Boogie Friday...

… yet another bout of nostalgia, this is with a tip of the hat to London Lee’s old blog #1 Songs In Heaven – I had to look it up I couldn’t remember the name, aaahh!

Among Evelyn “Champagne” King’s first few releases in the latter half of the Seventies were a couple of real gems – the effortlessly smooth disco classic “Shame” that was soon followed by the sublime “I Don’t Know If It’s Right”, which really swings and is one of my enduring favourites. Those records fixed Evelyn in my mind and I continue to this day to have a soft spot for her. Looking at her singles discography and chart stats it seems I’m by no means alone as an Evelyn loving Brit. She actually managed more chart entries in the UK than she did in the US. Fifteen in all in the period between 1977 and 1992. Considering that, it strikes me that I should come across more of her records in charity shops and boot fairs, but they seem to very rarely appear. Perhaps, like me, everybody who bought her records still cherish them enough to hold onto them.       

“Let’s Get Funky Tonight” was one of her singles that didn’t really stand out to me at the time and the chart stats would echo that generally. It was only a minor US R&B and Dance hit, failing to make it on the main chart both sides of the pond. That was maybe due to it being aimed fairly and squarely at the dancefloor and, therefore, less radio friendly.  

I guess this song could be summed up as being “an urgent disco boogie mover”. I dug it out of one of my Schweppes boxes yesterday and gave it a spin for the first time in a long time. It really jumped out of the speakers and I think it’s stood the test of time very well.

Clear some space around the kitchen table….

Evelyn “Champagne” King -  Let’s Get Funky Tonight  1980      

Buy Love Come Down - Best Of 

If at first you don't succeed....

After a few get togethers at a friend’s house a few years ago I became well acquainted with a couple of mixtapes of his that got some deserved repeat plays. These cassettes had been given to our friend back in the Eighties by one of his friends. They contained, mostly, a mixture of jazz, jump blues, early r&b, rock&roll and doo wop. He was concerned that one day soon these cassettes would wear out so I copied them onto CD for him and also kept a copy for myself. Unfortunately these tapes had no accompanying tracklistings. At the time I attempted to identify some of tracks I was particularly taken with by putting some of the lyrics into Google. There was no chance of course with the jazz tracks, and I drew a blank on just about everything else too.

It had been long time no play for my CD copies of these tapes but a recent mini CD reorg had put them back in my mind, and last week they made it into the car where I have been enjoying them all over again. This prompted me, on one track in particular, to do some fresh Google searches – I figured the Internet is a constantly growing pool of information so if at first you don’t succeed it is always worth another try from time to time.   

Boom! This particular mystery track was identified straightaway this time around. It could be the first time I had tried identifying this track I had missed out an all important ‘h’ in the lyric/title? when constructing the search, but I thought I had tried it both ways. Or it could be that this track has recently been included on a compilation that has resulted in some fresh listings on the Internet. Certainly the YouTube entry I homed straight in on has only been posted in the last few months.

Whatever, the important thing is I know what the track is now, and in following this link I also put artists and titles to a few more of the previously unknown tracks on one of those old mixtapes. Must go and tell my friend now.

Every now and then I’m sure that, like me, you hear a record and think, well, that’s just perfect; anybody else making a similar record, or any record in that vein, is/was just wasting their time because this one has completely and utterly nailed it. This, I think, is one of those records. Shtiggy Boom!

This song was recorded by a number of artists in 1955 it seems. This Billboard advert implies that The Nuggets recorded it originally, but it’s difficult to be sure. The Nuggets version, at least, got a 45 release but I can’t find mention of Patti Anne’s version on anything but 78. I have no 78s in my collection and I don’t own a turntable capable of playing them. But I think I could easily find myself buying a copy of this and a player just to be able to play this one record, it is so good. (THIS JUST IN: but wait, I just found the Aladdin 45 discog at globaldog and it did get a 45 release: Aladdin 3280 – as a B side).  

My Googling also threw up this, another recent addition to the wonderful www, that gives some more background to the record and the lead singer Patti Anne.  

PS: Shirley & Lee’s “The Flirt” is also on the mixtape, and was also taken from the NME “Little Imp” cassette. Go check that out on YouTube too because it is also great.

It's just a booty haul

Charity Shop purchases have been thin on the ground this year. On the other hand the car boot sale season started earlier than normal, and with all the great weather we have been enjoying every weekend has been a booting opportunity for many weeks now. Last year, by my latest estimate, I purchased 144 pieces of vinyl from chazzas and boot fairs. This year although it has only just clicked into May I see I have already bought 64 of the lovely black round things from boot fairs and the like. (This weekend was, in fact, the first time I have drawn a complete blank whilst wandering around, still half asleep, in a field). Not many of these purchases are in fact Soul or any of the styles that I choose to feature here on Feel It. Hmm.. perhaps it’s time for Feel It to have a sister blog.   

      

It was this time last year that I hit you with some of my, then, latest purchases, one of which was a superb Blues & Soul compilation on the UK budget label Marble Arch.  Since then I’m always on the lookout for more albums on that label and, as it happens, I’ve picked up two more for next to nothing in the last couple of weeks.

“Great Wilson Pickett Hits” (Marble Arch 681) has a somewhat misleading title. It is in fact Wilson Pickett’s first album in its entirety. Originally released on the Double L label in 1963(?), and then more widely distributed in the USA on Wand it would pop up later in the Sixties on various labels in other parts of the world. This Marble Arch release dates to 1967. It’s a great album – it could in fact reasonably lay a claim to being the first great soul album - that features Wilson in fine testifying voice. Giving it a few listens there is a Sam Cooke feel to some of the tracks but Wilson Pickett’s voice and the arrangements have a grittier Southern Soul feel. Considering its release date, it seems to me it was very much a signpost for where Soul music was heading later in the Sixties. Having said that, I’m featuring the track “Baby Don’t You Weep” which, to my mind, is slightly different to most of the other tracks on the album inasmuch as it is aimed more fairly and squarely at the dancefloor and has an older R&B feel. I’m sure this would still tear up any dancefloor today.

Wilson Pickett – Baby Don’t You Weep   1963

“Modern Jazz Today” (Marble Arch 725) is a Jazz compilation which in truth is nowhere near as strong as the Blues & Soul compilation I picked up last year, and also has a slightly misleading title as some of the tracks were already a few years old by the time of its release in 1967. Still, it wouldn’t be fair to expect anything more from a budget label.  The stand out for me is Illinois Jacquet’s “Bonita” which is taken from Illinois’s 1963 album “The Message”.

lllinois Jacquet – Bonita  1963        

Buy “Great Wilson Pickett Hits”

Buy Illinois Jacquet‘s  “The Message”

Eggquisite

My first real memory of eating Crème Eggs was in about the 3^rd year of my senior

school. Cycling, or walking, home from school as part of a straggly pack of 

schoolboys we would inevitably call into a newsagents to buy (I was never into

stealing) sweets of some description and as far as I can remember

this was when I developed a real taste for the Crème Egg. This would have

been about the time they changed, in the UK, from being a Fry’s Crème Egg

to a Cadbury’s Crème Egg.

It has struck me how my taste for Crème Eggs, and similar sweet confectionary

has developed in directly inverse proportion to my love of sweet soul. 

Back in the early Seventies while stuffing Crème Eggs into my mouth on the

journey home from school if we were discussing music it would likely have been

all about Bowie, Elton, Roxy, or Zep. I had discovered Soul music and was liking

it too, except for that horrible sweet sickly stuff - I blame the Stylistics.

Now here we are in 2011 and, prompted by our children, being that certain

time of year, our house is again seemingly awash with Crème Eggs. I can’t stand

the things now though. Just the sight of one sets my teeth on edge, that gooey stuff

in the middle is just sooo sweet – ugh!  On the other hand I have noticed that over

the last few years my vinyl collection is getting increasingly laced with sweet soul records.

This new found appreciation of sweet soul really started to gather pace a few years

ago when I started delving more deeply into the back catalogues of groups that I

had previously only been vaguely familiar with, and somewhat dismissive of –

groups such as The Moments, The Whispers and, especially, The Delfonics. Now,

this year, I have suddenly developed a passion for another early Seventies group

– The Montclairs.

Their name sounds like it could be a good name for a sweet, a chocolate perhaps.

In fact this East St. Louis group took their name from a brand of cigarettes. 

Their recorded output was small – initially they had two 45s released on

Oliver Sain related labels Arch and Vanessa. Then, in 1971, Oliver Sain placed them

on the Paula label (there’s a Ronn link again!) and in an all too brief time between

1971 and 1974 they would have six 45s and one album released. Most of the 45s

reached the R&B charts with “Dreaming Out Of Season” being their biggest hit, 

peaking at #34. You can find more on The Montclairs here.

A feature of their sound was Phil Perry’s beautifully rich and pure falsetto which,

married to the lush arrangements, put them very much in the sweet soul bag.

Their arrangements though were often complex and quite unusual, I think, with

great structure. There is a sort of slowed down doo wop feel to the harmonies

and at times a skewed jazzy feel to the instrumentation. Describing them simply

as a sweet soul group doesn’t do them justice.   

                

Many of my friends do not share my passion for soul music, and of those that do

sweet soul can be a step too far. At best therefore they can maybe appreciate that

the unusual arrangements, and Phil Perry’s pure voice, make The Montclairs stand

out from the pack a bit – excellent in parts could be their verdict, a curate’s egg

perhaps? In truth until recently that may have been my verdict too, but now all

of the a sudden I find I can’t get enough of them. Right down to the hard centre

(for as I think their sound is so much more than your average sweet soul fare if it

were a chocolate egg it would possess a hard centre not a soft one like a sickly

sweet Crème Egg). 

Why not bite into The Montclairs and you too might find them thoroughly

exquisite throughout too – or should that be eggquisite?  :)

They don’t make them like this anymore…  part 84….

The Montclairs – Dreaming Out Of Season  1972

The Montclairs – How Can One Man Live  1973   (link works now)

Buy "The Montclairs: Make Up For Lost Time  The Paula Recordings 1971-74" 

RSD - something to remember you by

I missed Record Store Day last year but today I participated, and of course bought a record. Just the one, amazingly, but a good one and it feels like two because both sides are strong.

“St Nicks” Market in Bristol is full of interesting stalls and small independent shops including a few  record shops. Today they promoted Record Store Day with a mini sound system playing some cool reggae (in all its flavours) and soul sounds all afternoon. A great setting, and some great sounds. (The only shame as far as I was concerned was that Mrs Darce wasn’t with me to chill as she is currently on her annual jaunt to Turkey with her bestest friend).     

I would have liked to have bought some reggae but it’s all so expensive. (In truth I could have bought any number of new 45 presses at £4 each but I’m getting picky in my record buying – I want the originals, but can’t afford them – stupid, I know).

Still, I’m more than pleased with my purchase. After digging through a few boxes in Wanted Records I found this Marvin Smith 45. I featured a Marvin Smith 45 not too long ago and today I found another one of his Brunswick releases (there were only four). I had not heard either side of this 45 before so it was a real bonus to find it.

So this is something to remember Record Store Day 2011 by.

Marvin Smith – I Want (Something To Remember You By)   1967

Marvin Smith – Love Aint Nothing But Pain  1967

... Ronn

Looking around on the Internet I haven’t been able to find out any background on Barbara West, beyond details of her Ronn releases. It seems her only output were four 45s released on Ronn in the late 60s. (Barbara A. West on Nu Sound may also be her). “Congratulations Baby”, her last on Ronn from 1969, has some favour on the Northern Soul scene which would account for its higher going price in relation to her other releases, most of which lean more towards a deep and slow style, with a strong southern/gospel feel. Just how I like them, in fact.

“The Love Of My Man” was Barbara’s first release on Ronn, in 1967. When I heard it recently I assumed it was a) Barbara West’s original and b) a song I had not heard performed before. I was wrong on both counts. The song was originally recorded by Theola Kilgore in 1963, and I’m sure by many other artists since. Bouncing around YouTube I also found a cover by Gayle Adams recorded in 1980 – and included on an album of which I have a copy!  Gayle’s version absolutely had not stuck in my mind (in fairness, at the time I bought Gayle’s album I was in the middle of my DJ phase and so it was the dancefloor slanted cuts on that album that would have had my attention – and there are some crackers). Theola’s version is there on YouTube too (what isn’t nowadays?!). All versions referred sound very much of their time.           

After buying this 45 recently I am fast developing a mini obsession with Barbara West and will be adding to my collection soon I think. My intentions in this regard are evidently in sharp contrast to someone whose comments on “The Love Of My Man” I stumbled across on some old forum thread while I was looking for information on Barbara. The forum thread was entitled “Candidates for the world’s worst record” and this individual had this to say:

“The worst 45 I ever had (and one of the few records I ever parted with) was "The Love of My Man" by Barbara West. The singer's voice was totally overshadowed by the out-of-tune piano. It was in one of those sight-unseen 10-record 45 packs that sold for a dollar (you could see one of the labels on one end of the box, which was a record I wanted). I gave it away with a turntable I sold.”  !!

(Incidentally he also cited Archie Bell & The Drells “Do The Choo Choo” for a dishonourable mention. He obviously never bothered to turn that 45 over and play the B side!)    

Hmmm. Well, I agree the piano sounds like it could do with a tune, but in those days  in the studios the takes were few, and in the long hot days from what I understand the tuning could go off pretty quick. With the recording sessions packed in there probably wasn’t time to keep tuning the instruments. I’ll forgive them that because there is the guitar to listen to too… and then there are the horns… oh, and the strings… and not least Barbara West’s strong voice, which by no means could be said to be drowned out. The piano’s “noise” just adds a certain charm I think. Well that’s my opinion, anyway. I’ll let you make your own mind up.   

Barbara West – The Love Of My Man 1967

Do Do Ronn...

Ana-B and Derek have both posted Ted Taylor tracks in recent days. Being a fan of Ted myself I thought I would make it a hat-trick of posts.

This may not be the greatest song Ted Taylor ever recorded but it certainly could lay claim to being one of the best titles of a song that he recorded (and penned).

Ted Taylor has appeared on Feel It before and it was then that I mentioned my love of the Ronn label. The label was named after Stan Lewis' younger brother Ronny (the related Paula label being named after Stan's wife). The label has a distinctive design and to my mind an old fashioned feel (especially when you consider it's design remained unchanged well into the Seventies.). Also the printing on the label of this particular 45 looks like it was prepared using a child's John Bull printing kit. The quoted time is completely wrong too; altogether it has a real down home feel to it, as does what's in the grooves.

More from the Ronn label next time.      

Ted Taylor - I'm Just A Crumb In Your Bread Box Of Love 1971