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By Max Conroy
This past week has been one of the most eventful/busy of my entire life. In seven days I saw Jandek, wrote about it, interviewed Donita Sparks, saw Blind Mellon in Flint, crashing that night in East Lansing, saw Solomon Burke in Detroit and motored immediately after to Grand Rapids to hang out with Uncle Fucker. I got back to Ann Arbor last night around midnight. I had a real good time, but I’m glad to be convalescing here on this beautiful Memorial Day. In my travels to East Lansing and Grand Rapids, I picked up some great records at some great shops. If you’re anywhere even close to Grand Rapids and like records at all, you have to go to the Corner Record Shop, just outside of GR. It rivals Encore and is about to become an entirely analog recording studio and venue as well! Another surprise is that Uncle Fucker dusted off the Telecaster this weekend in a moment of clarity, and I recorded some of it for you. I have also edited some of what I recorded at the Solomon Burke show. Featured here are Lay My Burdon Down, performed by the choir before he went on, and Diamond in Your Mind, the song that Tom Waites wrote for him on his first comeback album. The choir provides an accurate representation of the enthusiasm of the crowd, along with a healthy dose of ecstatic joy in loving Jesus. Diamonds is just a great song and was recorded by Burke recently, so it captures his sound now. The third track is Uncle Fucker shredding All Down the Line, the Stones song.
Lay My Burdon Down:
Diamond in Your Mind:
All Down the Line:
Stay tuned for the Donita Sparks and the Stellar Moments review and interview.
By Max Conroy
![images[1].jpg](http://cousinsvinyl.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/images[1].thumbnail.jpg)
The deacon Solomon Burke played a free show in Detroit last night (refer to the previous post). It was a fantastic show and one that I’ll remember forever. He’s still got it to be sure. A gospel choir performed Lay My Burden Down before he went on. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to stay for the entire show, but I saw a little over an hour of his set and caught a lot of classics: Cry to Me, If You Need Me, Down In The Valley, the Tom Waites penned Keep a Diamond in Your Mind, Sittin’ On the Dock of the Bay, and many others. I recorded some audio of the show and will work on getting that posted.
This one was left out of the Soul auction along with a couple others so I put it up today. Bob Kee is one of the credited songwriters of “Ferris Wheel”. 1608 Argyle st, which is really close to the corner of Hollywood & Vine, is now home to Outlaw Sound. The tune itself is pretty fun
Ferris Wheel
Darrow Fletcher came from the local city of Inkster, a suburb outside of the City of Detroit. The most famous residents to have come out of Inkster was the Marvelettes, as a side note, this fact is advertised when you drive into the city. Inkster is one of the few suburbs of the city that has a mostly African American population, and was at one time the home of Malcolm X. Both tunes are strong so I offer both up to your enjoyment.
When Love Calls
Changing By The Minute
This is another great Northern Soul 45 listed in the “Halloween” group. When Holland Dozier Holland left Motown to create Invictus they thought they would defeat Berry “L.A.” Gordy at his own game. Arguably the music was better, but the business skills were not. They eventually could not compete on the long term. Trapped in a love is one of the 45s that did not get the airplay here, and still dosen’t. Thakfully our UK brothers keep this and other great songs alive.
Another Northern Soul classic produced by Choker Campbell. Not a lot of info out there on Albert Jones hopefully our great readers can help us out! Sound file from record for sale!
This is another of the Northern soul classics listed this week for auction. It is a song that really needs no introduction but if you want some more info go to his Allmusic. One intersting thing of note from this 45 is that the flip side “When the Party Is Over” was the intended A-side. This audio comes from the 45 for sale
The a-side of this 45 is a well known and sought after song. When you listen to it it is easy to know why. The sound clip is direct from the 45 for sale. Shelley still performs and has a Website
by Cousin Justin
Going up for auction in the next few minutes is a batch of so many soul monsters you might think it was Halloween. Seriously though, there are a ton of excellent soul 45s going up for auction today. These are mostly from the year 1970 and radio station promos in UNPLAYED Condition. Some of the highlights are Shelley Fisher, Robert John, The Barrino Brothers, The New Apocalypse, Art-Forms Ltd, Piero Umiliani, Albert Jones, Florence Devore, And Rozetta Johnson. This is just the tip of the iceberg on this batch and most of this is stuff that does not come around much. I will be posting on these through the auction and if you would like a sound clip of anything please let me know.
by Max Conroy
I was at the Cousins’ warehouse this weekend, hanging out, looking through piles of records that were in too poor shape to sell, talking about music. We found tons of cool stuff and unfortunately it won’t be available to you guys out there because they’d like to provide you with the best records available. Perhaps email them or reply to a post if anyone out there is willing to have a less than perfect copy of a hard to find record. One of the records that Geoff pulled out was by Jimmy McCracklin. I’d heard the name but knew nothing about him. Later that day Justin threw on his Twist with Jimmy McCracklin album. It was definitely good, but we were hanging out, talking, not paying too much attention to anything. It definitely didn’t sound like Chubby Checker.
The next day, I went to Encore to get some paper sleeves for the records they graciously let me have and casually looked at the first stack I saw, and there was Jimmy McCracklin’s My Answer record. I really didn’t want to spend the money; $10 isn’t going to break the bank, but you know how it is, the end of the month and all. So I walked around holding the record not convinced that I’d buy it, but not ready for anyone else to walk off with it. I dropped the needle on the record, looking around the shop, earphones on, with the feeling that I’m on the inside looking out, through a fish bowl. Hiss, pop. All of a sudden $10 was put into perspective, it wasn’t a problem. Jimmy McCracklin was worth whatever I would have spent the money on, including food or tobacco.
McCracklin was born in 1921…and still performes! He cut his first record in 1945, ya know, back at the birth of the atomic age. That would make him 45 years-old back in 1966 when My Answer came out. I’m not sure if the record is supposed to be a greatest hits record or if Liberty records slapped a bunch of previously released songs around the title track, but I know some of the songs are on other records and the title track was released as a single the same year the record came out. Anyway, I digress. The music can’t be beat and is surprisingly broad in its variety. When I read that it was a comp, I thought that it must have been over several years, but he was only on Liberty in ‘65 and ‘66. The music is strange in that it’s soul, it’s blues, it’s funk, it’s so much all of these things that it’s almost difficult to pin down right away. The first song, the title cut, is a Southern soul ballad about leaving a woman with a letter, ending it with, “I’m sorry for you”. Meaning, I’m sorry for what you fucked up and that you’ll die alone, not I feel bad. The second song Beulah is the one that really caught my attention. James Brown and Dyke were hammering out the finishing touches of their grooves on the anvil of funk when this was made and it’s pretty much as funky as what they were doing at the time. McCracklin’s drummer doesn’t seem like he gets the picture but he’s trying his best in a jazzy sort of way. The next song, Every Day, Every Night, is a straight Jimmy Reed-style blues number. Magic Sam later did a cover of it and it’s obvious that McCracklin was an influence. All of these styles on this record are done so well that it’s mind blowing.
Every Day, Every Night:
by Cousin Justin:
The Dream Girls first released this 45 on the Twirl record label that was owned by Harry Balk and Irving Micahnik. Harry Balk was a Detroit movie theater owner that ran talent shows during down times. Harry used the pseudonym Tom King for his writing credits. Harry and Irving started the label to release Johnny & The Hurricanes hit “Crossfire”. Twirl was a conduit for Detroit talent to sign with the New York Big Top label as Embee Productions. The biggest act to come out of this partnership was Del Shannon. While the other credited songwriter on both sides is Edwin Harrell, BMI has the other credited Songwriter of “Don’t Break My Heart” as Johnny “Paris” Pocisk of the Hurricanes. Cameo-Parkway has had a long history of breaking Detroit acts nationally Including Bob Seger, The Rationals, and ? & The Mysterians. When Johnny & The Hurricanes “Crossfire” And “Red River Rock” hit the national charts they appeared on Dick Clark’s T.V. show out of Philadelphia. Bernie Lowe was the owner of Cameo-Parkway and used the local Dick Clark show to break his own talent and get new talent. The Hurricanes already had a distrubution deal with Warwick. Cameo undoubtadly wanted a chance to get another teen driven act in the roster. The catalogue # on the Twirl press is 1002, which indicates it was the follow up 45 to “Crossfire”. Was the 45 merely a vehicle for the Hurricanes to get another deal? It could explain the Edwin Harrell songwritng credit. This relationship must not have lasted long as Don’t Break My Heart was released in 1960 with “I Could Write A Book” as the flip. This may have been the first Embee produced song to land on Big Top. The Detroit-Cameo Garage Rock connection could be traced more to Terry Knight & The Pack and the Lucky Eleven label, also started in 1959……..
If Johnny Paris was the other Songwriter on these songs, the sax solo makes sense. Whether the Hurricanes are the backing group I have no idea. On the Johnny and the Hurricanes site it does state they played behind them a lot.
This down tempo track did not make it to the Big Top release
by Max Conroy:
The other day I woke up with Major Lance’s Hey Little Girl in my head. It was the best morning I’d had in a while as a result. The comforting, safe yet punchy rhythm of the song is perfect for laying there without your wits, looking for motivation to get up. It’s almost as good as a cup of coffee or at the very least an excellent background for the coffee.
I picked up Um, Um, Um, Um, Um (that’s right five Um’s) the Best of Major Lance in a great record shop in Long Beach, California called Bagatelle Records recently. I’d heard the name Major Lance before but had no idea what he sounded like. The cover looked cool, heavy boards and wax, and it was on Okeh records, which I found to be odd. Okeh always seemed like a label synonymous with the 40s and 50s to me, so a mid 60s soul guy on Okeh was worth a shot. The back of the record also proclaims under the title ‘The Great Songs of Curtis Mayfield’, and I’m on a huge Curtis kick right now. This kind of made me suspicious because I didn’t want some hack covering a bunch of Impressions songs and it was $12. I went to the listening station, which had a Grado cartridge, and threw it on. It was one of those records where you just had to hear about a second to know that it was worth the money.
It turns out that Major Lance grew up with Mayfield and Jerry Butler; and Mayfield got him a shot with Okeh in 1962. Pretty much all of his hits were written by Curtis and feature him on guitar and the Impressions on backing vocals. Lance’s songs seem to typify the Chicago soul sound of the early to mid 60s: smooth Latin flavor, horns and great harmonies. The Monkey Time and Um, Um, Um, Um, Um were his biggest hits. His popularity waned towards the end of the decade and he signed with Curtom in 1969, leaving in ‘71 to cash in on the Northern Soul craze in England. He moved back to the states in the mid 70s, was convicted of selling cocaine, and did four years. He died at 55 of heart failure in 1994.
One of my girlfriend’s friends and her four year-old daughter came to visit us the other weekend. I pulled a record out of its jacket in front of the four year-old and she asked me, What’s that? A record. See it’s got these grooves on it that play music…don’t touch it! I put on Major Lance and she was getting down, I tell you what. I even danced. Every morning I hope to wake up with any Major Lance song in my head, but he hasn’t been back. I’m glad I bought that record.
Hey Little Girl
Um Um
Justin whipped up a sweet batch of soul 45s this time. They’ll be selling like hotcakes, but you might catch a bargain or two because a lot are in VG condition. What does VG mean anyway? It literally means Very Good, but it really means that it’s just OK. But for a soul 45, that means it was well-played, the way a 45 should be. Now it’s your turn to enjoy it. A little warm crackling sound of well-loved vinyl never hurt anybody, now did it?
You can still enjoy the thrill of playing good old soul 45s without having to break the bank like those British hipsters do. Althogh, I have to admit, I would love to hang out in some northern soul DJs basement and look through all his rare 45s he has. But the point is, there are plenty of good soul 45s out there to be had for very reasonable prices. Even semi-obscure Detroit sides like this Lee Rogers on D-Town. The A side was his one hit, “I Want You To Have Everything”. An excellent, excellent song, one of my favorites - and my wife’s favorite 45 of mine. And the B side to this is probably even better - the little more bluesy, smokey “Our Love Is More”.
Give these songs a listen and you’ll see the only reason this 45 is only worth about $10 and not $1000 is because it’s fairly easy to find. But so what? Either one of these songs would go great on a homemade soul comp and you’d still have 99% of the people listening to it saying, “Whoa..who was that?”
The actual story of Lee Rogers is very interesting. Maybe I’ll get into it in a different post, an I might have already done this before, but Lee was good friends with Marvin Gaye back in the day, and Marvin made it big time and Lee didn’t. And of course, the smaller labels like D-Town got eaten up by Mr. Gordy.
There’s other artists like Lee Rogers out there, but we’ll start here for now and I’ll give you some more ideas later.
listen to I Want You To Have Everything:
listen to Our Love Is More:
God bless him, Cousins Justin worked his ass off and put up almost 400 45s off a collection he bought recently. A real solid batch, it features soul to modern soul in real nice condition. Here are some that intersted me on first glance:
This just looks sweet. It’s on Bang - Justin claims it kicks ass.
Billy Lamont - Girls Girls Girl/Shake and Jerk
This cool janitor I used to work with used to ask me all the time if we had any Willie Hutch. I wan’t hip to Willie Hutch, but I figured he must be sweet with a name like Willie Hutch. This title has to be good.
Willie Hutch - What You Going To Do After The Part
Bill Withers, on Sussex, one of my favorite labels. Sussex put out some great stuff - catchy funk and soul. Lean On Me is one of those songs you just gotta have.
Justin, is this any good? I’m extremely interested - on a Detroit label I’ve never seen, last name the same as mine, great title.
This looks really promising.
Jimmy Delphs - Do You Know What I Mean
So does this.
Well, I’m going to stop here. But I encourage you to go exploring because there’s a ton more cool Detroit stuff and a bunch more classic mod soul and other more obscure hidden gems. This is a much better batch than I realized. I gave Justin this lead and he sounded kind of excited but not like jumping out of his pants or anything after he bought the collection. After looking this over, it’s good. The condition is excellent too. If you’re hunting, browse around and take some chances here - I think you’ll get some good deals. We don’t really know what’s what - like always, it just goes off starting at $7.50.
