Roburt

From that article Derek posted, it seems Oliver converted the building into a studio sometime in the mid 60's (65/ 66). So by 1971, when it started to get lots of 'outside' useage, he should have been well skilled as a studio engineer.

Come on now ......

The group had a 'slack period' between summer 64 and early 67 and their line-up changed (3 new members) between summer 66 & summer 67. In 1965 / early 66 they were on Top Ten. Is their line-up in that period known ? If this guy was a member for a short period (before they landed their RCA deal), then I guess he COULD be telling the truth. Their membership is well documented from when they landed their RCA deal (summer to fall 66 ??).

'Soul Harmony Singles' says that the Solid Rock group are the same (Detroit) outfit as the Carrie group. They became Combination Inc .... .... G Frazier & Jimmy Hightower who wrote & produced the Solid Rock sides being in the group on Arc Lark & Stacey ...

Most likely the inspiration for the Animals version .......

More old Animals live footage ...

Don't think so. It was a staple of their live shows back in the mid 60's & they did a version on a BBC radio show back then (released on CD much later). Most of their early LP tracks were cover songs that they played live, so don't know why "Work Song" never made it onto vinyl back then. Maybe they cut a studio version but it wasn't used as enough tracks to fill an album were selected ahead of it. Maybe EMI (or Decca) had a version in the vaults.

Has the history of the various soul groups using this name been tied down yet ?? ....

Ady has most (all ?) of those Curtom EP's, so he should be able to answer this.

I know a lot of funk 45s were included in Soul Bowl 'soul packs' back in the 70's / 80's. Later on, lots of these little indie label funk cuts became big money items with the funk DJ crowd.

Archway Studios was owned & run by Oliver Sain. He liked / cut loads of funk & that was his 'bread & butter'. But he cut loads of other stuff too (his was the main soul studio in St Louis). Acts like the Montclairs, Swamp Dogg, Bobby McClure, Uvee Hayes, David Dee , Charles Beverly, Gene Anderson + loads of local gospel & soul acts used the studio. Probably Les Watson as well (who's tracks were released on Pompeii) & Jamie Ross (on Cat). Oliver was usually the engineer himself, having started the studio around 1971. Oliver actually started out in the music / recording biz back in the very early 60's, running an orchestra. He cut instro stuff & took on local acts. He was Fontella Bass's manager & backed her up on her Chess stuff. He became a sort of mentor to many St Louis acts. Not sure if Archway Studios was new when he took it on OR if he bought up an existing local studio & just renamed it. My guess is that the Sign of the Times session was bought at the studio by the act or their manager (Sid Wallace ?) & that it was just a quick contracted job for Oliver & the studio -- get em in, cut em, & create the master. I've no idea if it was the studio part or the mastering that screwed this track up but it really shouldn't have been the studio session (unless it was done around 71 when Oliver was still learning how to be a studio engineer). The Lee Stone 45 on Break Out was also cut at Archway. Oliver himself cut loads of big tracks in there & they came out sounding OK. Another guy involved with Oliver & the studio was Phil Westmoreland was had his own group (Westmoreland), worked a lot with Charles Drain, Shirley Brown, Larry Davis and Kent Washburn of EmKay Records fame (Hypnotics, Voice Masters, Otis Williams, Michael (Love)Smith, etc). Didn't Numero release some Sign of the Times stuff, I guess more about the group & their recordings will be available via Numero's releases.

Another old TV show that still exists ... Teen Town -- Motown Special ...

Back in 1975, this show was broadcast in many areas down the US east coast. It seemed to depend on whether the local Pepsi supplier would book ads for the spot as to whether it got shown on a particular TV stn or not. Loads of soul music TV shows were made locally back in the mid 60's to mid 70's but most of these are now lost to us as the tapes were destroyed soon after their broadcast date. EBONY AFFAIR is a rare exception (along with Soul Train, Soul, The Beat, etc.) and it seems there are more actual footage of the original shows still in existence than info on them.

David Yabarra contacted me to say that although Linda's story would form the basis of a good book, it was up to her if she used the current 4 part story as the basis of such a book. He confirms that his piece has a lot about her period performing as Linda Cumbo (he states ... The "Linda Cumbo"/soul music years are indeed some of the most overlooked and alluring part of her history. The first installment of the literary documentary goes "live" on the Daeida site on 7/30 .... It seems that folk can view the contents of the mag on-line for free, though of course, he's very keen to sell copies of it (the printed version). He says he has had orders from around the world for previous editions that featured articles on soul singers (he has been running the mag for 9 years now).

I don't think Contempo ever sold NS packs though did they, only soul packs containing good soul (& gospel) records rather than good dance records. It was the Bowl that sold NS packs (though I would rather buy their cheaper soul packs as you got a more balanced selection of sounds).

A UK band's Mojo gig .....

As it's his birthday today, thought I'd post this UK gig ad by the main man ...

Lots of the 45's that ended up in Contempo Soul Packs were the singles that they had in bulk that appeared in their Record Club catalogue .... .... Two copies of "Keep My Woman Home" on Atlas, please .... £1.20 + postage, OK, that's fine, send em straight away !!

I'd say that quite a few 70's soul pack (Contempo, Soul Bowl) 45's are worth a lot now. Weren't lots of copies of Jack Montgomery's Barracuda 45 included in late 70's packs ??

Many thanks. The LP was released in May 71 so I guess the gig must have been in late 70 or early 71. This has to be the same Earl Foddrell .... https://www.nytimes.com/1981/01/21/sports/fix-suspect-indicted-on-new-drug-count.html

Anyone here got a copy of this Turbo LP ?? I'm presuming that it was cut at the famous Sugar Shack Club located in Boston. If that is the case, do the notes on the album back cover say anything about the club or the show. Also does it list the date of the concert (s) -- artists were usually booked into the club for a 6/7 day stint. CHEERS.

Look Kegsy, I'm from Yorkshire !!! I got a UK Arthur Conley 45 back in the 80's ... it cost me 20p and I moaned about paying that much. It's titled "Take A Step In My Direction" & by all accounts it goes for up to £100 now !!! Still paid too much for it back in't day. Roger was a real pain in the b*m at Prestatyn Weekender. He used to do his radio spot & then turn every dial on the controls as far away from the normal setting as possible. It took the Pontin's sound engineers hours to get everything back sounding OK again. But coz everyone else's show sounded bad, he'd have a go at them all, calling them amateurs !!

In the Hull 2nd hand shops you always seemed to be able to pick up Euro issue soul 45's .... Hull being a port, skint sailors obviously sold some 45's to the local 2nd hand shops and so I came upon them back in the 60's / 70's. Stuff like Dee Dee Sharp 45's on German issue, Dutch Motowns & even some Scandinavian stuff as well.

Another Mojo club gig ....

Mark, my older brother used to be a ship's engineer (this was back in the 60's). He sailed on 2 routes from Manchester on cargo ships to Argentina & through the Great Lakes to cities like Chicago. I'd always ask him to drop in local record shops when berthed in a US city & buy me a handful of soul 45's out of the cheapies box. He never did, mainly I think coz he didn't know which were soul 45's (he had no interest in or knowledge of soul material). Anyway, after I'd bugged him a few times for coming back empty handed, he did go into a US record shop & picked up 3 LP's with black guys on the front cover. They were relatively new releases (it must have been 1966 or 67) at the time & one of them was Spyder's album. So I had this US import LP way before many (any?) import soul 45's.