Feel It Advent...ure 6. Prince Far I & Peter Broggs

No time to post some real vinyl tonight. It will have to be a Youtube link.


This was buried in one of Sidewalk Doctor's essential mixes. Roots! Crazy and brilliant.





Behind door #6: Christmas pudding (yum yum, eating it as I type). 

Feel It Advent...ure 5. Dennis Brown

Like the favourite decorations that re-emerge every year from their blankets of tissue paper and beds of tinsel to be lovingly hung on the Christmas tree I thought for this Advent run I would pick a few favourites songs that have made a previous appearance here on Feel It.


Here is the first of them, spinning gently around.

Dennis Brown - Should I 1979    

Behind door #5:  another Christmas tree!

Feel It Advent...ure 4. Margie Joseph & Blue Magic

The B side of yesterday’s Blue Magic single was “What’s Come Over Me”, which was included on their debut album released early in 1974. In the following year the powers that be at Atlantic took the, I think, unusual decision to team Blue Magic with one of their solo artists – Margie Joseph. One of the songs they recorded together was a new take on “What’s Come Over Me”. The result was stunning – an underappreciated, and now largely forgotten(?), gem. And, I apologise if I sound like and old broken record, but they just don’t make them like this anymore.  

Margie Joseph & Blue Magic – What’sCome Over Me 1975

Behind door #4: a Christmas cracker! 

Feel It Advent...ure 3. Blue Magic

Featuring the Margie Joseph 45 the other day made me think of Blue Magic. 


I dug deep in the boxes for this one. I think it must be 30 years at least since it was last played. Not forgotten though, I must have played it so many times back then that is has always been a song that has stuck with me. From time to time it still pops in my head.


Some Philly magic.


Blue Magic  - Look Me Up 1973


Exactly as I remember it! 


The B side of this 45 links into tomorrow's post so if you know your Blue Magic you should be able to work it out.


Behind door #3: Christmas tree (Again already! This could get a bit boring. Nice chocolate though). 

Feel It Advent...ure 2. Etta James

Parish Notices:

The Feel It Advent..ure will feature very simple post titles.  

Each day I will tell you in what image my Advent Calendar chocolate has been crafted. (Yes Mrs Darce has bought me a Cadbury’s Advent Calendar (she has accurately identified the fact that I am just a big kid).

Behind door #2 : Angel  (yesterday was a Christmas Tree).

Heard Etta James on the radio today doing “Misty Blue”.  Good version.

It prompted me to play this.

Muscle Shoals magnificence!

It cooks!

Etta James – I Got You Babe  1968

Buy “The Dreamer”. We wish her well.

A Feel It Advent-ure: 1

I have to say I’m usually not one to be bowled over by the seasonal festivities, especially not this early in the proceedings. And in truth this year is no exception, but – recklessly? – I have decided to give you a post a day from here on up to Christmas Day – a Feel It advent calendar!  Don’t expect Christmas themed tracks, nor many wordy posts, just plenty of vinyl in the usual vein.

I’m kicking things off with a follow on from the Jackie Moore post the other day. This is the other “gotta share it straightaway” 45 I alluded to.   

I went on a run of missed targets on ebay recently. Sniped three times in a row. I wasn’t surprised to be honest. I’m not in the big league when it comes to bidding, so when I go chasing records that are extra special I’m always likely to lose out in the end. It’s good to take part in the race though. One of the three I missed out on (just, as it happens) you can see and hear over at The Singing Bones. Yes, it turned out it was Ana-B (I had guessed as much) who beat me to the sublime Ella Brown 45, at least I know it’s gone to a good home.     

There was a silver lining to my recent ebay woes though. One of the three records missed I was given a second chance offer on, and so now, after all, I am the proud owner of this Margie Joseph 45 – “Never Can You Be”. This is a demo so has the same song on both sides. It’s possible the original buyer pulled out when they realised this as the issue of this 45 has “One More Chance” on the other side (yes,  I got one more chance although I didn’t get “One More Chance”!) which is something of an evergreen “in demander” on the Northern/Crossover scene I believe.  It would have been nice to have an issue copy but it was “Never Can You Be” that I was really after. “One More Chance” may garner the attention due to its dance floor friendliness but I think “Never Can You Be” is the real jewel – Stax/Volt must have thought so as this demo copy proves it was obviously originally intended to be an A side, and Margie Joseph herself singled it out as one of her favourites in an interview she gave a few years ago.     

I love the arrangement on this track. It has a big city jazz feel, but at the same time it is underpinned with a really churchy organ. The song was written by W Turbinton, aka Willie Tee. It was very probably him on the organ and the jazzy feel would be down to his brother Earl. Both, sadly, passed away in 2007. Also, of course, there is Margie Joseph. In the 60s and 70s there were so many great soul singers who didn’t get the success or recognition they deserved, and unfortunately Margie Joseph could be said to be one of them – such a beautiful voice.

Margie Joseph – Never CanYou Be  1969

Squeeze me tease me

I love it when I buy a record that moves me enough to want to post it here on Feel It straightaway. Last week two such records arrived in the same package.  So, here goes with the first of them.  

Earlier this year I wrote a piece on Jackie Moore titled Queen-B and featured two of her Seventies songs that appeared as B sides. Last week I was very pleased to pick up this Jay Boy issue for next to nothing and, again, it’s the B-side that is really turning me on.

The year on the label is 1968. That refers to the original recording date of this song. “Dear John” backed with “Here Am I” was Jackie Moore’s debut single, on the Shout label, recorded during a brief, and unsuccessful chartwise, stay in Philly. This UK Jay Boy release dates to 1971.

Incidentally, I love the Jay Boy label. It probably goes back to George McCrae’s “Rock Your Baby” when I was just getting into Soul music, and the fact that it had a quirky name and design which was refreshing amongst all the major label mundanity that dominated UK releases in the early 70s. Looking at the Jay Boy discography around the time of this Jackie Moore release it is clear they had a deal with Shout because Freddie Scott, Erma Franklin, and Philip Mitchell’s "I'm Gonna Build California From All Over The World" (great title, and I never knew that got a UK release!), were also issued.

I digress.   

“Dear John” is a perfectly acceptable song but it’s “Here Am I” that is the stronger song and just simply irresistible to my ears. How this hasn’t ever seemed to garner more recognition on the Northern/Crossover scene, or whatever you want to call it, beats me. And, who knows?, if “Here Am I” had been the A side perhaps Jackie Moore would have started her recording life with a smash hit and her career would have ended up being more stratospheric  than it was.    

Jackie Moore – Here Am I  1968