Sunnysoul

Glad you liked it Sebastian, by the way I'm still playing that Greene Sisters LP on Excello I won off you on evil-bay a little while back ! Cheers !

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u366g9mHdqQ Well before my time but my older mates tell me this was a Mecca monster as a new release at the time until it became a world wide hit of course ! Right ?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aup8mke5fpA This is a real exciting find, so many rare and indie soul fans had this as their number one deep soul tune back in the 80's and early 90's and it always got mentions in UK magazines like Blackbeat etc etc. Proteges of the O'Jays , these guys out of Ohio, on the tiny Sounds of Cleveland label. But to see footage of them performing it ? Superb !

Interesting Pete your comments about the "sound" of the Miracles "Going To A Go Go" , that is, the off vocals and distorting bass etc I love it as much as the next person, but I always thought the mix of the hit recording was so "muddy" , "muffled" even. I'm sure many would say that is what makes it great but I've always been hoping that some day, someone would clean the mix up, so to speak. I would say exactly the same thing with respect to Martha and the Vandellas' Dancing In The Street which also sounds so muddy !!! Funny that, all the other Hunter - Stevenson Motown productions around at that time were absolutely crystal clear !!!

I have the Australian 45 release, an original on Aussie black RCA, EX condition, one of the rarest of the rare Aussie soul releases, if not THE rarest !!! Fabulous piece ! Offers welcome , first in best dressed !!!

This had sold on ebay on two occasions in the last couple of weeks at around $250 US. Is it getting plays again and getting re-activated ?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uXwgEu25BQ I posted the Delfonics clip a few days ago on Top of the Pops, well here's a well cool clip of Brenton Wood on Top of the Pops from 1968. And the Top of the Pops Orchestra give the Gimme Little Sign backing track a lot more balls than on the record ! Nice one !

Put him in touch with Snake Davis, could be a spot for him in the band

Ken, I think Skippy's dead now Incidentally are you still after that insanely wild version of "Of Hopes and Dreams and Tombstones" by the Purple Hearts (1966) ?

Pete, can you not continue to post clips exclusively on the Soul Source web site ? Or might that have obvious legal implications for Soul Source ?

Anyone with a Musicor DEMO please ?

And an equally good version by First Choice on a Warners Brothers seven ...

Yep, both are great in their own way. Interesting thing with the Womack Keymen release , as with the The Fi Dels classic "Try A Little Harder" also on Keymen, the UK Jay Boy releases have far better and louder sound reproduction than the Keymen US originals !!!! I always play the Jay Boys issues out !!!

Well come on then, is it on a 4 Tops album or not ?

Don't forget Spike Milligan ... and recently Leo Sayer is an honorary Aussie Can we have Rolf Harris back please ?

Nope, he only lasted a short time with the Delfonics. By '74 Major Harris was having his biggest ever solo hit with Love Won't Let Me Wait.

I should also have mentioned in my detailed post above a few other famous Soul Music personalities from the US who made their home in Australia in the 70's and 80's , namely ... One of soul music's greatest producers and arrangers GIL ASKEY of Motown and Curtom label fame , and who is alive and well and living in Melbourne, As well as the greatest and longest serving Ikette Ms VENETTA FIELDS who was also the lead voice with Mirwood's Mirettes. Venetta has been mainstay on the Oz live and seesion scene since the mid 70's !

I should also have mentioned in my detailed post above a few other famous Soul Music personalities from the US who made their home in Australia in the 70's and 80's , namely ... One of soul music's greatest producers and arrangers GIL ASKEY of Motown and Curtom label fame , and who is alive and well and living in Melbourne, As well as the greatest and longest serving Ikette Ms VENETTA FIELDS who was also the lead voice with Mirwood's Mirettes. Venetta has been a mainstay on the Oz live and session scene since the mid 70's !

Now let me think , what's that fella's name ... aah yes ... Ian Levine

I am happy to clarify many of the points raised in this thread ! Firstly, let me say that the Spinners' original recording of I'll Be Around is untouchable, but of the many subsequent versions, Doug's is easily as good as any of the others !!! I saw Doug Parkinson performing live in Sydney on several occasions throughout the 80's and 90's and was lucky enough to meet and briefly talk to him about his music. And I was also the first person to inform him that his version of I'll Be Around on the Southern Star label was a northern collectable !!! You should've seen the look on his face when I told him it was fetching upwads of 75 quid !!! Familiar story , right ? Doug started out in the mid 60's in Sydney with a chart topping band that was something like an Oz equivalent of Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels, a tough blue eyed soul / RnB style act. Their 45's on Festival are all worth collecting and several have real northern dancefloor appeal 6T's style ! As psychedelia kicked in around '67 Doug went a bit "way out" as many performers did and it was around that time that his distinctive image and appearance was set in stone : frizzy afro style hair and pencil thin goatee beard . And he looks exactly the same today, not changed a bit. He is also a BIG guy and if you blinked for a moment you could certainly mistake him for a light skinned black guy !!! He certainly sings like one !!! By the end of the late 60's he had a massive chart hit with a super-soulful version of the Beatles "Dear Prudence" and he had further hits into the early 70's in a heavier RnB / guitar vein. But as time wore on into the mid 70's he followed his true musical calling as a genuine SOUL man and he became a central figure in the absolutely cooking local Sydney LIVE JAZZ FUNK SOUL scene in the mid to late 70's along with Marcia "You Gotta Let Go" Hines, Renee "Be There In The Morning" Geyer , the Hot City Bump Band, Johnny Rocco , Doug "Love Will Bring You Home" Williams (of Rockmelons fame - Searling again!) (incidentally Doug Williams once told me that at one time he actually recorded with with northern legends the Younghearts of Countdown Here I Come and A Little Togetherness fame when Williams was living in LA!) not to mention Delilah , Chelsea Brown (the black chick of 'Laugh In" US TV fame ) and Freddie Parris (yes that Freddie Parris!), and Steve Clisby the incredible original lead voice of US soul legends American Gypsy !!! But I digress ... Doug Parkinson recorded I'll Be Around in 1977 and it hit BIG on the Aussie charts. But success on the Australian pop music scene in the 70's never translated into riches so Doug - for the next 30 years up to the present day - has had to scrape a modest living and as a result has been constantly in demand for his singing voice on TV commercials for everything from Amoco petrol to mobile car repair companies !!! His huge soulful voice is instantly recognisable from the first few notes !!! He has NEVER been a cabaret or middle of the road singer at any time but that's been the "perception" amongst the general population Down Under because of the fact of his physical appearance and his biggest hit I'll Be Around came at the height of DISCO and because he's had to scrape a living as a singer he has often done shows in fooball clubs and retired servicemen's clubs !!! So he's always been saddled with that "perception". But ask any famous Australian musician or performer from the 60s70s80s and all have the utmost respect for the man !!! A Val Doonican or Englebert Humperdinck clone ? No way ! Only in the eyes of the ignorant or musically tasteless ! More like Teddy Pendergrass or Marvin Junior ! And he just happens to be a really down to earth quietly spoken humble kinda guy too !!!! As for the popularity of I'll Be Around on the northern scene, I met Dave Sinclair in Melbourne in the late 80's after I had promoted the first ever Northern Soul Allnighters in Australia and Dave DID confirm that it was he who had introduced the record to Richard Searling ! As Maria mentioned , Dave is still in Melbourne and can be contacted. (Maria are you in Sydney at the moment ?) Let me just finish with this (and no I'm not Doug Parkinson's personal promotions company!) if Doug ever were to get the opportunity to record that voice of his on a full LP worth of original written tunes with a collection of soulful US musos the results would certainly be soulfully spectacular !

UK Sue !!!

HOW GOOD IS THIS AMERICAN TV COMMERCIAL FROM THE EARLY 70'S PROMOTING A SOUL LP !!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUeJiapifSc Always nice to see the boys, one of the great Philly soul groups, but this clip is extra interesting for several reasons ... Firstly, they're in the UK performing live with the Top of the Pops Orchestra backing 'em .. and Secondly this is from the time when Major Harris had just joined the group , he having had several solo chart failures with rubbish like Call Me Tomorrow on Okeh Super stuff though !

If you're called "one-off" now, what are they gonna call you when you hit 10,000 ?!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDJGYTiHJ5A I'm as excited about finding this footage as when I posted the clip of the Philly group Love Committee some months ago. Never thought I'd ever see film of these guys who recorded several fabulous and much sought after soul and boogie LP's on Mercury through the 70's ...