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Everything posted by Roburt
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I went to lots of the early Southport weekenders (& the Morecambe one) but don't think I saw Bill at any.
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I know we have guys on here who met up with Bill Spoon before he passed. I only ever got to chat with him on the phone (when he was still in LA) & that didn't give me much time to get the fine details of his career. Via Lou Ragland, I know about stuff from his period with the Soul Notes on Way out (Lou was their producer) in 68/69. Ahead of that, he had moved up to Cleveland with his family and started singing on street corners there with Richard Fisher (later to be lead singer with the Jive Five) & other friends. At Way Out, Bill was connected with the likes of the Sensations & Richard Fisher's brother Jesse. After the Soul Notes broke up he headed back down south & got involved with a Memphis label before returning to Cleveland for a while. He next relocated to LA by 1972 and continued his involvement with the recording biz (as a solo artist). In LA he hooked up with ex Motown guy Tom Wilson and cut tracks at Tom's Angel City Studios. One of those tracks was cut under producer Gene Dozier ("Be Concerned" being one of the tracks they laid down). Tom Wilson set up a deal for 3 of his acts to sign with Polydor -- Bill Spoon, Vernon Burch and Charlene & Darlene. But nothing from the 3 acts actually escaped on Polydor. Bill had to wait 6 more years for his next release. Vernon Burch was luckier, via Angel City he got a deal with United artists in 75 and I have no idea what happened to Charlene & Darlene (unless the twins split & Charlene was the woman who got a deal back with Motown). With his LA deal not working out, Bill went back to Cleveland & ended up working there in 1980 with Gene Dozier again (Gene then enjoying a long spell of success with Solar). Tom Wilson had lots of other acts cut at the studios -- non-soul folk such as John Mayall and Fleetwood Mac + more in our line acts such as the Younghearts, Monk Higgins, Gene Harris, Ronnie Laws, Pressure, etc. Anyone know what other tracks Bill cut in the mid 70's @ Angel City in LA (I think 2/3 of the tracks escaped on the Soul Junction LP 'A Spoonful of Soul' a while back). Vernon Burch was cutting numerous tracks @ Angel City in the mid 70's, at least 10. So it would seem strange if Bill only cut 2 or 3.
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Can't Get Enuff of that Northern Stuff ...
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Articles: The Bright Side of LIFE - Vel Lewis
Roburt replied to Roburt's topic in Front Page News & Articles
Further to the above, I've just been chatting with Vel Lewis (of LIFE) again & the process of 'cleaning up' the old master tapes has started. It's the 80's lead singer from the group that has copies of the tapes from their 83 album. HOWEVER, the co-writer of "TELL ME WHY" also got back in touch with Vel to say he had copies of the album master tapes too. ONLY THING IS ... turns out this is tapes of a different album. The additional tracks now unearthed were cut in Philly in the mid 70's (so not long after the TELL ME WHY session) but with a different keyboard player as Vel had moved on (taken a more 9 to 5 job by then). Vel says these tracks were cut with a full 70's Philly sound, with Don Renaldo being in charge of the studio musicians. The facts linked to the group and their recordings just gets even more intriguing. -
Back in 68 she was the featured lead singer in Ferris Wheel ... not sure if she's the vocalist on the 45 shown though (a 68 release) ...
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At 1st, I thought it was posting a BCR related item that had got me banned.
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What's the history behind this Oscar Tolbert 45 ? I'd guess some copies came into Soul Bowl about 20 to 30 years ago & were quickly snapped up. Am I correct in assuming this ?
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I'm in Facebook jail at the moment (for a week). Can't post on any Facebook group pages. . . . .MY CRIME ... I posted up the sleeve of a vinyl EP released in Thailand ... . . . sleeve shown below (with a couple of cover ups to hide the offending parts of the image) ... Does Soul Source have a similar decency policy (for instance -- Barbara McNair did a nude photo shoot for Playboy Mag back in the day. Would I be in trouble here if I included one of those pics on a post about her that I put up here) ? JUST ASKING, so I know.
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Further to my post above in which I mentioned publications put together on US military bases in the UK telling GI's, etc. about visiting soul stars playing the bases, I found this on-live ... During spring 1965, the Second Thoughts cut more unreleased tracks at RG Jones studio in Morden, near Wimbledon – the Wilbur Harrison classic “Let’s Get Together” and a second version of “Cocaine”. They also started to play more widely across the Southeast. This included playing US airforce bases in Oxfordshire with Percy Sledge, John Lee Hooker and Jimmy James & The Vagabonds. The Second Thoughts also made their first trip to Hamburg in (probably) 1965 to perform at the Star Club where they shared the bill with Rory Storm & The Hurricanes and Duane Eddy. Back in England during April 65, the group was performing at Beat City (100 Club) on Oxford Street when the musicians were approached by French singer Teddy Raye, who wanted to hire a British backing group for a month initially in Madrid. ............ playing US airforce bases in Oxfordshire .. most probably Upper Heyford.
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Articles: The Bright Side of LIFE - Vel Lewis
Roburt replied to Roburt's topic in Front Page News & Articles
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View full article
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Around 1968, a Philly vocal group, the Naturals, were looking for a fresh bunch of musicians to back them up on live shows. A local band found out about this and made contact with the singers. Thus the Soul Crusaders and the Naturals teamed up to form an 11 strong ensemble. There were already a number of recording groups using the name the Naturals and so their managers came up with an appropriate new name for them; the FUTURES. Life & their career progressed for the Futures & after 4 years, the group were signed up by Gamble & Huff. Now Gamble & Huff had the use of the best musicians in the land in 1972 and so the musicians section of the group was now surplus to requirements (the guys had all played on the group's earlier Amjo / Avalanche tracks). So they went off and found useful employment backing the Delfonics on live shows. But this didn't fully satisfy the guys, so they went into the recording studio in their own right and cut a song they had developed in their section of earlier live performances. A deal was struck and soon after the Reprise 45 "Tell Me Why" hit the record shop shelves -- this record being credited to LIFE. The 45 got lost in the shuffle in late 73 / early 74 coz so much other great soul music was around at the time. Disheartened, a member of the group drifted off to find other work, the remaining members relocating to LA to find their fortune. Time passed & the guy left behind began to miss his old life. So in 1978 he too 'went west' and teamed up once more with his old bandmates. Live work kept THE LIFE GROUP busy and as their reputation grew, they came to the notice of some figures in authority. As a result of this, they were signed up by the United Services Organisation (the corporation that sourced entertainment for US military personnel based overseas). LIFE were signed up and undertook a trip to Asia in 1983 where they played Korean US military bases, undertaking 21 shows in all. The group impressed all their audiences and not long after they returned to the US, the Department Of Defence booked them yet again (this time to play bases in Germany, Austria & Italy). Back from these tours, the group felt ready to go into the recording studio once again. Their line-up had evolved since 1973 as they had added a female lead singer -- Juanita Dickens. The result of their studio work was enough decent tracks to fill an album. But by 1983, record companies were dealing with a different world. They were now turning out product to please a whole slew of musical genres for which charts were compiled; rock. adult contemporary, disco, black, latin, jazz, blues, gospel, country. The type of music LIFE had made was the style that could feature on the adult contemporary chart, the disco chart and the black chart. But major labels execs were totally confused about what product to license for release at the time but by then, those majors just about monopolised what was being played on black radio stations. With product from independents standing little chance of being heard over the airways, potential exposure & sales were limited unless a major put out your stuff. All the majors passed on LIFE's efforts and the group's future instantly got less promising. Things moved on and LIFE member Vel Lewis wanted to stay in the music biz, so he adapted to suit current circumstances. Being a versatile keyboard player he found session work in both the soul and jazz worlds. He participated on a number of other artists recording sessions and was generally kept busy. He even toured the UK as a backing musician with Dionne Warwick. In 2005, under the name of Shady Grady, he stepped back into the spotlight and put out an album of his own. Tracks on this album reflected both his current work and past work. He took one of the 'unissued' LIFE GROUP tracks ("Let It Ride") and cut a new version of the song. His album was well received and led to him getting enough exposure to enable a new chapter of his musical career to blossom. He relocated again and eventually found himself living and working in Houston. He kept cutting & releasing new recordings but also became aware of the 'life' his old 1973 recording had taken on. Taking advantage of the opportunity the popularity of "Tell Me Why" had attained to travelling to Vegas to perform the song for those soulies assembled there for Soul Trip 2018. Still finding live work at venues such as the 'House of Blues' Vel's career was still ticking away. He couldn't help wonder what he might have achieved in earlier times if the 'chips had fallen differently'. A Brit made contact with him (me) to obtain the full facts on his long musical career in order to write an article about him. During the exchange of information, that Brit (me) sent him an e=-mail titled 'AN OBVIOUS QUESTION'. The obvious question was of course .. had the master tapes of the 'unissued' 1983 album survived. Vel didn't know but set about finding out the answer. He contacted other members of his old group and a search was undertaken. Weeks passed but eventually digital copies of those tapes were unearthed. Feelers were put out and some interest was forthcoming from soulies with involvement in releasing 45's that (through no fault of their own) remained unissued back in the day. Lots of steps still have to be taken and negotiations started and concluded. BUT HOPEFULLY, a good outcome will result for Vel and his old colleagues in LIFE.
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Articles: The Bright Side of LIFE - Vel Lewis
Roburt replied to Roburt's topic in Front Page News & Articles
Two top notch tracks off Vel Lewis's (Shady Grady) 2005 album ... you can tell from the quality on display here that the guy has both talent & a long musical heritage ... DAWKINS & DAWKINS on lead vocals ... the re-worked LIFE song ... www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGMvfDY7jM8 AND one from Vel's songbook ... www.youtube.com/watch?v=az1VcT0usT4 -
Articles: The Bright Side of LIFE - Vel Lewis
Roburt replied to Roburt's topic in Front Page News & Articles
The story of Vel Lewis, Life member and more.... View full article -
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The 100 Club has an illustrious history ... for around the first 20 years it was a jazz club & had a selection of names ...
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A TRULY SAD LOSS ... the sudden passing of Geoff Burgess ... Geoff was a soul & jazz man of some repute AND put on the great Soul Intent (South Yorks) nights over many years ...
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A piece from a Manc newspaper ... In the 1960s, the Twisted Wheel was the undisputed king of northern soul, with the term originally being coined by journalist Dave Godin following a visit to the club. Once it closed in 1971, The Golden Torch took its crown and reigned over the scene for the next two years until Stoke-on-Trent Council refused to renew its licence in March 1973. Until Wigan Casino opened in September of that year, there was an overwhelming demand for northern soul all-nighters, which Va Va in Bolton gladly took advantage of. Hidden down the stairs of Elizabeth House, just off Great Moor Street, the venue held around 400 people but it was its futuristic decor that raised eyebrows. In his book 'Young Soul Rebels', Scottish journalist and author Stuart Cosgrove notes that the "short-lived" Va Va was "memorable for its mirrored walls and the paranoia they induced" in those who caught a glimpse of themselves while dancing under the influence. A review of the club in an old issue of Blues and Soul Magazine said that the club contained more than £10,000 worth of equipment and lights. Writer Pete Fell also described the dancefloor as "small but adequate" and said that the drinks prices were "extortionate". It's now 50 years since the Va Va was on the go. Richard has recently posted a few bits on Facebook about this being the 50th anniversary ...
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BTW, Upper Heyford base shut down not long after the Syrian war concluded (that war being in the early 90's). The site of the old base is now becoming a giant housing estate, with most remnants of the base swept away.
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I could well be wrong but I think Stars & Stripes was just a section of B&S that was aimed at US military guys in the UK and Europe. . . . HOWEVER it could well be that it was originally a US military publication (pamphlet) put out by news guys on US bases over here to be read by 'GI's stationed here' that dealt with music related issues. That publication was probably discontinued as many US Bases in the UK were run down around 1970 with B&S starting a section in the mag to cater for the old publication's recipients. In the 60's / 70's there were loads of US bases in East Anglia and they certainly had their own 'on-base' publications. Copies of some of those old publications were kept (up to a while ago at least) in the archives by Norwich Library Services. I used to be able to access old issues on-line via that library service. The on-base GI publications detailed all that was going on at each base and included details of the US music acts (many soul) that were flown over to the UK & Europe to provide on base entertainment for the GI's / airmen. I accessed those old US military mags in 2013 to get details of which soul acts (& when) did shows on UK & European US bases when I was writing my book on Kenny Hamber. He played gigs on UK bases in 1990 or 91 (he couldn't remember exactly when). He played at Mildenhall / Lakenheath & at Upper Heyford in Oxfordshire. At Upper Heyford the base theatre had a capacity of just 220, so I guess they emptied it out & allowed new guys in for each show. The main AFN radio stn over here was at Mildenhall & Kenny did some radio interviews there to promote his shows. I have tried more recently (about 4 years ago) to access those old GI mags but wasn't able to do so anymore. Some pics of Upper Heyford US airbase back in the day showing the SKYLINE THEATRE there ..
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Can't help really ... BUT Normanton is a small town in Yorkshire. Can't think that too many soul sellers reside there. Was it a sale via Discogs ?
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It's been announced on Facebook that ex singer in Starvue, Burton Fowler. passed away last week ... R.I.P. .. . another one gone ... & their best recordings only date back to 1980 ..