Roburt

In the late 60's / early 70's, Sam's career suffered coz he was busted for drug possession. Being linked with drugs was common place in the 60's / 70's for jazz , rock & soul acts, so why did Sam's career take a big nose dive. I THINK it was because he was more of a cabaret / TV star and in those sections of the biz, bad publicity could have a major effect. He did make a small comeback in 72 when his Vault 45 ("More Today Than Yesterday") was released. But radio stations didn't spin it and it quickly faded into obscurity. BUT Sam certainly learnt his lesson after his arrest. Esther Phillips had been troubled by booze & drugs from the early 60's. It really took a toll on her live workload and her recording career. Atlantic dropped her after cutting an album on her in 1966. She finally realised that she needed to clean up and went into rehab. When she got out, she still wasn't trusted in the biz. Sam F came forward to help. He organised a regular gig for her at Freddie Jett’s Pied Piper club (Los Angeles), late 1969 & early 1970 (a residency). King Curtis still had a good opinion of Esther as he'd worked with her in the studio for Atlantic plus she employed him to run her band for the live shows. He saw how hard she was trying and persuaded Atlantic to resign her to a contract. This resulted in her live album 'Burnin' -- Live At Freddie Jett's Pied Piper, L.A.' After that she went back into the studio down in Miami for Atlantic and a number of new 45's were released. So Sam helped get her career back on track & this resulted in her cutting decent new stuff for Atlantic and then Kudu -- these tracks returned her to the charts.

Lifted from a documentary about the scene ... VERY TRUE TOO ...

Soul music found me in 1965 (mainly via pirate radio of the ship based type) and by 1966 I was attending soul clubs. Got a Lambretta that same year & Niters followed in 1966 / 67. My biggest year for travelling to niters was 1967; Sheffield, Leicester, Manchester & more. The music always stayed with me but after a while it was B&S that shaped my musical taste rather than what was getting niter spins in the 70's. Came back to the NS scene (though it hadn't yet been termed NS back in 66/67/68) in the 70's via folk like Snowy & Paul Temple -- they both plundered my collection but then Paul got me attending (rare) soul nights again at places such as the Yorkshire NS nights at a power stn social club (Drax or Eggboro can't recall which). Moved jobs & house in 79 and was now ideally placed to start going to Rotherham Clifton Hall niters in the early 80's. Trips to other niter venues soon followed -- Leicester, Loughboro, Hinksey (for live shows), Stafford. Got hooked on listening to Richard Searling on Radio Hallam and soon became a regular visitor to the studio in Sheffield. Then it was onwards & upwards to Weekenders. Initially at Morecambe & Southport. Then Cleggy Weekender was started up & that was my annual fix sorted for the next 20 years. Organised a US soul trip back in 1998, to Vegas. Was asked to join the Prestatyn Weekender team and enjoyed undertaking my duties there. So now I'm the wrong side of 75 and my health ain't what it used to be -- BUT I've still got my SOUL MUSIC. The kids moved out years ago, so I've had a record room for around 30 years. Get in real trouble in recent years when the postie turns up with vinyl or CD's (as they've taken over the house) but can't resist buying both new modern music (though much less has appealed in the last 5 years) or 'new to me' tracks. Palled up with a few artists (mainly US but some Brits), ran a UK tour for one of them. Even appeared in a documentary about a soul singer, as we had become mates down the years. I now spend much hours penning articles about soul acts / music ... BUT that's good, as I find spending time as a keyboard warrior comes to me much easier than more physical pursuits. ALL IN ALL, my life would have been much the poorer without soul music. The acts who turned up to the soul nite I helped organise on our trip to Vegas ...

A couple of tracks that have gospel ties ... Clara Ward was a big star on the gospel scene in the 60's, she tried her hand at secular music too Doing the reverse of Clara, was Peggy Scott. After a successful recording career in the soul genre, she turned to gospel in later years ...

At the start of the 1960's (& into the mid 60's) RCA was represented in the UK by Decca Records. Though it didn't state it on the RCA 45's released in the UK, they were administered by Decca execs and I guess it was the Decca guys who decided which US releases to put out here. RCA 'black act' releases, certainly in the UK, seemed to be thin on the ground apart from those from big acts such as Sam Cooke. Not too many soul artists seemed to be signed to RCA. Though when Motown broke thru in a big way (in the US), they must have realised they'd been ignoring black audiences & losing lots of sales -- certainly after white teenagers got turned on to Motown / Atlantic / Stax stuff. But here in the UK, not many of the soul acts who had US RCA 45 releases enjoyed British exposure. But sometime around 1966, RCA realised they had been 'missing a trick' and took self-control, opening their own office in the UK. I don't know who was in charge of it (bet Ady does) or even who they got to press up their releases (maybe still Decca at the start). But even when their own guys were deciding what US recordings should gain UK release, not much seemed to change initially. I know the RCA UK execs decided to run a big 'country music' push in spring / early summer 67 (big ads being placed and a string of country singles being put out) but they didn't seem to follow a similar strategy for their black acts. I checked thru soul releases on UK RCA from autumn 66 thru to late summer 68, and there weren't many. There was a 'blue-eyed soul' release from Len Barry and a couple of outings from their pop guy Paul Anka (who at the time was cashing in by cutting soulie type tracks) & from Peggy March (she'd had a string of UK 45's by Oct 68), but not much from black artists. Nina Simone was a big name who signed with RCA at that time & she had a UK 45 out in early April 67. But little else escaped here -- King George's "Drive On James" being an exception in Feb 67 (though it had done nothing sales wise in the US). It seems US RCA 45's weren't selling that well coz the label didn't really understand how to market their releases to black radio stations in the US (their radio related guys only having good contacts with the DJ's working at US pop stns). As their soul 45's weren't making the sales charts across the US, they seemed to get ignored by the UK RCA execs. Nothing much else escaped here till the Four Kents single in June 68. Of course, eventually the penny dropped at RCA, more black acts were signed in the US and properly promoted and their releases started to make the charts over the pond but this would be a while later. Maybe triggered by Nina Simone's big UK chart hit "Ain't Got No, ...", which made the UK top 20 in November 68. The UK execs even signed a black British act around that time, the Chants, but did very little for the group. Around the world, soul music was in the ascendancy and RCA acknowledged this fact by putting out the Sam Cooke comp album 'The Man Who Invented Soul'. Even though this LP escaped in many countries, the UK wasn't one of them. By the mid 70's, they had cottoned on finally, but I guess that was just a knee jerk reaction to the NS scene's reverence for mid 60's RCA soul dance tracks. Anyone here know the whys & wherefores of things at UK RCA from the mid 60's to mid 70's ?

I used to pal about with the Nottingham soul crowd in 66/67/68. We'd meet up at the Mojo in Sheffield till that closed in September 67. I'd also call in at Nottingham on my way to the Nite Owl (Leicester) from mid to late 67. Some of their soul crowd drifted into going to the Wheel when both the Owl & Mojo had gone by November 67 (as did I). They had some great clubs back in their hometown in the 60's (Dungeon, Beachcomber, Boat Club, Britannia Rowing Club, etc.) but I never attended any of them. Notts Palais also had a good reputation. Later on (when I was living in Worksop -- 80's) we used to attend the soul do's / live shows @ Rock City. Had some great nights there. Also went along to a couple of nights at the Boat Club around then.

For those that are turned off by lyrics bout Jesus ... lots of great gospel versions of soul songs ... This is one I've always liked & I have the UK LP that it's included on ... (it was a double LP release in France, but I've just got the UK version) ...

Somebody just posted this up on Facebook AND I LIKE IT ... O V Wright & the Luckett Brothers ... The above track is so good, I went looking for others cut by this teaming ...

Thought this would go nicely with an article just posted ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_g4sDSpW9Uc

Like with soul tracks, I find that many times I'll plumb for the major label version of a gospel song against an indie label version. The studio equipment utilised / the musicians involved and the quality of the vocals reaching more professional standards on the major's version. However, as with lots of indie soul cuts, that's not always the case. One record company that certainly gave it's gospel acts every chance was CHESS / CHECKER. Lots of their gospel releases were of a high quality and coz of the sheer quantity of tracks they laid down, it meant their gospel sampler albums were decent things to chase. I'm sure there are dozens of great Chess gospel tracks that I'm still (even now) unaware of ... Gospel compilations of their stuff didn't just gain release back in the day either, as there are lots of more recent releases that they feature on.

I believe Greg Belson will attest to the fact that there are still decent gospel 45's & LP's out there to be found. This, despite, many of them being pressed up originally in small numbers & never making it into normal record shops. For many years (around 40+ I'd guess), most UK cratediggers chasing stuff in the US would ignore gospel releases. I know lots of UK dealers picked bits up when buying in bulk but (many times) they struggled to sell the gospel items that came their way. Many moons ago, I bought some gospel 45's off Richard Domar (dealing with him was an experience in itself). He must have remembered my 'interest' coz when he sold up he contacted me. He said if I took every gospel 45 he still had, he'd give me a great deal. To be fair to him, he did as well (though he snuck in a couple of 45's by white Christian singers that were truly awful). When Contempo (B&S) were doing their soul packs back in the early 70's, I recall them having Peacock & Nashboro gospel 45's and including these with the US soul 45's that went into their 'packs'. They probably had Chess gospel 45's too that went in soul packs, but I can't recall them having Vee Jay or Savoy gospel items in stock. . . . . NOT "Shake, Me, Wake Me" ...

A gospel guy who crossed over to find mainstream success ...

Above I stated lots of gospel acts cut for church based labels or tiny indie labels. But they don't always stay that way. Maceo Woods started out as the pastor at a little local church. After developing the church's choir, he recorded them and put out an album. A copy of this found it's way to Stax. They licensed it for national distribution and signed Maceo Woods up. Next thing, he's a nationally known top gospel artist.

Plenty of decent gospel takes on soul songs. Lots of them being great versions of those songs ... CLARA WARD Dead End Street https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zCVTutlvuM

Most soul singers started out in the church singing gospel & lots went back to sacred music after their time doing secular stuff. It's always been there & has enjoyed periods of increased interest with soulies. From the likes of the Gospel Classics "More Love" being a biggie on the UK soul scene to "Oh Happy Day" making the pop charts & through to modern soulers getting into Donn Thomas's "How Can I Help But Love You" and more, gospel has had it's supporters. When the Staples went big on Stax and ABC took over Duke / Peacock in the 70's, gospel's profile increased. Later on, the long running CD series 'WOW GOSPEL' (which featured a compilation of the best tracks released each year) did good business for over 20 years. But, thanks to DJ's like Greg Belson and interest from specialist reissue labels, gospel tracks seems more popular than even at the moment. With lots of 45's & LP's being recorded and pressed up in limited numbers and mainly sold at live concerts, there are plenty of rare items to lust after & chase. Just about the rarest release on the UK Chess label has to be the gospel comp album 'A Christmas Dedication From ..'. There are hundred's of US gospel 45's that would catch on if they were more widely known, many being rare items on obscure indie labels (many attached to individual churches or to the folk running choirs). There are even decent UK released gospel 45's and albums to go after on labels such as Chess, Atlantic, Action and more. It would be good to get a few recommendations from Soul Sourcers with regard to which tracks they play on a regular basis.

I'd GUESS at the Mojo 45 version due to the song's writers. Co-writer Jackie Avery owned Mojo Records.

UPDATE ... https://www.facebook.com/share/r/15vgRsz1bK/

You could get the Bobby Vee version for just over a quid ...

To be fair to John ... my 45's from him took a while to arrive ... BUT I also ordered a few things from a Discogs dealer in Canada a few days later. It took him almost 7 days to even acknowledge my order ... guess we shouldn't expect too speedy a service over the Xmas / New Year period.

The October / November SOUL EXPLOSION tour. I caught it @ Sheffield City Hall on 31st Oct 67. Seem to recall that Percy Sledge was too ill to fly to UK, so Lee Dorsey took his place. Sam & Dave were the real stars of the show though. At one point, one of them went off with the mike, leaving the other to sing unamplified. He went into a gospel styled performance and filled the whole auditorium (which was massive) with his voice. For a young (just turned 18) Donny lad, it was captivating. They were on in Manc the following night.

SORRY, but I just couldn't stop myself ... pics at the bottom: the 60's Hull crowd @ the Mojo, Hull lads @ the Wheel & Hull lads recently

My package from John arrived today. 2 x 45's missing that had been showing as IN STOCK on his web site when I ordered ... BUT maybe someone else went for them at almost the same time as I did.

Seems not. I ordered early when the sale started (early in the day on 26th Dec) & ordered direct off JM's web site. Got an e-mail from Paypal today stating a refund from JM is on it's way to my Paypal account. No notification from John's team as to what I will not now be receiving or when my order will be dispatched (but at least it must be being processed at the moment). I do recall the postage charged for my order was quite high even though it was to be sent by 1st class mail.

Never made it to Aruba & Curaçao (part of the ABC islands). They have a Dutch heritage though, so can't think there'd be much of interest (record wise) there now. Saying that, Surinam was also Dutch and not too far from the ABC islands -- and they had a big soul 45 scene. I've visited all the other locations but never found any record shops or 45's there. Used to be loads of soul 45's (local & US) in Barbados, Jamaica and the Bahamas (Nassau). Still some in Jamaica. Most in Barbados were sold off cheap when the local record company's warehouse was cleared and sold about 20 years ago. I've looked in Nassau a few times (not too hard though) but didn't find any record shops or 45's there.

Most of the info is freely available on the web and I 'constructed' the picture from other stuff I found on the web (though you do have to trawl through many editions of old music mags to find some of it). A really good online site that contains loads of useful info is GARAGEHANGOVER (again you need lots of time & patience to find some of the old ads -- but I've been retired for almost 17 years and need sumat to prevent me from trying to catalogue my collection). Leicester's Nite Owl was one of my niter haunts back in 67, so that's why I included a few of the club's ads in my collage.