The Feel It Mini Advent-ure: Door 16

Although I plough a fairly narrow furrow on this blog my musical leanings are fairly eclectic, and I am happy to listen to things that are new to me. This year I have been listening to a lot more jazz, and I am really getting a taste for exotica. Besides my obvious love of  “black” music in general I have for a long time been drawn to Americana, and I am also much more open to a bit of prog rock nowadays. My love of art rock and punk back in the 70s has never left me either.

But when it comes down to it I am always drawn back to soul, I suppose it is my comfort music. I never tire of hunting out new (to me) records in that genre. Now and then I start to think I've found all the easily affordable soul records out there. But then I stumble across another record like this one that proves soul's well is deep.

Shirley Brown released her first single, on Abet, in September 1971 (despite the copyright on my 1975 UK released copy saying 1972). September 1971 was exactly the time I caught the music listening bug for real (top 30 chart shows taped etc etc) and I remember Al Green's Tired Of Being Alone gracing the UK charts at that time and being just about the first soul record that wasn't Motown that I got hooked on. From then on soul of the Southern and Deep variety have have always really hit the spot for me, although I struggled to find much of it to listen back in those days. For example I'm pretty sure this Shirley Brown track would not have got an airing on UK radio on its initial US release.

After her debut single nothing really seemed to happen on the recording front for Shirley for three years. Then she was finally picked up by Stax and she was placed on their Truth subsidiary label. Her first single on that imprint, Woman To Woman , hit #1 in the Soul charts and made the top 30 pop. The album of the same name sold well too. Unfortunately the timing was bad. Stax was running into big trouble and by the end of 1975 they had filed for bankruptcy. In fact that filing may have been even sooner if it hadn't been for the success of Woman To Woman. Shirley never hit those chart heights again, and her style of Southern soul was out of fashion to the mainstream(did somebody say Disco?). 

Shirley remains active on the music scene. From the mid-70s on she was remarkably consistent with her recorded output, averaging an album every three years between 1974 and 2009. The Malaco label was her base for most of these, as would be the case for many Southern soul singers who “kept it real” so to speak and chose not to follow the mainstream and the disco round. Now in her early 70s she is still performing at Blues festivals across America, and has two dates lined up in early Spring 2020. 

Shirley Brown – Love Is Built On A Strong Foundation 1971

The Feel It Mini Advent-ure: Door 15

Here is another random pull from a "recents" box in the record room. (In fact I just looked up when I bought this and can't believe it was over two years ago now, so the box is in fact a "not so recents").

It was the first release on the Outstanding label, which was relatively short lived and primarily seemed to be a vehicle for one Paul Thatcher Smith (P.T.S.). Paul had been around on the jazz scene for a long time by the time this record was released (1972 apparently, although some people seem to date it to 1968 which actually I think kind of fits better with the feel of this record and other early releases on the label that I have heard.). Paul worked with a number of great names on the jazz scene including being a conductor and pianist with Ella Fitzgerald's band for many years starting in 1956.

I love the sleeve that this record comes in. It's been around the block a bit, and has some tales to tell now lost in the mists of time. A good old fashioned blue/green light card sleeve, faded around the edges, tape residue along the bottom and somebody's catalog system number stamped on it, in a really vintage looking typeface. $10 price scrawled on it and “Rock – Inst'l” as a description, which is a somewhat misleading as it sits more comfortably in the jazz/funk genre I think. Of course the sleeve might have been married to a different record originally and it does scream early 60s or even 50s to me. Could be 1968 I suppose, but surely not as late as 1972.

This is a nice laid back instrumental for a Sunday evening. Something my dad might have appreciated. If he was still alive we would have been celebrating his 101st birthday today.

The P.T.S. - Dragon Rock 1972

The Feel It Mini Advent-ure: Door 14

Short and sweet today. No time for a wordy post as I'm heading downtown soon for a Christmas pub crawl. I maybe home before midnight but I'm sure I won't be in a fit state to do anything later.

Today's track is short and sweet too. Apologies if the sound is a bit rough, it must be a bad pressing as it sure looks ok.

I love the Delfonics.

The Delfonics – Loving Him 1969

The Feel it Mini Advent-ure: Door 13

Stumbled across the track The Same Routine on an internet/mixcloud radio show recently. I had not been aware of it before, nor the obscure 1974 album it comes from. I knew of the singer though.

Eleanor(e) Mills was picked up in the later 70s by Norman Connors and, along with Jean Carn, is the featured, if not always credited, singer on some of his albums. I have The Best Of Norman Connors And Friends, and I remember getting lots of enjoyment out of that album back in the 70s; Eleanor (without the 'e' then) features on a couple of tracks on that album.

The album that this track comes from, This Is Eleanore Mills, slipped out on Astroscope (an All Platinum spin off label) and did nothing at the time. On the back cover sleeve notes Harry Ray of the Moments states that “this is her first album of many more to come, and it contains what she knows how to do best, sing. WORLD! HERE IS ELEANORE MILLS!” To date this has proved to be the only full album she has ever had released. That's not to say she hasn't been active in the music business. As I mentioned above she performed with Norman Connors later in the 70s and featured on Roberta Flack's classic late 70s album with Donny Hathaway that featured Back Together Again. From the mid 80s and well into the 90s she had a number of disco and house singles released and she is still very active now it seems in the New York area with current Facebook and LinkedIn accounts. She seems to be a lady who has always very much moved with the times musically.

There seems to be no evidence of a career before her Astroscope album, although tantalisingly I found this entry in a January 1969 copy of Jet magazine: “Music writer-producermanager Joe Jones thinks he has hit the jackpot in signing a Columbia Records production agreement for foxy thrush Eleanore Mills”. It could be another Eleanore I suppose? (“foxy thrush”! - now that's an animal, or bird, I would like to see. Thrush was a common term to describe a female singer earlier in the 20^th century, but 1969 seems late for it still to be used).

I have found a couple of comments that states she is either Stephanie Mills sister or cousin but nothing to corroborate them so I have to think that is not true.

The Same Routine is a superb dancer with a great string arrangement. The album is solid throughout (Teach Me is another real standout), although none of the other tracks are out and out dancers like this one. Eleanore's voice is really attractive and there are some great “crying” strings, imaginatively arranged, throughout. Most of the tracks are at a mid to slow pace with a thoughtful, gentle, sultry feel. Think the All Platinum sound of the early to mid 70s (The Rimshots are the band backing Eleanore). The feel sort of reminds me of Gloria Scott's and also Bettye Crutcher's albums that came out at a similar time.

As I said the album sort of sunk without trace back in 1974 but has built up a following over the years to the point it got a CD reissue in 2000 and a Soul Brother vinyl reissue in 2016. The original now sells for hundreds of pounds so I have satisfied myself with a reissue copy.

Eleanore Mills – The Same Routine 1974

The Feel it Mini Advent-ure: Door 12

I can't help feeling that tomorrow morning, whatever the outcome, we Brits are all in the do do (as if we aren't already!).

So ...... let's dance. 

Cannonball Adderley Quintet - Do Do Do (What Now Is Next)  1967    

The Feel it Mini Advent-ure: Door 11

Here is a random pull from a stack of recently purchased 45s. This one came from the little R&R slanted record fair that pops up in town a few times a year. It was the first time in about a year I had been as the one or two dealers who had been carrying some soul had either sold off their remaining records or were not attending anymore. But I thought I would give it another whirl. It was not a good day to go. The weather was terrible and England had been playing New Zealand in the Rugby World Cup. Consequently I got there a bit late, and to find there were only 3 dealers in attendance. One of them was a regular and I knew he had some soul & r&b, although from experience his prices were generally a bit high for my liking. Still, he had a couple of half price boxes so I dug in.

This 45 was one of a handful I pulled out. Ray Agee has been on my radar for a few years now. He is not a well known or well documented singer, but he deserves to be better known. He was fairly prolific, recording for a number of small labels and 45cat currently have 47 different 45s noted. This release, on the obscure Brandin label, may date to 1966, or possibly as late as 1968. Ray, who hailed from Alabama, would  have likely been in his forties when he recorded it. It is believed he passed away in 1989/90, seeming to drop out of the music scene in the early 70s (as so many blues, soul, and R&B artists did in those times, particularly gospel rooted ones). He had developed polio at an early age which left him with a permanent disability, so that may have been the reason for his disappearance from the music scene. (This information has been gleaned from his brief Wikipedia entry and its linked articles).

Similar to “Any Day Now” featured yesterday, looking back in this blog I find this is Ray's second appearance here, and his first was also in a Feel It Advent-ure, almost to the day, back in December 2015.

This is another fine bluesy outing, supported by some fine Big City horns, which could be expected as he had been based in Los Angeles for many years.

Ray Agee – Love Is A Cold Shot 1966?

The Feel It Mini Advent-ure: Door 10

Huh? What happened to doors 1 to 9?

I decided recently I would attempt another Feel It Advent-ure this year - a post a day for every day on the advent calendar. Crazy, considering I haven't even been able to muster a post a month this year so far!

And it was indeed a crazy idea. Inhabiting my newly retired world it is quite commonplace for me to lose track of which day of the week it is, but I have now taken it a stage further – it was the 3rd before I even realised it was December! In all honesty I secretly breathed a sigh of relief – 24 days and 24 posts was a bit of a stretch for a blog that has seemed itself to be flirting with retirement.

The Feel It mini Advent-ure start here!

But now here we are – the 10^th of December – a Tuesday I believe – and I am feeling a bit guilty about how easily I slipped into the do nothing approach here after a false start to the month. So today I present the first day of the 2019 Feel It Mini Advent-ure. Surely I can manage 15 days in a row?

I found this Chuck Jackson single in a record shop £1 box recently. I was buying a handful of other singles so in the end this one was essentially thrown in for free. I didn't know its value but I knew there were some desirable releases on the Red/Yellow Pye Intl label, so I had a hunch it was a bargain. I think it was in the £1 box because the intro sounded completely trashed, but a good clean has improved it no end. Discogs has a median price of £21 on this, so it is indeed a bargain.

Research tells me that Chuck Jackson was the first to have a hit with this song, written in 1962 by Burt Bacharach and Bob Hilliard, and possibly also the first to record it. It has subsequently been recorded by many other artists and I thought I remembered featuring Percy Sledge's version here before, I checked, and sure enough I did back in 2008 – on Christmas Eve. So it seems that “Any Day Now” has developed into something of a Christmas song for me.

Chuck Jackson – Any Day Now 1962*

*originally released in the UK on Stateside