Roburt

Rick, studio time is like airplane seats or cruise ship cabins. If the studio / seat / cabin remains empty, that resource is lost forever (i.e it can't be sold). So airplane seats / ship cabins are discounted at the last minute to ensure they're occupied. Same with recording studios. Either a known client would be offered a discount to use unbooked studio slots OR more usually they would be allowed use of the studio without any upfront payment. A bill would be produced by the studio and sent to the client (many times, the master tapes produced at the session remaining with the studio till the bill was paid). So the producers of Darryl's session (Ray Dahrouge & Billy Terrell) must have agreed a deal with the studio, produced the tracks and then shopped them around a few New York labels. Scepter / Wand picked them up for release and would have paid an 'advance' to secure the tracks. This money would then have been used by Ray / Billy to pay the studio. If sales of the 45 didn't cover the cost of the cash advance paid out, then that would be the last cash the producers / artist would get (& so far, the artist wouldn't have received a cent ... though ... having a 45 out would have meant more & better live show bookings).

Complicated question Rick. On many independently financed sessions (where the producer/ artist hired the studio at a hourly rate), the songs would be fully developed & the act rehearsed on them before the session began. This, of course, speeded up the cutting process & would allow say 3/4 tracks to be done in a 4 hr booking slot. As most know, studios didn't keep regular hours, many sessions would run over & so incur extra costs but the usual practise (with studio based musicians) was for them to be paid 'union rate' (a set fee per hour for their work). So if a session ran to 6hrs instead of the planned 4, then the costs would increase by 50% (studio & engineers time also being charged at an hourly rate). Lots of times, if strings were needed, members of a local orchestra (Detroit) or music students from a local college would be fetched in to add their parts (the advantage of using students was that many times they'd work for a free meal or whatever). You could hire the studio alone & bring along your own musicians (then you paid them whatever you could get away with & didn't have to pay 'union rates') or you could use the studio's resident players (if they had such a team). Most times though, a studio based musician playing most days of the week only made enough to pay his bills and didn't get anywhere near rich even if he was a master of his instrument. If you were a studio's star act, then you could do pretty much anything you wanted (but of course, the fees involved were still charged back to your account with the label). So Carla Thomas @ Stax, Al Green @ Hi / Royal, James Carr @ American or the Tops/ Tempts @ Motown would pretty much have free run of the studio. Many stupid situations (with regard to billing) came about. For instance, Lou Ragland would always play on his own sessions. So he was paid as a musician on the day with the costs being charged back to his account as the artist (if the resulting record release didn't cover it's cutting / production costs, then he ended up still owing the studio). I also recently interviewed Darryl Stewart about his studio sessions & wrote an article about his career. He's a snippet of that ......... In preparation for a studio session of his own, Darryl accompanied Billy & Ray when they went along to Debbie Taylor's recording sessions at RCA's studio. George Kerr was the producer (and also helped on background vocals) with Debbie handling her duties with ease. Darryl thought the studio itself was spectacular and was amazed at the talent she displayed. His talented production team weren't going to let the Paramount setback ruin their plans and so they organised an independent recording session for Darryl themselves. This took place at New York's Record Plant studio where “Name It and Claim It” (written by Ray & Billy) plus “Cross My Heart” (written by Ray) were recorded. Tony Camillo was the arranger on the session, with Tony Bongiovi handling the engineering side of things. The background singers on “Name It & Claim It” were Ray, Billy and a really good 3 strong girl group. Darryl recalls the Record Plant having two nice sized rooms with glass separating them from the engineering rooms. Various instruments were set out in each room; a grand piano, drums, xylophone plus a few others. He got to meet Maxine Brown at the studio, which impressed him (also Richard Tee who was one of the musicians utilised on his tracks). His session featured around 20 participants, these included violinists, percussion players, a horn section and more (just about all being contracted studio musicians). The rhythm tracks were laid down first; drums, guitars, bass, came next; then his vocals followed by the background vocals. He remembers it taking just two sessions to complete both tracks (the first one lasting about 4 hours). His lead vocals were swiftly completed, he nailed “Cross My Heart” in two takes, with “Name It ..” requiring four in all. He only needed to turn up near the end of the second recording session as his efforts had been completed during the first session. At the 2nd session, the 'sweeteners' (as they were called) were added to finish off the tracks. He then participated in the process of arriving at the final mixes for both tracks. Darryl couldn't quite believe the final sound that had been achieved that day. The resulting two tracks were then shopped around some New York labels, with Florence Greenberg at Scepter / Wand picking them up for release on 45. Hope the above helps. An ad for studio hire in LA in 1973 ... $30 an hour (without musician's costs) seems quite cheap ...

MORE INFO off the list ............ OCTOBER 16 ROYAL STUDIO CHARLIE RICH One Session >> most probably resulted in > HI 2116 CHARLIE RICH Love Is After Me / Pass On By ........ and entries such as this ........ NOVEMBER 16 ROYAL STUDIO SESSION LEADER: W. MITCHELL artist: GUY THAT TRAVELS WITH THE PLATTERS One Session . . . . . . . . . wonder who the heck that was ??

A long term project by the Soul Detective (Red Kelly) on-line here ......... https://souldetective.com/ 1966 Memphis studio session info on this page ........ https://souldetective.com/reggie1966.html Some of the sessions listed resulted in these (non - Hi releases ) ........ STUDIO LABEL & 45 No. SESSION DATES ARTIST TITLE AMERICAN YOUNGSTOWN 609 JUNE 10 / 11 ROOSEVELT GRIER High Society Woman / Deputy Dog SUN CADET 72620 AUG 31 & SEPT 5 BARBARA & THE BROWNS I Don't Want To Have To Wait / Plenty Of Room ROYAL FURY then Capitol WILLIE HIGHTOWER If I Had A Hammer / So Tired (Of Running Away) ROYAL MUSICOR 1221 OCT 21 PORGY & THE MONARCHS My Heart Cries For You / Think Twice ROYAL FURY 5004 NOVEMBER 24 WILLIE HIGHTOWER I Love You (Yes I Do) / Let's Walk Together ROYAL GOLDWAX 317 NOVEMBER 27 JAMES CARR The Dark End Of The Street /Lovable Girl Nashville CAMEO 453 DECEMBER 7 BOBBY MARCHAN Meet Me In Church / Hooked ROYAL ROULETTE 4719 DECEMBER 8 CAROL FRAN So Close / Out Of Sight Out Of Mind

Another of their tracks, this one also escaped on 45 ...

Two top tunes from the group ....

John Wilson (of S,S&W) has been in touch to inform me that Scott Lockett of Cleveland group Glass Tear has unfortunately passed away. John also tells me that Scott had been the keyboard player in Sly, Slick & Wicked's backing band (he'd also helped out John's parents in their later years after John had left Cleveland). . . Another sad loss for soul music.

Some of the bits produced on Jackie over recent years .... https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/music/searching-for-jackie-shane-rbs-lost-transgender-superstar/article35057998/ https://i-d.vice.com/en_uk/article/d3p7jv/this-is-2020-vision-straight-up https://thevinylfactory.com/news/jackie-shane-transgender-soul-singer-numero-group/ He also had a chapter all about himself in a book about gay life in Toronto back in the day (see extract below .... https://queermusicheritage.com/drag-shane.html

As David said, Jackie Shane is about to become the next old soul star that Numero shine the light on via their new release (2 x LP, 2 x CD + digi package). Jackie burst onto the US scene in the early 60's and recorded from 62 plus toured a lot. He started out in Nashville (his home town) but moved about quite a bit. He soon hooked up with the Frank Motley Band. At one stage the ensemble was up in Boston and cut tracks for Skippy White (1964), but they soon relocated to Toronto in Canada. Jackie settled down there, played lots of gigs in the city (& in Montreal), came out & recorded some more. His last recordings seem to have been for Paragon around 1970 and after that he drifted into obscurity. He eventually moved back to Nashville and became something of a recluse. But is old records were well resepected & so folk kept trying to track him down. This eventually led to him being rediscovered in Nashville where he has been interviewed as part of the Numero project. So he's about to be re-introduced to music fans, not before time too.

His BMI entry ...........

A post on Southern Soul today ......... In the mid-1960s the music director of a SF Bay Area college radio station wanted a copy of every current release and just about hustled them all. They mostly ended up in his home closet and ten years later by fluke many fell my way.They've been dispersed, alas, good Lord what a trove, but one that I actually squeezed some money out of was the delightful disc in the subject header (£2445 IIRC...). So the other day I was explaining to my banker lady that I'd led a shiftless dissolute life of wheeling and dealing in the realm of collectibles and mentioned the GoGate disc as an example of an infrequent jackpot, due to the weird world of the subgenre phenomenon known as Northern Soul.SMALL WORLD-She: I think I know them. Me: like, uh huh sure. I had one of 4 known copies. The label had two releases and afaik next to nothing is known...She said she'd ask.I dropped by the bank subsequently, and her older sister was indeed friends with them. They don't even own a copy, and the guy who had one and asked for it to be autographed at their high school reunion would not sell it to them. I can't be objective about the musical quality but hey despite it being a NS Holy Grail it's far from junk, IMO. I was, in the branch lobby, let in on some tidbits: recorded in LA, the Trent Sisters had one song initially ready to record, not, LOL "A Letter a Day"--which was hurriedly composed in a motel room by the Trents to serve as the lowly B flip and recorded the next day.Anyway, a Trent or two is quite willing to be interviewed regarding her or their all-too-brief professional music career and I'd be pleased to arrange for pro and am journalists to get in touch.https://youtu.be/24fTwPVOGSQJim in Sili (con) Valley -- Jim Pollock SO .... don't get in touch if you're actually after a copy of the original 45 .... BUT if you're interested in doing an article on them ... by all means, get in touch. Rene Hall worked (as arranger) on both Gogate 45's; it would be interesting to learn how a guy who worked with so many great top artists for major labels ended up doing the Gogate sessions as this was obviously a tiny indie outfit. The ladies also say they wrote the song whereas the 45's label credits a La-Monte Howard & Shermonte Music (neither still registered @ BMI), so I'd guess he had something to do with the label and nicked the song credits. However, he's also credited as a song writer on Rene Hall sessions for Keymen (Fuller Bros) and Soul Clock (Connie Tanzell) ... both of those songs were joint comps with a Fuller brother ... so maybe he did do some songwriting work. These other sessions date from 67 & 68, so no doubt that's when (or close to when) Gogate was in operation.

Info on him ... https://www.nashvillescene.com/news/article/13047917/jesse-boyces-remarkable-career-starts-at-muscle-shoals

It's been stated on Facebook (his own page) and in a post on Southern Soul that Jesse Boyce has passed away. Jesse was involved with lots of great soul tracks (mainly as a musician, producer, arranger, song writer). His work was with / cut by the likes of James & Bobby Purify, Candi Staton, Clarence Carter, Mighty Sam, Ruby Winters, Bill Brandon, Ben E King, Willie Hightower, Bottom & Co, Roscoe Robinson, Bobby Byrd, Lorraine Johnson & many more. Another sad loss.

As already said, Nottingham always had a big crowd of soulies (well from at least as early as 65/66 to my knowledge). They frequented clubs such as the Dungeon & Beachcomber and travelled to the Mojo (Sheffield) & Nite Owl (Leicester). We'd hitch down to the Nite Owl from Sth Yorks and if we got stuck (no lifts en-route), we'd head into Nottingham to visit the pubs the soul crowd hung out in (can't remember the names of em now though). Some of the Notts lads would 'jump' the train (no-ticket) up to Sheffield to get to the Mojo.

Snowy (Donny) used to borrow some of my stuff (he also bought many other items) & take them along to the Casino.

Tony Clarke & the Sapphires (as recording artists) were both well known to UK mods / soulies from the mid 60's via their UK 45 releases. Both of Tony's mid 60's outings got loads of club plays (The Entertainer was even reissued here as early as April 69) and the Sapphires HMV singles were also popular finds. So UK soulies like myself who were 'buying blind' off UK auction lists & from US warehouse lists (paying low prices for cuts we didn't know by artists we did) were picking up things like "Slow Fizz" from around 1968 ... (I never liked it coz of the stupid dance lyrics & so sold it in the early 70's). When B&S started doing their soul packs in 71/72, they bought in a whole truck load of old Chess 45's & I believe that haul included loads of things such as Tony Clarke's later biggie. I've no idea who played either 45 first in a UK club setting but copies of each single were floating around in UK soul circles from around 71.

With regard to UK tours by the Vibrations. I seem to recall they toured here twice in the mid to late 60's and on one (or both) of those tours Bobby Eli came with them as their travelling musician (the other backing guys being UK based). No doubt if someone contacts Bobby he'll pass along more info.

Maslar, so D Nathan didn't get the name wrong and it was actually Bill Barnes & not Bill Downs. Then, it must have been an entirely different New York Bill who was working with Dave G in 1969 (& who was the Ad Libs manager & an associate of Van McCoys) from the guy in 1970 who worked with Dave & was the Ad Libs manager + an associate of Van McCoys. It was definitely Bill Downs who worked with Dave on the 444 label and their Right On label project in the mid 70's (& who was the Ad Libs manager) ..... Unless of course, Pye Records also got the name wrong on their Right On press release ...

Maslar, if you don't know what 'double dealing' means when used to describe the record biz in the 60's, then you don't know much. I've read that piece by David Nathan and though he has the person's name wrong, I don't doubt the facts he states regarding the Chris Jackson sides coming to Soul City via Bill Downes are 100% correct. Bill represented the likes of Chris Bartley, the Ad Libs (& most probably Chris Jackson) at that time. Bill really liked DG and they were still working closely through to the mid 70's (Dave's 444 & Right On label period -- Sam Nesbit, Chris Bartley, Puzzles). If Dave had done anything untoward with regard to the Chris Jackson deal, I'm sure Bill Downes wouldn't have retained his close links with Dave down the years ... see attached clip that states DG was actually BD's official UK rep in 1970. This was around the same time that the 2nd Chris Jackson Soul City 45 was due for release. At that time, Soul City had severe financial problems (these resulting in the bankruptcy of the label / shop). I'd guess any sour grapes from Chris Jackson stems from the lack of ability for Dave or Soul City to supply him with funds back then. BTW, Bill was still in contact & dealing with DG even after the Right On period. I myself was slightly involved with Bill in the mid 80's when Move Records did a deal for some Chris Bartley releases here. Pity I didn't get the chance to talk with Bill about his dealings with DG ... but if I had, no doubt Bill would have sung DG's praises.

It's been available from THE WORKS @ £3 for quite a while. I bought a copy from them (on-line with free collection from my local branch) a good number of weeks back. ALSO ... as has been said before, the events at the Algiers Hotel have been written about many times down the years. There's a good stage play (which was written by Dominique Morrisseau & also titled DETROIT 67) that has been performed in the US since March 2013. The play's script (in book form) itself being published in 2014. The play is currently being staged in Detroit (no doubt to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the riots). Info on the play (which was a musical production featuring numerous Motown songs) ... https://www.samuelfrench.com/p/12567/detroit-67 One of her earlier plays actually enjoyed a run in a London theatre in 2012 >> https://www.officiallondontheatre.co.uk/london-shows/show/item135601/sunset-baby/

I'm sure this whole issue is not some great conspiracy dreamed up back in 1969 by Dave Godin. Many times, costs dictated what took place, as independent producers, in conjunction with artists, tried to land record deals. I'd bet any double-dealing over these tracks (if in fact there was any) occured on the US side of the pond. For many years folk on the scene have loved Lorenzo Manley's "Swoop Down On You" ... yet the track doesn't feature Lorenzo at all. The A side of this 45 (which does feature Lorenzo) was licensed for release by Original Sound but the cash on offer wasn't sufficient to fund a B side. So an old demo cut by Gene Dozier himself was used as the 'throw away' B side. At the time, Ugene was still using the false name had taken on to land earlier work in Detroit; Billy Jackson. In fact, Gene had started to write the song back in Philly (even before he relocated to Detroit & then LA), though it wasn't finished when he'd moved to Detroit. So his version (written by Jackson - Santifer), when completed, differs somewhat from the original Philly version of the song, which of course became Eddie Carlton's "It Will Be Done" (written by Norman Johnson !!). Don't forget, there were few businesses that were as cut-throat as the recording biz back in the 60's (the soul music end of things in particular).

I'm sure there was a full article on Chris Jackson & his UK record in an early B&S (around B&S 17 I think -- I have it somewhere up in the loft). I think it was put in the mag just after he visited the UK (a short while before Soul City shop & label went bust). If my memory ain't playing tricks on me (& I am very old), then Soul City was sent a copy of the US version of Chris's tracks. Dave G wasn't 100% sold on them but was sufficiently interested to say he might release them if some changes were made. So, the tracks were rejigged, resubmitted to Soul City and licensed for release ... that's the reason for the "A Commisioned recording made in the USA for Soul City " text on the label.

US CHART POSITIONS ....... The Radiants HIGHEST R&B CHART # 14 ON CHART FOR 6 weeks POP CHART #91 James Phelps HIGHEST R&B CHART #12 ON CHART FOR 7 weeks POP CHART #66 Knight Brothers HIGHEST R&B CHART #12 ON CHART FOR 8 weeks POP CHART #70

The Radiants 45 was released (& promoted) at the same time as two other Chess 45's ... the Knight Brothers & James Phelps biggest outings. It seems that, sales wise / radio tip / trade mag tip wise, the other two 45's did better at the time (in both R&B and pop chart terms). It's not that easy to find relevant radio stn charts from that period (around May 65), but again it seems that in many areas, the other two 45's featured more on radio stn charts back then too. So just maybe, the Radiants song was more of a club hit than a radio / chart success and it was this that spawned all the cover versions.

https://www.yahoo.com/music/detroits-67-riots-halted-music-helped-recalibrate-sound-040444042.html