The Feel It Advent-ure 2020: Door 24

So we finally come to Door 24, which on this particular Advent-ure means it is an X.

But I don't have an X in the box. Hmmm.

Ah, of course - X is also for Xmas. Phew!

I expect I have shared this with you before but I only have one Christmas album. It is a classic and one I'm glad I picked up back in the mid '70s in the cut out bins. A nice original of A Christmas Gift For You which, after all these years, is still in its shrink.

Have a safe Christmas.

PS: The track listing on the back cover times Sleigh Ride at 3.45. It clocks in at a shade over 3 minutes. Perhaps The Ronettes fell off the sleigh before the end!

The Feel It Advent-ure 2020: Door 23

I think I have more Ws than any other letter in my Soul boxes. That's due, in part, to having some prolific, and popular with me, artists gracing the section, such as Betty Wright, Jackie Wilson, Ella Washington, and OV Wright. But I'm not going to share any of those with you tonight.

I'm feeling mellow right now so I think Lee Williams and The Cymbals  debut on the Carnival label suits the mood well. This is a great two sider. Both tracks are things of pure and simple beauty. This single I am sure sold very well amongst the ladies. Faye, whoever she is/was bought this one; new, I wonder? Carnival was based in Newark, NJ, so one is tempted to say Faye may have lived there, or in nearby New York as many local labels only spawned local hits. However, this 45 did very well and made it into the Top 50 of the national R&B charts in the Spring of 1967. It had been initially released back in '66 so it was a slow burner, and it also meant that it would have sold in good numbers much further afield (it did very well in Chicago apparently), and means Faye could have bought this pretty much anywhere across eastern USA.

It's difficult to pick a favourite side of this 45, so once again you get both.

Lee Williams and the Cymbals – I Love You More 1966

Lee Williams and the Cymbals – I'll Be Gone 1966

The Feel It Advent-ure 2020: Door 22

This record and me has certainly had a curious history.

I think my memory is still functioning well enough on this 45 to say it has been in one box or other in my collection since the mid 70s when I bought it blind from a mailing list. Since then I reckon it has only ever had a handful of plays. It obviously didn't register with me as a strong sound, but at the same time I have felt very attached to it, I am assuming because it was one of the my early mailing list purchases. It did, however, seem to register enough with me that whenever I have flicked past it in the box it plays in my head. Except it doesn't!??? I'll explain. Having just played it, neither side are anything like the song that played in my head! And I like what comes out of the grooves. This 45 has had a bad rap all these years!

The Voice Masters started life in St Louis around 1965. After a couple of local single releases they landed on Bamboo and recording and production relocated to Chicago. They had three 45s issued on Bamboo culminating in this release which made the Top 50 US Soul charts in June 1970. All three of their Bamboo singles featured the same B side – If A Woman Catches A Fool. Gene Chandler headed the production team for Voice Masters in Chicago. James Thompson was lead singer and chief song writer for the group. Later in the 70s a number of Soul artists would record his songs - e.g. Betty Wright (Slip And Do It), and Gene Chandler (including the Disco smash Get Down, and another of Gene's I have always really liked – Does She Have A Friend?). All this I have just learnt, and it somehow makes my bond to this record even stronger. I am also much more likely to pull it out of the box and put it on the turntable in future, but if I do flick past it at least the right song will play in my head!

As I said, this charted in June 1970, and it I think it does have a very summery feel to it. Certainly something that brightens up a dull and damp winter's evening.

The Voice Masters – Dance Right Into My Heart  1970

A song that has been a B side no less than three times also deserves a spin: 

The Voice Masters - If A Woman Catches A Fool  1968(orig.)

The Feel It Advent-ure 2020: Door 21

On this year's Advent-ure through the alphabet I knew I had a problem awaiting me on the 24^th, but I hadn't thought about today's choice. I have found precisely zero 45s in the U section of the Soul boxes.

So let's look at the albums. Hmmm, none in the “first division” section. So “second division” then? Just one. Of course – The Undisputed Truth.

There again I must have some Upsetters 45s in the reggae box. Yes, I have three, all scratchy, as reggae 45s picked up in the wild always are it seems.

The Undisputed Truth album I have is Down To Earth from 1974. I have just played it all the way through and really enjoyed it. The enjoyment was helped by the fact that the condition of the album is at the other end of the spectrum to my Upsetters singles.

I am glad I played the album right through too because the last track on side 2 is beautiful. Somehow, for all these years, Save My Love For A Rainy Day is a song that hasn't stuck in the memory, but it is in there now. The song was originally recorded by the Temptations in '67. The Undisputed Truth took the song at a more languid pace and released it as their first single in '71. This album version from '74 is at least very similar, and is quite possibly the same take. Down To Earth is not listed as a compilation album, and looking at their albums the same songs do seem to pop up on multiple albums.

The Undisputed Truth – Save My Love For A Rainy Day 1974 /71?

Go on then - after all, it is Christmas - here is an Upsetters track too. Despite being cleaned up using Audacity's click removal tool there is still plenty of authentic crackle!  

Upsetters– Dollar In The Teeth 1969

The Feel It Advent-ure 2020: Door 20

Arriving at the Ts in the boxes I am presented with a surfeit of Taylors. There is Debbie, and Gloria, and Little Johnny, and Johnnie, and Josephine, and R Dean, and Ted.

So a Taylor it is. Most of these artists have appeared at least once here before but I will choose Johnnie as considering he is one of my favourite male vocalists I feel he has been a little under-represented. Or so I thought. I just looked it up and found that actually he has had his fair share of posts. No matter.

My son asked me recently if I knew of, and liked, Johnnie Taylor. (His question had been prompted by the Mercedes ad that has been run on British TV in recent months. He had added that track to a Spotify playlist of Soul music he and a couple of his friends had started. My son's musical taste has many overlaps with my own it seems). I put him in the picture re my enduring love of JT, it goes all the back to around 1973 in all probability.

Just The One I've Been Looking For, which is the the track featured in that Mercedes ad, was a B side of a 1966 Stax 45 and is not in my collection. I have been looking for a copy but it is proving very elusive. Looking at Discogs it seems there may never have been many copies in circulation but it was nevertheless “cheap as chips” when it did appear for sale. The ad would appear to have changed that. I have not seen a copy actively for sale on Discogs for the most of this year I have been looking. When they pop up they must sell immediately and the last two sold on the 'ogs went for $30 each. The power of advertising.

It transpires quite a few of JT's singles in my box have had an airing hereabouts. So time to produce an album track. I hadn't been aware of his 1977 album Reflections until a couple of years ago when I stumbled across a copy on ebay for a £1 – couldn't pass that up! Being 1977 I was half expecting a certain gloss to the production, a commerciality, and at least a few disco slanted tracks, but no, it's JT at his finest singing straight soul numbers with sympathetic arrangements. A pleasant surprise. It was an odd release really, he had left Columbia and this was his only outing on RCA. Soon after he would find a spiritual home at Malaco. Here is the atmospheric closing track on the album, it has quite an unusual arrangement, and Johnnie is in fine form.

Johnnie Taylor – Forgive And Forget 1977 

The Feel It Advent-ure 2020: Door 19

On Monday we can expect a Great Conjunction as Saturn and Jupiter appear almost as one in the night sky, visible in the UK.

Tonight there has been another conjunction, again you might need to be in the UK to fully appreciate it.

Here, behind Door 19, there is, of course, if you have been paying attention, an S.

Tonight on TV we watched, dancing amongst other things to the Sugarhill Gang's Rapper's Delight, the magnificent entertainer Bill Bailey winning Strictly. A feel good moment in these strange times if ever there was one.

I could not, in my wildest dreams, have imagined I would have experienced something like that 40 odd years after buying this record!

  

The Feel It Advent-ure 2020: Door 18

I have just found this in the box. I have no recollection of when, or where, I bought this record. Which is unusual. It's like I'm playing it for the first time. This is a great double sider.

The black star on this promo copy is a sign that Why Are You Afraid was the plug side. But I see a an X written on the other side too, which is a sign that someone, a DJ or a previous owner, preferred the Darling side. I'm leaning towards that one too. Roscoe is in fine voice and I particularly like the guitar fills.

I wonder who Barbara was, and where she lived? Unlike the Major Lance record behind Door 12, with no surname or address to go on I will never know.

Roscoe Robinson – Darling, Please Tell Me 1967

The Feel It Advent-ure 2020: Door 17

I have three Qs in the box – Madlyn Quebec, Quiet Elegance, and The Quadraphonics.

Let's go with The Quadraphonics with a fine slab of mid '70s group soul. The sort of sound that leaves you with a warm glow.

According to Discogs the group hailed from Milwaukee and this was their only release Originally on Innovation II it caused enough of a stir for Warner Bros to pick it up for national release in the US, although I'm not sure it made it past promo stage. A Contempo release in the UK hints at the fact it must have had some action in the UK too. I was going to say that would presumably have been Northern action, but this sound is, to my ears, a bit too slow, lush, and dare I say it sophisticated for the Northern dancefloors of the time? 

The track is basically a cover of Betcha If You Ask Around by Velvet which saw a release on Perception in 1973.

I love it.

The Quadraphonics – Betcha If You Check It Out 1974

The Feel It Advent-ure 2020: Door 16

Plenty of Ps in the 45 soul box but I fancy a bit of jazz tonight.

I was over the moon to find this in a charity shop not so long ago, buried in a large boxful of (very) easy listening – James Last, Mantovani, the usual charity shop fare.

It has been on my project list all year to expand my wall of album covers, and when it finally happens this is one that will be going up.

The headgear cocks a snook at Covid-19. Definitely not de rigueur at the moment... but when the vaccine roll out properly kicks in you just see – it will be all the rage.

An Atlantic album of this vintage just has to have the label shown too – those colours!

And as a bonus, with this being some very cool jazz, here is a picture of "Lord" Claude – one very cool cat.

Dave Pike – Devilette 1966

PS: And the "Lord" is a Devilette

The Feel It Advent-ure 2020: Door 15

 

A quick bit of forensics tonight.

In the dead wax of this 45 is the word PERCEPTION a matrix number, T-1502A crossed out, T-1506B, and F/W.

The latter two markings make perfect sense, being the matrix number of this 45 and this track being the B side, and F/W standing for the legendary Frankford /Wayne which is the lab that would have done the mastering. Frankford/Wayne didn't set up in New york until 1973, so as this 45 was released in 1972 the mastering must have been done by F/W at Sigma Sound in Philly where they initially worked, as far as I can work out.

So what about the T1502A matrix that is crossed out? Well, Who Could Doubt My Love originally appeared as an A side on Today 1502, so the same master must have been used.

PERCEPTION? Perception and Today were sister labels run as part of Perception Ventures, established in 1969, so either the umbrella company is being referenced or Odds And Ends were originally going to appear on the Perception label. Almost certainly the former as Odds And Ends had already had two single releases on Today, in '70 and '71.

I have only just learnt that Patrick Adams, something of a producer legend in the Disco and Boogie arena later in the '70s on labels such as P&P and Salsoul, ran the Today label. Today managed a total of 31 released singles, the last one being early in 1974 after which the label ran into financial difficulties (didn't they always!)

You can find a good potted history of Odds And Ends themselves here.

This track has a killer intro and settles into a very nice groove.

Odds And Ends – Who Could Doubt My Love 1972

The Feel It Advent-ure 2020: Door 14

They go on, and on, and on. Deep into injury time now. I think the Brexit trade talks must be being conducted with the title of today's song as their mantra.

Aaron Neville – You Can Give, But You Can't Take 1968

Incidentally,  The more I look at it the more I love that Bell logo. It's taken me a long time to fully appreciate it.  

The Feel It Adventure 2020: Door 13

Running down the alphabet Little Milton could qualify as an L or an M, or indeed a C (for Campbell). In my boxes he is filed under M. No rhyme or reason to that really as, for instance, Little Beaver and Little Richard are both filed under L. That will no doubt cause me no little consternation sometime in the future and propel me into a blind panic as I try and find one of these artists' records.

I bought what amounted to a small job lot (they were listed individually by an ebay seller and I won them all) of Little Milton 45s earlier this year which swelled my collection of his singles considerably. That happened to be around the same time Mr Finewine featured a lot of his Checker output on Downtown Soulville (come to think of it that show was another decorating soundtrack). That show may have inspired my purchase but I think I had already bought my little batch by then.

Little Milton has only featured once before on Feel It – back in 2014, behind Door 22 of that year's Advent-ure. High time we had another another one then. This is a great version of a well known song that originally had Italian lyrics. Leiber & Stoller penned the English lyrics and Ben E. King was the first person to have an English version released, in June '63. Here in the UK we will probably all be most familiar with Shirley Bassey's rendition which was also released in '63 and peaked at #6 in the UK charts. And who had the highest charting version of the song in the USA? Look to Wales again – it was (Sir) Tom Jones who reached #14 in the Billboard charts in 1970, again a great version.

Little Milton – I Who Have Nothing 1968

The Feel It Advent-ure 2020: Door 12

Behind Door 9 there was The Gorilla. In that post I referred to Major Lance's The Monkey Time. Now here we are at L and so it is the Major's turn. To be honest I had forgotten I had a copy of this 45 when I referred to it a couple of days ago. Finding it as I riffled through the Ls in my box has sent me on quite a journey.

Firstly, I can tell where and when I found this record. Until about three years ago I would record in a spreadsheet all my finds “in the wild”. That spreadsheet tells me I found this 45 at a car boot sale at Lansdown near Bath in April of 2011, and it cost me 50p. (Aahh, those were the days when you could still regularly turn up something worth having at a car boot, particularly the Lansdown one which has sadly declined even more than most.)

So what about the name and address sticker on the label? One thing I certainly can't describe, although I would love to know, is the journey this 45 took down the years from being bought as a charting single in 1963 by Elizabeth, presumably in Charleston, to being in a box of unloved singles in a field near Bath, England in 2011. At the time I would certainly have Googled that name and address. But at the time I'm guessing I drew a blank. I just Googled it again and this time I can put a face to Elizabeth!

Ashley Hall in Charleston is a private girl's school and is still in existence. Googling Elizabeth's name and the school now brings up a link to the school's 2014 year book which can be downloaded as a pdf. In it Elizabeth is featured (as Elisabeth) and pictured(!), and received an annual “professional development award” from the school. She is referred to as a graduate in '64. This fits perfectly with the timeline of this Major Lance 45, so now I can picture Elizabeth, in her final year before graduation, dancing The Monkey with her friends in her boarding room at Ashley Hall! *

A little bit more Googling led me to two Youtube clips of her speaking, as an entrepreneur, at events in Atlanta. At the time of the videos she ran a company, also based in Atlanta, called Womenetics; although pursuing that avenue led to a dead end as it seems to be no longer active. I'm guessing (hoping) she is now enjoying a well earned retirement.

I can't help but notice that Ashley Hall is a rather “posh” looking school and I wouldn't have forseen the original owner of a 45 by Major Lance to be from such a background. There is quite a juxtaposition, especially considering the segregation that still existed in the USA in the early '60s, especially in the South. But then why should I be surprised? Major Lance was just another product the emerging '60s pop culture really and pop music was on a journey that began to transcend barriers of class and colour (and now I'm picturing the thousands of screaming teenage girls following The Beatles around; and Major Lance once opened for them).

Now here's another thing: I looked up this single on 45cat where I found a recent comment linking to this story. It's worth reading. And I have learnt something – the 60^th, and current, Mayor of Atlanta, is Keisha Lance Bottoms, and she is Major Lance's daughter. Furthermore she was, for a short time, in the running to be Joe Biden's running mate.

Major Lance – The Monkey Time 1963

Major Lance – Mama Didn't Know 1963

* and I'm betting Mummy didn't know :)

The Feel It Advent-ure 2020: Door 11

 A bit of a mover for a Friday night. The Kelly Brothers started out as a Gospel group in the late '50s and also performed as The King Pins. In the Mid '60s they moved to the Sims label and very much followed the trend in dropping their overtly Gospel sound and moved into the Soul and R&B arena. I don't think they are that well known but they certainly released a good deal of 45s, 45cat lists 28 US releases.

Watch out for the worm hole in the middle of this one (I don't know how else to describe it!)

The Kelly Brothers – Haven't I Been Good To You  1968

The Feel It Advent-ure 2020: Door 10

I've said before here, probably more than once, that I can go from to room to room around our house and be reminded of a song, or songs, I heard while decorating. I'll admit in some rooms the recollections are getting more than a little hazy – which either means I have been neglecting the decorating duties in recent years, or I'm an old geezer and my memory is failing me! Yes, both!

Back in August our spare room had the redecorating treatment. “Spare room” used to mean my junk room / secondary vinyl storage room. But I have been very good and decluttered (in truth I just managed to move most of it elsewhere in the house), and “spare room” now = our daughter's home office.

So what was my decorating soundtrack? Mainly old Downtown Soulville shows as presented by the always superb Mr. Finewine at WFMU. Plenty of old shows from the archives and a few new ones two. Towards the end of August he featured Ruby Johnson two weeks running, playing both sides of most of her 60s singles. I learnt that, like me, he is a big fan of Ruby's. All the singles he played nestle in his collection. It reminded me I must hunt down a few more of hers, it's not an easy task though, they don't often come up for sale – especially in the UK – and are often on the expensive side.

Anyway, the “spare room” for me is now known as the Ruby Johnson room. Here is the only single of hers I own.

Ruby Johnson – Weak Spot 1966

The Feel It Advent-ure 2020: Door 9

In 1961 Major Lance had briefly been a member of the The Ideals. By August of '63 he was solo and in the charts with The Monkey Time. But watch out Major - in that time of dance crazes there was always another one just around the corner, and this one was definitely going to be bigger than the Monkey!

The Ideals – The Gorilla 1963

The Feel It Advent-ure 2020: Door 8

I suppose I first started collecting Soul singles in the 70s when I would buy the odd one here and there from mailing lists. Then, the Northern Soul explosion meant that every man and his dog seemed to have a list you could buy from. Northern wasn't my bag though really, even back then I seemed to have been drawn to Southern and Deep Soul. I would often buy blind from these lists, or maybe just on the strength of a slim mailing list description or write up in Blues & Soul. A Willie Hobbs single was bought in this way and so in a way became a sort of foundation of my collection. I put it in a cardboard sleeve and wrote on it “Recorded at Fame, Muscle Shoals”. Where did I get that information from? The single dates to 1971, I probably bought it around '75 so it must have come from some sort of retrospective magazine article.

Anyway, because of this, Willie Hobbs has always been a singer I have been drawn to, and the collection now houses six Willie Hobbs singles. I thought I had featured him more than once on Feel It but, apparently, not. His only appearance appears to have been back in 2009. At that point there were, evidently, three Willie Hobbs singles in the collection, all from his time at Seventy 7, and I featured them all.

So, it is about time he was given some more love. This is the most recent addition to the Willie Hobbs section in the collection, I bought it maybe three years ago now. The single pre-dates his time at Seventy 7. It was written by Bobby Womack, Jerry Butler, and Jimmy Holiday. Who recorded it first? I'm not sure, I think it was probably Jerry Butler as it appeared on an album of his released in 1968. Willie's excellent take on the song was released early in '69, and other covers followed not long after, including a killer version by Velma Perkins (Vee Allen) which I think only saw the light of day as a Twinight promo in 1970 and is very very rare.

Willie Hobbs – Yes, My Goodness Yes 1969

The Feel It Advent-ure 2020: Door 7

So, the eagle eyed amongst you may have noticed a sequence to this year's Advent-ure posts. Any of you that have will have predicted today's post would be from an artist or group beginning with the letter G.

Yes there is a sequence, and it's a simple one – I'm running through the letters of the alphabet A to … er .. X (the 24^th is going to be challenging!). I am finding this simple rule concentrates the mind wonderfully and makes it much easier to choose which record to feature, and when the posts come thick and fast you need to make quick decisions.

The Gs in the singles boxes are not that extensive, and I have posted many of them already, so it was quickly narrowed down to one of three artists – Don Gardner, Barbara George, or Roosevelt Grier.

“Rosey” Grier won out when I started reading up on his life. I suggested the artist in yesterday's post - Louise Freeman - maybe a Georgia native, well Roosevelt Grier was definitely born in Georgia, and he is still alive, age 88 years and counting; and it is fair to say his life has been full and varied. His singing career resulted in 23 singles and 2 albums, but that is just the tip of the iceberg. From pro American footballer to prominent bodyguard, to needlepointer and more. Read his Wikipedia entry, it's fascinating. At 6' 5" Rosey may be a larger than life character, but it's difficult to believe he could be larger than his own life! 

This was his first 45, released at the beginning of 1960 on the A label – that label name ensuring it would have been listed first on any new issue distribution lists!

Roosevelt Grier – Why Don't You Do Right 1960

The Feel It Advent-ure 2020: Door 6

Here in the UK London Records were a godsend to Soul lovers in the 70s. The label was the UK home of Al Green, Ann Peebles, and any number of other Hi artists, but they also released singles from some other excellent and more obscure artists from labels such as Shout.

I can offer no information on Louise Freeman beyond the fact she had five US single releases - three in the 70s and two in the late 80s - and all were recorded in Georgia, so that is presumably her home state. (She rightfully has her place on Sir Shambling's site, but even John cannot offer any further background on the singer).

This is a beautifully arranged deepie. The intro is reminiscent of Betcha By Golly Wow, and elsewhere, fleetingly, Todd Rundgren's Hello It's Me comes to mind.

Louise Freeman – How Could You Run Away 1974

The Feel it Advent-ure 2020: Door 5

Jean Elias made only one record as far as anyone seems to know. The Duke/Peacock/Back Beat stable of labels made almost no use of Muscle Shoals recording studios, but this is where both sides of this 45 were laid down. I don't think  this 45 troubled the chart compilers though, the only Billboard references I can find to the single are listings in the "ones to watch" section in late November 1971. It is a mystery why Jean never found her way onto wax again as she is a good singer, this 45's tracks are above the average, and a Duke label stable Billboard advert as late as August 1972 was still listing Jean as being on their roster. I suspect for Jean it was a case of right place, wrong time. By 1972 the more "down home" Soul was starting to struggle to be heard in the face of the rapidly emerging Philly style and more lavishly arranged up town soul and funk.  

I thought I had posted the B side - How Can I Go On Fooling Myself - before, but it seems not. Of the two sides it certainly seems to be referenced much more frequently on the internet; it was, I am sure, the reason I bought this 45 a few years ago now and it has been the only one that has stuck in my mind. However, playing both sides again today I'm thinking the A side deserves some love too.

Jean Elias - You Made Me A Anybody's Woman  1971

  

The Feel It Advent-ure 2020: Door 4

It's Friday so we need something to dance around the kitchen table to.

There........ is what? There is. There just is!

I love the large gap in the title on this printing of the label. There were, it seems, at least four different labels for this release, this one being the most emphatic. Not only that, there were two different incarnations of Cadet 5574, The A side O-O I Love You being backed initially by There Is, and then subsequently by The Change We Go Thru (For Love). Why did that happen? Well, O-O I Love You entered the Hot 100 in November 1967 and stayed for 10 weeks, peeking at#61. However there was undoubtedly much love for its original B side (I suspect the radio DJs had flipped it) because There Is got its own release as an A side (Cadet 5590) in December of '67, and that also made the Hot 100 on January 20^th 1968, and it stayed in the charts for 11 weeks, peeking at #20. So, including life as a B side, we can easily say There Is spent a total of at least 16 weeks in the Billboard Top 100.  

So, there is no dispute, here is track worthy of another spin 53 years later.

The Dells – There Is 1967

PS: while The Dells (Cadet 5574) were sparring with the likes of The Impressions and Al Green(e) – his very first hit – in the lower reaches of the Hot 100, The Monkees, The Beatles, and Lulu were among the big hitters at the top. However, by February 1968 when There Is (Cadet 5590) peaked at #20, the Top 10 was somewhat bereft of big rock/pop names – Paul Mauriat (Love Is Blue) was at #1 having just knocked The Lemon Pipers (Green Tambourine) off the top spot, and The Temptations (I Wish It Would Rain) and Otis (Dock of The Bay) were both in the Top 10.

The Feel It Advent-ure 2020: Door 3

 

I have John Peel to thank for having this record in my collection. 

Back in the 70s John played the A side It's A Man Down There on one of his shows and it stuck in my mind, and it is probably still on one of my mixtapes which were made up of tracks he played. I bought my copy around 15 years ago now, I guess.

There is a copy of this single in John Peel's much publicised “special box” that contains 142 singles in total. Did he acquire his copy when he was living in the USA or later , I wonder? I am sure that he certainly first heard it while he was in the USA because it actually made the Hot 100 in 1965, peaking at 67.

For such a “raw” record with little or nothing in the way of production frills that seems remarkable. It's success may have been due in no small part to famed DJ, John R (Richbourg) in Nashville who pushed the record hard.

Very little is known of George L Crockett, and only one known picture of him exists. Some say his middle initial is actually T. We know for sure G stands for George. The accepted wisdom, such that it is, can be found on Wikipedia.

G L Crockett is buried at Burr Oak Cemetery, Alsip, Illinois. He died in 1967 at the tragically young age of 38, apparently from a cerebral hemorrhage brought on by hypertension, a condition he had suffered from for many years. This was possibly exacerbated by alcohol as it is documented that George had a drink problem. (However, a different, more sinister cause of death is suggested by a possible daughter on some youtube comments – although I know one should be careful when reading youtube comments).

G L Crockett left a recorded work of just four singles on the 4 Brothers label and one early outing on Chief (as G “Davy” Crockett”). G.L.'s drink problem made him difficult to work with apparently and he was dropped by the label after his fourth outing. The Daniels in the credits on this track is Jack Daniels who was the prinicpal operator of the 4 Brothers label that was run out of Barney's Record store in Chicago. (This info comes from Robert Pruter's excellent book Chicago Soul, where there is an in depth write up on 4 Brothers and the artists that appeared on the label).

I'm featuring the B side today. It has a real “live” feel to it. Consistent with the fact that it was probably recorded in one take. I particularly love the meandering guitar.

G.L.Crockett – Every Hour, Every Day 1965

The Feel It Advent-ure 2020: Door 2

Black Ivory is a group I had pretty much ignored for many years. Probably my blind spot had been created by a dislike for high register sweet soul in my youth. Dislike turned to appreciation quite a few years ago now though and, for example, The Delfonics then became a firm favourite of mine. However, Black Ivory somehow eluded my attention until very recently. I put that right this year and “filled my boots” with their 45s, most of which are as cheap as chips.

It is now 51 years since Black Ivory settled as a trio and, after a hiatus in the 80s and 90s, they are still performing. Quite some achievement. 

Black Ivory – Just Leave Me Some 1973

PS: I notice they actually had a single released on Buddah in 1975 called Feel It. That is one I don't have yet.

The Feel It Advent-ure 2020: Door 1

 

No posts for four months and now I'm embarking on a full on Feel It Advent-ure – yes a post a day right up to Christmas Day!

Foolhardy? Very probably. Certainly a gamble.

Here is Ray Agee making it a hat-trick of Advent-urous appearances hereabouts. He was behind Door 11 last year, where you can read a little more about him.

Ray Agee – The Gamble 1963

Precision engineering

July was a quiet month again on this blog. It coincided with a quiet month on the turntable too. This quiet period (at least in terms of playing vinyl) was initially prompted by my hi-fi set up which suddenly (again) developed a loud hum. Some sort of grounding issue with the turntable undoubtedly which was seemingly introduced when a dropped my record cleaner which just knocked against the cabinet. It was finally solved by sliding the turntable forward on its shelf by no more than one inch! Yes this could have nudged the ground wire back into the right position – but in trying to solve the problem I did grab that cable and the other connectors and gave them a good jiggle and that had made no difference. So, a mystery really. I don't dare touch the turntable's plinth now.

Soon after this I was shocked to find that Mrs Darce and our daughter had suddenly decided that our spare room was looking too much like a junk shop and had embarked on a major tidy up and a hatched plan to turn it back into a habitable room (a bedroom – which will be used as such once in a blue moon by my reckoning). This room has housed a significant part of my record collection for some years now. I was having palpitations.

I retreated into the garden to do a bit of pruning, wash the car, and contemplate the way forward.

Back in the house a couple of hours later and into the “dining room” (which is now almost exclusively now functioning as my main record room) I was confronted with this:

What you see is two 4x2 Ikea Expedits, only one of which had been in the dining room before I had beaten my retreat into the garden. Mrs Darce and our daughter had removed one of these from the spare room, and all the records, carried them downstairs and placed them on top of the other one! I was impressed. But apparently this is only a temporary measure whilst redecorating and construction takes place. Our daughter has measured up an alcove for shelves which can then be dedicated to records (and will result in more space than a 4x2 Expedit offers). The top Expedit will then either be removed , at least that is the plan as it stands. I think I have enough records around and about to fill the new shelves and most of this second Expedit. Granted, I could (should) pare down the collection so that it wouldn't be required but I'm thinking it looks OK in its new home. Or I even maybe able to get it back upstairs into the repurposed spare room as general shelving space – which I could very gradually (so that it isn't noticed) fill up with records again! :)

Following this the strange thing is, despite having more of my records immediately to hand, I have not been playing much in the last couple of weeks. Suddenly confronted with too much choice at my fingertips possibly, or maybe I am still in shock after the events I described above.

I might not have been playing many records but I have still been accumulating them. (Actually, I have been selling some too, so the net effect on my collection maybe zero).This, for example, is a stack of 45s I have bought, mostly on ebay, in the last few weeks some of which are still awaiting their first spin.

This 45 by The Precisions had its first spin on my turntable today. This is one of those records you just have to play again as soon as it has finished. The A side, Why Girl , is a good dancer, appreciated on the Northern scene I should think, but its the B side that does it for me. Why Girl was produced and arranged by Mike Terry, a giant on the scene in the Sixties, and someone has written Mike Terry on this record's sleeve to prove that point. On the other side of the sleeve they should also have written Dale Warren, because he was responsible for production and arrangement of the B Side – What I Want. If I see his name in the credits on a record I know it's that record I want - satisfaction will be guaranteed as far as I am concerned.

Dale Warren was a violinist and had classical training. Through most of the 60s and into the 70s he worked as an arranger at Motown and other Detroit labels, and then at Stax. Later in his career he returned to working as a classical violinist. This classical background can be heard in his arrangements which are often complex and dramatic, and make for a deep listen. I don't believe there is a compilation of his work as arranger and writer, but there should be.

The Precisions were one of many Detroit male vocal groups around at the time. The Drew label was created especially for them and remained true to that premise with no other artists receiving a release on the imprint. They went through a few personnel changes and I'm not sure but I think Billy Prince was the lead on the track here. They got their “big” hit with the follow up to this Drew release – If This I Love – which is still a big favourite in Northern circles.

I would go far as to say What I Want reaches all round perfection. Perfect arrangement, perfect length, perfect vocals; and its tempo - mid tempo verging on slow, and its melancholic, dark feel are perfect too.

Precision engineering! Featuring chief engineer Dale Warren!

The Precisions - What I Want 1967

PS: I understand there is a better mix of this track on (I think) a styrene issue of this 45 that has a different label design. But this one is good enough for me right now.

Fresh stock

I have retrieved the small batch of singles from the hole in the ground at the bottom of the garden. Good job too as it's raining now. The unseasonably high winds we have been having lately certainly should have seen off any lingering virus particles that may have been lingering on them :)

I can now reveal the small batch of singles with the Week27 price sticker on them (see last post). These are not the usual charity shop fodder, in my experience at least. Three are on the Tru Thoughts label and one is on Red Earth, and they all date back to around 2008. The recent past you could say, although that is already twelve years ago!

A nice little batch, all are well worth the 99p each I paid.

Kinny – aka Caitlin Simpson – was the buzz of the DJ world back in the late 00s. This was her first single. Two albums followed, in 2009 and 2011. Earlier in the decade she had been recording with producer Espen Horne as Kinny & Horn, and Kinky & Horne. Since her second album almost nothing, at least in the recorded form, has been heard of her. This single has two good sides, which would I guess fall into the Neo Soul genre (I am no expert in recent trends!).

Nostalgia77 – aka Benedic Lamdin – was another darling of the Tru Thoughts label and also very active during the 00s, but again his recorded output has tailed off significantly in the last few years. On this single he collaborated with the jazz couple Keith & Julie Tippett (nee Driscoll) to create a gorgeously moody piece. Keith passed away just a few weeks ago. RIP Keith Tippett.

Kinny– Enough Said 2008

Nostalgia77 featuring Keith & Julie Tippett – Film Blues 2008

What's in a number?

I went cruising in the car yesterday. No, not doing that! I was looking for charity shops with an open door. Yes, I really really wanted to dig. And I found one! And I bought some records too! Get the bunting out.

It did feel a bit strange, as I walked up to the boxes of records – reassuringly in the same place as always - I wondered if I was just supposed to gaze at them from a distance of two metres? I felt like I was being a bit naughty as I dug in. I was almost waiting for a tap on the shoulder and a voice saying “should you really be doing that, sir?”. I mean, all this riffling through records, picking the occasional one up for a closer look. Can this be safe? The feeling soon eased as I found some records that were worth a punt!

This particular chain of charity shops always puts a week number on the price sticker, so you know how long it has been in the shop. Which can be quite helpful. My first post-lockdown real world find (presented to you here) had week number 4 on it meaning it was first put on the floor in late January. So it was a pre-lockdown veteran, it's charity shop life had entailed being passed over by I don't know how many diggers for about seven weeks, and then being hunkered down it its box - with the likes of Mozart and Johnny Cash for company - in an eerie silence for the last three months or so. As such it was sort of comforting to know that it would certainly be virus free. Or would it? When did this shop re-open? And it was three in the afternoon – how many, potentially infected, diggers had already riffled through it or, perish the thought, sneezed on the whole box of records it was sat in?! I couldn't resist a dip into the pocket for a reassuring touch of my own personal mini bottle of hand sanitiser.

Madness ultimately results from such thoughts of course. So. allowing the paranoia to take a back seat for a moment, let's talk about the record I found. First things first, it is probably quite rare, but rare doesn't always mean valuable. I am sure this album will never be described as a “holy grail”, and it will never grace the wall of a record shop. I was attracted to it because a) I had never seen a copy of it before; and b) it was obviously some form of jazz record; c) it had a rather nice multi page gatefold sleeve; and d) it was in great nick. Simple pleasures.

The sleeve contains extensive details by way of a track by track personnel breakdown and there are some notes too (with some slightly inaccurate English spellings resulting from what was evidently a “home made” translation from Dutch). From all this I got the distinct impression this was most probably going to be trad or swing jazz. Not my favourite jazz landscapes, but my hopes were raised somewhat as I read the words “[the group's] enthousiasm [sic] made it possible to 'cut in wax' this diversity of songs and styles”. That was the clincher, into the buy pile it went. A little nugget or two of something more adventurous in the jazz world may lie in the grooves, I thought.

Alas no. Zenja Damm and the various band ensembles here give us fairly faithful reproductions of early jazz idioms throughout, with a blues touch here and there. So, nothing arresting, but no matter, the bands are very competent, Zenja Damm sings well, and the whole thing swings well. The sleeve notes tell me it was recorded in Holland, January 3-10 1979.

Looking at the back cover I think the charity shop staff have actually gone the extra mile with this particular record. It looks to me like they have given Madam Zenja a face mask to wear (she is, of course, just “wearing” .. er .. wear), and have also allowed her to venture into a pretty (if rather chilly) park, but reminded her she needed to do some serious social distancing.

As you can see as I walked down the road clutching my purchases and the daylight shone on the front cover this caused Madam Zenja to awake and ask “Was It A Dream?”

The other records I found have week number 27 written on the price sticker, meaning they were fresh stock. A completely different kettle of fish from a virus potential point of view (and musically too as it happens). Had they had the 72 hours lay over treatment as the charity shops have promised? Who knows? I think for my protection and yours it is best I do not speak of them further right now. They will spend a few days in a hastily dug hole at the bottom of the garden and I will reveal them in my next post.

Zenja Damm with Wik's Big Band – Stop, You're Breaking My Heart 1979

Zenja Damm with Wik's Big Band – I'm Pulling Through  1979

R.I.P. Bonnie Pointer

Over the weekend I caught up with the news that Bonnie Pointer passed away last Monday. 
She was just 69, another one leaves us much too young.

This is a bit spooky really. Only about two weeks ago I pulled out her debut solo album from the collection and gave it a spin. Since then she has been sat on a chair next to the turntable looking at me. I think I better put her back into the file again, next to her sisters, where she may gain some comfort.

I have always been a big fan of the Pointer Sisters, especially their 70s albums, when Bonnie, Anita, June and Ruth were all together. It seems Bonnie made the wrong move going solo in 1978, it was not long after that her sisters really hit paydirt with a string of more commercial songs that were big hits – Automatic, Slow Hand, etc. After signing Bonnie, Motown didn't seem to pull out the stops for her. Only two albums appeared and both contained versions of many old Motown songs, the second album being almost full of them. Her first album – the “Red album” (the one pictured here) - was the better of the two I think. It seemed to be very much an album of two halves. Side one was upbeat, production heavy, and aimed at the dancefloor. Side two on the other hand was much more stripped back and reflective and much to my liking, and I wonder if this was the true Bonnie trying to make her mark?

Here is a track from that side:

Bonnie Pointer – I Wanna Make It In Your World 1978

And here, from 1974 when she was together with her sisters, is Bonnie singing (live) Black Coffee, which appeared on The Pointer Sisters album That's A Plenty

Rest in Peace Patricia Eva “Bonnie” Pointer (July 11th, 1950 – June 8th 2020)