Roburt

A New York record label that was set up in 1971. Was "Stand Up & Be Counted" by Family Affair actually released ??? (I guess the song was the same one that Getto Kitty cut for Stroud). Sonny Freeman & the Unusuals were B B King's backing group for 3 / 4 years in the early 1970's, they toured overseas (Japan, Australia) with him as well as playing dates at such places as Rhode Island Prison. Sonny Freeman and the Unusuals were -- V. S. 'Sonny' Freeman -drums; Louis Hubert - tenor sax; Wilbert Freeman - bass; Booker Walker - alto sax; John Browning - trumpet & Ron Levy - piano. 'Little Joe' Burton was then added on trombone. Booker Walker left and was replaced by Earl Turbinton on alto. Louis Hubert switched to baritone sax and Bobby Forte was added on tenor sax. Then Milton Hopkins was added on rhythm guitar. They (SF&U's) were a fixture on the US club scene for many years; Odessa Harris was their featured lead singer for years (from the late 70's to late 80's) when they were based in the US mid-west. Sonny passed away in the late 80's.

Check out full details here ..... https://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/155496-lou-ragland-i-travel-alone/

This is what all those precious rare 45's were made to be played on .... ... (for $19.95 you could get one without the radio -- a real bargain)

Gerald Sims based his Gerim Records out of the old Chess Records office & studio building at 2120 Sth Michigan Ave. The Stone titled a track that they cut there in the 60's after the building's address ..... ....

One of Chicago's best guitarists .......

However, this guy certainly had SOUL .........

No, the long dead McKinley Mitchell hasn't recently been advertised as doing a live appearance ... I found this piece about some live recordings he did with the Du-ettes and don't ever remember any 'live' recordings by him being released. Do any of his 60's 45's feature live recordings or did the stuff committed to tape at the Club Madison never escape from the tape vaults ??

Two soulful females (not) ....

Well if you think the Joe & Eddie track ("All Night Long") has got bugger all to do with Soul ... ... you can always ignore it & go play Paul Anka, Peggy March & Nancy Ames records.

Popular in the US around 1963 / 64, this form of music gave its name to the 1963/64 US ABC TV music show 'Hootenanny' ..... But what type of music was it exactly ??? It seems to be some sort of mixture of gospel / pop songs done with a folksy type backing (acoustic guitar, etc). It rose like a phoenix in the US in 63 only to crash & burn just a quickly. By all accounts, a black duo (Joe & Eddie) were / are the top rated exponents of this type of music ..... Here they are from a TV show in 1965 .... ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDYTf3TH5TM Still don't really understand why it was deemed so different & tipped to be the 'next big thing ' in 1963. AND PLEASE DON'T GIVE SILLY ANSWERS that refer to Jools Holland or the like !!

I'd have taken a job here as an inspector or packager ...... ... but it would have been 5 for them and 1 for me !!!

The Five Stairsteps biggest US pop chart hit was on Buddah ........ ..... this wasn't it (it was the later release "Oh, Child") ...

Just done some checking ......... US 45 was on Reliant "I'm Here Again" voc + instrumental UK 45 on Calibre "Your Song" c/w "I'm Here Again (voc)" Any Euro releases on 45 for their take on "Your Song" -- which is mighty fine by the way. ........ if so, details please -- country & label there !!

Our kid, they signed with a small indie US label (Reliant?) and cut about 3 tracks. One of these was their take on "Your Song" (7" and 12" mixes of this were made -- don't buy the 12" mix it was disco-ed up). Anyway, the US label put out a 45 but decided that "Your Song" (being already done by others) wouldn't be commercial (!!!), so the US 45 doesn't feature this song (& it was never released in the US as they quickly signed with a 'better' label there). But UK Calibre were offered their 'US indie label' cuts, really liked "Your Song" and made it the A side of the UK 45 (& 12"). So its a fine track that's only available on UK release (& maybe a few other Euro country issues but don't know definite details on those).

The Sound of Where ???

We used to do a dance just like that back in 66, but we did it to Alvin Cash's "Philly Freeze"

So they would throw the double doors open at the side of the stage & we would all pour out early on a Sunday morning into the car park behind the Wheel. What next, some of us had a couple of hours to wait for the 1st train of the day to get us home. Well, over to one of the cars, a record box was opened & a Discatron pulled out. Into the slot went an O'Jays, Bobby Bland, Soul Bros 6 or Betty Swan 45 and we were 'off again'. .......... the time quickly passed by. BTW, the 'Playtape' was a portable 8 track type machine (2 track only actually) that MGM tried to break worldwide. No idea what happened elsewhere, but it failed miserably here in the UK.

As stated above, S.O.U.L. (out of Cleveland) did a very popular version of this tune (the funk guys love it) but ex Soulful String's main guy Richard Evans also recut it in 79 for A&M.

The Inciters backed up Brenda Holloway on a show in Long Beach (sorted by Nancy Yahiro) back in 1998 when we ran the US Soul Trip to Vegas. They did their own spot on the night & then came along a few nights later (to watch proceddings) at our own dedicated soul night back in Vegas (when we had Lou Ragland, the Platters' Sonny Turner, Way Out's Joan Biaz, Sonny Charles & the Checkmates Ltd, Dazz Band's / Kool & Gangs Skip Martin & quite a few more perform for us).

Okehdokeh, thanx for the gud ad-vice. Suppose I could try looking for a likely leggy blond when I'm next in Tesco's buying cans of processed root vegetables. By all accounts, supermarkets are the in place to pick up women now (it was down the fish filleting shed when I was last looking).

This is one of my all time favourites - a cover of Curtis Mayfield's (Impressions) "I've Been Trying" - a much covered song but this for me is one of the best versions. ............... Got to agree, this is my fave Peps track by far (but then I am a massive Curtis fan too).

Could always buy her this as an anniversary present and call her bluff............ I suppose so, but I'm over 60 & don't cook, know how to work the washing machine or clean / tidy up !!! Can you buy replacement wives on Evilbay ??

CHEERS. So it seems that Ben Smith was running NY based record labels back in the mid to late 50's & signing acts even then from the DC / Balto area. He must have stayed in the biz for at least another 10 years & just moved a few buildings along Broadway.

I make mention of Howard Tate's Turntable Records album above, so here's a bit more on how it came about ..... The story of how records get made is often more interesting than the music itself. Such is the case with Tate's LP 'Reaction', which came out in 1969 on Lloyd Price's Turntable label. Price's career as a no-holds-barred mover and shaker in the black music world truly sets him apart. Befitting the man who schooled the young Cassius Clay in self-promotion, Price's handsome photo appeared as part of the Turntable logo, even on the 45s. "Everyone said, 'Lloyd will get you your money,' so he decided to sign with Price, who was then fronting the Lloyd Price Turntable Club on Broadway near 52nd Street. The 'Reaction' album was made in conjunction with two other long time Price associates, singer Johnny Nash and the legendarily promoter/executive Danny Sims. Among the first Stateside music biz pros to recognize the burgeoning potential of reggae, Sims and Nash were already seeking to corner the market. The pair had hooked up with Bob Marley and never blind to a potential next-big-thing, Price gave Tate some of Bob Marley's ska-era songs to record. Marley tunes like "You Think I Have No Feelings" were first cut by Howard Tate. What could have been an influential footnote in the history of pop crossover (the Wailers served as Tate's uncredited backup band) became a blip when' Reaction' sold almost no copies. It was another event, however, that would end Tate's association with Lloyd Price's Turntable Records. This occurred in 1969 at the Turntable Club, when Price's partner, the aspiring songwriter turned bookkeeper Harold Logan (together the two had formed L and L Records in Detroit and put out Wilson Pickett's first hits), was shot dead in the club office. We have to rely on the possibly not totally reliable account of one Frank Lucas, an infamous drug-dealing American Gangster who stated that Turntable was actually owned by Harlem dope pushers like himself and Zack Robinson. Lucas spent many nights kicking back with some ladies at the Turntable Club enjoying Howard Tate's act. Logan came to a sticky end, getting two bullets in the same place smack between his eyes, whilst he was in the office above the club (May 69). By all accounts, Logan had upset Zack Robinson over some 'business deal' and the shooting was the result of his actions. Tate more or less confirmed Lucas's version of the Turntable incident, Tate shivered when the name Harold Logan came up. He stated that he had bad dreams about Logan for years, lying there dead like that. It's thought that Logan stole some money but back then, Tate wasn't world wise enough to know who was a hoodlum and who wasn't. He was just a green kid and all he cared about was whether the audience liked how he sang and that he got paid. But after Logan was killed at the club, he got out of the place and never went back. The incident scared him so much that it was the beginning of him leaving the business and everything that happened after that.

What's the story behind the Tarx label ?? Obviously New York based & almost certainly they cut their tracks in that city, but who owned it & who was the in-house producer, when did it operate (mid to late 60's ?), etc. ?? Benny Johnson (from Baltimore) also had a 45 out on the label (in 1966 I believe) & this was cut with his usual hometown backing band (the Soul Serenaders), so just maybe this was laid down outside New York (but I doubt it was recorded back in Baltimore).