Tim Brown Talks!
As the wind whistlesaround
the eaves of Tod Towers scattering leaves like confetti then what better to do than throw another log on the fire and contemplate a new jam-packed issue
of Manifesto (issue 89).
Usually, and with all due respect, Pete Haigh’s ph factor leaves me totally bemused – after all what is the difference between a remix and a re-edit? That apart I found his item on Blackpool Mecca to be very interesting, can anyone have so loyally and regularly documented the fortunes of a club of over so long a period? To be quite honest I had quite forgotten that the Highland Room ran right through to 1980, certainly from 1977 onwards I regarded it as an upfront disco club (remember the term New York Disco?) and paid little or no attention to its machinations. It seems with hindsight that I was totally correct judging by Pete’s Top 100. In fact there were a couple of years when the interest in obscure modern tracks almost vanished circa ‘77/78, with the Mecca going fairly mainstream. A few of us still took an interest – although he wasn’t really playing them at Wigan Richard Searling was one, Ian Clarke another, Colin Dilnot, Francis T, but there weren’t many. The format went into limbo as far as the whole scene was concerned to be awoken by Soul Sam emerging from the Ellingtons, Toni Basil and ‘Fools Paradise’ in early 1979. But no club ever went through the transition that the Mecca did, even casting off the ‘rare’ mindset in favour of an ultra-new and, dare I say it, rather less soulful playlist. It has become urban myth that ‘Cheating Kind’ was just about the last sixties new discovery at the Mecca courtesy of Colin Curtis with Levine having eschewed any sixties some months before. Almost entirely forgotten have been the various unsuccessful attempts to recreate rare soul at the Highland Room over the years, I vaguely remember Richard Searling being behind one of these efforts. Much has been written about the Casino, there are rumours of a book about Cleethorpes, the Twisted Wheel has a classic volume but the Mecca story would be a fascinating and important one too. Food for thought Mr Haigh.
With reference to books and also Rob Moss’ piece on Memphis then there is an absolute ‘must’ in the form of Rob Bowman’s ‘Soulville U.S.A. The Story of Stax Records’. Astoundingly the book is now ten years old and out-of-print but it shouldn’t be too difficult to locate. Certainly the book gives a lie to Rob’s Jack Ashford quote about the demise of Stax being purely a racial matter, it is more of an account of business incompetence mixed with racial pressures and if anything it was the original white owners of the label who were squeezed out of their position by a kind of inverted political correctness. No mention is made by Rob of Jack Ashford’s move out to the West Coast in the mid to late seventies from which emanated his ‘Hotel Sheets’ album on Magic Disc. This reveals Ashford to be a competent, if limited, vocalist with three great seventies dancers on show in the shape of ‘This Ain’t Just Another Dance Song’ (which has the same backing track as ‘Payback’s A Drag’), ‘Baby I’m So Glad’ (same backing as ‘There Can Be A Better Way’) and best of all, ‘I’ll Fly To Your Open Arms’ which sounds a little familiar but doesn’t appear to be the backing track to anything else as far as I can see. The album is not too difficult to find and a number of collectors bought it at the time of its release (1977).
The UK rare soul scene has every right to be proud of its record in rescuing great records from obscurity, if there has been a downside to that syndrome it is occasionally a loss of perspective. To live permanently within the circles of the lost and found can lead sometimes to the average being overated and the downright poor having some notion of quality ascribed to it usually by virtue of rarity. Along exactly those lines is Soul Sam’s assertion that in the last Manifesto he preferred the voice of one Milton Bennett to that of Levi Stubbs. So incredulous is the comment that it is only believable by virtue of the fact that Sam said ‘preferred’ and not ‘superior’. Now I quite like Milton Bennett’s ‘What’s One More Lie’, it has a spontaneity and drama in its production that is the very essence of the Northern sound – the only drawback is that Bennett’s vocal is almost shockingly inept, it is no surprise that the track remained unreleased until recently. He sounds like he is singing in the wrong key and has great difficulty in holding the notes, towards the end of the disc he is patently struggling to keep up with the whole thing as he gasps and splutters the lyrics. Not really to be compared to ‘Just Ask The Lonely’ I would have thought.
As is well known 100 Club Anniversary 45’s quickly vanish and Sam was certainly right in identifying their quality. To see if you agree with me on the above Milton Bennett it can be found in your nearest decent soul purveyor as one track on the Kent CD ‘Larry Banks’ Soul Family Album’. I was primed for this one by a famed soul name informing me that the compilation was ‘average’ at best – just shows that, as with Sam’s Milton Bennett perversity, we all have our own yardsticks. Personally I think it is a superb release with only 3 or 4 tracks out of the full complement of 24 which could be termed as average and considering that fifteen tracks are previously unreleased that is a remarkable beat. Apart from the Milton Bennett track the Devonnes and the Geminis come up with tremendous girl group stormers, both the Cavaliers and Dynamics give us unissued RCA gems and the unknown male group find the Shaladons are truly excellent. Kenny Carter recorded an amazing 18 tracks at RCA of which a dozen were unissued and three are on show here – all are fabulous Big City Soul ballads. Larry Banks himself (all cuts are in some way related to him) is probably the least accomplished singer on show here (with the exception of the unfortunate Milton Bennett) but I love his ‘Will You Wait’ which found release on Select Records and is one of 4 tracks from Banks to find inclusion.
When it comes to CD’s of unissued material little if anything can match ‘A Cellarful Of Motown’ which has just arrived with Volume 3 and for which we were all primed by Nick Washer’s lengthy and enthusiastic pre-release review in this very publication a couple of issues ago. Speaking personally the eventual release was a slight disappointment due to the fact that quite a high percentage of the tracks were already known to me via unofficial sources, still there can be little knocking of The Contours’ ‘Jealousy Is Creeping Up On Me’ or ‘I Can’t Help Loving You Baby’ similarly the Spinners’ ‘Too Late I Learned’ or Dennis Edwards’ ‘Easier Said Than Done’. Can this compact disc therefore give anything new to the Northern Soul scene? In truth there probably isn’t an absolutely instant killer in the manner of a ‘Something’s Wrong’ or a ‘Reconsider’, frustratingly the Headliners ‘This Is Goodbye’ is probably the closest to pure Northern adrenalin but is spoiled by white vocals although I suppose that factor never held R. Dean Taylor back. Yet another quality Brenda Holloway mover is a pleasant surprise in the shape of ‘You’re Walking Out With My Heart’ although possibly a little too lightweight – a better bet is the following track from the Miracles ‘This Love Will Never Die’, an infectious mover from 1966 and we’ve had surprisingly little unissued stuff from the group thus far. Rita Wright’s ‘Beware Of A Stranger’ is another goodie and apparently we’ve got the original version by Tammi Terrell to come yet. The Marvelettes atmospheric mid tempo winner ‘Little Girls Grow Up’ could have been massive with less cloying lyrics, lets hope the backing track was utilised elsewhere. Much of the rest concerns versions, in either a similar or greatly different manner to those with which we are familiar. Best of these is probably the Marvelettes take on the Velvelettes’ ‘Love Is Good’ (also unissed at the time) but in a somewhat similar vein. The great Fantastic Four do David Ruffin’s ‘Loving You (Is Hurting Me)’ but it isn’t really danceable and Ruffin’s version is one of the finest album tracks as yet unacknowledged on the dancefloors of Britain. Best not even linger with Little Lisa’s (Lisa Miller) version of ‘Honeyboy’ (Mary Wells/Supremes/Nella Dodds). All in all there are 43 tracks in this double C.D. making it a quite exceptional effort even if it is ever-so-slightly weaker than its predecessors. Can’t wait for Volume 4!
The above release is a complete antithesis to the tragic series from the same stable which offers ‘Kevin Rowlands Presents Made To Measure’ as its latest release. Just what authority is the stream almost-forgotten ‘celebrities’ supposed to stamp upon Motown reissues? Maybe they should be subtitled ‘It’s the Same Old Songs’ or ‘Just My (Lack Of) Imagination’! It is only in recent years that Motown have truly broken free of a compulsive desire to regurgitate a diet of predictable hits and as far as I am concerned this whole series is a return to bad old habits. Rowlands ran out of ideas chartswise around 25 years ago which would seem to be roughly the same time that he stopped listening to Motown records.
The ever-excellent ‘In The Basement’ magazine reminded me recently that JON LUCIEN passed away in august at the age of 65. He was born Lucien Harrigan in the British Virgin Islands and raised in St Thomas so he was of West Indian origin. Unusually ‘In The Basement’ missed out references to Lucien’s earliest releases in their obituary and it could also be considered that for most of his career he sat on the fringes of what is usually considered as soul music, he was even contemplated as a black Frank Sinatra by RCA with whom he signed in 1970. Back to the previously mentioned 45’s and, by sheer coincidence, it turns out that both are revered by UK rare soul factions. His first disc was for Columbia, arranged by legend Horace Ott and produced by Lockie Edwards Jnr and Beau Ray Fleming, ‘What A Difference Love Makes’. First spun at the Blackpool Mecca it is a bouncy Motownesque effort which would have suited Jackie Wilson, the flipside ‘L.A. (Los Angeles)’ shows that RCA was not the first label to consider Lucien as a possible M.O.R. act. And it’s over to the Mecca for the now in-demand ‘Search For Your Inner Self’ (Ampex) also by Jon Lucien which was an occasional last hour spin when, as Pete Haigh explained, the Highland Room entered freefall and this rambling almost-jazzy obscurity was perfect fodder for a loosening of the barriers. As opposed to the Columbia 45 snatches of a Caribbean accent can be heard on Lucien’s Ampex release, the flipside is a kind of ‘How Can I Be Sure’ meets Al Jarreau effort entitled ‘It’s Bigger Than I’ which will possibly have its own fans. Yet again Lucien teamed up with all the people on his Columbia release for this one. There is also some demand for his ‘Premonition’ album released in 1975 for Columbia, a label to which Lucien had returned and which features a version of ‘Dindi’.
As we’ve said many times before Sam was ploughing a fertile furrow in contemplating forgotten oldies. His choice of the Triumphs ‘Workin’ (Okeh) and FRANK POLK’S ‘Love Is Dangerous’ (Capitol) were imaginative ones. The Triumphs was even bootlegged on a white O.O.T.P. Label but I don’t think I’ve ever heard it played out in my time on the scene. As for the Frank Polk it was the last of 5 singles that this artist cut for Capitol all produced by the famed Dave Axelrod and I have to say that every one of them has its virtues. It is likely that ‘Love Is Dangerous’ is the best Northern dancer but ‘Do The Jerk’ pushes it and ‘Trying To Keep Up With The Joneses’ is possibly Frank Polk’s best vocal display. The most expensive of these Capitol records has long been his version of ‘Crack Up Laughing’ which due to its doo-woppish overtones has been in-demand with U.S. collectors for many years. Amazingly Frank Polk had an E.P. of some of his Capitol tracks out in France which depicts him on the cover, sadly I don’t have this particular disc but can view it in the book ‘Fabulous EP’s (sic) Covers’ by Daniel Delorme which came out in France in 1986 and is now in itself very scarce. As you might expect it is basically a picture book of French E.P. covers but all are of black music origin and there are some amazing ones in it although the Paul Sindab and Ray Pollard E.P.’s are not there giving some indication of their essential rarity.
With further reference to Sam’s ‘Soulful Sevens’ there are of course multitudinous choices of ignored-but-great and failed-but-fabulous ‘oldies’ to go back to and the scene often does. Indeed some deejays have made a career out of revisiting Stafford spins this last fifteen years or so. Anyway, the fact remains that it is dead easy to pluck 45’s out of our legacy that could go massive today, combined with the sterling work on previously unissued cuts, minor changes in style and flavour, and all of a sudden the difficulty in finding genuine, new, quality 60’s releases doesn’t seem so bad at all. A favourite revival of mine at the moment is TOWANA AND THE TOTAL DESTRUCTION on Romark with ‘Help Me Get That Feelin’ Back Again’. This favouritism is hardly hindered by the fact that Towana is scarcely concealed as Ty Karim, one of my top most minor league singers. When I was a lad Simon Soussan sent this over slightly speeded up on an acetate (obviously with a false identity) but it certainly doesn’t need speeding up now and aided by some neat harmonies Towana, or Ty, cooks up a storm. I don’t want to overwork the Milton Bennett business but Karim is the perfect example of a singer who is constantly taken to the very edge of her abilities but she never loses it in the manner that dear old Milton does and that’s what makes here soulful and not pitiful. Flip it over and you have an absolute crossover gem in the shape of ‘Wear Your Natural Baby’ (actually the official ‘A’ side) which just floats along in such an easy matter but with Ty Karim wrenching each lyrical twist from her very heart, although she’s given it her all and it sounds like the seventeenth take. I’d love to hear the master because our girl sounds like she’s going on and on. Fifteen years ago this could be had for fifteen quid – you’ll struggle at much less than £250 today, and quite rightly so as it’s one hell of a doublesider.
And just to prove that Bisley’s Derek Mead is rather more than a medieval alcoholic beverage derived from honey he reminded me about the FABULOUS APOLLOS ‘Some Good In Everything Bad’, one of four singles the Detroit group recorded on Valtone. Recent years have seen considerable demand for ‘The One Alone’ by them on the same label and I feel that ‘Some Good In Everything Bad’ is about to break through as well. Traditionally (well the eighties/early nineties) this was a cheapie but I haven’t had a copy of sale in quite a while and, unlike ‘The One Alone’ this doesn’t appear to be on a promo label at all. The record itself is a typically Detroit chugger with Mike Terry’s saxophone skills helping set the pace and an expressive lead vocalist over a sweet harmony group. Actually this job can at times be a very difficult one because ‘It Aint No Use’ and ‘What’s So Good To You’ (the group’s other releases) are bloody marvellous as well. Take your pick, I’ve put them all on the website!
Reference to the increasing prices of Northern Soul 45’s leads me to consider the notion of trying to assemble a collection by restricting oneself to, say, £50 maximum. It would be quite interesting to see what could be achieved and I suspect that it is still possible to find a large number of great Northern Soul 45’s under that yardstick (well I know it is actually). Even comparatively unknown 45’s still come to light as was the case with INEZ AND CHARLIE FOXX’S ‘You Fixed My Heartache’ (Dynamo) recently, this duo were no strangers to quality uptempo soul of course (or love) but I can’t say I had noticed it before until the mighty Rick brought it to my attention at the warehouse recently and what a brilliant stomper it is with Inez cooing over her fellow girls and a strident rhythm. It isn’t on their album and, as far as I recall isn’t on UK release either. Lets look in the French E.P. book – no, no sign of it in France either which coincidentally took me past Eddie Floyd and his ‘Blues In The Night’ E.P. isn’t shown either so it must be pretty damned rare, especially for a hit artist and a Stax release.
Another cheapie would have been PEACHES AND HERB’S ‘I’m Counting On You’ (M.C.A.), at least until Pete French woke me up to the ‘Seventies Northern’ potential of this 1977 release, up until that point it was a fiver on our website! To be honest ‘the sweethearts of soul’ are not normally my cup of tea but a couple of their sixties singles on Date did get played in the early days and they did a surprisingly effective midtempo version of Simon and Garfunkel’s ‘Sound Of Silence’ on Columbia which the Japanese used to go for. Originally Peaches was Francine Barker (ex-Sweet Things) and Herb was Herb Fame (‘Messing Up My Mind’ on Date). By 1977 Herb was with one Linda Green as Peaches. Back to ‘I’m Counting On You’ and it is from the Van McCoy and Charles Kipps stable of productions, a team responsible for David Ruffin’s ‘Walk Away From Love’ amongst others so that might give you an idea of where the track is coming from. By 1979 the duo were No.1 around the world with ‘Reunited’ but curiously ‘I’m Counting On You’ didn’t even enter the Top 100 soul chart so it must be moderately rare (for instance, ‘If You Want A Love Affair’ by Jesse James got to No.73 on the same chart and is an easy £50 touch these days).
Had to inwardly smile at my own LOVESTAR AND TAYLOR review in the last issue because upon looking through my racks I actually owned an album by them – never mind a single! I’ve also realised that I didn’t even mention the track on 45 (always tiring by the end of an article) and now I can’t find where I put the single – ah well, it’s been a long year! After all that nonsense it turns out that Lovestar is the gritty Detroit soulster O.C. Tolbert. Which is interesting even if the album is mystifying from sleeve, to tracks to conception. Is it Christmas yet?
With that in mind have a merry one and a happy New Year.
Til Next Time
Tim Brown
