Rob Jones reviews soul records from his vinyl collection.
Afrique - Soul Makossa (1973)
Originally written and recorded by Cameroonian saxophonist and songwriter Manu Dibango in 1972, this somewhat more powerful version by Afrique was my first introduction to the song when I was about 14 years old.
There are a couple of other decent versions worth checking out, perhaps most notably by All Dyrections on Buddah (also released in 1973). Afrique however, was and still remains the best version to my ear. Also released on the US Mainstream label.
Babies - The Hand of Fate (1967)
A classic which I would assume resides in more than a few old school collections. Arranged by Gene Page and written by his brother Billy Page, 'The Hand of Fate' was one of only two records by Los Angeles girl band the Babies released on Lou Adler's Dunhill label. The group line-up consisted of lead vocalist Phyllis Brown (who was just 17 at the time), Rita Jean Bodine (Rita Suzanne Hertzberg) who was a classically trained pianist, and two unnamed vocalists. The song was also released on RCA Victor D-4085 in Australia. Phyllis's dad Jack Brown founded Rainbo Records in Hollywood.
Ballads - My Baby Knows How to Love Her Man (1968)
Perhaps better known for their earlier classic 'I Can't See Your Love (For the Tears in My Eyes)' on the small Oakland Wee label (picked up later that year by Vee-Jay for national distribution), here's another of their great uptempo tunes which can be found lurking on the flip side of 'God Bless Our Love' on Venture 615. 'My Baby Knows How to Lover Her Man' was a Willie Hutch penned winner for the band formed by Nate Romeron in Oakland back in 1961. The other members were John Foster, Les LaPalmer and Rico Thompson. Freddie Hughes was also associated with the band during its early years. I believe Rico Thompson was lead vocalist on this one.
Betty Harris - 12 Red Roses (1966)
Out of all Betty's recordings on the Sansu label this one has always stood out for me for its sheer grittiness and real deal soul feel. She also did a great version of 'Ride Your Pony' on the same label which is also worth a listen.
Bill Black's Combo - My Girl Josephine (1961)
An early Mod sound and a bit before my time, but I do remember it being played quite regularly when I began to frequent the youth clubs later in the 1960s and it becoming a regularly requested favourite of like-minded kids of the day. The record was originally released in the US on the Memphis Hi label (2042) and London-American Recordings (HLU 9479) here in the UK as the flipside of 'Twist-Her' along with various London releases in other countries. Such was the popularity of the track in the UK, it was re-released on UK London (HLU 10380) in 1972 as the A-Side with the old favourite 'Yogi' on the flip. Demos of the UK re-release are red, whereas the original demo was yellow as featured in the video below.
Bill Black was the bassist in Elvis Presley's original backing band the Blue Moon Boys, later going on to form Bill Black's Combo in 1959, the first line-up of which was Bill Black (bass), Joe Lewis Hall (piano), Reggie Young (guitar), Martin Willis (saxophone) and Jerry Arnold (drums). Bill died in October 1965 leaving behind a musical legacy which I would hope will be continually rediscovered.
Bird Rollins - Love Man from Carolina (1972)
Bird Rollins also known as B Rollins, Mr Bird Rollins, Mr Bird Rollins The Good Man, etc., was born in Albany, New York back in 1934 and recorded his first record 'That's All I Wanna Do' on the Johnson label in 1957. Fast forward a few years and we find this slightly obscure uptempo dancer on Calla which bears all the hallmarks of a memorable soul classic also released on the UK Mojo label the same year.
Calla was an independent label started by Nathaniel 'Nate' McCalla which eventually became part of Roulette Records. Apparently poor old Nate (a bit of a gangster himself), fell foul of mob-connected Roulette boss Morris Levy who allegedly had him bumped off in 1980. PS: I've used the word 'allegedly' here for health reasons. 😄
Black and Blue – What I Got (1970)
Perhaps unfamiliar to many, Black & Blue were a Greensboro, North Carolina-based band who formed in 1968 and operated under the influence and leadership of producer/arranger Duke Hall, a former member of the Platters organisation. The band members were Ted Hall (vocals), Tony Hall (keyboards), Paul Foster (bass), Larry 'Slick' Hall (bass) and Archie Durham (vocals).
There's actually a lot more information on record labels than might appear at first glance, so for newer collectors who read label details but find the abbreviations or number sequences confusing, let's break this one down. In this instance and starting on the left side of the label from the top, DJ-172 was the Mercury internal promotional series number and (73011) was the commercial catalogue number. The smaller 1-44505 was the master (matrix) number for that specific side. Grico Music was the publisher who owned and controlled the publishing of the composition, while (ASCAP) stands for the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers - a US non-profit performance rights organisation which still ensures songwriters, composers and music publishers all receive royalties when their music is performed publicly. Intro.:17 was an identifier for radio DJs to indicate how much overtalk time they had before the vocal kicked in and 2.28 was the record's duration to show radio programming directors that the song wasn't too long for air play. On the right from the top, the Duke Hall producer credit for 'GAME PRODUCTIONS' suggests that this track most probably originated outside Mercury’s in-house studio system and was instead licensed in. The writer credits are below the song title at the bottom centre with the Duke Hall arranger credit below the band. Demos have the same track on both sides in mono and stereo, and the issues were coupled with 'Goin' Back to Miss Anne' on the flip.
Certainly one of the finest and arguably one of the rarest soul records on the Mercury label, 'What I Got' can be rather expensive to buy today, but I believe it still hasn't yet realised its true potential in terms of its real value. Having said that, at least collectors can rest assured it hasn't fallen prey to the bootleggers yet, making any clean copy you may find well worth the investment.