Robbk

I'll be curious to see what people write here. I didn't know there was any unpicked place there to find, anymore.

I listened to the 2 snippets. They sound like C&W to me. Perhaps a bit watered down (e.g. Country Pop?). Mel Anton was sort of a Pop singer, who sometimes sang pop with a slight R&B/Soul slant or a slight C&W slant. The R&B/Soul slant came particularly because Fred Brown and Joe Hunter's crew was mostly R&B and Soul writers, and their musicians were mostly Joe Hunters' ex band members (Funk Brothers), plus other Motown musicians, all moonlighting. I can't recognise Jamerson's line on these cuts, but I'd bet that he played on them.

I'd like to hear it, too.

Jamerson's name has been spelt "Jameson", and "Jamison" on several records. It's a common name with both those spellings, and a natural mistake. I think it's too much of a coincidence to have the first name start with a "J", last name "Jamison", and James Jamerson was a member of Mickay's and Kable's band leader and arranger, Joe Hunter's band, as well as his good friend, and also had been known to record with Hunter for Ed Wingate's labels, Wilbur Golden's labels, and several other non-Motown Detroit labels while both were moonlighting together.

This was The Combinations from Chicago, and the release was on Kellmac Records. It was dead rare. It was re-issued (I think legitimately) in recent years. "Why" is on the flip. Here's a beat copy. I have a mint one at home. But, I'm in Denmark now, away from my records.

So, Mel Anton and some others are singing. Is it C&W, Pop or Soul style? Haystack Brothers signifies C&W to me. Interesting that James Jamerson is one of the writers. He had been in Joe Hunter's band, and that is why he worked with Fred Brown and Joe Hunter's Kable and Mickay's Records.

I wonder why he sounded so different from his normal voice. Maybe, like Mary Wells on "Bye, Bye Baby", he was hoarse from several takes?

I have a lot of Al Kent records, and on that cut the vocalist doesn't sound like him. We talked about this on Soulful Detroit, and came to the conclusion that Al Kent produced the instrumentals, and probably the vocal recording of "The Way You've Been Acting Lately" but that the singer is not him. I'll be curious to find out who it is. He didn't sound exactly like any Detroit singer I could recognise.

"Don't Ever Go" is very nice. Too bad it was never released on Arock.

So far, no reply from Louvain or Parkman. I hope they are just very busy now, and will reply eventually.

Thanks. And at my age, and with my recent laziness in my training, leg-pulling can cause serious injury! You'd think a professed comedy writer like me would have a sense of humour. One of my most loved stories involved a dimwitted, uncouth, boor joining a "leg-pullers club". They compete against their town's rival "practical jokers' club" seeing which team can cause the most chaos by fooling a high-level celebrity into embarrassing him or herself publicly. They give points for successful outragious practical jokes, and a tally sheet of points for each leg-puller. It was such a well-received story, that it not only got the usual publshing in Europe, but actually got published in USA as well (where I have had very little published).

Nice detective work!

Yes. Now I remember reading the posts here about that. It seems like only a few months ago.

Sorry, I should have left the "so-called ' portion out. I was certainly including myself in the group of collectors/historians who know very little about her, and we are hoping there ARE some posters on this forum who DO know more about her, or who still have contact with Detroiters who were around in the '60s who might have known her.

All the Detroit Soul experts whose comments I have seen on Jean Banks, know nothing about her, other than the facts that she had one single 45 released on Carmen Murphy's Soul Records in mid 1963, produced and nominally arranged by Dino Courreay (Mrs. Murphy's A&R man and chief producer during 1963). In addition to her Soul 45, I seem to remember her name associated with an early to mid '60s Detroit girls group, and also seen her name on a few Detroit 45 credits. But, unfortunately, I cannot remember the group name, nor the labels involved. I have sent e-mails to Louvain Demps and Ms. Banks' great grandson, Christian Parkman, asking if they can tell us something about Ms. Banks. Meanwhile, I'm hoping that someone on this forum will ask any Detroit Soul performers or producers with whom they have contact (Lor Chandler, Clay MacMurray, Spyder Turner, Ronnie McNier, Frances Nero,etc.) if they knew her. And, of course we welcome hearing what anyone on this forum knows about her, already. I've already placed this query on Soulful Detroit Forum. Here are the sides of her Soul 1001 45 release:

I know. She was one of the main characters in "Who Killed Cock Robin?" But I was referring only to humans having that given and surname combination.

She must have been quite well-read in the classics. Jenny Wren was one of the characters in Charles Dickens' "Our Mutual Friend" (certainly not that well known in 1950s and '60s USA, especially among The Black Community). I think most of the Soul music artist would have been hard pressed to name a character from "Great Expectations", "David Copperfield" or Oliver Twist" (perhaps they wouldn't even have known "Ebenezer Scrooge".

......They want his records!

Good on yer! Life is short. I hope to "semi-retire" starting next June, and stop off in England for a week or two then, on my way back to Holland. Hope to meet the Ace/Kent crew, and come up to Lancashire, maybe even Scotland. Meanwhile, I hope you'll still frequent this forum.

I've had Rod for a friend for 37 years. He's a great bloke, and will be sorely missed as a moderator. Of course, I hope he'll still be here commenting. Yes, he has a lot of knowledge. He was my main tutor about the Northern Soul scene during the 1980s and 1990s. Yes, he's quite the wit, and one of the funniest people I've ever met (and I'm a comedy writer, for a living! )

Yes! I forgot to mention Major. I remember when he was a gangly teenager, dancing on Jim Lounsberry's Hop, TV dance show in Chicago, in the late 1950s. Lester and his sister did the same on a local Detroit teen dance show in the early-mid '60s.

Lester Tipton was the best. Jackie Wilson was great, too. James Brown was also good.

It seems to be gone completely. The website is gone, and their forum is gone. I pass through den Bosch once in a while, but, stay in the train station, just changing trains. I never go into town. I suspect it is gone for good. The only thing I ever heard about that shop was that someone had bought some CDs there who said they had been stolen! I don't know anything about the place, but I had never heard of it, as opposed to having heard of several good stores in Amsterdam and a couple in Den Haag and Rotterdam.

Sorry to seem ungrateful. I DID appreciate your kind gesture. It's just that that Funk song is NOT my sound at all. James Brown changing to Funk was one of the main reasons I stopped listening to Soul radio in 1966-67 (I can't even listen to "Licking Stick", "I Got Ants In My Pants and I Gotta Dance" and the like). I only liked "Don't Take Drugs" for its comedy value. I figured someone like you, who has all the James Brown King records, probably likes it a lot more. I just wanted to hear it again, as I hadn't heard it for almost 50 years. But, I don't care if I would have it in my "collection". If you had offered me a rare Detroit "Sweet" Soul record from 1961-67, I might not have been able to resist your offer.

Thanks. But just getting an MP3 sound file and a label scan would be enough. I don't post on this forum to have people give me their records.