What We Like To Play (Soul January 29th 1972)

It was Al Green’s second week at the top of the Cash Box R&B Top 60 on January 29th 1972. “Let’s Stay Together” was the star’s first chart-topper & there were to be five more ( four of his 45s “only” reached #2). Al was to be a major force in Soul music in the early 1970s, it’s certain that he will be a feature selection here in the near future just not right now. Let’s look a little further down the chart to see what catches the ear.

Eric Burdon was a big figure in the 1960s British Invasion, first as vocalist with the Animals then maintaining his popularity with his name at the front of a new pack of Animals. Five LPs in less than two years provided hit singles but was a hectic workload leading to burnout & leaving Eric without a band. Bringing along Danish harmonica player Lee Oskar, Eric hooked up with Night Shift, a backing group from Long Beach, California. A name change & the “Eric Burdon Declares War” record (1970) confirmed a surprising & serendipitous union, War’s Afro-Funk-Jazz-Latin grooves proving to be a great foil to Eric’s stoned Geordie Beat poetry. “Spill the Wine” became a Top 3 US Pop hit, the highest for the singer since 1964’s “House of the Rising Sun”. There was another album, a double, before personal troubles led to him leaving in the middle of a European tour. War, a seven piece band, were travelling the world, playing to bigger audiences, getting their name around. They also had a better record deal than their former front man ever had, with the tunes & the chops to rule out a return to the L.A. clubs.

There’s a subtle texture to War’s music, resonances of the ensemble groove revealed by repeated listening & not enough people wanted to play their first LP again. They needed a track that would be played on daytime radio & “Slippin’ Into Darkness”, at #11 on this week’s R&B chart was that very thing. Playing live on “Soul Train” they unite around that bassline, sing great harmonies & you just wish they were playing the full six minutes rather than the shorter single version. The closer on the “All Day Music” album, “Baby Brother”, a live & loud Blues jam, later re-tooled into a hit 45, indicates a strong stage presence. Having got their crossover hit War seized the opportunity & there were to be two more Top 10 singles by the end of 1972, starting a decade of great rhythms & gold records. Lee Oskar was recognisable, he was the white guy with the afro, the other six did their thing, made their contribution & it is to the band’s credit that the line up was unchanged through all this success. War were an important, influential, individual group whose records sound as cool & fresh today as they did 50 years ago.

Donnie Elbert, a singer from Buffalo, New York had been recording since the mid-1950s, having his first R&B hit in 1957. With a career interrupted by a stint in the Army his releases met with little commercial success. In 1965 he recorded “A Little Piece of Leather”, highlighting the falsetto end of his three octave range. Picked up in the UK by Sue Records, a label jam-packed with great American R&B overseen by DJ Guy Stevens (later producer of Mott the Hoople & the Clash) for Island Records. A Mod club favourite Donnie moved across the Atlantic, recording a tribute to Otis Redding & a Rock Steady 45, “Without You”, a #1 in Jamaica. He returned to the US & the R&B chart in 1970 then, something he brought with him from England, a cover of the Supremes’ “Where Did I Love Go” crossed over to the Pop Top 20. Things were going well for Donnie 50 years ago today, only he & Sly & the Family Stone had two records on the R&B listing.

Another Motown cover, “I Can’t Help Myself” (the 4 Tops, “sugar pie honey bunch”, you know it) rose a healthy 11 places to #30 & “Sweet Baby” moved from #34 to 32. Both are perfect for all-night dancing in the Soul clubs of Northern England, if Donnie was well-liked in the US he was loved over here & in 1972 the re-released “A Little Piece of Leather” made the UK Top 30. The records were on different labels & Avco, the bigger one, had the idea that more covers were the way to go. Donnie had been burned by bigger companies before, he had worked hard to find his own place & his independence. At All Platinum he had sung, written, produced, played everything but the strings & that’s where he chose to stay until he was on the wrong end of a dispute with boss Sylvia Robinson over the composing credit for Shirley & Company’s hit “Shame, Shame, Shame” (now that’s a good tune) had him looking for a way out of a business where his talents were perhaps never fully appreciated & promoted.

At #39 this week, up 10 places pop pickers, was a record that was on its way to the top of the R&B chart & #2 Pop, 3 million copies sold. I’ve written about Joe Tex here & some of his regular hits have featured in earlier Soul Selections. “I Gotcha” was Joe’s first R&B #1 since 1965, his biggest crossover hit since “Skinny Legs & All” five years previously. Joe & his dancers give an energetic, er thrusting, performance of an insistent, confident gold record rap. After a sojourn at Atlantic Records where he was rather awkwardly given other people’s songs to record Joe was back with the Dial label, with producer Buddy Killen, the songs all his own work. On the LP that came with “I Gotcha” he sticks with what he’s good at, the sharp Memphis Funk sweetened by homespun homilies backed by Nashville session cats, both delivered with Joe’s good humour. Not as consistent as the compilations of his great singles the record still has its moments like “Takin’ A Chance”, always a favourite.

Joe, now Yusuf Hazziez, stepped away for a while to preach & fund raise for the Nation of Islam. bBy the middle of the decade Disco was the current thing & Joe, receptive to new styles & dances since Sam Cooke was twisting the night away had something to add. “Ain’t Gonna Bump No More (With No Big Fat Woman)” put him back in the R&B Top 10, the US Pop 20 & even some long-overdue attention here in the UK.

Advertisement

A Million Things To Be (January 22nd 1972)

My first post from the lower reaches of the US Album chart of 50 years ago put me on to some interesting music that probably wouldn’t have found a way on to my playlist & that’s a good thing. A first look at those records in positions 101-150 for January 22nd 1972 is similarly encouraging & if there is any problem making three selections there are always groups I’ve never heard of (the Siegel-Schwall Band #149) & I’m sure that the “Muppet Alphabet Album”, #110, is a good one.

Cat Stevens was in a good place in 1972. As a teenage Pop star in the UK there had been three Top 20 45s in 1967 however a hectic work schedule (two LPs in that year) resulted in tuberculosis, a collapsed lung & a year’s bedrest. His re-emergence as a singer-writer of gentle, reflective acoustic tunes was received with goodwill then major commercial success for “Tea For The Tillerman” (1970). “Teaser & the Firecat”, more romantic, relatable introspection, Cat’s melodious Pop sensibility still apparent, was even more popular, sitting at #7 on the album chart for January 22nd. “…Tillerman” was still around at #66, its longevity assisted by songs featured in “Harold & Maude”, a comedy of innocence & experience still on everybody’s favourite films list. How the heck his record label didn’t release “If You Want To Sing Out”, a non-album track, as a single is a mystery because this simple uplifting song is one to be heard & sure sounds like a hit record to me. Cat Stevens was an international star shifting a lot of vinyl. In 1972 his old record label tried to cut in on some of that action.

“Very Young & Early Songs” was Cat’s third album on the listing, a new entry at #114. The 10 tracks were recorded at the time of, or just after, the “New Masters” LP, attempts to recapture the fresh, finely observed vignette “Matthew & Son”, his big hit early in 1967. The three singles, “Lovely City”, “Here Comes My Wife” & “Where Are You” all failed to chart, the songs lacking the writer’s earlier acuity, complicated by over-elaborate productions by Mike Hurst, hindsight confirming that simplicity would enhance Cat’s strengths. At loggerheads with his producer & his label Deram, he was able to extricate himself from them after recovery from his illness. I am a fan of Cat Stevens the Pop singer but this inconsistent assembly for the US market while interesting smacks a touch too much of cash-in cynicism when Cat had moved on. In the UK Deram got a double album from these leftovers so at least there’s that.

It was not too long after drummer Joey Covington replaced Spencer Dryden in Jefferson Airplane that singer Marty Balin gave notice that he too was eyeing the exit. Joey had introduced his friend Papa John Creach, a very experienced fifty-something violin player, to a rather fragmented, factional group, showing greater interest in their splinter projects. Papa John contributed to three tracks on “Bark” (1971) & was a group member for “Long John Silver” (1972) while, concurrently, joining the Airplane’s Jorma Kaukonen & Jack Casady for two records with Hot Tuna, his gypsy-blues fiddle prominent & adding texture to a duo who were seasoning their acoustic Blues with some Acid Rock muscle. (Jorma Kaukonen was my teenage guitar hero & “Burgers” (1972) is a fine album). Meanwhile over on the Starship side, Grace Slick & Paul Kantner, John was to be heard on two “Sunfighter” (1971) cuts & one on “Baron Von Tollbooth & the Chrome Nun” (1973). It must have been quite an experience for a musician, who for over 30 years had gotten by taking jobs in clubs, ocean liners even orchestras, playing whatever it took to get the audiences on to the dance floor & to pay the bills, to be mixing with these Rock aristocrats but he fitted right in, a significant addition to the Airplane family’s sound at this time.

All of the records checked above were released on the group’s own Grunt label & Papa John took the opportunity to to make his own eponymous album, a new entry a #140 on the chart. San Francisco’s finest showed out to support him. On the opening “The Janitor Drives His Cadillac” he shares vocals with Grace while John Cipollina from Quicksilver Messenger Service adds guitar, his Hot Tuna mates provide the big beat for two tracks, Carlos Santana called around, “Danny Boy” & “Over the Rainbow” are kept from the cabaret times. Across it all Papa John’s playing is adroit & energetic without being flashy, it’s “Soul Fever”, with the Dead’s Jerry Garcia & Santana’s Greg Rolie, that’s my pick. There were two further LPs on Grunt, “Red Octopus” with Starship & other records with his own group. Papa John Creach found a new, bigger & younger audience for his music & this dapper gentleman did what he always had done, put on a great show.

The first I was aware of Nils Lofgren was when his name appeared on the label of Neil Young’s “After the Gold Rush” (1970), a record so good that you paid notice to everybody involved. Nils stuck around for the first album by Crazy Horse, another one you need on your shelf. It’s an enduring attachment to Shakey & the Horse that continues today with “Barn” (2021) but he had the connections to get a deal for his own band & Grin’s debut came around in 1971. The follow-up “1+1” (1972) is a new entry at #148 on this week’s list, a “rockin'” side followed by a “dreamy” one. Nils was just 20 on its release, a kid raised on the Beatles, the Stones & the Who & there’s a fresh, romantic, sincere innocence about both records assisted by “…Gold Rush” producer David Briggs who found the strength in the songs & let the tape roll. “White Lies”, the rockin’ opener, is the radio-friendly 45 that sure sounds like a hit, should have been a hit & what the heck happened there?

Maybe things would have been different if “1+1” had found a wider audience. Grin’s next two records were a little rushed & looking for a hit before they quit. Nils went solo, with a set of great songs, fine support for his guitar & keyboards & Briggs keeping it simple, he released one of the best US Rock albums of 1975 which failed to trouble the chart compilers. More good music followed but he never wrote a “Heart of Gold”, “Born To Run” or “Refugee” that would elevate him to headlining stadiums. He will be best remembered as a trusty, long-standing sideman for Neil & Bruce which is fine but if you need some crisp, straight ahead American Rock there are two Grin albums & at least three, maybe five, of his solo records that will do the trick.

OK, we have a little time left for something from the “dreamy” side of “1+1”. There’s a whole lotta things that I never done but I ain’t never had too much “Soft Fun”.

Just A Shot Away (Soul January 15th 1972)

Joe Simon had the new #1 on the Cash Box R&B Top 60 (they seem to have dropped the “in R&B Locations” – I’ll miss it) of 50 years ago this week with “Drowning In the Sea of Love”. Just one place below Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together” was his first R&B Top 3 placing & by no means his last. There was 5 years of all-round greatness & success to come, the Reverend Al will surely feature in my future selections, probably before this year is done. Not this time though, the last post was exclusively male so this week it’s only fair to balance it out.

In late 1969 singer Merry Clayton took a midnight phone call from her friend, producer Jack Nitzsche, asking her to come down to Sunset Sound Studio to help out his old friends the Rolling Stones. Merry, four months pregnant, got out of bed & in just three takes added a ferocious, full-throated vocal, absolutely appropriate for the apocalyptic “Gimme Shelter”, an already substantial observation on end-of-the-decade tumult. Ms Clayton had been recording since her school days, first with Bobby Darin, as a Raelette & providing backing vocals on records you have heard. This new significant credit brought a solo contract with producer Lou Adler, the title track of her debut in 1970 being “Gimme Shelter”. No Jagger this time, just Merry

Merry had provided backing vocals for Carole King’s record “Tapestry”, a major success, & the hottest songwriter around returned the favour by passing over three of her unrecorded songs for the “Merry Clayton” album. Of course the singer could still take it to church, it’s what she did, both Neil Young’s “Southern Man” & James Taylor’s “Steamroller” are tours of force. It’s King’s songs, “After All This Time” is #22 on this week’s chart, & a couple of well-chosen others that bring a pleasing restraint to the collection. So does a studio full of all-star Soul-Jazz players, Billy Preston, the eighth Beatle, was a friend from the Ray Charles days, Wilton Felder & Joe Semple off of the Crusaders, David T Walker, Motown’s guitar man on the West Coast & Merry’s husband Curtis Amy do great work on the Funky grooves. Over the years Merry worked with an impressive list of musicians yet remained 20 feet from stardom. In 2014 both her legs were amputated at the knee after a car accident but she could still sing. With a little help from her talented friends 2021’s Gospel record “Beautiful Scars” is a lovely thing. It’s not a comeback album, Merry Clayton has always been around.

“In & Out of My Life” is the highest new entry on the list at #48. There was a time when Martha & the Vandellas were the premier group on the Tamla Motown roster. In 1963 “Heat Wave” & “Quicksand” made the US Top 10, helping to establish the company as “The Sound of Young America”. The following year “Dancing in the Street”, monumental Motor City Soul, was kept from the #1 spot by Manfred Mann’s “Do Wah Diddy Diddy” while rising fast was “Baby Love”, the second of the Supremes’ phenomenal run of 5 successive chart toppers & it appeared that Motown’s star-making machinery would only support one superstar female trio. There were still some great 45s, “Jimmy Mack” is irresistible, “I’m Ready For Love”, a fine example of the strong, urgent Vandellas sound while the instant attraction I felt towards “Honey Chile”, the first credit to Martha Reeves & the Vandellas, is now permanent. The departures of first producer/writer Mickey Stevenson, co-writer of “Dancing…” with Marvin Gaye & Ivy Joe Hunter, then Holland-Dozier-Holland, providers of 8 of the 12 tracks on 1966’s “Greatest Hits”, along with Martha’s debilitating addiction to painkillers, were barriers to maintaining a high quality output.

By 1972 Martha Reeves’ Vandellas were sister Lois & Sandra Tilley & there hadn’t been a Top 20 Pop or R&B it since 1967’s “Honey Chile”. “Black Magic”, the soon to be released album, credited six production teams for just 11 tracks, giving the impression that if there was a spare afternoon with a song that perhaps Diana Ross had passed on then Martha & the Vandellas were called in. “In & Out of My Life” is a fine track, as is “Bless You” & a couple of the others but covers of songs by the Beatles, Jackson 5 & Dionne Warwick not so much. Motown were moving their operation from Detroit to Los Angeles & the group did not go with them. “Black Magic” was to be the trio’s final record & Martha Reeves was a solo singer before the end of 1972. MCA spent a good deal of money on Martha but she was never matched with the same quality of material as that which made Gladys Knight such a star after she left the label at the same time. Still, Martha is loved for a decade of hits & whether she is performing or showing up on “Celebrity Master Chef” it’s always a pleasure.

I’m sorry to interrupt our normal programming but tribute must be paid to Veronica “Ronnie” Spector who unfortunately died this week. In late 1963, when I was hoping that Santa would show up with a piece of kit that could play those highly desirable, intoxicating 7 inch vinyl discs (he really came through – a brand new Dansette), the UK Top 10 was packed with the Mersey Beat, two guitars, bass & drum, yeah, yeah, yeah. In the middle of this noise from North West England was something from the USA, two sisters, Veronica & Estelle, with their cousin Nedra, from Spanish Harlem who had moved to Los Angeles to make records with “The First Tycoon of Teen” Phil Spector. I knew very little about the Wall of Sound, of Spector’s alchemy in Gold Star Studios but “Be My Baby” by the Ronettes, with its boom-ba-boom-pah drum intro, orchestration & backing vocals a gathering storm under a siren’s call lead, strong, emotional, alluring, by Ronnie (“for every kiss you give me, I’ll give you three” – oh my!) was a perfect Pop song, more iconic with every homage, echo & attempt to emulate its precise excellence.

With “Be My Baby” & the following “Baby I Love You” the Ronettes toured the UK in 1964, topping a bill including the Rolling Stones. If you saw that tour then you are both lucky & old. When we did see photos & then moving pictures of the trio they proved to be sharp, stylish & flipping gorgeous. Their subsequent 45s were not as commercially successful, perhaps the Motown girl groups became the current sound. Spector’s productions, arranged by Jack Nitzsche who made that call to Merry Clayton, all featuring Ronnie’s distinctive, beguiling voice, endure as atmospheric “little symphonies for the kids”, often imitated, never equalled, undoubtedly the Ronettes.

It took Ronnie some time to extricate herself from an abusive marriage to Spector & a new generation of music fans had heard little from her. Singles made with George Harrison & the E Street Band, a 1980 album with Genya Ravan were well received as were later records where she covered the likes of the Ramones & Johnny Thunders but these were too individual to revive any major success. Ronnie continued to tour, happy to perform her timeless hits to audiences who were happy to hear them. People I know who saw these shows tell me that it was a great night. Ronnie Spector made her mark, she was a legend & oh, did I mention she was flipping gorgeous.

1964, the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, an all star bill for the T.A.M.I. Show. The Ronettes have just performed a wonderful live “Be My Baby” & the girls go a little off-script for their take on the Isley Brothers’ “Shout”. It’s wild, it’s free, fun & as Mod as heck. It certainly didn’t need all those Go-Go dancers cluttering up the stage.

Almost But Not Quite There (January 8th 1972)

I do love a list & also have a liking for musical ephemera preserved on the Internet so when the all-encompassing treasure trove that is the archive.org website turned up a full set of Cash Box magazines, allowing my regular selections from the US R&B chart of 50 years ago to continue, my eye was caught by the listing for the LPs 101 – 150 for January 8 1972. It’s a varied collection of classic hit records, “Sticky Fingers”, “The Allman Brothers Band at Fillmore East” (“Eat A Peach” was due in February) slipping from higher positions, of “Best of” & “Greatest Hits”, including Iron Butterfly (really!) & B J Thomas who was on to “Volume Two”. There are outliers like the latest from Mantovani, a conductor of light orchestral music, & the soundtrack to the Disney film “Bedknobs & Broomsticks” then there are those records that didn’t quite sell enough to make the big Top 100. I know, I’m easily pleased but there’s some pretty good music to be found here.

At 5 pm on the 15th of August 1969 the Woodstock Festival wasn’t ready to go. The stage hadn’t been finished & Sweetwater, the opening act, were caught in congestion of people & vehicles travelling to the site. Richie Havens, still waiting for his bass player, was asked to step in, closing an extended set with “Freedom”, an improvisation based on the spiritual “Motherless Child”. The song was included in the 1970 festival documentary, the fifth highest grossing film of the year, & a lot more people knew about Richie, already a successful artist, three albums in, than had previously been the case. That was a good thing for everyone, Richie’s deep smokey voice, his rhythmic strumming, open chord tuning, thumb hooked over the guitar fretboard & refreshing Soul-Folk interpretations of familiar songs gave him an individual place in music. “Alarm Clock” (1971), the first post-movie collection, released on his own Stormy Forest label, reached #29 & the lead track, the Beatles’ “Here Comes the Sun”, entered the Top 20, the biggest commercial successes of his career.

“The Great Blind Degree”, down three slots to #105 this week, included a number of soft rock cover versions, songs by Graham Nash, Cat Stevens, James Taylor’s “Fire & Rain” that everybody was doing & Pete Townshend’s “Tommy” that no-one was, getting Havens-ised. The jewel of the record is “What About Me”, a powerful state of the nation song from when the nation was in an absolute state, written by Dino Valenti. Dino was an enigmatic wild one, making the Greenwich Village folk scene before moving to the West Coast & joining Quicksilver Messenger Service. In the mid-60s he sold the rights to “Get Together”, soon to be a Hippie anthem, for $100 to pay for the defence of a marijuana bust & for a while he held the copyright to “Hey Joe”, gifted to Dino, it is claimed, when an inmate at Folsom Prison. “What About Me” is a lyrical triumph & Richie Havens did it more than credit (see above). He may not have had the big hits but he was always welcome through a long career, constant in his support for ecological action, for civil rights & freedom. In 1982 Richie Havens was the closing act at the Glastonbury Festival, it was an occasion, a stunning, inimitable performance.

Mitch Ryder (born William Levise) was singing in Detroit clubs as Billy Lee & the Rivieras when the group was signed by Bob Crewe, the writer-producer behind the Four Seasons whose successful run of hits had continued in the face of 1964’s British Invasion. Together Crewe & the re-named Mitch Ryder & the Detroit Wheels recorded three LPs & five Top 30 singles, exciting, precipitous rushes of Garage Soul, an influence on young Bruce Springsteen & many others who wanted to make music that got people out of their seats. The band worked hard, Crewe re-packaged the hits three times in two years & only he got paid. The producer’s idea of solo Mitch as a singer of standards for “What Now My Love” (1967) was a bad one, “The Detroit-Memphis Experiment” (1969), a record with Booker T & the M.G.s, produced by Steve Cropper, is much more interesting but failed to attract attention. The times they were a-changing & Mitch Ryder was a golden oldie, all the way back from two years ago!

“Detroit”, #137 from 142 this week, is the eponymous debut by Mitch’s new combo, only drummer John Badenjek was a former Detroit Wheel. It’s a straight ahead Rock & Blues record, as resolute as the hard-working city that gave the group its name &, after closer listening this week, Mitch is in great form & the best tracks hit the spot. These are when guitarist Steve Hunter, recommended by bass player John Sauter, is let loose. The record is produced by Bob Ezrin, just 21 years old,& when Alice Cooper was no longer a group he brought Steve along to help Alice the solo singer out. When Ezrin worked with Lou Reed he played him Detroit’s version of Lou’s “Rock & Roll”, a minor hit (see above) & Steve was hired to make some noise on the Rock & Roll Animal tour. A hard living lifestyle took its toll on Mitch’s voice & on a couple of band members. Detroit made just the one record, Mitch took a job in a warehouse before returning to make some fine, fine music with the help of friends who were fans. Mitch Ryder & the D.W.s may be less rated than some 1960s acts but if you are having a party then their “Breakout” album will bring a smile to faces & a tap to toes.

When Emitt Rhodes’ teenage band, the Merry-Go-Round disbanded in 1969 after just the one LP of Pop with a light psychedelic seasoning his own recordings were rejected by the label. Undeterred his parents’ garage became a studio & the subsequent tracks, all written, sung & played by him, gained him a contract. “Emitt Rhodes” (1970) attracted much critical acclaim & dedication from fans reaching the Top 30 of the US charts. Here in the UK his name would be checked in plenty of journals but there was little radio support & that’s how we heard new music back then. Perhaps, due to Emitt’s obvious influences, the “one-man Beatles” tag didn’t help, our own Fab Four may have called it a day but their first solo records were selling by the lorry load. Similarly Mirror” (1971) didn’t include a hit single that would have raised interest. It stayed at #131 this week 50 years ago & would not get much higher.

Emitt Rhodes’ music is undoubtedly McCartneyesque, it is still now as fresh as a daisy, imaginatively arranged, natural, melodic, perfect crafted three minute Pop songs. Many artists have had similar aspirations & succeeded, few have shown the facility & talent of Emitt Rhodes. It was obvious that the two albums a year deal he had signed was to prove too heavy a load for a one-man operation & there would be just one more release before his royalties were withheld & he was sued for $250,000. “Farewell To Paradise” (his third record) indeed. Emitt continued to write, still thwarted by the business of music, releases were sporadic. It would be 2016, 43 years later, before another Emitt Rhodes record, interest in his work has always endured, fans remain devoted but isn’t it a pity.

Keep On (Soul January 1st 1972)

OK, it’s been a month since my last selections from the Cash Box Top 60 in R&B Locations of 50 years ago because y’know, Life. Right so, a New Year, new energy & a whole bunch of new entries on the chart. Let me at them & for sure it’s going to be another year of nothing but the real thing & there ain’t nothing like that.

There’s a brand new Top 3 for 1972 & the #1 on the R&B list is also at the top of the Pop chart. The Jackson 5 were the teen sensation of the day & “Got To Be There” was the debut solo 45 by 13 year old Michael. A more serious song, the boy with the prodigious voice & moves was growing up, a nailed on international hit while the family band were rising to #9 with “Sugar Daddy”, a more typical Pop-Soul confection. At #2 19 year old Betty Wright’s “Clean Up Woman” didn’t crossover to become a Pop hit but its fresh Miami sound, that guitar riff by Little Beaver, makes it still recognisable 50 years later. Joe Simon had moved from Nashville to Philly, getting an update to his sound from producers Gamble & Huff, still making the Top 3 with “Drowning In the Sea of Love”. That’s a pretty good selection right there

In 1965 Bobby Womack’s marriage to Sam Cooke’s widow just 77 days after the star’s death brought criticism from family, fans & the music business. Leaving his own family group, the Valentinos, his first solo efforts were badly received. Bobby found a place in Memphis as a session guitarist at American Sound Studio where his songwriting talent provided hits for Wilson Pickett & led to a new recording contract. After a couple of albums he was picked up by United Artists, a bigger label, moved to Los Angeles where he became Sly Stone’s drug buddy & contributed to “There’s A Riot Goin’ On”. Staying in L.A. to record his third solo record, with better promotion & a growing reputation, it was time for Bobby Womack to break on through.

“Communication” matches spare, modern Funk to Bobby’s Old Soul voice & it’s the three of his own songs that are, in my opinion, the highlights of the collection. “That’s the Way I Feel About Cha”, #12 this week, up from 16, is a sweet Soul-Blues with his brothers on backing vocals & the Muscle Shoals band. The title track & “If You Don’t Want My Love) Give It Back” cut it too. Bobby always had a taste for a monologue & a trademark spoken intro & I have always found them engaging, it’s the easy listening covers, present on all his early records, that I find to be less successful. This time around it’s James Taylor’s “Fire & Rain” & Ray Stevens’ “Everything Is Beautiful”. No matter, Bobby Womack was building an impressive catalogue & there was an upcoming LP, “Understanding” in May 1972 that really is a classic Soul album.

It was out on the youth club dancefloor, dancing awkwardly with the girls (well, near the girls) to the exciting Atlantic singles recorded by Wilson Pickett in 1965-66, a list that starts with “In the Midnight Hour” & ends with “Mustang Sally”, that made this too young to be a Mod a Soul Boy. The Wicked Pickett was my gateway to Southern Soul, to Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, that Stax sound with a little more grit than those Motown sensations that were calling out around the world. I’ll admit that after voting for Wilson as the World’s Top Vocalist in the NME’s end of year poll 12 months later my choice was Otis but Pickett’s gruff & ready soul-shouting & shrieks were a Soul wonder & the hits kept on coming & he was such an international star that in 1971 when Soul went to Africa it was his name at the top of a star-studded bill. “15 continuous hours” of music in Black Star Square, Accra, Ghana, you know it, by the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park. Well maybe not but my workmate Manny does & it was a very big deal when Soul Brother #2 (after James) performed in his home city. The light in his eyes was brighter when he told me his stories about that day over a decade later.

In 1969 the wicked one recorded a coruscating cover of the Fabs’ “Hey Jude”, sparks flying between Wilson & that new guitar-slinger, young Duane Allman, the Muscle Shoals band giving it loads. The 45’s success led to other covers from the Pop/Rock catalogue & this week 50 years ago, up a healthy 10 spots to #22 was “Fire and Water” written by Andy Fraser & Paul Rogers, half of the band Free, the young ones of the British Blues boom. Free were a tight unit with a great live show & a growing reputation when a track from “Fire & Water”, their third album, the anthemic Rock classic “All Right Now”, made the Top 10 on both sides of the Atlantic. The songwriters, Fraser, a melodic bassist, & Rogers, a forceful vocalist & frontman, were up to the job of reinforcing this success but the unreliability & increasing heroin dependency of ace guitarist Paul Kossoff destabilised a great band that coulda been a contender. Wilson Pickett did a great job on “Fire & Water”, an imaginative choice, looking fly on “Soul Train” in his silver lame suit. He perhaps missed a trick by not picking up on “The Stealer”, another fine Blues-Soul song from Free.

It”s a last chance to include this great tune in my selections as this week “Keep On Keeping On” by Nolan Porter had slipped from #36 to #54. Nolan’s first LP, “No Apologies” (1970) had been recorded in Hollywood with Little Feat, the band adding an attractive rockier edge to the singer’s soulful interpretations of songs by Van Morrison, Don Covay, Randy Newman & others. Released on producer Gabriel Mekler’s small label Lizard the record received little promotion & failed to gain attention. When a new recording, a reggae version of “Groovin’ Out On Life”, a song by the great Bobby Charles, was a small R&B hit it was under the name Frederick II so did little to raise Nolan’s profile. An eponymous second album included remixes from the debut along with four new tracks though, as can seen from the label above, “Keep On Keeping On” is by N.F. Porter. So few recordings so many names for Nolan Porter.

Both this 45 & the following “If I Could Only Be Sure” featured distinctive, almost eerie, lead playing by Johnnie “Guitar” Watson, different enough to attract attention from the Northern Soul scene in the UK. The quality of these records & that there would be no more releases by Nolan until 1980 added to their reputation. The riff for “Keep On…” being incorporated into Joy Division’s “Interzone”, Paul Weller covering “If I Could Only…”. A new generation of British Soul fans knew about Nolan Porter & he received a great welcome from fans & musicians when he visited. Unfortunately Nolan died last February, just two albums, less than 20 tracks. It really won’t take long to check him out & it will be worth it. More than anything, at the beginning of another uncertain year, we have to “Keep On Keeping On”. HNY.