Sunshine and Season's Greetings

By my reckoning for those of us living in the northern latitudes today is the shortest day of the year.

Daylight is at a premium at this time of year, the days are often grey, we go to work before it’s light and it’s dark well before it’s time to swipe the clock.

Let’s have some sunshine. Here, in the shape of a 45 by The Jimmy Castor Bunch is 3 minutes 15 seconds of pure sunshine to cheer us up.

“Everything Is Beautiful To Me" featured on the 1976 album “E-Man Groovin’”. Out of print and not available on CD as far as I can tell but you can currently find it at Lost-In-Tyme.

As we career headlong into another year of seasonal festivities I will take this opportunity to wish you all a Merry Christmas – have a good one.

The Jimmy Castor Bunch – Everything Is Beautiful To Me 1976

Early symptoms?

I buy records. Those black things. Vinyl (and styrene sometimes). You knew that. Not particularly unusual, and vinyl as a music medium is refusing to die, even making a bit of a comeback. Nevertheless, in this day and age my affection for vinyl puts me in the minority. Those of my children’s generation, and indeed many of my contemporaries, may mark me down as being a bit weird. “Ah, so you are a record collector”, they will say, checking to see if I’m carrying an anorak. I will reply, “Well, no not really”.

A record collector in my eyes is someone who splashes serious cash to satisfy their vinyl habit. The sort that remorselessly hunts down the first press. The sort that has to have that single by that obscure Garage band that was released on pink vinyl but then hastily withdrawn at the last minute because the band realised how naff it looked so there are perhaps only two in existence. The sort that develop a fixation on a particular artist and have to own everything they have ever had anything to do with, good or bad.

I have never thought of myself as a record collector. I just buy what I like. I have a fairly scatter gun and impulsive approach, and I’m not close to needing to re-mortgage the house to fund my habit.

On the other hand I do seem to spend an inordinate amount of time nowadays trawling the web and ebay for records. Also I now find it impossible to walk past a charity shop – I have to go in and have a quick rifle through whatever records they may have lying around, mostly Mantovani of course, but you never know. I don’t actually buy much, but, if nothing else, my fondness for digging is showing signs of developing into an addiction.

Then last Friday I took what could be possibly construed as the first step towards becoming a bona fide record collector. I bought a record that I already possess a copy of. This was not an accident (as in not along the lines of buy it, get it home, then find I already have it, doh!). Neither was this a record bought to replace a scratched and beat up copy. This was a conscious act of buying a record that I like and already have a copy of simply because it was on a different label. Is this the start of the slippery slope to full blown vinyl addiction? My wife thinks I’m already there. But this record only cost a £1 – that’s less than a latte to go, or half a pint of Marston’s Pedigree – so I don’t think I will be checking into Vinyl Junkies Anonymous yet. But, I wonder, am I just trying to gloss over the awful truth?

Here’s both sides of the said recording – Ted Taylor 1972 release “I Want To Be A Part Of You Girl” and “Going In The Hole”, a great double header. The Ronn label always says 60s to me. It started life in 1966 and unlike many record labels I don’t think it had a single design change in it’s existence, and by the 70s to my mind it had a sort of charming old fashioned look to it. Anyway by the time Ronn reached 65 it was 1972. In true anorak style the A side mp3 has been taken from my copy of the original US Ronn release and the B side from my newly acquired UK Contempo copy.


I’m constantly surprised by the great, and frankly relatively obscure, soul recordings that turn out to have secured a UK release. These singles must have sold in tiny numbers on release, and in many cases now seem to be more difficult to come by than their original US release counterparts. Contempo was fully focussed on soul and funk, and latterly followed the trend into disco territory. It was John Abbey’s first foray into the record business. Abbey had started out in the UK with black music orientated magazine publishing in 1966 with a title what would eventually become Blues & Soul. The Contempo label was launched in around 1970 I think. Subsequently Abbey and his then partner Nina Easton moved to Atlanta, Georgia and founded Ichiban Records in 1985.

After writing this I realised that Red Kelly also posted “Going In The Hole” over at the B side back in October 2006. I must have missed that one. Red’s post on Ted Taylor is an education and excellent, as his posts always are. I point you at that post for more on Ted Taylor.

Ted Taylor was prolific on the 45s front. His complete Jewel and Ronn singles releases on CD can be found here.

Ted Taylor – I Want To Be A Part Of You Girl 1972
Ted Taylor – Going In The Hole 1972

A namesake of Ted's and another example of a great soul record that amazingly got a UK release can be found by following my latest re-up link (right).

Surprise package

It’s going to be short post this time. Leisure time around the turntable and computer has been minimal in recent days. Last week when I was on the computer it was mostly about Christmas shopping. Then last (long) weekend I was out of town. My wife and two close friends sprung a surprise weekend away on me as an early birthday present (I am rapidly approaching a significant number of years on this planet – a number that ends in zero, I will say no more). We all had a great time in Sidmouth, a place I had never visited before. I can recommend it. Its Regency buildings are beautiful, and remarkably intact. There isn’t a hint of tackiness, and not a fast food outlet in sight. It’s very civilised, very English, and a joy. All in all a bit of a throwback. We enjoyed some exhilarating coastal walks in what could only be described as “lively” weather - the sight and sound of a wild sea throwing its breakers onto the shore is something special. In the evenings we struck lucky with two great local pub bands. Marry that with plenty of good food, copious amounts of alcohol, and good company and what more could you ask for?

In keeping with my surprise mini break the musical selection today is a surprise. Everything I post here is a surprise to you I guess, but believe me this was a surprise to me too. I randomly grabbed four singles out of one of my boxes gave them a spin and went with the one which just had to be played again. Benny Latimore released a string of strong singles on Henry Stone’s Dade label in the late sixties. He would drop the Benny and record some bigger selling records as just plain Latimore on Glades in the seventies. “Let’s Straighten It Out” and “Something ‘bout Cha” were two essential Glades releases in my book, as were just about all of his earlier Dade outings. Here’s one of them.

Benny Latimore – Let’s Move And Groove Together 1968(?)

Update 13/01/08:
Latimore is still going strong of course and has just won the Blues Critic 2007 Reader's Poll Southern Soul Blues Song Of The Year. You can read the full story here, and you can hear it here. While you're at it you could also visit Henry Stone's Music Store where you can find plenty of music from Henry's back catalogue and new stuff too.

Hi style

From my days of trawling record lists, long ago in the seventies, I was vaguely aware of Quiet Elegance. I had never heard any of their records but from their name I had them pigeon-holed as just another sweet soul male group. Being on the Hi label I should have known better – at least to the musical style, if not the gender of the group members. Anyway, as I didn’t have a particularly sweet tooth back then, and, probably more to the point, I had no way of checking the merchandise (i.e listening to the records) and couldn’t afford to buy records blind, I passed over Quiet Elegance.

Fast forward to a few months ago - I was looking to spread the postage cost on another ebay purchase from the US so looked to see what else the seller had listed. Until I win the lottery (which is unlikely as I don’t buy a ticket) I still struggle to justify buying records blind (unless they are going for peanuts – which nowadays they almost invariably aren’t, even in charity shops it seems). But with the wonders of the Internet and sites like Soul Juxebox, Manship, and the various e-tailers there is usually a way of listening to at least a snippet of many records now. Think of them as a kind of virtual portable turntable, there to support you in the virtual digging world. So it was that I heard my first ever snippet of Quiet Elegance and realised three things: 1. Their brand of soul although undoubtedly sweet was not sweet soul (you know what I mean). 2. They were a female group. 3. The record in question - “Do You Love Me” – was yet another nugget of pure gold - Hi style – and therefore a perfect addition to the cardboard mailer.

The Internet has also allowed me to find out more about Quiet Elegance. Considering their output was fairly limited (eight singles at Hi in a five year period) Allmusic has quite a detailed write up. Also their lead vocalist Yvonne “Frankie” Gearing, and the group’s previous incarnation in the sixties as The Glories, is covered at Soul Cellar.

"Do You Love Me" was their first single on Hi released in 1972. It appeared again (I am assuming it is the same song) as the B side to "Have You Been Making Out OK" in 1975. Enjoy!

Quiet Elegance – Do You Love Me 1975

Buy The Complete Quiet Elegance

Hi Time

I love my soul served up with a Southern flavour and as Southern Soul hasn’t been on the menu for a while here I thought it was high time I put that right. (Hey, I’m starting to sound like FuFu Stew!)

Willie Mitchell and the Hi crowd developed their own unique sound in the Seventies. Some people may say that it was only about Al Green and, perhaps, Ann Peebles, that the songs could sound derivative, and condemn tracks recorded by other artists on the label as essentially no more than Al Green cast offs. I think that’s unfair and I certainly don’t subscribe to that view.

Darryl Carter is a name you may not be familiar with. You can find a picture of him here. His musical career had begun as a recording engineer in the 60s. As the 60s ended and the 70s began he would forge a writing partnership with Bobby Womack, and record, solo, a handful of singles with labels including Venture, Perception, and TTC. At Hi “Looking Straight Ahead” would appear to be his only outing. In the main however, it would appear has was essentially a “backroom” man as engineer, producer and writer

We can often pinpoint a time in the past and what we were doing by recalling a hit, or popular, record of the time. So I will refer back to Al and Ann to place Darryl Carter’s Hi single in time, and understand I’m not belittling Darryl Carter’s single by doing this. “Looking Straight Ahead” was nine singles later than Al Green’s “Call Me” and four before Ann Peebles “I Can’t Stand The Rain” in the Hi catalog.

I certainly wouldn’t have been aware of this single’s existence at the time. In the UK London released a fair number of singles from the Hi catalog, but didn’t often venture beyond the big names. I haven’t tracked down a UK London discography, but I’m sure Darryl wouldn’t have appeared. I found a low rate mp3 of this track on a Japanese site some months ago and liked it – a lot. So it was that I subsequently secured my own copy via some edigging. And so it is that the wonderful sound of Hi soul continues to make the heart skip a beat today.

Darryl Carter – Looking Straight Ahead 1973

You can find this track on a number of Hi compilation CDs.

Parish notices #2

Souled On is a great site run by Scholar. Recently I was honoured to be given the opportunity to put together a guest post for his imprint. So, if you haven’t seen it already, as a little plug, it’s there now for you.

The RE-UP link on the right is now pointing to another of my older posts.

I’ve also added a couple of new links, including This Is Tomorrow which I have been reminded is definitely a worthwhile port of call. I have been visiting it for a while and thought that I already had it linked.


Scholar always finishes his posts with “A Word From Your Moms”. Scholar put me on the spot for one to finish my guest post with. I admit I had to resort to Google. Tears was the subject, and the one I decided on in the end was from the Little Prince. But I also found a few from Charles Dickens novels. Somehow I have never got round to reading any Dickens but finding those quotes has made me want to.

In my post over at Souled On I mention that there are quite a few disco tracks that can induce my tears. Somewhat inexplicably in many cases. Here is one of them – Tata Vega’s “Get It Up For Love”. I think the reason my eyes well up whenever this one is played is simply that it is so ridiculously good. I love the way it trips along, I love the bass, I love Tata’s voice (on this track), I love what the synthesisers are doing, and the break is sublime. Tears of course aren’t always shed due to sadness. In this case one of the Dickens quotes I stumbled upon seems perfectly appropriate:

" . . . Give me a moment, because I like to cry for joy. It's so delicious, John dear, to cry for joy.” (Charles Dickens, Our Mutual Friend).

I’m putting up two mp3s of the same track. I have been wondering lately whether my turntable is playing at the right speed (I don’t have the means to measure it). The time on the label for this one says 5:58 but when I recorded it clocked in at around 5:43 and I thought it sounded a little fast. Times stated on labels aren’t always accurate I know, but as I have just started playing with Audacity I thought I would use it to tempo adjust the track to it’s stated time of 5:58. I think possibly this one sounds a bit slow, so maybe the answer lies somewhere in the middle – whatever! (This last bit of technobabble was used as a device to dry my tears, as I’ve run out of tissues).

Tata Vega – Get It Up For Love 1979 (my turntable)
Tata Vega – Get It Up For Love (tempo adjusted to 5:58)

Still out there

Dipped into my limited stack of reggae just now and pulled out this one. This is the only slab of vinyl I own by Keith Hudson. Both sides of this 12” are deep, dark, brooding delights. As, I think, was much of Hudson’s later output. This article indicates that Hudson’s style was too sombre for his native Jamaica’s taste so he upped sticks and relocated to London in 1978. If he was searching for a spiritual home it was the right move. The UK in the late seventies was certainly in a dark and brooding place full of angst and the disaffected, and the winter of discontent was just around the corner to boot. His music would have fitted the mood of the country like a hand in glove.

If you follow the link above to the article on Keith, be sure also to check out the wonderful Dread Tale from Penny Reel, originally published in the NME in October 1978.

You can find both of these tracks on “Rasta Communication”. Both possess strong undertows that will suck you in and drag you down. Be warned, this is not feel good reggae. Hudson’s brand of Roots was out there, on the edge. Subtly different to most else floating around reggae’s universe at the time, it stands the test of time. I need to get some more Keith Hudson in my collection.

Keith Hudson – Nuh Skin Up 1979
Keith Hudson – Felt We Felt The Strain 1979>