You're welcome, stop on by

“Hmm, early November – must be almost time for the December issue of The Word to drop through the letterbox”, and so it did the morning after I had this thought. Not quite a record for advance delivery, I think I had one delivered on the 3rd of the (preceding) month once. The Word is always a good read I think, probably due in part to the fact that I must be a near contemporary to the editor (Mark Ellen) and at least one main writer (David Hepworth). MP3 blogs, audioblogs, or whatever you want to call things such as this wot you are reading now seem to have been getting an increasing number of references and name drops in the mainstream press recently. The Word’s team seem to be quite disposed to them. In this month’s edition David Hepworth has written an article on MP3 bloggers and their output (I thought of saying "art", but that’s pushing it a bit I guess) that is almost reverential in tone. It seems David spends many a Saturday morning clicking from blog to blog, whether mine is one of them I don’t know. “MP3 bloggers don’t make any wild claims. They just put the stuff there” he says, and he concludes his article with : “… By then they will have formed themselves into the Society For The Protection of Unpopular Music (see in the phone book under SPUM) and will have royal patronage. Here’s to them, for they shall inherit the earth.”

On behalf of all the bloggers on my blogroll and the thousands of others out there I would like to say thanks to David for the kind words. I’m sure we all approach this MP3 blogging lark as a labour of love, but nevertheless it’s nice to get a comment or two now and then and it strikes me that with his article David has just posted a huge communal comment.

Just one thing, though – SPUM? It sounds like a cross between scum and spam. Surely we bloggers deserve a better sounding acronym/initialism?!

So what to play to accompany this post? Well, I can’t believe I have been doing this for almost eight months now and I haven’t yet posted a Rufus track. Time to put that right. I’m sure Rufus & Chaka Khan need no introduction from me – they had a unique sound and were pure class. "Stop On By" was the last track on their 1974 "Rufusized" album when they were just hitting top form. There are plenty of Rufus tracks that make me cry whenever I hear them and this is one of them, maybe it's the strings on this one that does it. The label scan is of the UK single but I've posted the album version of the track as it has a sublime fade out-in-out. Don't be fooled - stay listening for the sax at the end.

Rufus – Stop On By 1974

One thing leads to another...

Work dominates again at the moment I’m afraid, so this post will be short. If you’re a regular visitor you will have been expecting a follow on from The Ohio Players post in the form of another Capitol release from 1968. Just three Capitol releases earlier than The Ohio Players was this one from Bettye Swann. “(My Heart Is) Closed For The Season” was the B-side of “Don’t Touch Me” on Capitol 2382 although it had also appeared as an A-side earlier in the same year on Capitol 2236. “Don’t Touch Me” was a minor hit I think but maybe assisted by it’s, to my ears, superior B-side. I don’t think “Closed For The Season” was a hit in it’s own right but it deserved to be a monster. Bettye’s voice may be sweet and pure, but on this track the tone is anything but - she’s hurt and indignant as she pours her heart out over the realisation that her latest love affair wasn’t all it seemed. Like the song’s subject matter the arrangement is also complex, and the horns in particular remind me of something else, but I have never been able to nail it (if somebody could help me out with that I would be grateful). On top of all that it’s got a great title.


In 2004 Honest Jon’s followed their great collection of Candi Staton’s Fame material with a similarly fine Bettye Swann compilation focussing on her Capitol material that includes this track. Also here you can find (some?) liner notes from that compilation which give insight into Bettye’s musical career and what she is (maybe) doing now.

Happy Birthday Bettye, 62 earlier this week.

As I post this there is only just over an hour to go before British Summer Time is closed for the season – have you turned those clocks back?

Bettye Swann - (My Heart Is) Closed For The Season 1968

...and another

So where have those dots in the post title led from? Well, the next post actually. Confused? So am I! I’ll try and explain.
The Ohio Players single in my previous post had made my mind up on my next post – it reminded me of a 45 I had been going to feature some time ago but hadn’t quite got round to. The reason for the nudge being that this other record is also on Capitol and, to use one of my favourite cricket commentary phrases, is very adjacent in the catalog. Not plum you understand, just very adjacent*. Anyway, back from another European jaunt a few days ago I needed a vinyl fix so pulled out a few 45s to spin. One of them was Betty Wright’s “One Thing Leads To Another”. Now that’s a perfect title for my post on the (at the moment mystery) Capitol track I thought, and so it will be. But hey, this Betty Wright single deserves the spotlight turned on it too, so, as Betty sings, one thing leads to another… and another, and Betty’s track has muscled it’s way into today’s post and will serve as a bridge to the next post by dint of it’s title. So, with my next post laying claim to “One Thing Leads To Another” as it’s subject title, today’s post gets the sequel title although it has ended up as the prequel. Also, I thought with the Previous Posts list reading backwards in time the post titles will eventually read correctly with the ellipses** flowing naturally into each other.

* If you know your Capitol catalog you are welcome to guess which track it will be – no prizes, just a bit of fun.

**I may be on shaky ground but I think these are called an ellipsis. More than you ever wanted to know about ellipses can be found here.

If you’re still with me you deserve a medal! And I haven’t been smoking anything, honest!
Enough of all this - what’s the word I’m looking for? - drivel?!

Time to let Betty Wright take centre stage with a cautionary tale for all the young ladies out there. By the end of this song Betty’s in trouble!
I would venture to say this isn’t one of Betty’s better known tracks, but it’s nevertheless a wonderful piece of Miami styled slippery, slinky funk. At two and half minutes it’s small but perfectly formed, and still manages to incorporate a few pauses which I really like. I love Betty’s voice, and on Alston (named after Steve Alaimo and Henry Stone) with Clarence Reid and Willie Clarke on writing and production credits that was quite a team back in the seventies. Betty is truly a legend on the soul scene. She seems to have been around forever yet she is now only in her early fifties. Her first Alston single “Girls Can’t Do What The Guys Do” was released in 1968 when she was only 15. This was in fact already her third single, earlier releases having been made on Deep City and Solid Soul. At the still tender age of 18 she hit it big with “Clean Up Woman” which was single number 12 (“Clean Up Woman” was on the 1972 album “I Love The Way You Love” which I highly recommend, and it’s not difficult to find on vinyl, nor expensive). For the record the single featured here was number 18 and when you realise how young she still was the lyrics were no doubt very pertinent. She is still very active on the music scene and recently, of course, was a key element in the production team responsible for Joss Stone’s “Soul Sessions”. Betty’s Wikipedia entry has a few interesting bits of trivia.

Betty Wright – One Thing Leads To Another 1974

Observations in time

Week in week out Mr. Fine Wine over at WFMU keeps on coming up with the goods. Downtown Soulville is chock full of soul/r&b classics every week. The records may be generally 30-40 years old but many are new to me, and therein lies the joy of tuning in (in reality, of course, “tuning in” simply means a couple of mouse clicks nowadays). I like the paradox - I’m excited and invigorated by hearing music that is new and fresh to me, at the same time knowing that it is all from a bygone age. Every now and then the excitement becomes full blown intoxication - you know, that special feeling you get when you hear a record for the first time and it hits you right between the ears and your moved to say "WOW! this is fantastic, who is this?!" (out loud, to nobody and anybody, and it’s like a knee jerk reaction – you know, you just can’t stop yourself). Well, in my experience, that happens fairly often listening to Mr. Fine Wine, and it certainly happened a couple of weeks ago. Tucked in near the end of his show were The Ohio Players with “Here Today and Gone Tomorrow”. Now, being born in the late 50s, my musical radar didn’t really attune until the 70s when, among others, it picked up The Ohio Players loud and clear with their own unique brand of slinky, senuous funk (with an occasional twist of hard rock). Incidentally, their album covers registered elsewhere too! What I didn’t realise then, nor in fact, until very recently, was that the band had paid their dues, so to speak, through the 60s. In much the same way as many other 70s heavyweights – George Clinton’s extravaganza Parliament/Funkadelic and the O’Jays for example – some enduring members of The Ohio Players (originally the Ohio Untouchables) had started out at the dawn of the 60s in almost a doo-wop vein before moving (with the times) into straight ahead soul later in that decade.

“Here Today and Gone Tomorrow” dates from 1968. Structurally reminiscent of Smokey’s “Tracks Of My Tears” it is one of the finest examples of a soul record you are ever likely to hear. Sometimes in my archaeological digs through soul music’s golden age I begin to think that maybe there are no more classics to unearth, but then such a track as today’s selection pops up and I know the digging is worthwhile, and so I carry on, refreshed.

Another good thing about Downtown Soulville: although some of the featured records are almost impossible to get hold of, many are fairly easy(=cheap) to find. So to continue the notion of the “old is new” paradox, barely two weeks after hearing this track for the first time I now have my very own vinyl copy of it. In these situations – i.e. hear a record, got to have it - the Internet is truly a wondrous thing. I went onto Gemm and found a handful of copies available, and so it was that a few days ago, all the way from sunny Brighton UK, a copy dropped through the letterbox. I popped it on the turntable and I am sure experienced pretty much exactly the same feelings as I did some thirty odd years ago when playing The Ohio Players then new release “Love Rollercoaster” for the first time. Yes, I still get those same tingly feelings, just like a kid with a new toy.

“Here Today And Gone Tomorrow”, and the other side of this single “Bad Bargain” – which judging by the catalog numbers on the label may well have been the original A side – were both featured on The Ohio Players second album “Observations In Time”. Both these tracks and much of their late 60s Compass/Capitol output is available on the Charly CD Trespassin’.

The Ohio Players – Here Today And Gone Tomorrow 1968

Six Music (Pt. 3) - Seventies big hitters

The jet setting work schedule is continuing to play havoc with the posting calendar I’m afraid. I’m back at home for a couple of weeks now but at the moment seem to be feeling a bit below par so will keep the words to a minimum if you don’t mind.

This is the third and final part of my Six Music mini series. With two records featured in each post that makes six altogether, which is sort of appropriate.

The O’Jays and The Fatback Band should need no introduction, both giants of the 70s soul and funk scene.


In the early 70s The O’Jays seemed to develop a preoccupation with some of the more dishonourable facets of human behaviour – witness songs such as “Backstabbers”, “992 Arguments”, “For The Love Of Money” and the B side of the single featured here, the wonderfully titled “Shiftless, Shady, Jealous Kind Of People”. It’s always good to get things of your chest isn’t it? There’s not much to choose between this and the A side “Time To Get Down” – both prime examples of early Philly soul sophistication. But the B side has to win here on the title.


On the other hand The Fatback Band just wanted to PARTY. “Njia Walk” is an infectious hunk of street funk. In 1973 they were still on Perception and hadn’t really hit the big time, although that was just around the corner with singles such as “Wicki Wacky”, “Yum Yum”, and “Bus Stop”. Njia is a Swahili word meaning way, road, route, or street – hence “Street Walk”.
Incidentally sorry about the sound quality on this one, the vinyl looks pristine, it must just be a bad pressing.


The O’Jays – Shiftless, Shady, Jealous Kind Of People 1972
The Fatback Band – Njia (Nija) Walk 1973

Six music (Pt. 2) - dawn and dusk, and long titles

For the artists concerned the releases here are representative of the dawn and dusk of their respective recording careers.

As Sisters Sledge, Debbie, Kim, Joni & Kathy had formed in 1971. After one(?) local release they signed with Atco in 1972. “Love Don’t You Go Through No Changes On Me” was I believe their third release for Atco (and I think their second for Atlantic in the UK). Mention Sister Sledge nowadays and Disco will automatically come to mind. But back in the early seventies when they first formed, as teenagers, the Jackson Five were probably the blueprint. Bernard Edwards, Nile Rodgers and Disco were phenomena that hadn’t yet happened. “Changes” is well loved on the Northern circuit I believe. It certainly isn’t a stomper though, and I would think could claim to be one of the earliest examples of the Modern Soul genre (I’m not expert on these labels mind, and don’t really subscribe to all this pigeon-holing). I seem to be building up something of an obsession with this cut - I now own three copies. My first is in fact on an EP issued on the back of a 1974(?) UK Atlantic artists tour (it also includes Ben E King's great "Supernatural Thing"). I only vaguely remember the gig – it was half empty I seem to remember and suffered accordingly from the lack of atmosphere). But I love this track so much that whenever I see it in a cheap bin I can’t resist buying it to give it some TLC.


Laura Lee recorded some really earthy Southern Soul at Rick Hall’s Fame studios in the late sixties that were released on Chess (“Dirty Man” is up there as one of the all time classics of the style). In 1970 she moved to Holland Dozier Holland’s then newly formed Hot Wax label and charted a number of times. By 1973 Hot Wax was no more so Laura was moved onto the Invictus label. An album “I Can’t Make It Alone” was released in 1973 from which both sides of the single featured here come. Earlier releases had put Laura firmly in the straight talking, bold soul sister mould. But by this release it seemed that image was receding.
“Don’t Leave Me Starving For Your Love” was Laura’s last Invictus single. I think the b side “(If You Want To Try Love Again) Remember Me” is the stronger side though. Again, today, it would probably be branded as Modern Soul, and in fact the more I listen to it the more anthemic it feels – some Northern jock should push this. (I’ve given you a scan of both sides just to prove that it is a legitimate “6er”).

Laura left Invictus in 1975 and, with Disco changing the face of black music, her output all but dried up. Then in 1979 she fell sick and was diagnosed with cancer. Thankfully Laura made a full recovery, although it took some time, and she returned to the gospel circuit where she had started her singing career in the fifties with the Meditation Singers. For an in depth look at Laura Lee’s life you should go to Colin Dilnott’s site dedicated to telling her story (that’s where some of this information comes from).

Sister Sledge CD comp.
Laura Lee CD comp.

Sister Sledge - Love Don't You Go Through No Changes On Me 1974
Laura Lee - (If You Want To Try Love Again) Remember Me 1974

Six music (Pt.1)

One of my early posts featured two Ann Peebles singles I had recently picked up in my longest standing crate digging haunt “Disc ‘n’ Tape”. In that post I expressed a wish that the shop should keep a link with the past and never change it’s name. Well, worse than changing name, it closed its doors for good this weekend. From a brief chat with the owner I learnt that it had been a record shop since 1969 and was run by the same family until the mid 90s when the current owner acquired it. With the digital age of downloading and cheap CDs on the internet he has found it increasingly difficult to compete. I am sure the ever increasing costs and red tape (I’m thinking swingeing business rates and seemingly increasingly over zealous health and safety regulations of this nanny state we live in, for example) of running a high street based business in the UK hasn’t helped the cause either.

Anyway it’s a sad loss. It seems, like the hardware stores and many other types of independent shops that were invariably run by knowledgeable and community friendly owners, the local independent record shop is becoming a thing of the past. The knock on effect is that finding places that offer up any significant quantities of vinyl to run my fingers through is getting increasingly difficult. It will be charity shops or nothing soon.

My final haul from “Disc ‘n’ Tape” included a number of singles with what appears to be a number 6 written in black felt tip on the label. Whoever 6 was he had good taste in soul music. So over the next few posts I will offer up for your aural delights “Six Music”.

First up is Eddie Floyd. Both sides of this single are beautiful so it gets a post all to itself. After “Knock On Wood” this was Eddie’s biggest hit I believe. You can find both of these on “Rare Stamps”. If you follow this link you will find a reviewer state that Eddie was thought of as something of a second-string artist at Stax. To date I too would not have listed him as an essential listen, but I think it’s about time I changed that view.

Eddie Floyd – I’ve Never Found A Girl (To Love Me Like You Do) 1968
Eddie Floyd – I’m Just The Kind Of Fool 1968

While i'm here just a quick mention for a relatively new blog on the block - Office Naps. Some great words and music being posted. Soul Sides drew my attention to it and therefore probably yours as well. But if you haven't tilted back your chair and put your feet up on the desk yet then you should.