Little Sign" (though that one probably died as a mod club fave when it hit the UK 45 Pop Chart Top 10) and the Artistics "I'm Gonna Miss You". Don't really recall any of those being played at the Owl or Wheel at all (or much at any later clubs).

One of St Louis' finest soul groups are still going strong ........... ... the Caesars have a big concert coming up in 3 weeks time in Brentwood (a suburb of St Louis). Hope they still perform this classic (Imp's inspired) track ...........

Syl's version was always a big MS club spin (going back to the early 80's at least). Of course, it got disco spins in the UK from it's initial UK release date but the 'specialist club' scene here didn't take it up immediately (well not as I recall).

Getting a bit off track now, but Lola Falana spent some time in Italy in the mid to late 60's. Here she learnt to speak the local lingo & appeared in films. She also appeared on Italian TV dancing & singing ............... here she duets with a 'known' guy ...........

Fluffy was the sibling of exotic dancer / singer / actress Lola Falana (their father was Cuban by birth). Lola was cutting records from the mid 60's and in the 70's was married to Butch Tavares (of the Chubby & the Turnpikes + some other nondescript group). The Alpha label (& Don-El Records) was owned by Philly real estate guy Donald White.

The only mention he ever managed in Billboard mag was this 45 review ............

Lots of UK cover versions were played back in the Mojo / Wheel days. Mainly coz the acts (Alan Bown, Geno W, Jimmy James, Joe E Young, Ferris Wheel, Chris Farlowe, Zoot Money, etc) were booked into the clubs on a regular basis so it was only natural that their records would be spun as well. The big game back then was to listen to 'New Religion' or a Geno LP and then go looking for the original US version. Loved all the tracks on 'New Religion' and got copies of most of the originals (JJ's LP notes writer made it earlier by name checking many of the US artists). Still remember going through the old 45 stock at a Hull record shop that was selling up it's back stock & coming across a Stateside 45 with the title "Michael" .... snapped it straight up & took it home to play. Sure enough it was the original to my fave song from Geno's stage show.

. some MOC 45 releases ......... 659 Jerry Arnold - General Washington, Sir / Honey Babe (10/1964) 660 Reggie Young - Eb Tide / Mister Chain 661 The Scepters - Little Girls Were Meant To Love / Love You Baby, All The Time 662 One Plus One (=Don Bryant & Miriam Bittinum) - Love's Gonna Live Here / Been So Long 663 Tommy Jay - Springtime's Coming / I Don't Care Anyway 664 Norm West - Hey, Little Girl / Baby, Please 665 Big Amos (Amos Patton) - I'm Gone / Going To Vietnam (1965/6 ?) 666 Finley Brown - I Can't Get No Ride / Like I Love You 667 Better Sweet - I Can't Do It By Myself / Like The Flowers 668 Bad & Good Boys - Fire / We Got Soul 669 Terry Fox - Leave Us Alone / Belinda 670 Big Lucky Carter - Stop Arguing Over Me / Miss Betty Green (1969, feat. speech by Ann Peebles) 671 Crazy Horse - Love / High On Lovin' 672 Sam Mosley - Charlie Tuttle / You've Got It 673 Big Lucky Carter - I've Been Hurt / Goofer Dust 674 The Melodics - Ain't That Sharing My Love / I'd Never Thought I'd Lose You MOC # 660 & 664 were supposedly released in October 64 (according to a piece in Billboard). HOWEVER, a similar piece in the mag stated in July 1965 that MOC # 661 had just been released. The MOC 45's share the same track numbering system as Hi Records releases. MOC # 667 features track # Hi 2540 whilst Hi 2151 (Willie Mitchell's "Up Hard") has # Hi 2534 with Hi 2157 (Ann Peebles "Walk Away") being # 2550 MOC # 670 features track # 2558. The Willie Mitchell 45 dates from September 1968 with the Ann Peebles single escaping around April 1969. So that would date MOC # 667 (Better Sweet) as being released around December 68 with the Finley Brown 45 (MOC # 666) coming out just (a month or so ?) before that. If you have the Hi track number from the Finlay Brown 45 (which I'd guess is around Hi 2536) then it's possible to date it more accurately. Finlay Brown was on Enterprise (with "Double Dealin Woman") by October 71.

Pity that the Icemen's "How Can I Get Over a Stone Fox Like You" ain't up on youtube.

A Canadian copy of Aubrey Mann's "I Need Your Loving Tonight" ......... ... I only have it on the very similar looking Bajan 45 ........ both versions use an imaginative catalogue number ....... ABC 12345 !!!

. and Aubrey also tackles a few NS & old soul classics in his live act ....... (he's helped out by some other locals on a few songs here) ..........

Aubrey live ......... doing Lew Kirton's MS outing "Talk To Me" ....

More uptempo & a bit on the funky side ......... Aubrey "I Can't Make It Alone" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Va53C2ooSVc

.. and yet anuda un .......... "I'm Still Here" ..........

More from Aubrey ........... ... "Ain't Whats On A Woman" .......

Another decent Aubrey Mann cut that's up on youtube ......... Aubrey Mann & Carline Davis -- Stealing Love On The Side https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aukwwkNkNSU

There were a few Canadian only soul releases in the 60's, a couple more in the 70's (that mainly featured US producers / singers who had gone over the border to run labels).But, by the 80's, lots of transplanted Caribbean born singers were cutting tracks in Canada & getting them released on Canadian labels. Loads of good MS outings on Canadian vinyl (7" & 12" + some LP only tracks).Some stuff got even more complicated though when some of the Island born guys headed home to do shows.Aubrey Mann had some decent releases out of Canada. But when he returned to Barbados for some shows in 1982, he licensed two of his very limited release Canadian tracks (cut at Toronto's Amber Studios I believe) for release on an Aim Records (Barbados) 45. "Need Your Loving Tonight" was coupled with "Don't Give Up" to form a really rare outing ... .... its really rare on both the Canadian & Bajan releases ........ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5-AaRSAyw0

For all those still stuck at Heathrow (& other UK airports) ........... Eddie Floyd .............. Big Bird .................

As I've moved on to Little Hooks & the Kings now on this thread ............. In 1963, the group's 45 "Count Your Blessings" originally issued on Adolphus' own Century label was picked up for release by Little Rick Records and then Chess Records. Little Rick Records was owned / run by NY DJ 'Little Rick' (Richard Ziegler) and another 45 to escape on the label (eventually was (Jive 5's) Richard Fisher and his great cut "Turn The Page". Can anyone confirm that Little Rick (who co-wrote the Jive 5's UA 45 track "A Bench In The Park" around Sept 65) also ran the Ricki label that released the Twilighters "Help Me" at the very start of 1961.

Little Hooks & the Kings in 1972 .............. Back in the late 50's (just after Bobby Hall had quit the music biz), the group went from strength to strength with a RCA contract. It seems the group's longevity was due to the fact that all the guys took steady day jobs & only treated performing / recording as a 'hobby'.

Thanks for that Robb. What acts had releases out on Olympic Records in the mid 50's ?? The stupid thing about the club scene in Baltimore in the early through to late 50's was that just about all the clubs / bars that featured live acts (& there were dozens of them) booked jazz outfits on an almost permanent basis. I have found details of very few bookings in the city for the large number of local R&B groups (even the ones that were enjoying national record releases & were having big hits). Of course, once a group got a hit they were straight off to New York to perform at places like the Apollo and then they were booked onto the national chitlin-circuit. But just about the only venue that the hit groups got to play was on a package that was booked into the Royal Theatre. However, before a local outfit landed a record deal, they seemed to struggle to land decent local gigs. Yet, NY based record labels were willing to offer them contracts -- seems a strange situation to me. Lots of local acts went on to enjoy long & productive music careers, Sonny Til & his Orioles, George Jackson from the Plants and more. Bobby Hall & the Kings (who 1st recorded in 1953) eventually morphed into Little Hooks & the Kings who were still going strong in 1963 (when they were signed to Chess). A further 45 by them escaped in 1965 ....... The group certainly had staying power as they still putting out records into the 1970's (having tracks picked up by UA for national distribution).

Hopefully some knowledgeable person such as Robb K can help me out here. I'm trying to track down info on a recording group who made an appearance at the Club Ambassador in Baltimore in October 1954. Baltimore clubs in the early to mid 1950's were almost 'owned' by jazz ensembles, with very few vocal groups securing decent local gigs. This fact amazes me as some of the top black harmony groups in that period were actually from Baltimore (the Orioles, Cardinals, Swallows, Bobby Hall & the Kings, the Plants, Four Buddies, Magictones, Honey Boys, etc). Many of the local vocal groups enjoyed big US R&B hits and were soon off undertaking national tours but they didn't seem to secure many local club gigs before their national successes or after things cooled down for them & they returned to their hometown. Anyway, back to my question. A group that did land a local club gig were the Scale-tones who were advertised as being Olympic Records recording artists. Now, I can find a Scale-tones who cut for Jay Dee in 1956. This outfit had ties with the Dubs / 5 Wings / Marvels (all these groups being New York based). Anyone know of a group by this name that had a deal with Olympic Records in 1954 ? And would that Olympic Records be the New York based outfit that went out of business in the early 60's ?