Michael V

Many a hidden gem on Motown LP's -just a couple of examples; The Isley Brothers' outstanding version of 'Whispers',which I like even better than Jackie Wilson's great original (on the 'Behind A Painted Smile' LP) Chuck Jacksons' version of B.B. Kings' The Thrill Is Gone' on 1970's VIP 'Teardrops Keep Fallin' On My Heart' LP-a rare straight Blues on Motown but a fine performance from Chuck and the band Incidentally,The Isley Brothers' Whispers sounds much better,I think, on the stereo version of the LP, than the mono,unusually -although there are others I can think of,most notably Garnet Mimms 'Cry Baby' LP, particularly the immortal title track;it sounds stunning enough in mono but the stereo version is quite magnificent

Yes,I was saddened and disgusted by the vandalism to the nose and mouth of the Megalosaurus on Dinosaur Island in CP Park .The great dinosaurs are Grade I listed and have stood there for almost 170 years and are childhood friends of mine and thousands of others.I hope the perpetrator(s) are caught and made to pay for the restoration. On a happier note the Guy the Gorilla statue is still there and popular-there were children and young families posing for photos with him the other day when I walked through the park. In 1966 cult Mod/Freakbeat band The Creation posed for a photo with the Gorilla statue in a photo shoot in the park -and in the dinosaur area too,as Cream did with the dinosaurs themselves not long after.

Have just heard the sad news of the passing,at age 83,of LA Doo-Wop legend Gaynel Hodge of The Hollywood Flames,The Turks and the 1st pre-fame line up of The Platters on Federal in 53'. In the early 60's Gaynel-a pianist as well as a singer (and writer)-played piano on The Rivingtons' Papa Oom- Mow -Mow hit and Johnny Guitar Watson's fine R&B dancer 'Sweet Lovin' Mama' a 1962 King 45 'which I'm sure could get some plays when the clubs and Soul venues re-open. In the 60's Gaynel also accompanied Aretha,Ted Taylor and others (live,not on record) Perhaps best known as the co-author -after a court case- of the Doo-Wop/50's anthem 'Earth Angel' (fiercely disputed by the family of the great Jesse Belvin ,who claim Jesse's sole authorship,it must be said) Gaynel was a fine singer-a good example being his lead on the beautiful 'I'm A Fool' with The Turks - a classic ballad which I'm privileged to say I saw Gaynel perform at London's 100 Club in 2018.Also privileged to say I met and chatted with Gaynel that evening- slightly eccentric,a character,for sure,but friendly and with a terrific memory for LA's Doo-Wop scene in the 50's-of which he was such a great part.

I live just over the road from there - Saw Curtis Mayfield , James Cotton and Wilko Johnson there in 1983-great gig.Sadly, too young to have seen Freddie King,Pink Floyd etc there in the 70's.I have'nt seen anything in the local press about a revival of the bowl (sadly,it's not a 'bowl' anymore,the attractive seashell structure was replaced by an ugly, rusting slab of metal in the 1990's) but then,the main local newspaper the South London Press seems to have become an early victim of the Coronavirus recession,sorry to say-have'nt seen a copy for weeks

Andy ,I have a very nice clean copy-small import cut on spine,still in shrink (not sealed) with original inner. £20 all-in if you're interested,PM me

Yes-these Cashmeres were from Atlanta,Georgia -definitely not the same group.This is the 1956 French EP they shared with the Platters,who are pictured on the front cover of this EP (this is the back) which sold well as the Platters were then at their peak worldwide.Interestingly, the Cashmeres' lead singer at this time was Northern/Deep Soul hero the great Grover Mitchell (Take Your Time And Love Me etc) then under his real name Grover Mincy but the photo shows the 1954/5 line-up and the tracks are from 1955 too.

What a sad weekend this has been,first we lose Little Richard and now Betty; few artists have made such a glorious and assured debut at 13 years old (!) as Betty did with 'Paralysed' on Deep City in 67' ,following it with the classic 'Girls Can't Do What The Guys Do' (covered by Dusty) and 'Clean Up Woman' - and 1972's 'I Love The Way You Love' is one of the great Soul LP's of the 70's

The label with one of the all-time great sales slogans- "If it's a hit,it's a Miracle!"

Really sad news;simply a Legend and a trailblazer-across many genres of music and across the decades,from his very 1st(and very underrated) recordings for RCA and Peacock in the early 50's inc. some fine R&B and prototype Soul ballads, to his Rock n' Roll classics on Specialty (only Jerry Lee left of the major R n' R stars now) in the mid-50's to his nice Gospel in the early 60's to his Vee Jay Deep Soul classic of 64'' I Don't Know What You Got ', to those great mid-late 60's Okeh Soul sides we all know,love and have danced to all these years. An amazing live performer and a great,unique artist

Nice one MGM 1251! (especially as the latter is your namesake-or rather, 'numbersake'- record !)

The Gees-It's All Over Lenis Guess-Thank Goodness Millie & Jackie- Never Again (OK, the Lenis Guess is a ballad,but a superb bit of Deep Soul and will be an apt title.The Millie & Jackie,for those unfamiliar,is, despite the artist/label credit of Jackie Edwards & Millie Small, actually an instrumental and a fine,underrated one for sure (on UK Island))

It was actually filmed in Whalley Range,Manchester at the then derelict Wilbraham Rd. Station for the 1964 Granada TV special 'Blues & Gospel Train'

Yes, it is the same Mel Britt

Kenny,bless him,by his own admission had a tendency to sing flat at times-there's an interesting ,if brief ,documentary on Kenny on You Tube. He made some nice records,though. Kenny is my home town of Sydenham,South London's contribution to Northern Soul -he was living in Holmshaw Rd.( demolished in the early 70's) when he made 'What Love Brings' 'Ain't No Soul' etc as well as his Psychedelic gem with The Cats Pyjamas on Direction in 68'

Very sad to hear of Eugene's passing-as the other contributors here have so touchingly put it- 'You Don't Love Me' is a record that so encapsulates the Northern Soul scene -of the past, present and future;played at the first all -nighter I went to in the 80's and the last Soul night I attended in February just before this dreadful virus,it's atmosphere,magic and meaning still there for all of us,no matter how many times we dance to it,so plain to see. I'm glad Eugene got to know how much his record is loved -worldwide.

Yes,the Doo-Woppin' NYC Tonettes on Doe/ABC (the 58' classic Oh,What A Baby/Howie) had nothing to do with any of the other Tonettes-they were a white/Hispanic trio-Josie Allen and sisters Diana & Sylvia Sanchez you're right about the great Champion Jack Dupree living in Germany,too-it was in the 1980's.I was lucky enough to find a signed German LP of his-it was from 1984,I think.

Ah,yes AFN- Just a boy in the early 70's so did'nt discover AFN until the 80's(could pick it up reasonably well in London at times,although the signal was often weak)I used to listen to Jim Pewter's Oldies Show in the evening,which was one of the few places you could hear Doo-Wop in the UK then,making discoveries which were exciting at the time;I heard 'Brenda' by The Cupids for the first time on his show,which I loved immediately and remember being thrilled to find it at a record fair about a year later,in those pre-internet days. Always associate 'Brenda' with AFN and Jim Pewter,whose closing catch phrase each show was "remember..we went to different High Schools together".Other than that I don't recall much else worth listening to on AFN in the 80's-no Soul shows of any kind,just chart stuff of the day.

Thanks for starting this -we need all the distractions we can get in these wretched and worrying times.When I noticed this thread I went to look for my complete episode list of RSG which I photocopied many years ago from an archive listing.Finally found it! It lists all the performers(and a pretty mouthwatering list it is,too) although not the songs performed;these can be guessed at though, by the transmission dates.For example, the 3rd December 1965 edition featured Major Lance ,The Toys, Ketty Lester The Who ,Hollies & Walker Bros. Major Lance almost certainly did his latest 45'- 'Everybody Loves A Good Time',as it was released on Columbia that very day! (though sometimes artists did two-or more- songs) Ditto the 24th Sept. 65' show,which had Lou Johnson -the day 'Unsatisfied' was issued on London-although Lou almost certainly did the A side 'A Time To Love, A Time To Cry' (Manfred Mann & Wayne Fontana were the other guests) Just in 1965 the guests included greats like The Exciters,Solomon Burke,The Marvelettes ,Inez & Charlie Foxx ,Dee Dee Warwick,Wilson Pickett Ben E. King,The Soul Sisters etc. 1966 saw the aforementioned James Brown Special, Joe Tex,Arthur Alexander,Doris Troy(probably doing 'I'll Do Anything')Patti Labelle & Bluebelles, Edwin Starr (prob.Headline News)Little Richard(prob.I Need Love ) and of course the great Otis Redding special which we know survives-I remember Channel 4 showing it in the early 80's -it was one of the 1st things I recorded on the then new family video recorder.Still have the tape,if no machine to play it! Tragically ,many of the shows are probably lost forever (not only Soul but priceless performances by Sonny Boy Williamson, Davie Jones (Bowie) & the King Bees in 64',Marc Bolan in 66' ,The Game,The Action etc.) Associated Rediffusion, who made the show,wiped/junked many of their programmes at the end of the 60's when they became London Weekend Television. If we look at another AR TV series from the same time period,the great police drama series 'No Hiding Place'-only 20 or so episodes survive out of 230; 'Ready Steady Go' ,which had close to 200 episodes, is probably the same.Dave Clark bought the rights to the surviving episodes in the 80's-now BMG own them -but we still don't know exactly which episodes-in whole or in part- survive!

Quite agree-prices for rare records,books and every other kind of 'collectable' will surely plummet over the coming months and into next year (and this pandemic could well go on into 2021 if we look at the equivalent 1918/19 Spanish Flu pandemic,even taking into account the advances in medical science) with no all-nighters(or Soul events of any kind) no record fairs ,record shops or even car boot sales for buying or selling -only the internet alive and trading .With the seriousness of the situation,though, not to mention the perilous financial reality many are now in because of it,records are possibly not high up in the priorities of many right now-even seasoned collectors-or dealers come to that. Not a good time for either at the moment,though may be good for buyers eventually, when or if shops/sellers have 'closing down sales' Having said that,the world of records and record collectors has always been an endearing,eccentric world of it's own,so I may well be wrong!

In case anyone was wondering,the photo shows Barbara Dane (of 'I'm On My Way ') fame with the underrated Chambers Brothers at one of the Newport Folk Festivals in the early-mid 60's. On Barbara's left is George Chambers,who sadly passed away last year. Maxine Brown is,with respect, incorrect in saying Florence Greenberg was the only female record label owner in the 60's-there was Madelon Baker in California with her Audio Arts label - all those classic 45's by The Incredibles,The Remarkables and Cassietta George. Also Devora Brown,who with her husband Jack, ran the great,eccentric Fortune label in Detroit and perhaps the pioneer of them all ,Lillian McMurry's Trumpet Records in Jackson,Mississippi;she issued and produced the debut recordings by all-time Blues greats Elmore James and Sonny Boy Williamson ll (and some nice Gospel and Hillbilly,too)

This can't be the New York Doo-Wop Paragons of Winley Records ('Florence' etc.) fame-they were never on Buddah; I don't think they recorded in the 70's .

'Where You Lead Me' is a secular adaptation of an old Christian hymn 'Where He Leads Me I Will Follow' by E.W.Blandly so maybe they should have given him a credit as well!

Not Soul,I know,but he also cut some stunning rockin' Blues for Sun in Memphis in the early 50's like 'If You Love Me' and 'Lookin' For My Baby'(with great guitar work from Milton) as well as the delightful Fats Domino-styled 'Beggin' My Baby'. Yes,he was one fine and versatile artist.

According to the usually reliable 'LA R&B Vocal Groups 1945-1965' by Steve Propes & Galen Gart, who spoke to Vessie Simmons in 1996 for the book,the A&M Sequins were the Ribbons,who did backgrounds for Phil Spector too. Vessie also added 'I had my own group of Ikettes' ,which is possible,as there were certainly 'touring' Ikettes alongside the 'recording' Ikettes.