Friday, June 19, 2015

Take Me - I'm free!


Here we go again. I’m listening to a really good mix put together by Larry, Mr Funky16Corners. I’m about six tracks through and I’m already thinking I need some of them on vinyl, you know, my very own copy.  Right, let’s get searching. Time to open up a few tabs: Manship – what silly price will he be asking? Any copies listed on t’bay in the UK? What about the ‘ogs? Track two: which one is that again? Andy Butler – Take Me.  Andy Butler! Hang on, I think I might already have this one. It is worth a look in the boxes, after all they are pretty well ordered now so it should be easy to find if I do have it. I pad up the stairs, open up cabinet S (for Soul, I just made that up), take out the A-B box (lots of Bs), riffle through – it was on Ray Charles’ Tangerine label wasn’t it? – and… voila! 

I really must learn to spend more time searching my own boxes rather than trawling the internet for more records!    

I think I bought my copy of this 45 near the beginning of my second phase of record buying, probably close on 10 years ago now. My love of soul music had been rekindled by some early ‘00s contemporary artists such as Angie Stone and Jill Scott, and then, slightly belatedly, I discovered on-line fan sites such as Yoni’s Soul Of The Net and fledgling blogs such as Larry’s Funky16Corners, and also the wealth of old records for sale on ebay and other on-line emporia.

Andy Butler had three releases on Tangerine in the late ‘60s, this one being the first. That is just about all I know about him. Except I did stumble across this comment, evidently from a musician contemporary of Andy’s,  on a YouTube entry: “ Butler is none other than Andrew Butler from the Five Dutones. He was the lead singer on "Shake a tailfeather". I recorded on several of their songs when they were with One der-ful records. After the Five Dutones disbanded Andrew went on his own. I still communicate with him frequently. Andy's most recent ventures was with the Coasters and the Rivingtons.”  
Apart from that, hard facts regarding Andy Butler remain elusive. What is true though, as demonstrated on this track, is he had a fine voice.

A bit of wear on this 45, I’m afraid – call it patina.


6 comments:

drew said...

I thought I had this record, so like you checked and I do indeed. I bought it for the more upbeat flip side. I think I will be playing this side more often.

george said...

Very good, Darcy, crackly bits and all. I don;t have this on vinyl. And I'm pretty sure it's not on a compilation in The Music Room.

george said...

.........not that I can download the damned thing!

stogie2u said...

Why are the songs not downloading anymore?

Darcy said...

Good question. My box statistics are saying 113% of monthly bandwith, which is probably why downloads aren't working (although if you are one of the 13% presumably you have been able to download? I'n ot at all sure how this works). I have seen it go oveer 100% before but not for as long as this. Hopefully it click bach to 0 soon.

Anonymous said...

Ha! Look through your collection before trawling online. True 'dat. Been enjoying some Five Du-Tones on part one of the recent Secret Stash comp, 'The One-Derful Collection'. Part two, highlighting Mar-V-Lus Records is pretty nifty too.