The Feel It Advent-ure 2024: Door 24

As the last door opens another Advent-ure comes to an end. Hope you enjoyed the, sometimes scratchy, records I picked up on our holiday earlier this year.  

Mrs Darce and I thoroughly enjoyed tripping around the Deep South of America, and we would happily go back tomorrow and do it all over again.

I thought I would leave you with a playlist of some of the well known, and not so well known, classic soul that has been recorded in the four States we drove through -  Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. A lot of these I have in vinyl format, and some I don't and furthermore would require deep pockets to ever stand a chance of acquiring.   

So, if you use Spotify and need a change from all the Christmas songs when all the festivities have calmed down a bit why not take a virtual trip around the Deep South courtesy of this playlist. (Note: this playlist is still a little bit work in progress, so expect it to be tweaked a bit in the next few days.)  

Compliments of the Season to you all!       

The Feel It Advent-ure 2024: Door 23

Where has the month gone? It's flown by. 

This is the last of the 45s I picked up on our tour of the Deep South earlier in the year. I was chuffed to find it as I had put it on my wants list about five years ago after hearing it on a mix, turns out it was one of those, often, elusive and underplayed B sides. In the UK there have never been many copies for sale it seems and to buy one you would not get much, if any, change from £20. I had always been hanging out for a cheaper copy because I felt one would be bound to turn up eventually. And finally one did, in Euclid! It still turned out to be one of the more expensive purchases of the trip, but at only $4.99 I was more than happy.

This one is for Mrs Darce. She indulged me on these digging interludes on our holiday, and I am very grateful. For the Euclid visit I had researched some local cafes/bars that might be suitable but as our walk took us closer to the shop we realised there wasn't going to be one she felt comfortable going into on her own, most of them seemed to be closed in the afternoon anyway. So she came into Euclid too. As we alighted upstairs (where most of the 45s are) we saw, in amongst the shelves of records, just the one chair, unoccupied. It was as if it had been put there especially for her. She was always prepared with a book in her bag so, as I dug, she was sitting in "her" chair patiently reading. 

Jackie Moore - Somebody Loves You  1977

I have featured Jackie Moore a couple of times here, but a long time ago now. She passed in 2019 (she was 73), but unfortunately I didn't pay my respects at the time. 

RIP Jackie Moore.   

  

The Feel It Advent-ure 2024: Door 22

So there I was, still in the Imperial boxes. I'm not at all sure why I picked this one out. I had never heard of Jimmy Griffin, and there was no one listed in the credits to suggest it might be soul (individually, I suppose, Carter-Butler-Mayfield are all big names in the world of soul but were unlikely ever to have collaborated together as writers). I think, possibly it was the title Hard Row To Hoe that attracted me because I know a very good, and rare, record with that title, sung by Otis Lee. Could it be another version of the same song? Emphatically no when I finally got around to playing it. Discogs does list this as soul, I suppose it has a plodding four to the floor beat which could put it in the Northern bag, but to me it's pure pop. Somebody has put a felt tip through the title on this 45. It's a promo copy so that was presumably a DJ highlighting it for play (I think it is a B side), but hen again the "highlight" almost obliterates the title, so perhaps it was indicating "Hard Row To Hoe?" - "no, no, no!".   

Jimmy Griffin - Hard Roe To Hoe  1965  

I've done my research now and it turns out this Jimmy Griffin was a founding member of the group Bread. He also penned, amongst many others, a beautiful song For All We Know, first sung by the Carpenters (?) but it's Shirley Bassey's version I have always had a soft spot for.

PS: Here is Otis Lee's Hard Row To Hoe - an irresistible shuffler!:

     

The Feel It Advent-ure 2024: Door 21

 

Here is another early one from The O'Jays, you can't really go wrong with them. 

Another on the Imperial label too, and there will be another on that label tomorrow. Euclid are "old school" when it comes to filing their 45s, they do it primarily by label. That threw me a bit initially, and it can be a bit of a pain when you have a particular artist in mind but you have to a) remember the label(s) they were on and b) have to trawl through a lot of records to try and find one you want - think Atlantic for example. Anyway I think I was in the Imperial boxes because I was looking for Irma Thomas, but I didn't find any of hers in the end.      

The O'Jays - Oh, How You Hurt Me  1964

The Feel It Advent-ure 2024: Door 20

Look Timmy Brown up on Discogs and you will see he led a full life that initially, in turn, took in professional American football (playing for the Packers, Eagles, and the Baltimore Colts), a short singing career, and acting (including appearances in M*A*S*H - I loved that program but I couldn't recall his character's name, Captain "Spearchucker" Jones, on visiting his IMDB page though I instantly recognised him from the pictures). Later in life he became a parole officer. 

I knew none of this when I bought this record blind in Euclid. This one is a bit scratchy. Discogs lists it as "rhythm & blues" which is maybe a bit of a stretch, especially the A side which has a guitar with a distinctly country feel. Also, as it was recorded in 1962 there is a poppy feel to it anyway; and then there is Timmy's voice, he is unusual I think in that he is a black man who sounds white. 

I'm sharing the B side, it has some sax on it which "blackens" it a bit more I think, and note the fairly early Van McCoy writing credit.      

Timmy Brown - Silly Rumors  1962

The Feel It Advent-ure 2024: Door 19

Willie Clayton was born in March 1955, which means he would have been 20 years old when he recorded this 45. Maybe only 19 in fact, as his first Pawn 45 was released in 1974 and he had a number of others released between that and this one here, so it's entirely possible a fair few tracks were laid down at the same time sometime in 1974. Willie is another singer who has remained active on the soul scene through thick and thin up to this day.

Pawn was a sort of sub-label to Hi, and Willie Mitchell's unmistakable sound is very much to the fore on this track. Willie Mitchell signed Willie Clayton to Pawn after seeing him support Al Green on tour.

This 45 would have been recorded at Royal Studio. We swung by Royal while we were in Memphis, I hadn't realised how close it was to the Stax Museum. It's not a studio you can go inside but I got my picture.

The studio is in a neighbourhood that has plenty of substantial looking houses, but their better days are very much behind them now it seems. With some youths cruising around on electric scooters it did not feel particularly safe, so I just jumped out of the car, locked Mrs Darce in, took these pictures as quickly as I could, and then we drove off.

Willie Clayton - Abra Ka Dabra  1975

   

   

The Feel It Advent-ure 2024: Door 18

Sometimes I get a record label in my head associated to a particular genre, and the genre that most interests me is soul. Pic 1 is one of those labels so when I dug this 45 out of a box in Euclid, I bought it. Huey P. Meaux's name on the label further reinforced the idea in my head that this would be soul too, because I have come across "The Crazy Cajun" on the labels of a good number of soul records in my collection. 

Once I got this 45 home and played it I, of course, discovered it is best described as country. But it's a great song in any event. 

I have now done my proper research and corrected my assumptions regarding the label Pic 1, and to some extent Huey P. Meaux too. Pic 1 was a Texas label that released primarily rockabilly, country, and Texas soul/rock style records. It just so happens the only Pic 1 45 I already owned is by Lee Maye, who was a Doo-Wop and early Soul artist.    

I found some good articles (scroll down to the bottom in this link to read them in order) at Brown Eyed Handsome Man's great but now sadly retired blog that featured an extensive interview with Johnny Williams made in 2006 (It's possible I read them at the time but I have no recollection now). Turns out Johnny was next door neighbour to Joe Arlington Jr. aka Joe Tex in their early life. He has gone on to embrace all kinds of musical styles, including country, blues, soul, and jazz during his career.  

Long Black Veil was a big hit for Johnny.

Johnny Williams And The Jokers - Long Black Veil  1965