Sunnysoul

I've got just the name for you: Snake Davis and the Suspicions.

Bob, The identity of Joy Lovejoy is still bugging me and I've thought long and hard about whether any other female artist from the Chess stable has a vocal similarity. I've come to the conclusion that Joy Lovejoy could be Joanne Garrett ! Quite similar vocal timbre and approach although In Orbit is a little grittier than Joanne Garrett's usual smoother vocal stylings. What do you think? And was Joanne Garrett with Chess at the time of release of In Orbit ?

This is easily as good as their first Brunswick LP, and is probably the toughest of their Brunswick LPs to come across as it was their last and the group would disintegrate not long after. I suspect Brunswick weren't too interested in them by this time in the early 70s and Brunswick were concentrating their efforts on their money spinning act the Chi Lites. This is a fantastic LP , and like Jackie Wilson's superb LP from the same time , it was essentially the work of almost-genius Jeff Perry (aka Jeffree). The LP includes the superb this "Love Is Mine" , just to name one track, in quality worth more than any 3000 pound 45 you want to name. And in time honoured Brunswick tradition the company threw in Im Gonna Miss You and Girl I Need You on the LP ! I recommend it unreservedly !

The great thing about the Stovall Sisters brilliant reworking is that it is - to my knowledge - LP only.

Don't let anyone "step on your dreams" mate

Well Pete I reckon you'd prefer to listen to the Carstairs than this stuff, eh ?

Soulful house is a misnomer, a contradiction in terms really, isn't it ? I've always found it a curious proposition (and stereotype) that, because a person may for example be black and wail like hell over a computerised 120pm beat, it is "soulful". I've had a good listen to a lot of so called soulful house over the last 20 years or so and the remarkable thing about a lot of it - the vocals , the music and the songwriting - is how cold and soul-less and tune-less it really is. Bit insulting to the likes of everyone from Garnett Mimms to Anita Baker to call this stuff "soulful", eh ? Wasn't soul music pretty much dead by some time in the mid 80's anyway ??? Please read the Betty Lavette LP thread !

Isn't it funny how these types of recordings never really got the acclaim they deserved when first released?

Looks like there's plenty of 'em around ... in one form or another.

Not on Aussie Power Exchange ... or any other Aussie label for that matter. The only soul 7" on the Aussie Power Exchange label was the Imperials "Whos Gonna Love Me".

That's right Pete , Jackie Lee "Do The Temptation Walk" on NZ Action. However much tougher than either the Belles or Jackie Lee on NZ Action is the Olympics "Secret Agents". Incidentally the NZ Action label had no connection whatsoever with the UK Action label

No, the San Francisco TKO's is a world wide recognised NZ only rarity.

Bob, didn't the Moods have a later connection to the Trammps and - as Ady mentions - a connection to the Volcanoes earlier in time ? And it is interesting to note the Len Barry / Philly connection and also the Vanguard label's connection to Philly studios output of the Barry - Madara production team. Grover Mitchell's sides on Vanguard are Philly produced too. Vanguard was essentially a folk label, interesting that they dabbled in soul /RnB for a time . Be great if some one could tie all these various connections together !

The Gwen McRae LP "Melody of Life" has long been a sought after piece by both funk and soul collectors especially on the 80's rare groove scene. There's always been a fair bit of conjecture though on originals vs boots of this LP .... that is, boots that were done in the 80s at the time of the LP's initial popularity with thick hard cardboard sleeves (and before the wholesale mass "reproduction" of virtually every rare soul and funk LP by Scorpio in the US that occurred in the 90s up to the present, using digital photo wrap around cover sleeves). John, can you enlighten us on how to tell the difference between the originals and those supposed early boots ?

Bobby Jones "Talkin Bout Jones" is another .

Jim, Post a list up of what you have and I'll price 'em for you.

That Jimmy Hughes LP on Volt from 1969 is a beauty ! Every track a winner including a cracking version of J J Barnes "Chains of Love" and a fab mid tempo finger snapper "I'm So Glad" amongst others ... Don Davis produced, this is in reality a Detroit soul LP !!!

Regardless of all the rhetoric concerning the value and price, it's a great record but it is completely and utterly inspired by Earth Wind and Fire. And of course no one would dare play an Earth Wind and Fire hit at a rare soul gig, would they ?

"Cross-eyed" is the first word that comes to mind

Aaron, 'Love" on Side 2 of course is the track for northern collectors, but I'm curious to know what is the track on Side 1 ? And can you do sound clips of both sides ?

Good to see you on here Adey, Please email me your list : soulaustralia@hotmail.com Can't let that Pete Fowler fella get all the rare vinyl that you're gonna send Down Under !!!

Not strictly true about there being no US demo. Alexander Patten was issued in the US in 1966 on one of a series of white label Capitol promotional 12" distributed only to US radio stations containing various artists from various musical genres. These 12" promos are very rare and collectible in their own right and their sound quality is far superior to the standard 7" releases. Others in this series of Capitol promotional LPs featured such tracks as Bobby Paris "I Walked Away" and Patrice Holloway's "Stolen Hours" and HB Barnum's "Heartbreaker" and the Checkmates "Kissin Her and Crying" etc ... Also interesting in light of the long held perception amongst soul fans over the years that the major labels like RCA and MGM etc never knew or really cared to promote their soul/RnB output throughout the 60's and 70's. These LPs are if nothing else evidence that Capitol was at least testing the waters with radio stations on soul and RnB tracks that were being released by the label ...

Well said Jim, The Beautiful Day LP is one of the great soul LPs from the early 70's, from start to finish, and was very much the brilliant work of Jeff Perry (AKA Jeffree) of Love Dont Come No Stronger and Mr Fixit fame, who at that time was an aspiring songwriter trying to make it. The LP has other dancers that are even better then the wonderful 'Because of You', notably "This Love Is Mine", and some beautiful soul ballads including the title track, which a certain Brack Obama could I'm sure use as a theme tune ....

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Have a copy of the Universal Love on a 12" ... nice EX+ condition ... harder than the 7" actually and the 12" sounds better when played out.