Roburt

No doubt, this was what the US demo acetate looked like ....

It seems the song is registered with BMI today as being the creation of a different writing team (?)

The song "Water" was written by the top New York teaming of Helen Miller and Roger Atkins. They wrote many top soul songs, together and with others. They mostly worked out of 1650 Broadway & the Brill Building. Miller co-write with the likes of Freddie Scott & Howard Greenfield. Atkins wrote with Teddy Vann, Dee Irwin & others. Artists who cut their songs included the Animals, Jerry Butler, 5th Dimension, Patti Drew, the Shirelles, Barbara Lewis, Chuck Jackson, Maxine Brown, Dionne Warwick, the Reflections, Deon Jackson, Little Anthony & Imperials, Nancy Ames, Pat Powdrill, Ben E King, the Toys, Lenny Welch, the Platters and many more + of course, Geno Washington & the Ram Jam Band. I've looked but I can't find a US recorded version of "Water", so it seems Geno's management must have sourced the song direct from Miller & Atkins in New York, most likely via the pair's UK music publishers and Geno's take is the original (& only) version of the song out there (apart from no doubt, the writer's own demo version). Am I wrong and there is (are) other versions of this song ? BTW, it seems Geno recorded a version of the song with Italian lyrics, but no idea who did the translation. Though the UK music press reported this fact, I don't think the Italian version gained a release (unless you know different).

I believe Ady used to frequent these nights ... would the guy on with Herbie Goins (Howling Robin) have been the old Nite Owl DJ Owling Robin ? + a big night @ Chareau Impney ...

An Irish guy named Jerry Butler has definitely just passed away. Our soul guy ?

Seems like John has started a trend ...

An LP originally sold via local black newspapers ... back then (1968) it would have cost you $2.98. It costs a bit more now.

Do you mean 76 Club in Burton ? Retford's Broken Wheel has a book detailing it's life. I'm also attaching a few more old club ads -- wonder how the group appearing at the Welsh club in late 1966 came up with their name ?

I used to attend nights @ the King Mojo and have written about it in the past. Ahead of the Mojo, there was the Esquire (in the same building as the Leadmill). That was the 1st venue to book / play blues / R&B in Sheffield to my knowledge. The Leadmill crowd didn't like the Mojo lot. If an act they wanted to see was on at the Mojo instead of the Esquire, they'd rather go see them a few days earlier / later at the Wheel. There are books about the Esquire & Mojo and a couple of Facebook pages related the the Mojo. You'll find lots of info about the Sheffield soul scene on those. Of course, after the Mojo, the Stringfellows opened Down Broadway and the Penthouse, which both played soul stuff. The Mucky Duck (Black Swan pub) also used to host soul nights in the late 60's (after playing host to lots of Joe Cocker live R&B shows earlier in the 60's). The FABULOUS PLATTERS (really the Steinways) played live @ the Black Swan around 1968 (it'd be good if someone local to Sheffield would search thru old editions of the Sheffield Star. I'm sure many on here will have stories about Samanthas.

The wife was from Hull & she used to hitch up to Brid to see the likes of the Who, Small Faces & Spencer Davis Group @ the Spa ... but later in the 60's, they used to book US soul groups to play the venue. The Mandrakes were on there a lot too (they were from Scarboro), at that time Robert Palmer was their lead singer (ahead of him joining Alan Bown).

Seems things are getting no better for Dave & his wife. Their flight home to the UK has turned into a giant 'cock-up' now. You have to feel really sorry for them as this was supposed to be their dream holiday to celebrate his retirement.

AND I informed him I was putting it up here (before doing so). I believe he flew back to the UK overnight.

Nottingham was quite unusual back then as it had around 5 soul venues, all going at the same time (mid to late 60's). There was the Beachcomber, the Dungeon (that has it's own Facebook group I believe), the Boat Club, the Britannia Rowing Club and the Palais. In addition to their local clubs, the Notts crowd used to travel to attend allniters in Sheffield, Leicester & Manchester.

In passing, just noticed that a UK beat group seemed to be getting some high profile gigs back in the mid to late 60's -- at soul venues such as the Gliderdrome, Boston (alongside Otis Redding) and with the Orlons & Bluesology (Elton John's outfit) at Aylesbury Assembly Hall. Never came across them myself at a live gig and their 45's never registered on my radar (though they do seem to have loads of fans out there) ...

This place has a decent profile these days due to the NS weekenders staged there. It was also a popular venue with mods / R&B and soul fans back in the 60's ...

As the 1960's London Mod / Soul Clubs thread has seen renewed action recently, thought I'd post up this related thread. Some local soul clubs grew in stature & went on to become famous soul venues (the Place, Hanley for instance), others were known of because live soul recordings were made there (Birdcage, Portsmouth, Bolton Casino, Nite Owl, Leicester, etc). Some hosted R&B / soul nights in the 60's / 70's and have returned to the spotlight due to more recent events staged there (Brid Spa). But many have just slipped away in the mists of time. Never to be written about like the Wheel, Casino, Blackpool Mecca, etc. Some local clubs did become iconic to the crowds who attended their soul nights and so have registered in print (the Broken Wheel, Retford, California Ballroom, Dunstable; Gliderdrome, Boston & more). But venues such as the Skyline & Gondola, Hull; the Boulevard, Tadcaster; Plebeians, Halifax; Attic, Doncaster; Clouds., Derby; Assembly Hall, Aylesbury; Central R&B Club Gillingham and numerous other soul clubs are all but forgotten these days. Even some clubs that staged niters seem to get little attention these days -- Va Va's Bolton, Chateau Impney, Droitwich & Up The Junction, Crewe being amongst these. It would be good for folk on here to make mention of the venues that meant a good deal to some back in the day in places such as Birmingham, Northampton, Bristol, Cardiff, Grimsby, Liverpool, Newcastle (the Club A GoGo being the only one there with a profile) & any in Scotland.

Dave has just completed a Caribbean cruise on Holland -America's ROTTERDAM ship. Whilst on there, a bad outbreak on Norovirus occured. Both Dave & his misses came down with it & had to be 'isolated' in their cabin (standard procedure as it's so infectious). Anyway, he's back in Miami now & watching himself on a news clip about the incident ... he's recovered now BTW ... The news clip is on-line & so I'm posting up the link to it -- think that's Dave in the background 1 minute into the piece. https://www.nbcmiami.com/on-air/as-seen-on/norovirus-outbreak-on-rotterdam-cruise-ship-leaves-169-people-ill/3544809/

Don't know if this is soul or gospel but this guy is establishing a bit of a profile of late ... (he's doing a concert @ the Kennedy Centre in DC on March 13th) ...

He lived in God's country (Yorkshire) for many years ... a great guy ...

QUOTE >> Loved this at the time of its release -- Helen Baylor ... I've got this on the Expansion 12" from 1992. Also got this one (also on Expansion) from a year earlier ..

Charlie 'Cole Black' Brown dabbled with soul tracks though he was more normally to be found singing gospel as the lead with the Violinaires ... he had unissued soul tracks in the vaults @ Jewel / Paula but they got lost down the years ... More on him here... CHARLIE "COLE BLACK" BROWN : Sir Shambling’s Deep Soul Heaven https://www.sirshambling.com/artists_2012/B/charlie_cole_black_brown/index.php

Some info on the Kama label & Chadwicks Recording studio on GARAGEHANGOVER. Kama was based out of Utica (which is in the middle of nowhere in New York state -- to the east of Syracuse). Chadwicks studio was located just south of Utica, in a place strangely called Chadwicks. So I'd guess the group (white ?) were from that area. They cut other sides for Kama, each in conjunction with other singers (Danny Bowens & The Avengers "Lavender Blue" being the best of those other cuts). Kama Records was operated by a Stanley Markowski, who had a pressing plant in Utica. Seems his pressing plant was sometimes not working to full capacity, so he hooked up with mob members & pressed up bootleg 45's for them in the early 60's. The mob ran numbers rackets across the US and were always looking for 'legitimate businesses' through which they could launder their money -- maybe they financed the building of this pressing plant. Stanley Markowski, died in 2005 at the age of 82. He had lived in Erieville most of his life (just over 30 miles south west of Utica), working mainly as an auto mechanic and machinery mechanic. Being a machinery mechanic would have been handy if you ran a pressing plant. He'd have been in his late 30's when the pressing plant was in operation. The Mr. Genius label is out of Philly & that 45 track was almost certainly cut in Philly. There were quite a few groups who took the name of THE AVENGERS -- I guess these two were different groups.

The Down Broadway being run by this guy (Stringfellow), who ran the club (Mojo) that was the 1st niter (& dayer) venue I attended ... Edwin Starr's 1st ever UK gig was at the Mojo ...

Guess, as stated, Roger thought claiming to be a cousin Of Charles Hatcher would help his career. Of course the fact that he lived in Detroit & Cleveland at times in his life mirrored Charles / Edwin's bio details. In Cleveland, he must have always been asked about a connection to Edwin as Edwin started out in the music biz in Cleveland and he would return there to get musicians for his backing bands (so Edwin was still well known on the local Ohio music scene long after he moved out of the city). Roger could be a very difficult guy to deal with, maybe coz he never really received the recognition / rewards his talent deserved.

QUOTE >> .. only you yourself will know the tracks that transport us (you) ... Would make a good subject for a topic thread ... FOR YOU, WHAT TRACK TAKES YOU STRAIGHT BACK IN TIME & WHERE DOES IT TAKE YOU TO ...