Thinksmart

Yes and Invisible Man's Band too.

Thanks for sharing this sad news. Songwriters are often overlooked but he wrote some classics.

BBC reporting Mary Wilson has passed away aged 77.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/feb/05/disco-pioneer-tom-moulton-people-thought-i-was-from-another-planet Althought often typified as a Disco remixer, his contribution to uptempo Soul is equally notable.

"Sonos will premiere a new station on Sonos Radio HD titled the Sound of Philadelphia, hosted and hand-curated by Kenny Gamble himself. In partnership with Warner Chappell Music, The Sound of Philadelphia will explore the label’s greatest hits from artists including The Jacksons, Patti LaBelle, the O’Jays, and more. The Sound of Philadelphia will take listeners behind-the-scenes with Gamble, who will share stories from his time writing, producing and working on 120 internationally-beloved albums and over 40 gold and platinum records. The station will feature special guests, as well unique programming for Black History Month, Women’s History Month and more. The Sound of Philadelphia will be available February 24 on Sonos Radio HD. VMP (Vinyl Me, Please) in conjunction with Legacy Recordings will partner on VMP Anthology: The Story of Philadelphia International, an exclusive vinyl box set celebrating the renowned Philly Soul label coming in 2021. The Story of Philadelphia International reinvents the box set experience to take listeners on a sequential journey told across eight albums remastered from their original tapes and paired with liner notes and an exclusive podcast interview series in celebration of the label’s 50th anniversary. Snapper Music-United Souls in conjunction with Legacy Recordings will release a volume series of limited edition 8-CD sets throughout the year celebrating the 50th Anniversary of PIR. Each set will contain a unique giant poster, exclusive 12” single, endorsed numbered certificate, a lavish 48-page hardcover book with a comprehensive archive of rare photographs compiled and curated in association with artists, engineers, and producers relevant to the label’s story. All discs will be mastered from original tapes bringing together the entire PIR studio album collection for the very first time."

https://thegrapevine.theroot.com/philadelphia-international-records-celebrates-50-years-1846136010

https://www.billboard.com/amp/articles/news/9515785/philadelphia-international-records-50th-anniversary-exclusive/

BEM not OBE

Great to see, preordered along with the new Birth Of Soul CD too.

An article: https://www.npr.org/2021/01/10/955052761/on-introducing-aaron-frazer-contemplates-love-and-the-road-ahead

This is a good album. Much more 70s Philly than the 60s R&B Soul that might be expected. Played live in the studio with a lot of care, across musicians of established vintage and younger enthusiasm.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/jan/07/a-legend-in-her-own-right-carolyn-franklin-arethas-forgotten-sister This CD from Kent Soul was a revelation when it was released: https://acerecords.co.uk/sister-soul-the-best-of-the-rca-years-1969-1976

I'm on Amazon as an occasional seller and confirm it is affected too. I no longer sell outside UK - it's just too complicated for a few Soul CDs. I haven't seen anything yet myself on Discogs where I do sell a few too that are too rare for Amazon.

Strings were there from the start with them on early Jackie Wilson, Little Willie John, Roy Hamilton, Clyde McPhatter and other records. The pop end of R&B would often sweeten the songs with strings if budgets allowed. They were established in the popular song form strongly already and natural to include if the budget allowed. Sinatra's era at Capitol in mid-late 50s was very popular with lots of strings, as were other leading popular singers from the swing/showtune/light opera influences popular at the time (alongside early rock and roll). I feel sometimes it is the Gospel end of early Soul that gets most emphasis but pop music was a big influence too via doo-wop and other aspects.

Hi all, I'm putting up this topic to discuss a new area that I do not think we've touched on to date. Mixcloud is growing in its use and over time it is being monetised, first with a premium layer that unlocks a better experience and such as tracklist views. However the next stage is paid to specific content uploaders (not necessarily artists/labels/DJs, it is the person who uploads the content whose channel it is). This is worth discussing and also in my view has some legal implications too. It is called Mixcloud Select with more information at mixcloud/select. Although Mixcloud has a PRS arrangement, I do not think the money paid for Select flows through each show to be allocated to the artists within it, other than for the top tier of their 'content producers', especially for old, obscure music from labels long gone. We all support the unmonetised sharing of radio/DJ like shows, but when it is monetised, the question of who should get that money and what it is for arrives. Radio stations have to pay the right fees, but it feels somewhat fuzzy around Mixcloud content uploaders so far. We start to see the same issues as streaming services potentially in the future. The Select page at Mixcloud's site wasn't clear to me and I used to have a (non Soul music) label operating through MCPS-PRS at the time. I already pay Mixcloud for the premium service at £7.99 a month already and the next layer is support for specific people putting up shows there. Upon trying to listen, I was told today I couldn't listen to a soul show without supporting the DJ to the tune of £2.99 a month for that one channel. I'm already paying Mixcloud and had not received any message from the person out to their followers explaining the basis or on such as their Facebook page. I won't say who it is to help keep the conversation general rather than targeted at them, but others may of had the same experience. At the very least, you would think the very small minority paying the premium service would have these fees waived or reduced in some way. On the basis that this person isn't a professional DJ to my knowledge and is playing records from their collection, I was fairly disappointed at the way this was done and for now I have stopped following the person who put it up. They have other shows up that aren't paid for, but they made this one locked unless you pay to support them. They presumably made this choice - perhaps to try it or see if they can monetise the effort they put in. They may of been invited to do so by Mixcloud itself, I don't know. I see now that this person has been doing a 'select' show each month. There may be a valid model to pay perhaps to support some DJs, but the experience of this as a listener was not encouraging. It is not as thought the person is a copyright holder or paying royalities on the music they are playing. If they are charging people to listen, the legal footing is worth more consideration. There are some DJs I would consider supporting with a token amount that adds up across those who enjoy their shows, if it was done in the right way. But in this case, they aren't at that level and there is plenty of other choice. There are some at Mixcloud whose taste sets a course as we all know here and others who are enthusiastic listeners, I appreciate them all. But working out if appropriate to pay one instead of the other is going to be interesting in future. For a lot of these Mixcloud shows I have a significant proportion of the music already having been collecting for a long time like many here, so I'm often listening just to hear the chat, anecdotes and a few things I don't know. This may be a sort of future for some DJs and music perhaps, but it needs some more engagement before it becomes more popular. Somehow it doesn't feel right in the open, giving spirit of Soul music to me. We know historically most DJs have got involved for the love of the music primarily and have often not covered even their expenses. I'm slightly uncomfortable paying a channel at Mixcloud without knowing that the money is supporting music in the right way. If anyone here is using Mixcloud Select for paid shows, either as listener or content producer - their views are welcome too. Also welcome are labels whose music is being played, will their artists see any financial benefit from DJs being 'paid' there? I guess we're entering a new grey area where Mixcloud, radio and DJ sets are converging which opens up new considerations. This is especially true in a world of no ability to meet up and all our shared Soul music experiences being online in the medium term. Thoughts welcome.

J R Bailey had four artist names at least plus was in six groups.

Millie Jackson CD also released and received.

I see Richard Searling's tweet with the book today. Great to see it published. Which is the best way to buy it?

I'm just grateful to have it given there have been other excavations of the vaults in the interim. The Motown Unreleased series is sharing hundreds of tracks of each year legally. Ace has done some quality compilations and the like. I don't mind the versions, Motown passed around songs often and had them cover. I'm not disappointed, I'm just happy to have it.

Huge thanks for putting these out. It will be great if you put out another CD in future collating the issues since the last.

Nice to hear the Richard Searling tribute with memories emailed in to read out. Available in his show now up at Mixcloud this week.

I ordered the book this week, what a wonderful book with excellent design and full colour throughout. Huge thanks for writing the book.

I almost missed this. Great news. I've dug further into his music this year after hearing it played by DJs more on Mixcloud. A talent that is underappreciated to me.

Tim's own book on Wigan Casino years, which I do not think had a distribution or readership of others, does not have the style of his reviews and is an enjoyable, straight forward read. I wouldnt take the review to heart and let it fade. As I was told years ago, a book will be around long after anyone remembers a review of it. I cannot comment on this book not having read it, but academic books on subculture / folkculture are a slog and are not based on participation. I have generally stopped reading them but will give this a go. ps sincrere congratulations on self-funding a PHD, my son is confronted with the difficulty of that (especially right now) and that achievement of yours is worth mentioning in its own right.

New Soul Togetherness 2020 CD details from Expansion Records: https://expansionrecords.co.uk/Soul-Togetherness-2020-p238096741 (Moderators, if you make this a news feature, please do feel free to delete this post)