Mickey Finn

This appeared in a recent issue of Private Eye magazine (no. 1632, September):

Derek Mead has been championing this in recent years, and deservedly so - great version:

During the mid 70s majors like Columbia (Herbie Hancock) along with locals like EastWest released a lot of straight jazz in Japan, much of it recorded in the US. Japan seems to have had enough crude to avoid the rationing apparently happening elsewhere.

Thanks for posting this good news - very glad you are making progress and that you can feel it. Also that these amazing people continue to perform miracles every day despite the enormous pressures they face. All of us are going to need them at some time or other!

Years ago I heard an interview with jazz trumpeter Eddie Henderson who said that his run of albums on Capitol came to an end in 1979 due to the second oil crisis affecting vinyl production costs and forcing record companies to cut back on releases.

Expansion have been particularly vinyl-oriented in recent years. Copies of Bobby Hutton's album on vinyl can be found here: https://soulbrother.com/shop/a-piece-of-the-action-pre-order-due-6-sept/ or here https://www.firstexperiencerecords.com/product/bobby-hutton-piece-of-the-action-lp-vinyl-pre-order-in-stock-6-9-24/ For the singles check out https://www.firstexperiencerecords.com/product/bobby-hutton-loving-you-needing-you-loving-you-wanting-you-watch-where-youre-going-7-vinyl-pre-order-in-stock-6-9-24/ https://www.firstexperiencerecords.com/product/booby-hutton-lend-a-hand-come-see-whats-left-of-me-7-vinyl-pre-order-in-stock-6-9-24/ https://soulbrother.com/shop/lend-a-hand-come-see-whats-left-of-me-pre-order-due-august/ https://soulbrother.com/shop/loving-you-needing-you-loving-you-wanting-you-watch-where-youre-going-pre-order-due-august/ All in stock at the time of posting.

It's very encouraging to see this finally reissued. For some years any hope of ABC albums being reissued was lost due to a fire that consumed the master tapes. I don't know what source was used for this reissue but there are people who can perform miracles by patiently removing hiss and crackles from whatever decent enough source is available. The ABC catalogue has quite a few strong candidates for reissue, including Chuck Jackson "Through all times" and Charles Mann "Say you love me too"

Wade Flemons - Jeanette Skip Mahoney - Janice (don’t be so blind to love) Four Tops - Just walk away Renee

That's a strong line-up, only Trina Broussard is missing from my collection. Some others in my top list include Change - Miracles Charles Jackson - Passionate Breezes Walter Jackson - Good to see you Bobby Womack - Someday we'll all be free & Roads of Life Nancy Wilson - Lady with a song Sister Sledge - We are family George Benson - Give me the night

They are beautifully produced and well worth the pennies. Much appreciation to David Nathan and the team for these excellent reissues.

The Guardian has a decent obituary: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/aug/15/maurice-williams-obituary

All the best to you, Mark

This is despite her recording a duet with Elton John, "Act of war", which made it to 32 in the UK singles chart in 1985. Once again, maybe not the best choice for her to be taken seriously more widely ... it was a fun pop record that took advantage of her theatrics vocally and in the video, which was the whole point (I vaguely remember Tina Turner being asked first, rather like Dusty Springfield was first choice before Kiki Dee got "Don't go breaking my heart". Tina would have probably got more airplay.) The following year Millie released a decent LP on Jive Records, "An imitation of love". That was an effort to be serious as it had none of the smutty stuff, but she was maybe let down a little by the production which is very much of its time. Some very good tracks on the album though.

Great album, produced by Jerry Ragovoy. Not long after he produced Dionne Warwick's "Then came you" LP, which is just a masterpiece to these ears. Norman Jay hammered "Move me no mountain" deservedly for many years, and there's a terrific version of "I can't wait to see my baby's face", but this is a track that doesn't get enough recognition:

Totally agree, the releases by Bobby, Johnnie Taylor and Chapter 8 also outstanding. A shame that Otis Smith wasn't as above board as he should have been. Re Anita, I rate her 1990 "Compositions" album very highly - one side was recorded live but the whole thing is just a masterpiece of musicianship and artistry. Her last collaboration with Michael Powell, unfortunately.