Serendipity

There was a record fair on in town last weekend. This is the “big one”, as opposed to the “little one” I’ve written about before. I only occasionally go to the “big one” and it was a last minute decision to go this time. I’m glad I did. At first I was bemoaning the general lack of 45s on offer, but somehow I still managed to while away most of two hours browsing the albums on the various stalls. This resulted in Bobby Bland, Bobby Womack, and Peter Brown albums finding their way into my bag (I paid for them of course!). A last minute, or so I thought, 45 was purchased too (a nice upgrade to this) and then I decided it was time to go. As I was walking towards the exit I noticed a dealer tucked away around a corner on the first floor I hadn’t noticed before. I’ll have a quick look, I thought. Bingo! He had lots of 45s, and even better they were nearly all 60s and 70s US soul and funk! So, before I knew it, another hour had passed which was good and bad. Bad because it meant I knew I would be in trouble with Mrs Darce back home, who would have been waiting for use of the car. Good because in that hour I bought six 45s, all great finds that realistically I would have only expected to find on-line (eventually) and not at the sort of prices I managed to secure them for. There were lots of albums and 12” singles too but for the sake of my marriage, and my wallet, I didn’t look at those! (Incidentally, it wasn’t until I got home that I realised I had completely missed a whole floor of dealers! So I could have easily spent all day there).

The highlight of my six 45 purchases is I’ve Got The Kind Of Love by The Diplomats. My heart skipped a beat when I pulled this one out of the box, and another when I played it and found it to be in excellent condition. I had heard this on a mix I stumbled across a year or two ago and have been obsessing over it ever since. Copies on-line are hard to come by and I didn’t want to pay the prices when they had turned up. I never thought I would finally find a copy in the flesh, and in my home town!

I had not heard of The Diplomats before I heard this song on that mix. They existed, with some variation in line up, through much of the Sixties and into 1970. The line up at the time of their release on Dynamo was Sam Culley, Ervin Waters and Thomas Price. Two thirds of this group (Sam and Ervin) would represent 50% of The Skullsnaps later in the 70s. A good summary of their releases, line ups, and Sam Culley’s (primarily) other group involvements can be found here.      

            

I’ve Got The Kind Of Love was the B side to The Diplomats version of In The Ghetto (yes, think Presley and Staton) which, although it mostly seems to be listed as a 1970 release, was highlighted as the “Soul Sauce“ record of the week in Billboard as early as 16^th August 1969. To my ears the A side isn’t very good, but then I have been brought up on Candi Staton’s version. The B side though is a masterpiece.

Diplomats – I’ve Got The Kind Of Love  1969

To help place it in time #1 that week in the Billboard R&B singles chart was The Impressions Choice Of Colors, which had just replaced James Brown’s Mother Popcorn. Gladys Knight & The Pips Nitty Gritty was storming up the charts and the highest new entry was Candice Love with Uh Uh Boy That’s A No No (not familiar with that one).