So here we are at the start of another Feel It Advent-ure.
Where has that year gone? Well, I know where some of it has gone – in the endless search of the new (to me) vinyl fix. All the records I’m going to feature in this year’s unfolding Advent-ure were acquired this year; mostly doorstep finds (so to speak), but charity shops, car boots, and record fairs were also visited - of course! As is the norm, most of what you will hear will be soul, but I will probably deviate away from that genre and throw in the occasional curve ball now and then.
I decided to acquire a few long time wants this year, which has involved paying a bit more than I normally do for dusty old singles. In a few cases, including the record featured today, they were not dusty at all but shiny and beautifully preserved, and probably only played once before, if at all. It always amazes me how you can still find records approaching 60 years old that are still, effectively, brand new. I I bought this one from John Manship, for many years a renowned record dealer, Northern Soul aficionado, and DJ. John has over 100,000 records listed for sale on Discogs (and has apparently recently acquired another avalanche of records – about another 100,000 I believe).
His prices for rare soul are typically eye watering – if you sort discogs inventory of a record by price if JM has a copy you will almost always find it at the bottom of the list i.e. the most expensive. Mitigating that somewhat is the fact that if the record is described as “Mint-” it is usually exactly that, a pristine copy that has quite possibly only never seen the light of day once i.e. when it was first imported into the UK by John himself from some dead stock warehouse or other in the USA decades ago, or twice i.e. it travelled from dead stock into a collection and then from there into JM’s warehouse. Anyway, JM has had two “half price” sales this year, which has enabled me to pick up a few records from him at acceptable prices (even at 50% off only just acceptable to me though, in most cases). Today’s record is one of those purchases.
Behind Door 1 of this year’s adventure is a gloriously dramatic slab of soul from Ella Washington. This is a Florida record. Ella was born in Miami, Clarence Reid (credited “Reed”) penned the song, Little Beaver arranged it, and it was initially released on the newly created local label Octavia, started by Fort Lauderdale DJ Larry Hargrove and named after, and with a little help from, his mother Octavia Roberts; both hailed form Tallahassee. (There was longevity in the family, I have read both of their obituaries and they were both in their nineties when they passed – Larry in 2022 and Octavia in 2000). I am guessing the record was cut at Criteria studios in Miami, it is certainly not a lo-fi recording.
An instrumental with the same (very similar) title appeared on the B side of Ella’s debut 45 – Nightmare. It was then released – with words – in late 1966 as the B side of her second single on Octavia. It made plenty of noise locally and Larry, thinking he had a potential big hit on his hands, settled on Atlantic, on the advice of Stax’s Jim Stewart, for a national release (with a very small rewording of the title). Atlantic didn’t get behind it though and it the single went nowhere. This was the last release Ella was to have on Octavia. She clearly had a quality voice and Jerry Wexler alerted WLAC DJ John Richbourg to her talents. He took her onboard, recorded her in Muscle Shoals and Nashville, and she would have a string of top quality singles, and one album, released between late ‘67 and early ‘72 on JR’s Sound Stage 7 label. Only one was a sizeable hit though – He Called Me Baby.
Ella left the music industry in 1973, becoming a “born again” Christian and, eventually, a pastor. She has released a few gospel records since her Sound Stage 7 days. As far as I know she still resides in the Miami area.
Ella Washington – The Grass Is Always Greener (On The Opposite Side Of The Fence) 1966/67
I have gleaned some of the information imparted here from Sir Shambling’s site (of course!).
Larry Hargrove’s obit.
Octavia Roberts obit.
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