Roburt

Don't know enough about ska tracks to help you (I do like many ska things including this tune though). It's obviously by a similar outfit to the Ska-talites, but just who they are I can't tell you. Lots of big ska fans on here though, so guess one of them will be able to tell you who it is & what the title is.

................ BACK ON TOPIC ................ BBC Breakfast Time is doing a promo piece on the TV show this morning at 8.45 and during this they are showing clips from this episode of the show. In this episode, you get to see Gently's sidekick Detective Sergeant John Bacchus showing off his record collection. By all accounts, he says that he bought all his best 45's (Including Dean Parrish) from Kegsy. You would have thought they could have given Kegsy a cameo role in this episode; he could have played a time ravaged 'down & out' living rough on the street outside the NS club featured in the show.

I sent in a 45 recommendation & got name checked. I can't remember which issue of B&S it was though (it's up in the loft with all the others I still have).

I think the Dion (UK 45) version was definitely just a 'Sheffield thing'. Certainly Alan Bown always performed "My Girl The Month of May" when they played the Mojo, so I would think they also performed the track live at other clubs / shows.

More of a 'girl group' sound & not very soulful at all (IMHO). They did cut soulful tracks for Swan written by the likes of Norman Johnson, Gene Dozier & Leon Ware back then; did this writing team actually come up with some more soulful songs ?

Spike, I certainly hope that nothing goes wrong with the plans to save the fabric of the Wheel, but there are still chances that things will 'go pear-shaped'. You only have to check out past reclamation projects to see that some fail because of stupid acts by someone around at the time who didn't give a toss. The Greek styled columns that stood outside the old Euston Stn were 'saved' for posterity. They went off for 'safe storage' and were never seen again. A number of significant old steam locos were 'laid aside' for preservation, only for a shed foreman who didn't care a jot to include some of those 'reserved' for museums to be coupled up to engines being sent to scrap yards. Old stately homes destined for restoration have mysteriously 'fallen down' at the last minute & a whole housing estate has eventually replaced them on the grounds. So, until the Wheel bits are actually reassembled somewhere (hopefully close to central Manc), there is still a chance that some 'jobs-worth' will say .... clear all that old rubble from that area over there & take it to the tip; we've got some stuff coming tomorrow that will have to be stored there..

Still off topic, but a few tracks were cut at the Mojo Club (Sheffield). The Sheffield Students Rag Committee had the idea of raising extra funds by putting out records (45's, EP's) that could be sold by the teams around the city asking for 'donations'. I know of at least 3 Sheff Rag records (64;65 & 67) and two of these had Mojo connections. The 64 Sheff Rag EP included a track by a local West Indian outfit; Los Caribos. The 65 Sheff Rag 45 was I think recorded at the Mojo Club -- the cover certainly featured the club's detals; the group's involved were the Lizards & the Foresters (no idea who they were). The tracks included on the 1967 EP were definitely cut at the Mojo and 2 of the groups involved were the Pitiful Souls (named on the 7" as being the Pityful Souls) who cut a version of "Never Like This Before" and Joe Cocker's Blues Band who cut "I've Been Trying" & "Saved". Any idea if any live sessions (or demos / student rag tracks) were cut at Newcastle's Club AGogo ??? Quite a few live shows were cut in those times at London Clubs (featuring the likes of Alan Bown Set, Jimmy James & Vags, Geno Washington & R.J.Band). Wasn't one of the UK live shows that were recorded on Garnett Mimms from up north (the other being at Sussex Uni I seem to recall).

db121 / Dave, you were right in a small way when you said that the Mojo club (Sheffield) moved away from soul acts in 1967, but only in a small way . I had 'blocked out' memories of an alldayer (7th May 67) when Pink Floyd were the live act -- I was down in London that weekend; buying records & watching Garnett Mimms at the Saville Theatre (+ Jimi Hendrix -- but we didn't go for him). Loads of other British groups played the Mojo club during it's existence; Small Faces (their 1st visit they played for free), the Who, the Move -- their big live act song back then was "Open The Door To Your Heart" if my memory ain't playing tricks on me --, Amen Corner -- they also did "Open The Door To Your Heart" and recorded songs such as Our Love (Is In The Pocket), Something You Got, Expressway (To Your Heart), Let The Good Times Roll / Feel So Good & I Don't Wanna Discuss It / Amen -- AND the Nice (though they had been P.P. Arnold's backing band up to that time). Sheffield's version of a Motown group; the Pitiful Souls (5 local guys of West Indian descent) used to practise at the Mojo in 1966 and they played an allniter session at the club before going off to play gigs all over the world. BUT to be fair, most clubs were booking UK beat groups back then -- Family were on at the Nite Owl on 24th June 67 (didn't go) and the night before Jimi Hendrix played the Mojo (7th Jan 67), Jimi & his group were busted at the Wheel allnighter for having drugs on them. On that night that Jimi Hendrix was at the Wheel, the Mojo allnighter featured Alvin Cash & the Crawlers. With Stringfellows work on RSG, he was well known to all the London based 'bookers'. Coz of this, he was always being offered 'the next big thing' for a gig at the Mojo.

RE: There was a big influx of Mojo people to the Wheel early 1967 I think that was mainly coz the allniter sessions were stopped at the Mojo. Our crowd never really fancied the Wheel, so we started going to the niters held at the Nite Owl in Leicester (whilst still attending the Mojo alldayers on the Sundays >> saw Temptations / Fantastics at Nite Owl on Sat 6th Sept & then at Mojo alldayer Sun 7th Sept !! -- Stringfellow became the group's manager not long after that gig). We were back at the Mojo allniters when they were briefly reinstated but did have to start attending the Wheel on 14th Oct 67 when we went to see Jnr Walker. But for a while we still preferred the Nite Owl (went there each weekend for rest of October & most of November) though did go to see Ben E King + Senate at Wheel on 25th November. Last niter at Nite Owl was Eddie Floyd on 2nd December (club closed by Council a couple of days later). Most of the ex Mojo crowd we knew (Hull, Scunny, Lincoln, Donny, Notts, Peterboro crowd) were also going to the Nite Owl throughout 1967. After Nite Owl closed, it was the Wheel or a niter put on by Stringfellow at Tin Chicken or similar Yorkshire club.

Getting way off topic now ..... but the Alan Bown Set was always a top draw at every mid 60's soul club in the UK (including Newcastle & Sheffield). The group really liked playing the Mojo & were 'affected' by the club's decision to feature a couple of 'flower power tracks' in 1967. Coz of the popularity of "My Girl The Month of May" at the Mojo, Alan Bown started to include the song in their live sets. The group went on to record their own version some months later (when they had evolved into a psychedelic group) ........ ... ...

RE: The Go Go did close in 68 but by early 67 it had changed to a more prog rock club like a lot of others including The Mojo Sheffield's King Mojo never gave up on soul, at least not for the alldayer / allnighter sessions (didn't go to the midweek normal disco night sessions as I wasn't from Sheff) The last ever session at the Mojo was Sunday 8th October 67 (alldayer) with Stevie Wonder on. The last allnighter had been a week earlier (Sat/Sun 1st October) with Jimmy Cliff & his Shake Down Sound on (Jimmy was still in his soul period). ..... Prior to those sessions, other live acts on there at niters / dayers were .......... Sat 15th April LAST ALLNIGHTER: Geno Washington & R.J.Band ..... ALLNITER SESSIONS SUSPENDED Sun 16th July dayer: Drifters (Invitations?) Sun 30th July dayer: Garnett Mimms Sun 20th Aug dayer: Alan Bown Set + Wynder K Frog Sun 3rd Sept Dayer: Temptations (Velours / Fantastics) Sun 17th Sept Dayer -- didn't note down who the act were. .... ALLNIGHTERS reinstated as obvious club wasn't going to be licensed by Council Sat 23rd September (niter): Drifters. Stringfellow did go along with the 'flower power' thing that summer. Mixed in with all the soul tracks, he would play Scott McKenzie's "San Francisco" and Dion's "My Girl The Month of May" (which had come out in the UK at the end of 66 but Pete didn't start playing it till spring 67). Pete did go all 'kaftan & joss-sticks' that year but I think he was just following the London fashion trend. Pete hit the road after the Mojo was closed, running the King Mojo Roadshow & playing nights all over Yorks & Notts. He ran soul nights in Castleford, Wakefield, etc. and then got his own replacement clubs in Sheffield. The 'Down Broadway' (titled after Johnny C's Boogaloo soul hit) and the Penthouse (that in the 80's would be used for NS / MS nights).

A live show Jesse Fisher + 9th Street Exit undertook back in 1974 ............

Two tracks destined to be on the album release escaped on this 45 ........

Back in the early 70's, Dunn Pearson & his group 9th Street Exit took Jesse Fisher into a Cleveland studio and enough material for an album was cut. The project was shopped around but no 'backer' / label instantly came forward to fund or release the proposed LP ('I Can't Stop Loving You'). To try to drum up interest, some 45's were released but the LP never did escape in 'commercial quantities' (though Dunn does seem to recall the tracks being finished and an album readied for release -- perhaps a 'test pressing' was made). Anyway, not too long after that, Dunn went on the road with the O'Jays and then Jesse passed away .... so the whole project 'withered away'. However, with all the current interest in the Cleveland Soul scene (60's / 70's stuff), Numero's recent-ish releases and Lou Ragland's proposed big live concert back in 'Cleveland-town', it seems that the guys have realised just what they had laid-down back then. Dunn Pearson (he's on Facebook) thinks he still has the old master tapes (he's currently searching them out) and it seems he is interested in licensing the tracks for CD (or vinyl) release. I'm sure the likes of Numero will show some interest in putting these Jesse Fisher (Way Out / So-Jamm) tracks out, maybe a UK label might also show some interest .....

Yes, I think you must be right. Loads of things connected to Boston are titled Beantown something or other ........ So I'd say that Beantown Records, Beantown International & Beantown Music were 3 different concerns.

Guess this is a different label (though the name is very similar) .... .. also available on 12" is a remix version of the track. BTW, Yvette was still performing (singing) as recently as 2010. From a similar period -- Hypertension's "Got This Feelin" also on a Beantown 12".

RE: Last laugh came out of Oldies Unlimited in Wolverhampton, as did that Happy Organ Studio One 45 I sold you Tone, I don't think they have had anything since! Didn't Oldies Unlimited (Telford) disappear many moons ago ?? I used to buy soul 45's from them (they always had some good 70's 45's on Italian pressed versions with piccy sleeves real cheap). Never bought any reggae bits off them as I'd long given up on collecting ska / reggae by the 80's. Did go down to Telford once & get 'locked in' at the old Chapel they had. Spent the day searching thru all the 'abandoned' boxes of 45's that had been stashed in there & found quite a few goodies. Picked up loads of US TK label 45's that were in boxes of 20 (25?). Only bought one copy of each that I didn't already know (the more obscure stuff as things stood in the mid 80's). With many of those 45's that proved to be the right decision (Mary Love, etc). With others, I always regretted not going back to pick up the rest of the full box.

This is just a TV show, can't we cut them a bit of slack. Back in the 90's I was on an MBA course in Oxford with a load of nurses. We had to work on various assignment projects in teams, so had to get 'friendly' to help the work progress well. Thought I'd help things along by mentioning that all I knew about medical matters came from watching shows like ER, Chicago Hope, St. Elsewhere, etc. All the nurses went mad, saying that they couldn't watch any of those shows because they were so far from the truth. When I asked what was so wrong with them, I was told that all those events / diseases wouldn't crop up in a real hospital in a 10 year period, never mind week after week as happened in those shows. They couldn't seem to get the fact that if the plots closely followed real-life, the ratings would be through the floor & the shows pulled instantly.

RE: Spyder Turner's "Stand By Me" is not particularly rare, but features a number of LP only tracks: .......... I believe most (non compilation) LP's feature LP only tracks.

Usually in ex Commonweath countries (India, Barbados, South Africa, NZ, Australia), the local branch of EMI would follow UK 45 releases rather than US releases ...... ... thus a mid-60's Motown track that had been re-issued in the UK would also be released in some / all of these additional territories. I don't think the local reps had much leeway in what tracks were usually picked to go onto new 45's, it was common practise to just replicate the UK 45 tracks. HOWEVER, I'm sure in some (rare) instances a different cut could escape as a 45 B side, though I don't actually know of any for definite. My guess would be that any (say) Indian Motown 45's would have escaped a few weeks / months after the UK version and not before .... but I await someone proving this guess to be incorrect.

There was certainly a mod / soul club scene in Newcastle in the mid 60's ..... but NS style clubs & NS dancers wouldn't have been about up there till around 1972/73 I would guess. With this episode being set in 1968, I guess they are stretching the truth a fair bit, but hell, in Heartbeat they played 1970/71 tracks for episodes set in 1966/67 ...... I think it's called 'artistic license'. Anyone know if Newcastle (Sunderland / Middlesboro) had a regular club venue back in 68/69 where the acts playing clubs such as the Wheel and London's Uppercut would get to perform on a regular basis ??

..... OFF THE NET ....... Earl Lett was born in 1945 and grew up in Monroeville, Alabama. He played the sax in Ike & Tinas Kings of Rhythm Band. Lett had won the spot in their band by chance when a musician in a barbershop told him Turner was auditioning prospective members. He played for three minutes and he said "You're the Man I'm looking for". Earl played on their live recording in Carnegie Hall "What You Hear is What You Get". He also was in their movie "Soul to Soul". He left Ike and Tina's band and studied sax for a while at the Berkeley School of Music in Boston. The Professor then headed to Nova Scotia for a few years and got a band together. He recorded this album at Audio Atlantic Studio in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1973 on Beantown Records BT105-14, a Boston record label. He also recorded three other 45's on the Beantown label: Born With the Feelings on Beantown B-103; Green Power on Beantown B-104; and The Funky Professor b/w We Outta Get Together on Beantown B-115, all of which have become highly collectable. He also recorded a single on Wild Records: Do the Thing b/w Now is the Time. The album Love Serenade features Earl Lett on tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone and lead vocalist; Sweet William on guitar and vocals; Grady (Youngblood) Lett on trumpet, cornet and vocals; Delbert Tipton on drums and vocals; and Nathaniel Humbert on bass and vocals. The album was produced and arranged by Earl Lett. Recording and mixing was by Al Feeney ......... the album was re-issued in 2008 in Japan on CD on P-Vine Records. You can listen to the tracks on his LP here (& that includes a quite decent vocal cover of Al Wilson's "Show & Tell") ........... https://www.mocm.ca/M...?TitleId=288017

So do the above PLUS Earl Lett's 'Love Serenade' LP and the 45 below make up all the releases on Beantown Records ?? .......... or is there also a Beantown B-102 ?

And this outing from Earl would seem to date from 1977 ....... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsoub41RSUM So was anyone else on the label, apart from Earl Lett & Doris Duke ?? ... and how did Doris come to hook up with Earl's label ?? ........ so many unanswered questions !!!

A later Earl Lett offering on Beantown (the 'opening' on this one is too gimmicky for me) ....