Roburt

When Robbie Vincent still had his Radio 1 soul show (about 20 yrs back), he asked listeners to send in 3 recommended tracks. Summer was coming up, so I sent in 3 'hot theme' tracks & he selected em & played em. Can't remember what they were now, but think one was a 'later' 4 Tops cut ("Hot Summer Nights" rings a bell) & Lamont Dozier's "Cool Me Out" was another of em.

Lots of times, the Jamaican record company just photo-copied the US demo 45 (or LP) they were ent & printed up local labels from that. If they had 100's of blank Stax labels printed off then they would use them till they ran out. Hence (I guess) old label designs being used there on later releases. They would also photo-copy the LP covers they were forwarded from the US ... so (lots of the time) you got a Jamaican LP cover with a drill hole mark on theie un-holed LP cover).

He usually doesn't do any of his 60's recordings ..... .... coz he never earned a cent from them (royalties never paid, etc). So he doesn't view them with any pleasure (unlike record collectors). I saw him live at 'Blues & Booze' in Wallingford (Oxfordshire) about 8 years back. Got to chat with him & at least he did sign the sleeves of some of the old records I took along.

Dave, was that 45 also badged up as SPQR 1002 ?? You have to admire Frank Guida ... he did try to exploit every sales opportunity & so put some tracks out numerous times. One thing about Norfolk R&B, soul releases .... lots of times just a few copies of a record would initially be pressed up. These would be sent to local DJ's & radio stns. If there was no favourable reaction, that would be it .... no more copies were ever pressed up. If a DJ or radio stn started playing a track however, the 45 would be pressed up again ... either to send to DJ's & radio stns over a much wider geographic area (to try to get more bites & therefore playlistings) ... OR ... shock horror ... to actually get the 45 into record stores so that the public could buy copies.

A Sam & Dave 'coming home celebration' show ....... Things turned a bit sour just ahead of this when their old friend & top 'guest' on the show, Otis Redding, was killed in the plane crash. Obviously the actual line-up on the show (when it was staged) was quite a bit different to how it was advertised here.

A certain Frankie Crocker promoted this show ..............

Arthur Prysock was singing in his Living Room .... ... well not his, but the Living Room .....

Jimmy Ricks ahead of the Fascinations ....

Went to a big 'arts & crafts' show at the weekend & got talking to a glass blower. The guy makes all sorts of stuff but has been trying to open up new markets for himself. To this end, he has recently started hand-making glass plates that depict blues musicians. These seem to have been well received (though they are expensive). At present he has trialed about 6 different designs and these include a BB King plate & a Ray Charles plate (see below). He had been making them about 15" diameter but I told him I think this is a bit too large (difficult to display on a shelf unit). I suggested that he might consider making similar plates (but only 12" diameter) that feature soul singers. He seemed up for trying out plates that depict the likes of Jackie Wilson, Otis Redding & Marvin Gaye. If these are well received, he will make plates that feature different soul singers .... these will be almost 'one-off items' & so he can make a plate for almost any person that he is supplied a photo of ..... ....... ........... we could even commission an 'Ady' or 'Ginger' plate !!!!!!! Anyway, the guy is based not too far from Chester & so the Prestatyn Weekender site is almost on his doorstep. Mind you, with his costings, can't see him setting up a stall in the merchandising area at the weekender.

Guess this was an early 'singing to backing tracks' system ..... .... can't beat a live backing band though ..........

Going back 'Across 110th Street' again now ............

Another local gospel show .........

1968 was a very good year to catch a show in New York ....

Back up to 125th St in Harlem once again ...... Clyde McPhatter was spotted there in 1953 & signed by Atlantic Records. Both Joe Tex & James Brown won Amateur Night there in the mid 50's. Harold Melvin & the BlueNotes 1st appeared on the Apollo stage way back in 1960. .... AND .... a certain 'local' was always topping the bill there .......... The Vibrations were on once again, as was Bobby Sheen !!!

You'll love this one, I just know you will .... Oscar Brown Jr & a little number called ....

An inspiration, not according to my 'near neighbor' Mr Clarkson. He says watching cycling is like watching a person think (no action) .... BUT THEN, like most who live around Chipping Norton, he's a right plonker !!

A bit of 'brown-eyed' soul now .....

OK, back to the Apollo again ..... & this time its just soul stars ... ... top of the bill is another guy who's played Prestatyn ... .....also on the bill is a group who'll be over here next year ....

Mercy, Mercy, Mercy ... this one's more jazz than soul .....

More blues than soul but staged at soul music's spiritual home ....

A well respected (late) soul singer who played Prestatyn .....

A lady who was singing the blues in New York clubs in 1965 ..... ... but she also cut some decent soul sides ........... .. Bev Ann ....

The 'Miami' thread has proved quite popular ..... ... so I thought I'd move north to start another similar posting .... Here's a few New York area soul show ads from back in the day .........

RE: Now if only my favourite Mod, Bradley Wiggins can win the Tour-De-France today then we'll be really rockin'! ... Ian, its a stone certainty that he'll win & end up wearing the yellow jersey !!!

I'm quite partial to this MG cover from Jim Gilstrap (though it would be hard to beat the original version) .... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1zQ5JtmbbY