Mickey Finn

My condolences to his family and friends. His sets were always among the most interesting and enjoyable of anyone's and he carried himself with style. Poorer for having lost him, richer for having had him. RIP.

As a regular at the Whitby July weekender since 2014, I'm very sorry to read this. He seemed to radiate calm and good humour and wore his obviously deep knowledge of the music very lightly. That guest appearance by Spyder Turner was hilarious as Spyder did various impersonations of other soul singers, including a very convincing Chuck Jackson. Many thanks and much respect for making our summers so much more enjoyable for so many years. RIP.

... and former Heatwave frontman Johnnie Wilder, Jr. with this from 1988:

Two artists who went from secular to sacred on the same Light Records label: Beau Williams and a great version of the Sam Cooke classic from 1991:

A true professional, whose job as a radio presenter he was able to use as a way of introducing people to the music that was his first love. Mr Blackburn is another, despite their very different styles. The Lennon interview was an amazing piece of luck. From memory, there was a write-in type of discussion show on Radio 1 on Sundays (Studio B15, presented by Adrian Love?) and someone wrote in asking "What's happened to John Lennon?" From that came the interview recordings and book. RIP.

What a terrific show that is, and at any time of year.

Thanks Peter, and the same from me to the moderators and all who contribute. Stay well, stay safe.

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.

Has Millie ever explained the change in direction? Was it a strategic choice to move away from emotional heartbreak to more risque material? If she has been underrated, maybe her later career direction disguised her true talents for a lot of people, although there were always flashes of it, despite poor choices like "Back to the sh%t".

Hi Peter, you asked for favourite artist doing an unusual duet ... the favourite artist is too dependent on time and circumstances but I'd count Jimmy Ruffin as someone very respectable. I first heard this before I heard the original and bought it within 24 hours, lovely version of Luther's My sensitivity by Jimmy, backed and produced by Heaven 17:

The album also appears in a special reissue set from 2006, commanding an even higher price: https://www.discogs.com/sell/release/1038390?ev=rb The set is a beautiful production and unlikely itself to be reissued. Alternatively, there's always a chance that another reissue of "Right on" will appear at some point, most likely out of Japan.