Roburt

This outfit started out in Baltimore back in the 1960's & was recording from about 1972 to 1975. In the beginning the members were Marvin Brown (who had briefly been in the Unifics on Fountain in 1971), Steve Jackson, Elton Lynch & Byron Summerville (who left & then came back). One of their tracks .... When they cut for H & L (1976 to 79), the 3 remaining guys added 2 females to the line-up. In 1979 they did some dates on the Virgin Islands and by then, the two females had disappeared. In 1980, Byron Summerville returned. After that (in early 80's) they were known as the Tones, with another name change to the New Softones by 1989 (when they cut for Exact Change Records out of Baltimore). My question is .... anyone know what the New Softones line-up was in 89 ?? I guess they had to change their name as some (all ?) of the groups 'mainstays' had quit the biz or gone solo. The group reformed a few years back but I'm unsure what their line-up was then or what it currently is (but guess more of the 'original' guys are back now). The picture shows them in 1979 ........ L to R ......... Marvin, Steve, Elton with manager Rod Armstrong.

Jerry Butler, Bobby Womack, Ollie Nightingale, Marvin Smith, Eddie Kendricks, David Ruffin, Billy Griffin, Teddy Prendegast & many, many more.

Weren't they on at DigDeeper in New York (as the Green Berets) a couple of years back ?

Suprised Blackbeat / New Blackbeat (Steve G's baby) hasn't gotten a mention. ALSO back in the day (60's / 70's), nothing touched Blues & Soul for in-depth mainstream (& some not-so mainstream) coverage. Still love pulling my boxes of B&S out of the loft and 'getting lost' in the content for 4/5 hours at a time. Manifesto is a quality up-market 'glossy'l

This was Ted Jarrett & Robert Holme's label wasn't it (well they were responsible for most of the music released on the label if they didn't actually own it). Didn't Kent put out a good CD of the best cuts from the label some years back ? Ted went on to run the TJaye label (along with Robert Holmes & Freddie Waters) & cut loads more good stuff.

FRUSTRATED OF YOURCSHYRE ........... What you regard as a PASSION (45 collecting), your wife & kids regard as MADNESS !!! PASSION OR MADNESS, which is it ????

Recently auctioned on Ebay ............ Chambers Brothers --- "People Get Ready" .......... "Vault 9003" .......... Released in 1966 The auction was for two Master Recordings on Reel to Reel tape made at one of the most famous recording studios at the time. ................ Wally Heider Recording, Hollywood, Calif. They were original reels of tape. The tape used by the technicians, used to make the released recording and then stored away. The tapes in the auction were acquired from an Estate sale in San Jose,California in 1989. The deceased had been an engineer for Chess Records and these were in his collection.

A couple of groups by the name of the Explosions got to record, don't think either was the above outfit though. Chris Calloway was of course Cab Calloway's daughter ..........

MGM reactivated their old CUB label in 1967. Attached is a press announcement about it (Cleveland's Way Out also gets a mention). The label's management / production team revolved around Beau Ray Fleming and Lockie Edwards Jr. Lockie had been around the NY music scene for a while. He had written songs cut by the likes of Nat King Cole, Dionne Warwick, Chuck Jackson, Baby Washington, Isley Bros, Walter Jackson, Marvin Gaye, Cleveland Robinson & Timi Yuro. (Incidentally Lockie passed away back in his home area of Galveston, Texas earlier this year). Anyway it seems that they put out records on CUB by most of the artists signed to their Calculated Productions (though not by Cab Calloway, the Explosions & Nat Gales). ....... The 45's on CUB ......... .....................CUB RECORDS 1967/68 9150 Act IV --- A Better Man Than I / Bless You 1967 9151 The Sparks --- Woe, Woe / Cool It 1967 9152 Sonny Dublin --- Pigmy Grind Part 1 / Pigmy Grind Part 2 1967 9153 The Petites --- If You Wanna Change The World / Don't Go Changing Your Mind 1967 9154 Chris Calloway --- I Don't Need Another Baby / You Are Something Else 1968 9155 Dee Erwin --- I Only Get This Feeling / Wrong Direction 1968 9156 The Gambrells --- Love Is In The Air / I'm In Love Again Fro The First Time 1968 9157 Jerome Mc Murray --- Hobo Man / Like The Four Winds 1968 9158 The Oz Band --- I Am Not The Same / Winter Rain 1968 9159 The Groovin' Strings and Things --- The Fool On The Hill / You 1968 9160 Johnny Williams --- I Got A Feeling / I'd Like To Be With You 1968 9161 (Dean Courtney) & Partnership --- Angels In The Dark / Gonna Spend My Life Lovin' You 68 9162 The Hi-Lads --- Ready Or Not Here I Come / When I Get To Delaware 1968 The Sparks 45 we have been talking about on another thread (the group included Patrick Adams in their line-up) and Dee Erwin is very well known to everyone (guess he was an old mate of Lockie's) BUT is much known about the other groups signed to them ???????? BTW, Lockie seems to have taken a lower profile after the label was terminated in 1968 (though he was involved with the big latin funk LP 'Harlem River Drive'). Whereas Beau Ray Fleming hooked up with Capitol and worked with (Smoking) Joe Frazier + others. He then masterminded the recording careers of Sun, Mandrill & GQ. ......... CHEERS.

I attended this session at the Nite Owl back in 1967 ........ I traveled down to Leicester on the train with my Dony chum Tom Sleight. This was the period when the Mojo in Sheffield had given up holding allnighters in the hope of obtaining a license to remain open (the Government had just passed a bill to require night clubs to get a Local Authority license to stay in business). So, after the 'Owl' niter ended, we headed round to the White Cat cafe and hung about till the trains started running. Then it was back up to Sheffield on the train (with Sully -- from Dony -- Dave & Eric from Notts) to catch a group calling themselves THE TEMPTATIONS at the Mojo alldayer ....... those were the days (my friend, I thought they'd never end). THE TEMPTATIONS were really the Velours / Fantastics & as everyone knows, they liked performing for UK audiences so much that they settled here.

The P & P label wasn't in being until the end of 1974 or early 1975 (Ian D will probably know better than I do what the exact date was), so the Henry Brooks 45 CAN'T have been released before 1975... AND it wasn't even an early release on the label. My GUESS is that it was a session that Peter Brown conducted BEFORE he teamed up with Patrick Adams to form P & P (perhaps in the late 60's or early 70's). When the label was up & running, it was just an existing mastertape that cost him next to nothing to turn into a P & P 45 release. The 1977 date comes from Ian Dewhirst's extensive research into the label and I have no reason at all to question his info.

Henry Brooks - Mini Skirts / Greatest Debt To My Mother PP 333 ... the P & P 45 that's the reason I kicked off this thread. IMO there's no way those 2 tracks (or his others released by P & P) were cut in 1977; must date back to 69 / 70 I guess.

Cheers guys, I got a lot of the above info off Discogs (such a good place to go to access old vinyl info easily - the catalogue numbers are needed & Discogs details those). It's Lester's wife Lola that is doing the royalty chasing on his behalf, but Sony just keep telling her nothing by the group was released outside of the US & Canada. At present she is only chasing Sony as the vast majority of the group's sellers were put out by CBS (Columbia). I've still got a load more digging to do, especially with regard to Japanese, Australian & South American releases from the group. BTW, Lester's preparing info on the group's exploits to put in a book about them BUT his memory of what went down back then seems a bit fogged up (wonder why !!)

Its hard to better Bobby ........ but this is a really good track (thank God they didn't rap it up).

I know that most of the Chambers Brothers output from the late 60's through to the mid 70's was 'too rocky' for soulies on here (their take on CM's "People Get Ready" is sublime though) ........... BUT ............. I'm currently helping Lester Chambers & his wife chase CBS / Sony for old (& current) royalties. The company has told them that very few of the group's records were released outside of the US & Canada !! This is a blatant lie ......... With just a little checking I have established that these were released in Europe ......... ........ CBS / Direction label 45's in Europe .......... I Can't Stand It / Uptown (7", Single) CBS 3098 released in France in 1967 Time Has Come Today / Dinah (7") Direction 58-3760 released in UK in 1968 Time Has Come Today (7" Single) CBS 3356 released in France in 1968 I Can't Turn You Loose / Do Your Thing (7") Direction 58-3865 released in UK in 1968 I Can't Turn You Loose / Do Your Thing (7") CBS 3865 in France in 1968 I Can't Turn You Loose / Do Your Thing (7") CBS 3865 in Netherlands in 1968 Are You Ready / You Got The Power To Turn Me On (7") CBS 4098 in France in 1969 Wake Up (7") Direction 58-4367 released in UK in 1968 Funky / Love, Peace And Happiness (7") CBS 5389 in France in 1970 Love, Peace And Happiness / If You Want Me To (7") Direction 58-4846 in UK in 1970 Boogie Children (7") CBS S1550 in Germany in 1973 Have A Little Faith / To Love Somebody (7") CBS 66228 in Netherlands in 1973 ........ ALBUMS : Early LP released in UK (licensed from Vault in US) ..... Shout ! (LP) on Liberty LBS 83272 .... issued here in UK in 1969 ....... CBS / Direction label LP's in Europe .......... The Time Has Come (LP) Direction 8 / 63407 in UK in 1967 The Time Has Come (LP) CBS S63 407 in Germany in 1967 (also in Canada) A New Time - A New Day (LP) Direction 8-63451 in UK in 1968 A New Time - A New Day (LP) Columbia S63 451 in Germany in 1968 New Generation (LP) CBS S64156 in UK in 1971 The Time Has Come (LP) Music On Vinyl MOVLP210 across Europe in 2011 ........ OTHER none CBS LP's; Unbonded (LP) Avco Records 87 843 IT in Germany in 1973 Live In Concert On Mars (LP) Chelsea Records CHL 548 in UK in 1977 ......... CD's ......... People Get Ready & Now (CD) Repertoire Records REP 4734-WY in Germany in 1999 Lots more were released in places such as Spain, Italy, Norway, Ireland, Sweden, etc. and I am trying to get some details of these other releases. ALSO their stuff had to be released in places such as Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, JAPAN, etc. Any help that listies can provide on establishing the details of the group's other non US releases will be much appreciated. Lester has a Facebook petition going at present, think about supporting it please if you are a Facebooker.

The song titles that Henry L Brooks name is attached to on BMI are as follows ....... EVERYBODY LOVES ME; MAIN STEM BLUES; RASPERRY POLKA; SOUR TIMES; SPIN IT JIG; STRAIGHT FROM THE LIP; SWEET LUCY; THINGS ARE CHANGING. He wasn't actually registered with BMI under that name but his name crops up as being co-composer on each song with someone who was BMI registered. Some of the songs have titles (MAIN STEM BLUES; RASPERRY POLKA) that would suggest they date back to the 50's or early 60's. That assumption is backed up by the fact that another name on some of the songs (as part composer) is Lalo Shifrin. Shifrin was only based in New York from 1960 to 1963.

HENRY BROOKS GREATEST DEBT TO MY MOTHER (7") P&P 1977 333 If the above indicates that this 7" was released in 1977 then I'd have to say that neither side of the 45 sound like they were actually recorded anywhere near 1977. More like 1967, 68 or 69. Who in their right mind would be releasing cuts of 2min 11sec duration in 1977 ??

So another track that P & P got their hands on was Smokey Brooks "I Want To Be True". I wonder where that track originated from & if it managed to escape on 45 back in the day. Seems Peter Brown may have issued tracks on P & P that he just managed to get hold of the master tapes for (perhaps from earlier projects he had been associated with).

About 2 minutes into the clip of the film you see a street billboard for radio stn WVNJ. When the film was shot (mid 60's) this was an AM stn operating out of Newark, New Jersey that playlisted soul tracks.

Patrick's group (The Sparks) appeared in the 1967 Warner Bros. Movie "Up the Down Staircase". Most (if not all of this has been posted up on Youtube (in 9 parts) .... PART 1 &--#62;&--#62; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7LixWEk1eo So I guess if anyone can be bothered to wade through all the 9 parts, they can id just when & in which part the group appears.

RE: I actually did a P&P label listing about 5 years ago ................. I'd love to see that. So is it documented anywhere which 45's came out back in the day (mid 70's) and which others appeared at much later dates ?? Ian, do you know when the Henry 'Smokey' Brooks cuts actually date from (recording wise) ?

RE: 'Long time ago' came out on a P&P 45 (Pink Label) I'd love to know what the other side of the 45 is !!

Just noticed another track by Smokey Brooks -- "Long Time Ago" on some P&P related CD's. This is another funk cut & again its short (1 min 58 secs), so I'd take a stab at it being a mid to late 60's recording as well. Did this come out originally on a P & P 45 or was it one found in the 'vaults' in the last 10 years ? Believe that Smokey had teamed up with Leonard Lewis by 1971, so again that would guide me towards thinking his P & P stuff was late 60's (done for Peter Brown before P & P was set up).

Anyone know where I can get to hear his Rampage track "Nobody Loves You Like I Love You", can't seem to find a sound file ont'net. Strange as it seems to me -- although the writers credit on the 45 label for "Greatest Debt To My Mother" goes to H. Brooks, the song is actually registered with BMI under the name of Henry A Copeland. The person who uses this 2nd name wrote songs in conjunction with Zelda Sanders & seems to have had connections in Florida. Anyone able to explain this situation ??

Unless you mean 'as well, they were ' then can't agree Steve. Patrick Adams was deffo in THE SPARKS on Cub. He quit the group in 1970.