By the time JJ Barnes
landed at Perception in 1973 he already had about twenty 45s to
his name, on 11 different labels (including some iconic Soul labels - Groovesville, Ric Tic, and
Revilot) stretching back as far as 1960. He had been at Motown, never
managing a release in his own name, but was used as a writer. His
biggest hit was Baby Please Come Back Home which reached 61 in
the US Top 100 in '67. Soon after this Perception release he was
encouraged to move to the UK by his friend Edwin Starr. He signed with John Abbey's Contempo label. A meal ticket
on the Northern scene was probably the attraction and he would be appreciated more there than in his homeland.
Two strong sides here, The A side - You Are Just A Living Doll - was the initial reason for buying this but I find I really like the B side too. It wraps you up all warm and cosy on a
cold Winter's night.
This 45 landed on my mat last week on the 30th
November, which I see was, coincidentally, James Jay's 74th
birthday.
2 comments:
Great track Darcy and one I'd never heard of before...the mojo is truly back! And I never got round to saying how much I appreciated your recent Dr John post: a fanatstic guy and I keep going back to his albums. Amazingly I was lucky enough to see him play twice - and even more amazingly both times in sleepy Somerset!He was maginificent. Many thanks fro Rob
A very good track indeed. Perception is the label one of my favourite singles was released on Let Her Go by Otis Smith. One of the first singles that I handed over serious money to own on original vinyl and t was one of those decisions that you know when you take there a no return from.
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