December 2012 has seen the passing of 2 great soulmen.
On December 2nd Howard Tate passed away at the age of 72. Born in Macon Georgia in 1939, as a teenager he began performing in a gospel group that also featured the great Garnet Mimms. He recorded R&B sides for Mercury and Cameo Records in the ealy 60's and also performed with the organist Bill Doggett.
Garnet Mimms introduced Tate to the legendary producer Jerry Ragovoy and between 1966 and 1968 the two of them produced some outstanding soul/blues recordings for Verve Records including "Ain't Nobody Home", "Look At Granny Run Run" and "Stop" all of which reached the Billboard R&B Top 20.
After more recordings for Turntable, Epic and his own label, Tate retired from the music business in the early 1970's and began selling insurance in Philadelphia. Tragedy struck when he lost his daughter in a house fire and as a result he started drinking heavily and became addicted to drugs, ending up homeless. By the mid 1990's he had cleaned up and was counselling drug users and preaching. Around this time his 1967 album "Get It While You Can" was reissued on CD and in the sleeve notes Jerry Ragovoy wrote that Tate was probably dead.
In 2001 a chance meeting between Tate and a member of Harold Melvin's Blue Notes in a grocery store let everyone know he was very much alive and in 2003 Howard Tate and Jerry Ragovoy worked together again to produce the comeback album "Rediscovered". Over the ensuing years Howard Tate had a second career, making further albums and touring regularly.
So in tribute I give you Howard Tate's 1967 recording for Verve "Baby, I Love You"...enjoy
Just 4 days later on December 6th came the news that Dobie Gray had also left us. If you don't know Dobie's name I'm willing to bet you've heard his 1973 hit single "Drift Away" before.
Born either Lawrence Darrow Brown or Leonard Victor Ainsworth (a name under which he later recorded) in 1940, his family were share croppers in Texas and he developed a love of gospel music through his grandfather who was a Baptist minister. In 1960 Lawrence/Leonard moved to Los Angeles where he recorded for a number of local labels under various names, including Leonard Ainsworth, Larry Curtis and Larry Dennis. Sonny Bono recommended him to Stripe Records and it was they who suggested the name change to "Dobie Gray" (a nod to the then popular sitcom "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis"). During the early 1960's the newly renamed Dobie Gray issued a clutch of singles on Stripe and more on Real Fine, Cordak and Jak before he turned up at Charger Records.
Dobie's first single for Charger gave him his first worldwide hit. In 1964 "The "In" Crowd" reached number 13 in the US Pop charts and 25 in the UK. His legendary position with UK soul fans was, however, cemented by his 5th release for Charger. "Out On The Floor", released in 1966, is Northern Soul encapsulated on a 7" single. It was a complete flop when first released but has become revered over the years due to it's popularity on the Northern Soul dancefloor. When re-released in the UK in 1975 it reached number 42 in the charts and in 2000 former Wigan Casino DJ Kev Roberts placed it at number 2 in his list of the all time greatest 500 Northern Soul records, second only to Frank Wilson's "Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)".
So we bid farewell to Dobie Gray, one of the greats of Northern Soul, by bringing you "See You At The "Go-Go""...I'll see you where the girl's are...
OK, so I'm sure Mr William 'Smokey' Robinson needs absolutely no introduction...does he ?
Singer, songwriter, record producer, record company executive, known as "Mr Motown", he was probably second in importance at Motown Records only to Berry Gordy Jr himself.
Bob Dylan described him as "America's greatest living poet".
Born William Robinson Jr. on February 19, 1940, at the age of 6 his Uncle gave him the nickname "Smokey Joe". In African American culture "smokey" is used to decscribe dark skinned black people. Young William was very light skinned and his Uncle told him "I'm doing this so you won't ever forget that you're black". In his teens "Smokey Joe" was shortened to "Smokey" and the name stuck.
In August 1958 Smokey, who was already playing Detroit venues with his group The Matadors, met Berry Gordy Jr and co-wrote the song "Got A Job". The Matadors changed their name to The Miracles and recorded the song with Gordy for End Records in November 1958. The Miracles also recorded for Chess Records and in 1959 Robinson suggested to Gordy that he start his own label. This saw the birth of Tamla Records.
The Miracles were amongst the first signings to the new label and in 1960 their 4th single for the new label, "Shop Around", became Tamla's first number one hit on the R&B singles chart and companies first million-selling single when it reached number 1 on the Cash Box Pop Chart. During their career The Miracles achieved 17 US Pop top 20 singles.
"Whole Lot Of Shaking' In My Heart (Since I Met You)" wasn't written by Smokey Robinson and didn't make the US Pop top 20, it peaked at 46 and missed out on the UK chart completely. The song was written by Motown staff writer Frank Wilson, of "Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)" fame.
It's a 100mph slice of prime Motown soul featuring an urgent horn section and the Funk Brothers creating dance floor dynamite on the backing track. The vocal performance by all of the Miracles is fabulous but check out Smokey's almost scat like vocalising on the word "I" at around 2 mins 14 seconds, that's a masterful singer at work.
I've just had a copy of this record given to me (yes GIVEN!) and it'll definitely be getting an outing at our next soul night on 14th January. Until then please enjoy The Miracles and "Whole Lot Of Shaking' In My Heart (Since I Met You)"...
This is one I bought back in October but didn't get around to writing about and I think it deserves it.
Erma Vernice Franklin was born in Shelby, Mississippi on March 13, 1938. 4 years later her sister Aretha came into the world. Together with their sister Carolyn they sang at New Bethel Baptist Church in Detroit where their father, the Reverend C. L. Franklin, was pastor.
In the late 1950's Erma was approached by Berry Gordy and his songwriting partner Billy Davis who were interested in making her the first artist for their new record label. She travelled to Chicago with Gordy and Davis to meet with Phil Chess of Chess Records trying to arrange a distribution deal for their fledgling label. Erma's father persuaded her to complete her education telling her that she could always sing after she graduated. She was later to learn that three songs Gordy and Davis had intended for her to sing were recorded by others, most notably "I Get The Sweetest Feeling" recorded by Jackie Wilson. She did eventually record the song, releasing it in 1970.
After Erma finished college The Rev. Franklin took her and Aretha to audition for Columbia Records. Aretha signed with Columbia and Erma with their subsidiary label Epic. The label issued 7 singles and an album on Erma between 1961 and 1963. At the end of her contract she spent 5 years as the featured vocalist with The Lloyd Price Orchestra.
In 1967 Erma signed with Shout Records and that year released what is probably her best known recording, the original version of "Piece of My Heart", which earned her a Grammy nomination for best new artist in 1968.
Following the sudden death of Shout label owner and songwriter, Bert Berns, Erma moved to the Brunswick label where her debut single in 1969 was "Gotta Find Me A Lover (24 Hours A Day)".
I first heard this at a very sparsely attended charity allnighter and it grabbed me immediately. That driving guitar gives it the feeling of a rock single as much as a soul groove. But whatever, it's a fantastic record that sends me dashing for the dancefloor whenever I hear it.
Erma Franklin sadly passed away in 2002, but she left behind some great music (the b-side of "Gotta Find Me A Lover..." is well worth a listen too). But right now sit back and enjoy the driving "Gotta Find Me A Lover (24 Hours A Day)" from the "The Queen Of Soul's" big sister, Erma Franklin...
Patti Drew was born in North Carolina in 1944 and spent time living in Nashville. She began singing in church with her sisters Lorraine and Erma where they were spotted by their mothers employer, a Capitol Records promoter, who signed them to the label as The Drew-Vels. In 1963 they released the single "Tell Him" which was a local hit and flirted around the bottom end of the Billboard national charts.
Patti signed as a solo artist to Quill Records in 1966 and shortly after moved back to Capitol. She released a total of 3 albums and a handful of singles before leaving the music business in 1971.
"Stop And Listen" was released as a single in 1967. It has a laid back groove but builds to a crescendo of vocals and horns during the chorus. Listen out especially for the bass player, who is laying down some serious moves in there, and a fantastic baritone sax honking away in the background.
People, give it up for Miss Patti Drew and "Stop And Listen"
No, not the hairy middle of the road-ers from the mid 70's (see here) but this Guys & Dolls are a (possibly) Chicago based group about whom very little is known.
The track in question is again the b-side and starts out with strident strings supported by a more than keen drummer who after a lightning fast roll proceeds to go mental on his bass drum for the entire remaining 2 minutes and 51 seconds (he must have been shattered by the end of this session) supported by a great female lead and intertwining group vocals. Well worth £10.
I present you with Guys & Dolls and "Heartaches"...
OK, so we've figured out that Northern Soul is based primarily around the playing of Black American soul records and that added to that, many records by artists neither black nor American have been played under the banner of Northern Soul. Well here's a double header demonstrating a kind of US/UK crossover.
Madeline Bell was born in Newark, New Jersey. She arrived in the UK in 1962 as part of the vocal group, The Bradford Singers, appearing in the gospel show Black Nativity. It was in the UK that her career took off. She became an in demand session singer, most famously singing backing vocals on many Dusty Springfield recordings.
Between 1963 and 1969 Madeline released a string of singles on UK labels, most notably Philips, without ever having that one big hit. Her version of Evie Sands "Picture Me Gone" was released in October 1967 b/w "Go Ahead On" (Dusty Springfield sings backing voacals on Madeline's version of "Go Ahead On" after Madeline sang backing vocals on Dusty's version released as the b-side to her single "All I See Is You" in 1966).
The version I have here is the US Philips release which was the b-side to Madeline's take on "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me" which reached number 30 in the US charts in 1968.
Although never a hit in the UK "Picture Me Gone" found an appreciative home on Northern Soul dancefloors. Me, I've loved it since I first heard it, never tiring of it. That little solo guitar part at about 2 mins 26 seconds sends you hurtling into the last 30 seconds perfectly.
Boys and girls I give you Madeline Bell and "Picture Me Gone". Great song, great performance, great record...so why wasn't it a hit ?
Now, after a US artist that came to the UK to make a name for herself before having a hit in the US, how about a US EP track that had to come to the UK to find fame and a release on a single of it's very own.
Willie Mitchell was born in 1928 in Ashland, Mississippi. By the time he was in high school he had moved to Memphis, Tennessee. He'd been playing the trumpet from a young age and at high school featured in local big bands. By the 1960's Willie was working at Hi Records where he was involved in engineering, producing (the likes of Al Green), scouting talent and eventually running the label...oh and he made a few records too!
"The Champion (Part 1)" was originally released on a 6 track EP titled "That Driving Beat". It started to pick up plays at Northern clubs in the early 70's and became so popular that it was issued as a 7" single in it's own right by Decca, on the London label in 1976, with "The Champion (Part 2)" on the flip side, naturally.
Mitchell's records are famed for their stomping bass drum sound (usually supplied by drummer Al Jackson of Booker T & The MG's fame). Some Northern Soul records are often described as "Stompers".
If you ever needed to know what a "Stomper" sounds like just lend an ear to Willie Mitchell and "The Champion (Part 1)"...bangin'
The world of Northern Soul is a rare old beast. Yes it's a style of music based mainly on the playing of rare, black American soul records, primarily from the 1960's. But...if a record has "the sound" it get's played. This has resulted in some very strange things being played on the scene, such as "Theme From Joe 90", Muriel Day's "Nine Times Out Of Ten" (the b-side to an Irish Eurovision Song Contest entry, and yes, you're right, it's awful) and more than one record by Tom Jones (yes that's Jones the Voice from that hotbed of Soul & R'n'B, Pontypridd in South Wales) including this one:
I've often said that if "It's Not Unusual" hadn't been a major hit it would have fit right in on the Northern dance floor (have a listen to The Dells version). Well in the mid 60's Tom was knocking out covers of US soul tunes and R'n'B flavoured dancers to great effect. Check out his take on Ben E Kings "I Can't Break The News To Myself" or "Dr Love".
"Stop Breaking My Heart" was originally released in 1966, and was a complete flop. This copy I have is a 1970 issue of his cover of Shirley Bassey's 1963 hit "I Who Have Nothing" (which was also originally recorded by Ben E King) with "Stop Breaking My Heart" tucked away on the b-side.
Written by Tom's manager, Gordon Mills (who also wrote "It's Not Unusual") and produced for Gordon Mills Productions, right from the intro this is a huge sounding record that gallops along at a fair old pace. I particularly like the slightly disinterested sounding backing vocalists droning "don't you break my heart" between filing their nails and chewing gum (or so it sounds to me).
So with thanks to Dave, for pointing out all this Jonesy goodness to me, please enjoy Tom Jones and "Stop Breaking My Heart"...hotdamn
As I mentioned in Part 3 - Flowers In The Dustbin, I started to play the guitar in 1977 mainly due to my discovery of Punk Rock and the offering of such sage advice from the likes of Alternative TV’s Mark Perry who said you only needed to know 3 chords and you could form a band.
The only problem with that was that you needed other people to form a band other than the "one man" type favoured three years earlier by Leo Sayer.
Fortunately my brother had an inkling to play the drums and my recollection tells me that at Xmas 1977 I received an electric guitar and small practice amp and my brother a snare drum and hi-hat and we promptly set to learning to play some of the songs we now knew should be simple to play cos, as people kept telling us, "them punk rockers can't play".
Well I beg to differ !
What I did discover was you really didn't need to learn the 3 chords previously demonstrated, you just needed to learn one chord shape, this one
If you are not, nor ever have been, a guitar player that diagram may look as indecipherable to you as a page full of a random foreign language. Hopefully, dear reader, you are a fan of the Ramones so I shall let Johnny demonstrate
That being a picture of the mighty Johnny Ramone playing the above diagrammed chord, commonly known as a barre chord.
The beauty of the barre chord is that if you move it up and down the fret board of a guitar the same shape becomes a different chord at each position. So at the first fret it is an F, at the 3rd fret a G, at the 5th an A and so on and so forth until you reach the dusty end of the neck. So you have a myriad of chords at your disposal all from learning to play one shape.
The down side of the barre chord is that for the inexperienced guitarist they are bloody difficult and excrutiatingly painful to play in equal measure. As you can see you are required to stretch one finger across the whole neck and hold down all the strings while at the same time using your remaining 3 available fingers to make the chord. Add to this using your thumb at the back of the neck to clamp down that stretched index digit and shifting that shape up and down the neck at a speed dictated by the punk rock we chose to play...well it bloody hurt and you had to persevere to make it sound anywhere close to acceptable. It may go some way to explaining why I have, in the ensuing years, avoided the use of barre chords whenever possible!
But persevere I did and my brother and I would wait for our parents to go out, set up the amp and drum kit-lite in the living room and thrash our way through such hits of the day as the Tom Robinson Bands "Up Against the Wall" and the Angelic Upstarts "Police Oppression". I'm certain at times it sounded bloody awful (oh those poor neighbours) but we were having a great time.
The next logical steps are two-fold; find the remaining members to make up a full band and then, write some of your own songs. We found a bass player who also played the saxophone and, calling ourselves "A Moment", we set to learning to play together. We played a few gigs at local church halls and at my 18th birthday party. But most importantly we started to write our own songs. I don't remember if it was the first one I/we wrote but a song called "Everything You Need" was born. I can't remember the words anymore but I can still play most of it.
(Actually I've just had a go and I can still play all of it. Now I wonder where the lyrics are ??? Oh yeah, we recorded it. I've just been up into my loft and retrieved a reel of tape containing the very first recordings we made. It's 30 years old, dated March 1981. Two songs are on this reel, "Happy Fields Of Thought" and "Everything You Need". I guess I need to get on to some people and try and get these songs digitised somehow. Watch this space)
Music became pretty much my reason for doing everything. Listening to it, making it, anything so long as it was music related. We went to endless gigs and dreamt about being as big as the bands we went to see. Hanging out and talking about how great your band was was almost as important as your band actually being great.
I don't remember when or how A Moment finished but by 1983 I was in another band called Pop Da Freak. I'd given up playing the guitar and just concentrated on being the singer. We dressed in leather and frills, wore make up and had vertical haircuts (well most of us did). We made a racket inspired by Joy Division, Magazine, Iggy Pop and the Velvet Underground (or so we thought) and there's an example of it right here.
I've always been really proud of that song. The lyrics were based on a book called "Ringolevio" by Emmett Grogan which if you have any interest in the 60's counter culture is a book you should seek out and read.
Pop Da Freak would have folded in late 1986 and by 1987 I'd formed yet another new band, The Libertines (got there waaaay before ya Doherty). What we were doing back then would have been described as sounding very C86, what came to pick up the all encompassing description "Indie", whatever the hell that is. We had a fine old time. We picked up supports with some well known bands, played some big shows and I finally got to do something I'd dreamed about doing since back when my first single was either "Skweeze Me Pleeze Me", "The Wanderer" or "Solid Gold Easy Action" (don't know what I'm babbling on about ? Have a look here) I GOT TO MAKE A SINGLE OF MY OWN !!!
The Libertines "Smith Is A Liar"
It was recorded at The Workshop studio in Redditch near Birmingham, with co-production duties handled by my brother, who had ditched the drums in favour of the guitar and was by then making records of his own on a major label and heading for "pop star" status. "Smith Is A Liar" didn't sell many copies (I still have boxes of them around the house if anybody still wants to buy one) and I never got to hear it on the radio but I had finally made a record of my very own.
Despite it's abject failure we did some gigs to try and promote it and even made plans to release a second single, which would have been this
But by now I needed a little more security in my life. I was about to become a Dad and I needed a job. I'd done a few gigs pretending to be a roadie for my brothers band and they were about to embark on their first major support tour of the UK. They asked me to go with them as the roadie and offered me what was then a handsome sum to do it. So I told my fellow Libertines that was it and, 25 days after the birth of my son, embarked on my first tour as a roadie, something that would occupy me for the next 8 years. But that story is for another time...
I had to go into our little town to get some essentials (butter, mayonnaise, ketchup, digestives. Yeah! Essentials!) and decided to have a look in a couple of the local charity shops. Nothing in the first but in the second there were two boxes of singles. Unfortunately someone was at them before me and he seemed to know what he was looking for. He'd already pulled out a picture sleeved copy of the Sex Pistols "God Save The Queen" (see my recent post) and a record on the Blue Beat label but I couldn't see what that was.
He eventually moved on and I got to flicking through the first box. Not much in there but when I got to the second box this was right at the front
Yeah OK so it's not exactly gonna earn me enough to retire on but it was only 50p and in very fine condition.
R Dean Taylor moved from his native Toronto to Detroit in the early 60's and was hired by Motown as a songwriter and recording artist for their subsidiary label V.I.P. He released "There's A Ghost In My House" on V.I.P. in 1967. Co-written by Taylor and the legendary Motown writing team of "Holland-Dozier-Holland" and produced by Brian Holland and Lamont Dozier it was a commercial flop, allegedly because Motown chose not to promote it well enough.
The single was picked up on in the early 70's by the Northern Soul scene and became so popular that Motown re-released it and R Dean found himself with a #3 UK chart hit in 1974.
So enjoy Mr R Dean Taylor and "There's A Ghost in My House"
P.S I found a copy of Gary Lewis & The Playboys "My Hearts Symphony" in the same box but I decided to keep that to myself...D'OH!
You may recall that in Vinyl Adventures #5 I told you "I'm really not a lover of white guys trying to play "the Blues"". So what do we have here ?
The Skyliners were an (all white) Doo Wop group formed in 1958 in Pittsburgh and released their first single "Since I Don't Have You" in December of that year. It reached #12 in the US charts.
By May 1965 when "Everything Is Fine" was released the original group had disbanded and leader Jimmy Beaumont had transformed himself into something of an impressive soul singer. So yes, what we have here is an example of a white guy singing (rhythm &) blues...but hey! this is my Blog and if I can't contradict myself here then where can I ?
Again this is a B-side (the A-side being "The Loser"). It's a beautiful mid-tempo floater of a record kicking off with with a vocal intro over strummed guitar chords before it settles into being a laid back dancer replete with handclaps and fabulous close harmonies from the rest of The Skyliners. I can't remember where I first heard this (maybe at The Station Hotel nights in the 90's) but I've loved it since that first time and it's a thrill to get hold of such a great copy of it.
So all of you settle back and let The Skyliners "Everything Is Fine" brighten your day...cool!
It's something of a mystery that some Northern Soul nights are known as "Oldies" nights. This from a scene where the majority of the records played are from the 1960's. What is meant by this term "Oldies" is records that have been played at events for many years and have become very well known, even to people who don't follow Northern Soul.
A few years ago DJ Kev Roverts compiled a book, "The Northern Soul Top 500", which collected together what he described as the "definitive chart of the 500 top sounds that put northern soul on the map". You can view a list of the 500 here. These are the records you will likely hear at an "Oldies" night.
At number 95 in that list you'll find Spyder Turner's "I Can’t Make It Anymore", a well loved Northern Soul Oldie. But Spyder made many other great records, including this one
"You're Good Enough For Me" was the B-side to Spyder's debut single for MGM Records, a take on the Ben E King classic "Stand By Me". Spyder was none too happy with his version of "Stand By Me" telling Blues & Soul magazine that MGM "felt it was good enough. I didn't agree. I didn't like it but I wanted a record deal so I went on ahead and did a B-side for them."
And oh what a B-side! Spyder and his girly backing singers are to be heard chirping and stomping away while the band lays down a groove that just doesn't give up. The sum of all those parts results in a sublime dancer that fortunately was discovered languishing on the B-side by a group of soul crazed dancers and DJ's in the north of 1970's England.
Spyder Turner is still regularly playing live shows, writing and making records and does some acting too. I love "I Can’t Make It Anymore" but I'd much rather hear something like this played out than another played to death Oldie.
So give it up for Spyder Turner and "You're Good Enough For Me"...Yeah!
I don't know why but until recently I had always assumed that Arthur Alexander was white. Maybe it was because I had first come across his name in tandem with that of Mose Allison, who is white (I'm really not a lover of white guys trying to play "the Blues", although in Mose' defence his style is more Jazz). Maybe it was because the only music I knew by Arthur Alexander were insipid covers of "Anna Go To Him" by The Beatles and "You Better Move On" by the Rolling Stones. I've never been much of a fan of either of those groups. I'd much rather get my '60's kicks from the Small Faces, The Kinks or The Who.
I'm not much of a fan of Elvis Presley either, never have been. I can appreciate the importance of what he did at Sun Records but I'd much rather get my shots of '50's rock 'n' roll from Jerry Lee or Eddie Cochran or Little Richard.
So I'm therefore pleased to have recently discovered that Arthur Alexander was Afro-American, otherwise we might now be talking about a record featuring two of my least favourite things; a white "blues" artist performing, what became, an Elvis Presley hit.
As it is what we have is Arthur's 1972 original version of a song that Mr Presley took to #2 in the US a few months later. Legend has it that "The King" didn't much care for the song and was uncomfortable performing it even though it gave him his last US top 10 hit.
Arthur's version however thunders along. This is another record I came across thanks to the (sadly now defunct) Makin' Trax Blog that highlighted records that have, in the past, been played on the Northern/Rare Soul scene that might be ripe for revival and the copy I've bought is a white label promo with the same song on both sides (mono and stereo mixes) in practically mint condition. It's very "southern soul" in arrangement and style and I'm not sure how it's going to go down when presented to the dancers. Oh well I guess I'll find out at Telford Soul Club on November 12th.
In the meantime let me know what you think of of Mr Arthur Alexanders hunk-a-hunk-a "Burnin' Love"...enjoy!
The 27th May 1977 is a date that should be writ large in mine, and many of my friends, memories, but even I had to do a bit of research to find out that that was the date upon which a record was released that can still have a very deep effect upon my mood to this day.
To continue our somewhat disjointed story...I’d progressed through singles and Glam Rock to actually going to gigs and the final piece of my musical education was waiting to be discovered. Where did I find out more about the music I liked, what was being released and when, who was playing gigs and where ? The answers to all my questions were to be found each week inside the approximately 60 pages of newspaper print, that would usually end up all over your hands and clothes. We’re talking the music press, the inkies as they came to be known.
At the time we are talking about, that being late 1976 or early 1977, Sounds, Melody Maker and the New Musical Express, or NME, were the papers that covered all things music, serious music that is, not pop which was taken care of by the likes of Jackie and other teen girl magazines which no self respecting glam rocker would be seen reading. Sounds was very heavy rock oriented and Melody Maker quite studious. NME was a bit out of my league when I was 14, I didn’t understand most of what was written in there, very literary.
I latched onto Sounds, not because I particularly like heavy rock but because it seemed the easiest of the inkies to understand. I started buying Sounds each week, scouring the news items and gig listings for any Slade related info. I don’t recall that I was reading the features, but I was learning about lots of bands and artists from the news items, ad’s and reviews. Inevitably some names began to stick out more than others and I began to read about bands with names like the Sex Pistols, The Damned, The Jam, The Clash, The Adverts and others who seemed to be causing quite a stir, being commented about as much negatively as positively and being described as Punk Rock.
From what I could make out from the items in Sounds, these bands played loud, basic, noisy rock music, maybe were not very proficient musicians but were attracting young audiences who were maybe somewhat disillusioned with the current music available on the airwaves of Britain’s only national music radio station...wunnerful Radio 1.
BBC4 recently began repeating Top Of The Pops from 1976. They still hold full archives of the shows from then forward and are showing them in full every Wednesday evening. It really is astonishing what crap was charting in 1976. If you’re feeling real brave try some of this rubbish:
I did see a 1976 TOTP recently that opened with the Heavy Metal Kids performing their new single (at the time) “She’s No Angel”. It didn’t chart, I didn’t discover the Heavy Metal Kids until some time in late 1977 thanks to a Radio 1 In Concert broadcast which I only recorded for the performance by the support band, The Vibrators, but how I wish I’d seen that TOTP performance in 1976, it would have been a shining beacon in a sea of 1976’s pop trash.
I remember the summer of 1976, it was a bloody scorcher, day after day of endless sunshine and heat and hour after hour of The Real Things “You To Me Are Everything” and Wings “Silly”bloody”Love Songs” on the radio, and I’m sure me thinking that there must be something better than this to listen to. Unbeknownst to me that “something better” was simmering away in pubs and clubs in London in readiness for revealing itself to me in the spring of 1977.
So back to our narrative; there I was scouring Sounds for any Slade based news I could find and becoming more and more aware of these new bands that were popping up in the news and reviews pages. By May and into June 1977 the occasional mentions had developed into something of a firestorm mainly centred around the group known as the Sex Pistols.
All of 1977 saw the UK “celebrating” Queen Elizabeth II’s Silver Jubilee, 25 years on the throne, and the Jubilee Days of June 6th-9th saw a series of events in and around London with many people holding street parties on 7th June. Also on the 7th June the Sex Pistols held a party, on a boat sailing up and down the Thames, on which they performed, their new single. The boat was hauled over by police and many people on board were arrested. The boat episode was reported in the music press and the national press the next week. Fantastic publicity for their newly released single “God Save The Queen”, which had been unleashed upon the world on 27th May. Publicity enough for me to finally decide “OK let’s go and buy this Punk Rock record and see what all the fuss is about”.
So on my next trip into Birmingham, most likely on a Saturday, most likely to HMV on New Street, or Virgin on Bull Street, or maybe Inferno in Dale End, I don’t remember, but I do know I bought a copy of the Sex Pistols “God Save The Queen” along with The Stranglers “Peaches” b/w “Go Buddy Go” combination. When we got those records home, we played them, obviously, and the first time I played “God Save The Queen”....listen, I’ve written this up on here before, you can find out what happened here and for those of you too lazy to click the link I copy and paste here:
“We dropped the needle on the groove and...it felt like I was physically hurled across the room and pinned against the opposite wall for 3 minutes and 20 seconds. When it had finished I think I was in shock. It was like nothing I had ever heard before.
Did I really just hear that ? People don't make records that sound like that. Do they ? They do ?
So I played it again....and again...and again...you get the picture...just to reassure myself that I had heard it right. And I think I knew then that some things were never going to seem quite the same ever again.”
And astonishingly, that record still gives me a rush when I hear it to this day. Steve Jones opening guitar blast can instantly transport me back to that point in time when I first heard it and felt slightly awed, slightly frightened, slightly exhilarated and realised that things had just changed in a big way.
I never did become much of a fan of The Stranglers but the Sex Pistols 4 singles and 1 album are constant companions even now. I started buying other Punk Rock records by The Jam (who replaced Slade as my musical obsession), The Clash (I was lucky enough to meet Joe Strummer shortly before he passed away. A meeting that left a lasting impression on me), The Adverts (TV Smith’s music has stuck by me all these years and I can now count him amongst my acqauintances), X-Ray Spex, The Damned, The Ruts, Generation X and Siouxsie & The Banshees. I started to play the guitar because Alternative TV’s Mark Perry said you only needed to know 3 chords and you could form a band. Eventually I made a record of my own...but that tale is for another day...
It arrived...at last. Exactly one month after winning the auction on eBay and much sweating on whether it was ever going to arrive, hanging around the front door waiting for the postman, it dropped through the letterbox this morning...phew!
Debbie Taylor seems to have become a singer in the same way as many great black American singers, via the church. When young she sang gospel in her fathers church and toured nationally as a gospel singer in her teens. Through this route she came to the attention of Decca records who released her first two singles during 1968. After parting company with Decca she moved to the New York label GWP.
I first came across "Don't Nobody Mess With My Baby" when it was released on a CD complitaion of GWP's output by Kent Records, "GWP: NYC TCB", and was struck by it's power from the very first listen.
Debbie released 3 singles for GWP through 1969. Then, in 1970, she released "Don't Nobody Mess With My Baby" on the GWP subsidiary Grapevine. It's a pounding piece of big city soul, custom built for the dancefloor and Debbie's vocal performance is nothing short of astonishing.
Unfortunately my copy arrived too late for me to spin it at our soul night last Sunday, but watch out on November 12th when Debbie will be ripping up the dancefloor at Telford Soul Club.
Good people, I give you Debbie Taylor and "Don't Nobody Mess With My Baby"...hell yeah !
Len Jewell, or as he occasionally liked to be known "His Imperial Highness Sir Leonard Jewel Smith", fronted soul group The Styles and first released "Betting On Love" on his own label Teri De. It was later picked up for a wider release by the Fontana label in 1967.
This is another record I have bought for the B-side however. "All My Good Lovin'" is a fabulously smooth piece of late 60's/early 70's soul sounding like it may have been purpose made for the Northern Soul scene. I think it's original release was in 1969 on the Pzazz Records label.
The two songs were bought together in 2004 on the re-activated Soul City label. Soul City was a British record label run by the great soul fan and writer Dave Godin from his record shop of the same name in London. This here copy of the release is a promo release with hand written artist name and song titles on the label.
People, I give you Len Jewell and "All My Good Lovin'"...enjoy!
Here comes the second installment of Vinyl Adventures already as the record arrived today.
I came across The Marvellos "Why Do You Want To Hurt The One That Loves You" on a blog that I frequent that suggests soul records that are not so often played at events these days and are ripe for revival. I was immediately taken with the reasonably sparse arrangement which then crashes into a monstrous "let's throw the kitchen sink at it" chorus.
I searched around for it in vain for some time until I discovered that it was a B-side, the A-side being "You're Such A Sweet Thing" which you can listen to at Derek's Daily 45 blog right here. Armed with this information I tracked down a couple of copies but the price was a little rich for me. Finally I tracked down a copy in the US which was priced more to my liking and it arrived this morning.
Ladies and gents I give you The Marvellos and "Why Do You Want To Hurt The One That Loves You"...enjoy!
I've started buying vinyl again. Why, you ask ? Well a couple of years ago I was idly searching t'internet for a soul night I might attend in our local area. I came across an announcement for a night at a sports and social club about 15 minutes walk from our house. I sent an e-mail to the address on the announcement and very quickly got a reply from DJ Double-0 Soul with more info and an invite to go say hello when I arrived.
So my inarguably better half and I attended and I did indeed go up and introduce myself to DJ Double-0 Soul. The thing that surprised me most about all this was that here we were at a soul/Northern soul/rare soul night (call it what you will) and the DJ's were playing from CD's !
Now I had never come across a Soul night previously where this was allowed. DJ'ing from CD's is frowned upon on the rare soul scene. But as a relatively new adherant to the scene and one with only CD's and a desire to DJ, I offered my services and the next month was given a spot.
Our little soul club has moved venues and developed over the ensuing 2 years. We now have 4 regular DJ's 3 of whom, including me, now spin from vinyl as do all our guest DJ's. This means I've had to start buying vinyl again. So I thought I would present some of those purchases here under the title Vinyl Adventures because it's very exciting when I get a new record.
So here is the first, a Northern Soul Classic, NF Porter's "Keep On Keeping On". This was released in 1971 and played almost as a new release at the Golden Torch, quite unusual on the Northern Soul scene.
I didn't buy this one myself. It was a 45th birthday present from my brother and very well received too. It is rumoured that Joy Division based the song "Interzone" on the main riff from this song, they would undoubtedly have known it from Manchester clubs in the mid '70's. You can hear "Interzone" here and make up your own mind.
Our Mr Porter has another big tune on the Northern scene, "If I Could Only Be Sure" credited to Nolan Porter this time, but right now I give Mr NF Porter and "Keep On Keeping On"...enjoy!
Contented yet cantankerous, happy:sad, optimistic yet resigned, in search of something but with no idea what it is, dismayed that people so easily let the wool get pulled over their eyes.
