Eggquisite

My first real memory of eating Crème Eggs was in about the 3^rd year of my senior

school. Cycling, or walking, home from school as part of a straggly pack of 

schoolboys we would inevitably call into a newsagents to buy (I was never into

stealing) sweets of some description and as far as I can remember

this was when I developed a real taste for the Crème Egg. This would have

been about the time they changed, in the UK, from being a Fry’s Crème Egg

to a Cadbury’s Crème Egg.

It has struck me how my taste for Crème Eggs, and similar sweet confectionary

has developed in directly inverse proportion to my love of sweet soul. 

Back in the early Seventies while stuffing Crème Eggs into my mouth on the

journey home from school if we were discussing music it would likely have been

all about Bowie, Elton, Roxy, or Zep. I had discovered Soul music and was liking

it too, except for that horrible sweet sickly stuff - I blame the Stylistics.

Now here we are in 2011 and, prompted by our children, being that certain

time of year, our house is again seemingly awash with Crème Eggs. I can’t stand

the things now though. Just the sight of one sets my teeth on edge, that gooey stuff

in the middle is just sooo sweet – ugh!  On the other hand I have noticed that over

the last few years my vinyl collection is getting increasingly laced with sweet soul records.

This new found appreciation of sweet soul really started to gather pace a few years

ago when I started delving more deeply into the back catalogues of groups that I

had previously only been vaguely familiar with, and somewhat dismissive of –

groups such as The Moments, The Whispers and, especially, The Delfonics. Now,

this year, I have suddenly developed a passion for another early Seventies group

– The Montclairs.

Their name sounds like it could be a good name for a sweet, a chocolate perhaps.

In fact this East St. Louis group took their name from a brand of cigarettes. 

Their recorded output was small – initially they had two 45s released on

Oliver Sain related labels Arch and Vanessa. Then, in 1971, Oliver Sain placed them

on the Paula label (there’s a Ronn link again!) and in an all too brief time between

1971 and 1974 they would have six 45s and one album released. Most of the 45s

reached the R&B charts with “Dreaming Out Of Season” being their biggest hit, 

peaking at #34. You can find more on The Montclairs here.

A feature of their sound was Phil Perry’s beautifully rich and pure falsetto which,

married to the lush arrangements, put them very much in the sweet soul bag.

Their arrangements though were often complex and quite unusual, I think, with

great structure. There is a sort of slowed down doo wop feel to the harmonies

and at times a skewed jazzy feel to the instrumentation. Describing them simply

as a sweet soul group doesn’t do them justice.   

                

Many of my friends do not share my passion for soul music, and of those that do

sweet soul can be a step too far. At best therefore they can maybe appreciate that

the unusual arrangements, and Phil Perry’s pure voice, make The Montclairs stand

out from the pack a bit – excellent in parts could be their verdict, a curate’s egg

perhaps? In truth until recently that may have been my verdict too, but now all

of the a sudden I find I can’t get enough of them. Right down to the hard centre

(for as I think their sound is so much more than your average sweet soul fare if it

were a chocolate egg it would possess a hard centre not a soft one like a sickly

sweet Crème Egg). 

Why not bite into The Montclairs and you too might find them thoroughly

exquisite throughout too – or should that be eggquisite?  :)

They don’t make them like this anymore…  part 84….

The Montclairs – Dreaming Out Of Season  1972

The Montclairs – How Can One Man Live  1973   (link works now)

Buy "The Montclairs: Make Up For Lost Time  The Paula Recordings 1971-74"