Roburt

Eddie Miller 45 came out around March 67, Jimmy Ballard about April 68 ..... ............... so Eddie's came 1st .. ... written by the Pointdexters ... so fits in with the Icemen thread (that ABC 45 escaping in Jan 68).

Here's a piccy of the 'soulful' Lille shop names ............... ... & all these were next to each other in one small back street ....

Bob, your posts are pure bollocks !!!! Do you feel better now ??

A member of the Jefferson, Hawes, Simmons song writing team, Bruce has many close friends on the Philly soul scene ............ .... "Bruce how are you doing," Kenny asked; Kenny Gamble was on the phone. He is a welcomed voice and one of my longest and dearest friends. "Hey Kenny," I inquired ?"". What's going on," he asked? "I am getting on a plane for home. You know I've been in town." "I got something for you to do. Call me when you get home. I am going to send you a CD of a new artist;" he offered. "Great! That's cool... I got to get on the plane now. Call you later Kenny." I replied. "Talk to you soon Bruce," Kenny answered and then hung up.

A new book titled "GROWING UP IN THE SOUND Of PHILADELPHIA" written by Bruce Hawes is about to come out. I guess it will be a 'must have' for Philly-soul fans.

The Smith Brothers Gold Future 45 ........ A nice bit of sweet soul ... especially for Boba ...

More Sam & Dave ..... this time from a few years later .... Didn't realise that Craig Bellamy's dad had done some work in Miami back in 1965 !!

I am currently in touch with Russ who now lives on the west coast (though he has been rebuilding his house for about a year so its difficult to get too much out of him on his 1960's / 70's music biz activities). After he cut this 45 he got more into writing songs & running his own studio / label (Gold Future of St Louis). Russ Lewis' 1st real commercial success in the music world was as co-writer of "Groovy Situation" which Gene Chandler took into the R&B Top 10 / Pop Top 20 in mid 1970. With the money he made, he established his studio & named it after the label he was already running (Gold Future). Michael (Love)Smith's 1st record (with his family group, the Smith Brothers / Smith Connection) was released on Gold Future in 1970; "Check Me Out". Kent Washburn used the 8 track equiped studio quite a bit, cutting the likes of Fontella Bass, Tyrone Perry, Jamal Trice (Motown) & some 'outside projects' there. One of those outside projects was by the Stimulation which escaped on Hi-Stepping as a 45 in 1975 ...... "Magic Touch of Love" .......

Wasn't "Tears of a Clown" lifted from an earlier (1967) album for UK 45 release in July 1970. When it went to No.1 here on the pop charts, the track started getting US radio plays. So Motown scheduled it for a US 45 release but added a few new bits to the backing track to 'freshen it up'. It was issued as a US 45 in September 1970 & made it onto the US R&B chart on 24th October.

As Sam & Dave have got a few favourable mentions on the 'Dream Live Act to See' thread ..... .... thought I'd post up this 1960 ad for their 'home club' in Miami .......

As we seem to have strayed off soul acts & onto shows we actually were at ....... With a few mates from Dony, I caught the (3am) train down to London on Sunday 7th May 1967 .... ... we spent the day searching out records on Petticoat Lane & in the west end before heading off to the Saville Theatre to see Garnett Mimms. Garnett put on a great show but we were far less impressed by the 'top of the bill'; a US guitar player called Jimi Hendrix (in fact we left just before he finished his act). Also In the audience for the show that Sunday at the Saville Theatre, it later turned out, were Brian Jones, Ringo Starr, the Moody Blues, the Beach Boys, David Bowie (+ his mates Dek Fearnley, John Eager and all their girlfriends). Among the support acts were David Bowie's friends 1-2-3 and Denny Laine's Electric String Band (can't say I even recall them at all, so they can't have been too good in soul terms).

The Dells gig was at Trentham Gardens (Stoke) .... I know coz I was there. The group were OK , well better than OK , well better even than that really. In fact they were bl**dy fantastic, think I had a tear in my eye for most of their performance.

The Paramounts (who evolved into Procol Harum) cut a version of the Coasters "Poison Ivy" in 1963 YEARS LATER ... after some early Procol Harum members quit the group, old members of the Paramounts were recruited to fill the gaps in the group's line up. This change in personnel seemed to trigger a swing back more to the original group's R&B beginnings .... ............ Here's a Procol Harum fans thoughts on what the group were up to in the mid 70's .... .... Further exploring the roots of rock, Procol Harum now allied themselves with the legendary writing team of Leiber & Stoller. They produced the follow-up album, 'Procol's Ninth.' Again, despite the Beethoven allusion, this was rock, not a symphonic roll. Released in April of 1975, the album gave Gary a chance to show off the old PARAMOUNTS enthusiasm for Leiber & Stoller's writing. Instead of a Coasters cover, this time he sang a Chuck Jackson number: 'I Keep Forgettin'' An improvement on the original thanks to Gary's vocals and the absence of novelty percussion, it should've been a hit single. OF COURSE the group's version of "I Keep Forgettin" was much better than Chuck's original ... I mean, Chuck hardly had a decent vocal style did he !!!!

Put up an ad for a show undertaken by the Laddins as Post No.90 ....... The group continued to play loads of gigs around the Miami area even after they changed their name to the Steinways. I've seen it written that the group (who of course cut for the ABC sub-label Oliver -- run by the young Sandy Linzer and Denny Randell) actually relocated to live in Florida, but I don't know if this is actually correct. They also played the UK in the 60's .... touring here as either the Showstoppers or the Platters !!! Anyone here recall seeing the fake Showstoppers or 'Original' Platters group back then ?? I think it was the Internationals who toured here as the Showstoppers but the 'remnants' of the Steinways could well have been the Platters here in the UK. I know the likes of Roy Tempest (the worst culprit among UK booking agents) fetched over the Invitations, the Internationals (Persuaders), the Diplomats (Sam, Erv & Tom actually), the Gypsies, the Topics & more. All these group knew / shared ties with the Laddins / Steinways, so the group could well have been brought over here as well. the Steinways UK visit would have been around 1968 (their Oliver 45's being released in 1966). Frankie Gearing had split off from the guys (to be in the Glories) in early 67 and the Laddins original lead David Coleman had left the group in 1965 and by 67 was with Hector Rivera's Orchestra (recording for BARRY). So who the members of the group were when they came to the UK, I am unsure. By the mid 70's (when the Steinways 45 was a big UK NS sound) the remnants of the group were playing Oldies shows around the NY area, totally oblivious that a 2nd UK visit could earn them some cash......as themselves. Back in the mid 60's, the group were well thought of among the Florida soul radio DJ community, so their Oliver 45's got loads of plays on the airwaves down there. Anyway, here's a Miami show they undertook as the Steinways ....

Just so everyone knows what's being discussed ....

Marie Knight had beaten LaVerne Baker onto the stage at Mr. James Club all those years ago ... ... the Bell Brothers & the two great local bands had already started their 'residencies' at the club.

Another show at Mr. James Club ............ LaVerne Baker was supported on this show by local group the Bell Brothers (& 2 great local bands).

Don't like the hit version of "California Dreaming" but love 2/3 of the soul covers of the song (Womack & Marlena Shaw in particular).

Jose Feliciano did a few really guduns. Reffa of course lived on covers, most being the best. Loving Curtis M songs as much as I do; there are some really good covers of his compositions ... & a few not so guduns. If the Imps cut a version of a Curtis M song, I always class this as the original ... even if the likes of Major Lance, Gene Chandler, Walter Jackson, etc had the hit 45 version. For the worst soul covers, you need look no further than any one of 100's of UK 'beat group' versions of fine soul songs .... but the real murderer of the best of soul songs was Janis 'I can't sing for toffee' Joplin.

Saw Sam & Dave at Sheffield City Hall around 1968 (their 1st UK visit after the Stax / Volt tour).... they were more than great !!

I can see Russ now ... red cod piece; 'out on the floor' dancing to "Oops upside my deck".

Curtis Mayfield .... with Dee Dee Warwick on the same bill. Then the Artistics & Fascinations on the same bill backed up by a Chicago band led by Richard Evans or Phil Upchurch.

Some of the acts in that Cleve soul montage are ..... Lou Ragland, O,Jays, Intertains, Billy Wells, Kim Tolliver, George Hendrix (of Challengers & more), Taurus & Leo, Edwin Starr & Seven Miles High (Lou R,s old Hot Chocolate).

One of them sold comics & records. I think Joe Tex sold jeans, I can,t recall what the Funkshop sold.I took pictures of all 3 shops & close ups of their signs, but it will have to wait until I get home before I can download em from my camera & post em here. BTW, came across an open market & one of the stalls sold records. Only got to look thru the 45,s (the wife was on my case) but I came away with 3 French 45,s (all 70,s soul).God, these French computer keybords are difficult, they have loads of wrong keys (they don,t follow QWERTY rules anyway).

Not really the right thread to post this under ... ... but as I started this thread .. who,s gonna complain ... In France at present; well Lille to be exact. Went out this morning with the camera & walking down one street, came across 3 shops next to each other ... 1st one was called Joe Tex ... next one Jet Set (after the DC record label or French reggae label?) and the last one FUNKSHOP .... most soulful street of shops I,ve come across.