Roburt

WOW, my memory must really be going as I didn't list the Dells @ Trentham Gardens in my top live show list ... a magic night when you just couldn't believe what you were seeing. A great performance by a brilliant soul group.

It seems that Lamont has been penning some new songs over recent months, this time in conjunction with his son. The pair have been involved with 2 musical plays, the latest one being based on a top selling US kid's book (LAST STOP ON MARKET STREET). The new songs are however described as a mix of R&B with hip-hop, so initially they don't sound to be our kind of thing. I'm unaware of the content of the book as it's decades since our kids were young enough to read such a book and it also seems to have bypassed the grandkids. A youtube vid of the book's content ... Anyone heard any of these songs yet (from either of the 2 plays) ?? https://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/theater/ct-ott-last-stop-on-market-street-0427-story.html

Just as a small illustration of how the music played changed from the 60's to the 70's ... a photo taken in the Mojo Club Sheffield in the mid 60's ... only one record can be seen BUT I BET you wouldn't have caught it in a pic taken at the Casino ... the ratio of girls to boys also seems quite different ..

Not the greatest song or lead singer .... BUT still a bit historic due to the backing singers ...

Did Lou Ragland have some input with regard to this Numero release ?? He has in the past with Numero's other Cleveland soul releases. PLUS Saru had two entirely separate phases, the O'Jays ran one of these but Lou himself was the main man at the label for the other period (the Out Of Sights stuff). As with other Cleveland soul labels, they cut lots more than ever escaped on vinyl, I'll have to check if that's the case here.

Anthony quit music to try acting around 1970 ... The other Imperials hired Bobby Wade as their new lead singer. With Bobby up front they had their UK pop hits in 77/78 (on Power Exchange). The group stayed together for many years and got an extended engagement at Caesars Palace in Vegas (13+ years). When Anthony returned to music, he bought the group name back and Bobby & the boys took on the name of the room at Caesars where they were a fixture (becoming Bobby Wade's Emperors). I got to know him in the 90's when I would visit Vegas every year and was spending lots of time with Lou Ragland. . . . ANYWAY ... myself & Bernie O'Brien (with US input from Nancy Yahiro) ran a Vegas Soul Trip in 1998. One of the group's we went to see was Bobby's Emperors / Imperials. I'd let him know we were coming in advance & they put on a special show for us that was quite unreal ... certainly a stand out memory for me. Bobby had a big bust up with the big casino owners in Vegas & quit the biz about 10 years back ... the other guys returned to work with Anthony & it was they (I believe) that came to play in the UK with Anthony in the recent past.

Another soul singer who was hugely influential in the 60's (the Stones took much from him, as did other UK acts) and who had numerous biggies in 60's UK soul clubs was Don Covay. Don't think his stuff was ever played on the NS scene in the 70's. Other UK outfits he influenced & who did his stuff included Spencer Davis Group, Geno Washington, Georgie Fame, Alan Price Set and these guys ...

Bet Roscoe Bowie Jr & his boys were the backing band ... the song's writer (John Franklin King) has 10 songs registered with BMI but strangely this ain't one of them (but the songs on both sides of JJ & G's TEC 45 are on there) .... PLUS OF COURSE Freddie Perren worked on the session.

In the UK, Ossie worked with the likes of John Edward (originally in R&B group the Manish Boys with David Bowie, a song writer, then a pirate radio Dj & booking agent) plus Don Lawson (a British jazz band drummer). He had a 45 & LP out in Spain in 69 but seems to have disappeared off the music scene shortly afterwards ... ... as Toyah would slur IT'S A MYSTERY ...

This guy is a bit of a mystery, despite the fact that he was based in Europe/ UK for a number of years. He was either from New Orleans or St. Vincent (in the Caribbean) ... he relocated to Europe, first (?) to Italy, then the UK plus he played some gigs in other European countries (Spain being one of these). He recorded here with his UK backing band (who evolved into the John Peel produced Harvest Records outfit The Greatest Show On Earth), I'm also led to believe that he played regular live gigs across the UK between 66 & 69 (though I can't recall ever seeing him live or even having seen an ad for a show he did), he cut some live records (much in the vein of Geno, Jimmy James, Alan Bown, etc), had a sought after 45 released here on R & B Records ... AND ... his stuff is much sought after on the UK mod scene and so old recordings of his have been escaping (with more still to come) on Acid Jazz ... Anyone here remember him doing UK shows, ever see him live, know anymore about him & his career ??

For me, it's gotta be ... Ike & Tina Turner (60's), Jnr Walker & All Stars (60's), Garnett Mimms (2 x 60's; Mojo Sheffield & London Saville Th), Frankie Beverly & Maze (80's; Rock City), Bobby Womack (Manc, 80's), Anita Baker (London Hammy Odeon, 80's), Sam Dees (Morecambe, London Dingwalls, Newbury), Bettye LaVette (Cleggy), Ann Nesby (Prestatyn) and a few more I can't recall at present.

Check this out ... an Amazon digital track ..... https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-music&field-keywords= +How+Can+I+Find+a+Way+The+Fifth+Estate

Lou Ragland keeps plugging away in the music biz ... to say he's a veteran these days is an understatement ... but he can still come up with the goods ... Not too long back he completed a project with Bobby Jonz (Jones) but more recently he's beeen working with Spectrum (who've also been Vegas based for many years) ...

Towan, the music he made (both in the group and solo) is still well loved ... you should be really proud of him, he perhaps didn't fulfil all his musical dreams but he certainly left us with some great tracks.

Jim, many thanks ... I'll pass Dave's review along to the guys in the group .... BTW, still doing my research on them and their music career (which spanned from at least 1968 till the early 80's) .... so far I've identified that they had releases (under all the various names they used) in at least 14 different countries.

Great info, thanks everybody. Had confirmation back from the group's leader ... RE: live gigs under the name THE CROW ... The Crow was a name I picked just to do that session and was never a performing group. Still gathering more info on the group, it's members, recordings & their long (& successful) musical history.

The PYE press release for the 45 (a copy of it is up on 45cat) is dated 8th Aug 75 whereas it was 'announced' as a UK 45 release around 22nd Aug 75 ... so a mis-press would explain that delay.

WOW, that would be really great ... I'd forward this on to the guys in the group (if that would be OK) ... I'll tell them the source -- both the mag, the date of the review & your part in finding it. I still have a few copies of BLACK MUSIC, but they're buried amongst my stash of old B&S's in the loft.

Sorry, but while I'm still gathering info, I'll keep that from you ... it will (of course) be in my upcoming article and I'll put the info up on here as well ... my article will be in the next edition of SOUL UP NORTH.

So it was being played on the Inner Ear 45 at the beginning of 1974 (if not a bit sooner) .... I know it didn't really enjoy any success back in the States in 1970 (or after), though the guys in the other Inner Ear group (Free Form Experiment) knew it when I contacted them (& actually prefer the B side track). Stan Vincent was also involved with this group's first 45 release back in the 60's (which was under their 'everyday name'). I don't believe they ever played live gigs as the Crow and were heading overseas to pursue new opportunities within a few months of the release of AUTUMN. They immediately started a new collaboration and had instant success with the new line-up. They had decent success in their new overseas base & went on to do loads more recording (even enjoying a few hits). I'd still like to pin down if Bill Down's got a copy on Inner Ear to DG and Dave then started to push it (by tipping it in his mag articles). I can't recall now when Dave switched to writing for Black Music (after a bust up with John Abbey at B&S I seem to recall). So when did Dave mention it in an article for the 1st time ? ALSO any idea who the 1st niter DJ to spin it / have success with it was ?? BTW, I'm not holding back most of the facts just to be mysterious. As well as gathering more info to pass back to the actual guys in the group, I intend to pen an article on the outfit's full musical history to go in a soul mag in the near future.

I know this track splits opinions on the scene ... many say it's not soul but psychedelic rock. others that the Crow was obviously a white group, etc. etc. It is in fact by a black 'jazzy funk' New York area outfit. I'm in touch with the leader of the group and they have a very fascinating history. A long music / recording career that spans the continents and even includes some hit records. They started to record back in the 60's but made their scene anthem in 1970. They split from their then US production team shortly after the Inner Ear 45 had been released (in 1970). After relocating to a foreign country, they found a good amount of success and continued to both record and to play loads of live gigs. In 1975, when Right On released their old cuts in the UK, they were still going strong, albeit with a completely different identity. NOW TO MY QUESTIONS ... I know they gained their UK release in August 75 via Dave Godin / Alf Billingham and NY based Bill Downs RIGHT ON Record label (these were the main 3 guys behind the labels set-up). Bill Downs was the long term manager of outfits such as the Ad Libs, Jelly Beans (who had the 2nd release on RIGHT ON), Sam Nesbitt, the Puzzles / Fantastic Puzzles and Chris Bartley. He was also a long time friend of Dave Godins and had been 'feeding' Dave with obscure US soul 45's for a good number of years. In fact, Dave had even been listed as Bill Down's UK rep in US music mags as far back as 1970. So it seems more than likely that Bill Downs got a copy of the Inner Ear 45 to Dave, he liked it and set it up for UK release .... HERE MY MEMORY GETS FUZZY OR NONE-EXISTENT .... ........ did Dave first mention YOUR AUTUMN OF TOMORROW in his B&S column and it was this that started it's UK life (if so, when) ? .... was it played on the scene ahead of it's UK 45 release in August 75 ? .... which club did it initially become a big sound at, Cleethorpes Pier, the Mecca or where ?? ... was it always a 'marmite record' ?? I'd like to pass the info on the tracks UK history back to the group's leader as he / they were completely unaware it even had / has a 'British life'.

Joe Jama performing live (a few years back) ......... there's loads of vids up on youtube of him / his tracks (including one of him doing MY LIFE live in 2011).

Seems NS is becoming mainstream in US society too ... https://www.ispot.tv/ad/wWT3/legalzoom-com-story-of-frank#

Bob Miller & the Millermen (on at the Civic Hall that weekend) were always on BBC TV / radio shows in the late 50's thru to the mid 60's (& beyond probably) ..... .... when the BBC always featured watered-down versions of current pop / soul hits on all their progs.

Related info .......