Roburt

This thread will most likely throw up a lot of arguments, but hey ho, here we go. I was attending niters & similar local clubs from 1966 (1965 for the later). My early niter experiences came mainly via the King Mojo, Nite Owl, Tin Chicken & Wheel and I was collecting soul releases way before I attended my first niter. In 65, it was all based around 45's released here in the UK, we only had the money for British releases (& then not enough to buy all of the ones we danced to). Course, back then it was just as common to dance to a track by Sam & Dave, Don Covay, Lee Dorsey, Otis Redding as it was to dance to an Impressions, Darrell Banks or Bobby Sheen effort. ANYWAY, demand for UK 45's (new releases & older outings) soon meant that the supply dried up. When, say UK copies of "I Dig Your Act" dried up we started to try to obtain import copies of the 45, but they were hard to get and expensive (relatively). Soul City record shop was an early source of quality US imports, but that was only (to us up north) after they relocated to central London (67 ?). Leighton Buzzard's F L Moores soon followed on, as did posted out auction lists via Postman Pat. Later on, B&S / Contempo and then Soul Bowl made things a whole lot easier. ANYWAY, I'm trying to decide what was the first import soul dancer that we started to chase. Of the 45's sourced from US sources (NY area discount record warehouse lists, Randys Records of Gallatin (they sent our annual catalogues of what they had in stock) & Ray Aveys Rare Records (monthly listings) were soon being contacted as good sources. Some UK 45's were in short supply from day one. The 1st of these that springs to mind is Bunny Sigler's "Let The Good Times Roll" -- UK release in August 67. By that September, it was almost impossible to get a copy on Cameo Parkway. EMI came to our rescue & mass imported French Stateside copies from around November 67. BUT my choice of first import 45 to be chased is the Dec 62 outing on Duke "Call On Me" from Bobby Bland. This was still an anthem in UK soul clubs in 67/68 and was (to my knowledge) the first soul dance 45 we chased THAT HADN'T gained a UK release at all. After that we found it was still 'EASY' (remember there was no tinternet, no discogs, no ebay) to get US copies, if you knew where to go. Soul City was always a good source as DG knew the tracks northerners were chasing by 68 -- I still have my letters from SC's Rob Blackmore telling me ... we're out of UK copies but we can get you a US copy for 15/- or 17/6d. When we were chasing a newly 'discovered' sound, we'd even take the train down to London to visit the store in person. They always had boxes of import 45's to tempt us -- though Dave only caught me out the first time I visited in person. He picked out his fave 45 in that box and foisted it on me. On later visits I spurned his pleas to buy a(nother) copy of the issue release of a Mala 45 by Tobi Legend -- getting 17/6 out of a Yorkshireman for an obscure cut that wasn't even played in the clubs was a hard task for him. I do credit him with putting out the first specific NS 45 (re)release in the UK though (Gene Chandler's SOUL CITY 45 "Nothing Can Stop Me" in April 68), so he's still a gudguy in my books. So, "CALL ON ME" is my nomination then. What do other's say ?? BTW, we weren't knowledgeable enough to chase copies of CALL ON ME on an Aussie release but then we were still young, foolish & uneducated ... SORRY happy.

Ninandy (Andy Stroud & Nina Simone's label) got a few mentions in the recent Ghetto Kitty thread. The Ghetto Kitty 45 being on Stroud, the label name that replaced Ninandy after Nina split with Andy. I can't add anything concrete to this thread apart from saying that Andy Stroud was quite a biz man & kept loads of old master tapes right up to his death. Many of these were discovered in a NY vault around the time of (or just before) his death (2012). The tapes were made use of to put out some previously unissued Nina S tracks. Guess he could have accessed the master tapes to re-use the Roy Roberts cuts at any time ahead of that date.

Nina ain't been forgotten in the US ... a ceremony attended by Sam Waymon ...

YOU'LL BE PLEASED TO KNOW THAT .... tonight on TV ... GLASTONBURY FESTIVAL .... live on BBC2 at 7.30 tonight. 1st group on; TEXAS doing their new version of "Keep On Talking".

The interaction between radio stn DJ's, acts & record labels has already been touched on in this thread. ... 'you scratch my back & I'll scratch yours' being very much the order of the day. Lets also not forget the many 45's credited to radio DJ's -- E Rodney Jones being a classic example. A bunch of local musicians would cut a largely instro track, offer it to him (or a similar radio DJ) & his record label buddies. He'd do a few shouts on top of the instro, add his name as the artist & hey presto ... there'd be a new 45 in the shops that he'd use as his radio show theme-tune. In a similar way; Magnificent Montague on KGFJ Los Angeles used the trademark catch-phrase, "Burn, baby! Burn!" that became the rallying cry of the 1965 Watts riots. Surely it was MM & his radio catch phrase that inspired 45's such as Mel Williams – Burn, Baby, Burn on Star Records.

She's been on some UK morning TV shows asking for NS dancers to come along when they film the video of the track.

A 1972 chart from Nashville's WVOL ... not too many obscure things on this listing ... BTW, this was the stn that Billy Sha-Rae went to be a DJ on in the 70's (not sure he was with the stn as early as 72 ... unless he's the guy calling himself 7th son) ...

Nothing wrong with afternoon events. When clubs had to stop niters coz of council / police attention, they'd move to dayers instead & we were quite happy to go along to these ... though going to venues such as the Windmill in Rotherham on a hot sunny summer afternoon (with the sun sneaking round the room's curtains & lighting up the whole room) did rather dilute the atmosphere. Some do's out our way are now Sunday afternoon / evening affairs & are great events -- the Banbury EASE YOUR MIND soul do being one such great venue. So afternoons are fine with me (any day of the week too) ... mind you, I am 74.

From the above 2 charts it's plain to see that black radio was still giving just about every 'decent' 45 a fair crack of the whip in 67. By 73/74, unless your 45 was on a 'big label' it stood little chance of getting radio exposure. Many soul acts were ripped off with regard to record royalties but still signed deals & cut stuff to go on 45 ... that's coz a chart placed 45 would result in lots of extra bookings for higher fees & so having a successful single would result in them earning more from their live work. If their 45 charted on a stn from another city, then they'd get bookings over there too. Other acts were much more 'once bitten, twice shy' about such things. Having been ripped off by their initial record label, they'd show little or no interest in signing with a 2nd record company. Many, who took the 2nd option (not recording), were shocked when I'd say to them ... BUT you were good, you should have recorded more. Then your group would probably be known by soul single collectors around the world & not just by club goers in your home city.

WJMO --- JULY 67 ... AND IN AT #30 is ....

No, definitely.

How Frankie & the Spinners evolved into Frankie & the Spindels / Spindles ... (with a good few other acts thrown in too -- Nina Simone signed the Swordsmen included) ... Frankie & the S's had their 1st 45 out that November, ("Count To Ten"), hence the need for the name-change.

Mood-Mosaic version is the original & obviously, is far far superior .

Beat Club used "A Little Bit Of Soul' in 67 ... (1) BeatClub 22 - Intro and Go-Go-Girls - Little Bit O' Soul (1967) - YouTube ... www.youtube.com/watch?v=53NB-mdbz-c Sandy Sargent (of RSG) led the show's dance girls. It then used Bunny Sigler's "Let The Good Times Roll" ... www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEyj6gqk55E&list=PLYKtjSUVADTbxiochOEi6PGu6HJIssPtf after that it used Otis R's "I Can't Turn You Loose" in 67 ... (1) BeatClub 27 - Intro & Go-Go-Girls (1967) - YouTube ... www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zo2f5_x5IGE AND in 68 it used "Little Girl" by Syndicate Of Sound. then .. "Good News Week" .... (1) BeatClub 37 - Intro & Go-Go-Girls (1968) - YouTube ... www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCFqIddZboo Then it was back to Otis R & his version of "Shake". The show seemed to change it's theme music most weeks, so no doubt Mood-Mosaic was used one / some weeks around then. Incidentely, Mark Wirtz's guy Keith West performed his song on the show in 1967 (ahead of cutting "Grocer Jack", he'd been lead singer with UK beat group THE IN CROWD).

Mood-Mosaic version was played in many UK soul clubs in 1966/67 ... the Wheel being one of those. The track was arranged & produced by the 'Teenage Opera' guy -- Mark Wirtz (that song more commonly known as "Grocer Jack, Grocer Jack" by Keith West).

The day after John 'Stand By Me' Kennedy was starring on Carr's Beach, this guy topped the bill @ the venue. A few weeks later the same guy was topping the bill @ an adjacent black beach resort, Sparrows Beach (owned by the same black family) ... FOOT NOTE: James Brown didn't seem to be in 'headlining' mode yet + poor Sugar Pie DeSanto had been changed into a double act.

Back in the late 50's & early to mid 60's, only one venue was more important than the east coast chitlin-circuit theatres (Royal, Howard, Uptown, etc) and that was ... Carr's Beach, Annapolis. Being a Beach resort, they only staged live shows (for blacks) between May & September, but during that period of each year they booked all the top black acts. Those acts were booked to play the venue by Balto label owner Rufus Mitchell (Ru-Jac). Rufus always had his hand on the pulse of what was happening in Baltimore soul circles. In summer 61 (June / July), they had one guy jointly topping the bill twice in just a 2 week period ... a young singer who titled himself John F Kennedy ... (see attached ads). On his first booking there, it states DIRECT FROM DETROIT, but he wasn't a Detroit based singer (perhaps he'd just returned from a booking there) ... On his 2nd appearance on the beach he's called the YOUNG PRESIDENT OF R & B ... so he's a young guy and seems to be riding on the back of President JFK's popularity with the black community (so guess his real name wasn't JOHN F KENNEDY but something not too distant from that). Now, in the mid 60's, two Baltimore groups came together to form Frankie & the Spindles, one of these being Frankie & the Spinners, led by Frankie Kennedy. Frankie had been born in 1948 and his full name was Franklin C Kennedy / F Kennedy -- not too far removed from John F KENNEDY. Anyone know if the guy performing solo on Carr's Beach in summer 61 was in fact, Frankie of the Spindles ? BTW, in September 71, the Chi-lites record label had no intention to immediately put the group's LP track "Have You Seen Her" out on 45. Frankie & the Spindles quickly recorded a version of the song, Lucky 'A' released it as a single and it instantly started to get lots of radio plays (especially in Balto / DC / Norfolk / Philly areas). Seeing the reaction the 45 was getting, Brunswick relented & the Chi-Lites version was issued on Brunswick in mid October 71.

2 or 3 decent books on black radio & it's decline too.

Record companies always knew the power that radio stns had on their sales market ... so lots would 'butter them up' by giving promo / plugging jobs to radio DJ's or by sending their acts to play free live gigs on radio DJ promoted events. Baltimore was always considered an influential market in black music circles -- some 45's were even test released just in Baltimore initially (if the 45 didn't take off there, then it wouldn't get a national release). The 'Music That's Made It' WSID ad shows the changes by around 1973 -- in the 60's, many black stns were driving the market forward; spinning new unknown tracks & breaking them to record buyers -- by the mid 70's, they were almost exclusively following trends and just concentrating on spinning the hits.

Bunny Jones led a fascinating life ....

An extra bit of info, connected to my last post ... The Foundations manager ran his own record label (TREND) -- after first running his own chain of record shops. The Foundations live act was always filled with cover versions of obscure soul tracks. They said it was coz they had a large record collection -- really it was their manager (who's chain of shops imported US 45's to sell) who had the large stock of soul records. www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TZABCzz7ac

Some gud stuff in there too ...

Nina Simone in action in Harlem in 69 ... don't know if Doris Willingham was still singing backing for her. Summer Of Soul | A Questlove Jawn | Trailer | Hulu - YouTube www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFpPsW4ZKoE

It seems strange now but lots of UK pop groups had a soul song as their signature 'live show' tune ... Some are well known, others not so .... GENO WASHINGTON -- Michael ALAN BOWN SET -- Headline News JIMMY JAMES & VAGS -- Hi Diddley Dee Dum Dum & Ain't Love Good, Ain't Love Proud The MOVE -- Open The Door To Your Heart & Zing went the Strings Of My Heart AMEN CORNER -- Our Love Is (In The Pocket) & I Don't Want To Discuss It And Amen HOLLIES -- Stay & Just One Look THE ACTION -- I'll Keep Holding On & Baby You've Got It Zoot Money BRB -- Stubborn Kind Of Fellow & Please Stay The Artwoods -- I Take What I Want & I Feel Good (Benny Spellman song) Herbie Goins & The Night-Timers – No. 1 In Your Heart Ronnie Jones & BJ's -- You're Looking Good Chris Farlowe -- In The Midnight Hour ETC. ETC.

One week in London -- December 1965 ... when you could go to 100's of different nights over a 10 day period & see dozens of great live acts (most UK based though) ... Hedgehoppers Anonymous didn't qualify, but there were loads of good acts on at the silver Blades Ice Rink ... BACK THEN it was normal to board over say an ice rink or a swimming baths pool, to put on a dance (R&B night even).