Put On Your Wig Woman (Junior Walker)

As the 1950’s headed towards the 1960’s songwriter Berry Gordy was doing nicely from his connection with singer Jackie Wilson (Berry wrote “Reet Petite”, “Lonely Teardrops” & others) while having a shrewd eye on the business of music through an involvement with talent he found in his hometown Detroit. His Tamla label released its first disc in 1959, the Miracles’ “Shop Around” became its first million seller the following year & the Motown Record Corporation would soon stake a claim to be “the sound of young America”, as big an influence on the decade’s popular music as the British Beat explosion.

 

We all know the great stars signed to the label, Marvin, Stevie, Diana & the Supremes, the Four Tops, the Temptations. There were plenty of other acts who benefited & contributed to the Motown sound. That driving beat of the house band, the Funk Brothers, matched to a melodic & lyrical acuity & urbanity placed African-American music firmly in the Modernist movement of the decade. Pop Art…you betcha! Junior Walker, a saxophonist, a little older than the others, never really adhered to the Hitsville formula but he & his All Stars enjoyed much success because their distinctive, individual style was pretty irresistible.

 

 

Junior Walker, born in 1931, was playing in bands in Battle Creek, Michigan, 120 miles east of Detroit, in the mid-1950s. The All Stars played both kinds of music, the Rhythm & the Blues, tenor sax playing Junior being influenced by the Jive of Louis Jordan & the Jazz of Illinois Jacquet (great name). The band signed with Harvey Fuqua, a singer turned label head, whose hits with the Moonglows, the classic “Sincerely” & the extra classic “The 10 Commandments of Love” were as good as Doo Wop got. Harvey was Berry Gordy’s brother in law & when he joined the family company he took his roster with him. The second 45 issued under the growing Motown umbrella found Junior Walker & the All Stars at the top of the R&B charts & in the Pop Top 10, a list that was pretty much all British Invasion & Tamla.

 

On “Shotgun” (coming up later) the band were augmented by a Funk Brothers backline, including the peerless bassist James Jamerson. It’s a Soul Explosion, the honking sax, call & response vocal shouts & a demand that you dance urgency is the trademark of Junior Walker & the All Stars. Gritty is not the adjective most associated with Detroit at this time, these guys were, they found an audience & Motown let them do their thing. “(I’m A) Roadrunner”, the 4th Top 10 R&B 45, was written by ace team Holland-Dozier-Holland, another injection of Soul adrenaline, a super smash. King Curtis & Cannonball Adderley were masters of Soul/R&B saxophone & Junior Walker was not only just as groovy but his records were a whole lot of fun.

 

 

The major influence of the label on the artist was to point him towards the cupboard where they kept their back catalogue. First, in 1966, Marvin’s “How Sweet It Is (to be Loved by You)” & “Money (That’s What I Want)” were Walkerfied. The following year H-D-H’s hit for the Supremes, “Come See About Me” was given a gutbucket revival, guaranteed to pack out any dancefloor anywhere. In the UK Junior Walker was a major Mod favourite. His records may not have made Top of the Pops but were played on the pirate radio stations & were essentials for any DJ in clubs (in my case youth clubs) all over the country. The ones already checked, “Shake & Fingerpop”, “Pucker Up Buttercup”, the killer “Shoot Your Shot”, it’s becoming a list & we knew them all.

 

In 1969 Walker & his producer Johnny Bristol, an ally since before Motown, changed it up & had a big success. “What Does It Take (To Win Your Love)”, written by Bristol, Fuqua & staffer Vernon Bullock, was recorded in 1968 for the “Home Cookin'” LP & released with some reluctance by the label. It’s slower paced, the edges are smoothed, the vocal more featured & it sold a million. Followed by a fine cover of the Guess Who’s “These Eyes” this new style kept Junior in the game, away from the golden oldie circuit in the new decade.

 

 

Junior Walker came out of the Jumping Jive R&B tradition & found his place in Soul music. He had international success with his records & the evidence is that his live shows were not to be missed. If, in June 1969, you were at the Fillmore West in San Francisco for the All Stars/Grateful Dead double bill then I am jealous. The group were regular, popular visitors to the UK & this clip (in colour!) of their 1967 gig at the Ram Jam Club, you know it, on the Brixton Rd, above Burton’s & the gas showroom, yeah you know, is just wonderful. Junior & his band, Willie Woods, guitar, James Graves, drums & Vic Thomas, organ, (bassist unknown) blow up an absolute storm. If I ever get this time machine finished then look out for me in the audience the next time you watch this lovely thing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I Know, I Know, I Know (Bill Withers)

Bill Withers (that’s the great…) came late to making records. Born in 1938 in Slab Fork, West Virginia he joined the US Navy at 18 where he served 9 years before settling in Los Angeles, working a day job to finance his demo tapes while performing at night. His luck changed in 1970 when Sussex Records signed him to make an album. Sussex had a producer who was new to California but an old hand behind the studio desk. Booker T Jones, off of “& the M.G.’s”, had gotten tired of working too hard for too little financial reward at Stax in Memphis. He married Priscilla Coolidge, Rita’s sister, relocated & was looking for new challenges. For “Just As I Am” (1971) Booker T called in his old rhythm section Al Jackson (drums) & Duck Dunn (bass), Stephen Stills brought along some L.A. friends. The first single, “Ain’t No Sunshine”, you know it, sold over a million copies, made the US Top 10 & was awarded the Grammy for the Best R&B song of that year. Bill Withers, reluctant to quit his job making toilet seats for Boeing 747’s, became an unlikely & deserving star.

“Just As I Am” hits the ground running with the evocative, picaresque “Harlem”, “Ain’t No Sunshine” a sure-fire smash, the touching, universal “Grandma’s Hands” & the sheer class keeps on coming. Bill was no Soul shouter, his direct Folk-Gospel suitably framed in simple, driving arrangements with taut string flourishes. A cover of Lennon & McCartney’s “Let It Be” is more successful than Fred Neil’s “Everybody’s Talkin'” but it’s the mature plainspeak of his own lyrics that marks Bill Withers as an outstanding, individual talent. The sad & beautiful “Hope She’ll Be Happier”, a late-night broken hearted farewell to an ex, never fails to affect. This performance is from 1974, a highlight of a concert in Zaire arranged as part of the Ali – Foreman rumble. The cameras stay on the singer & his authentic Star Power is confirmed.

When Bill had to go to work at his new job he knew just the crew to to share the stage with. Keyboard player Ray Jackson had assisted him with those early demos. Ray’s fellow members of Charles Wright & the Watts 103rd St Rhythm Band, Benorce Blackmon (guitar), Melvin Dunlap (bass) & the inimitable drummer James Gadson all handed in their notice & joined Bill’s band. The evidence of just how good they were is right here & on the Y-tube there is a half hour show from 1972 which touches greatness. They all knew it too, enjoying laying down the coolest, in-the-pocket groove. They did it sitting down, imagine how good they would have been if they had stood up!

The band, with percussionist Bobbye Hall, recorded & produced the next LP “Still Bill” (1972) which hit the same spots & more. The modern day hymn “Lean On Me”, you not only know that tune but you know the words too, was a US #1 while the sensual “Use Me”, not just the hook of the year but one for all-time, peaked at #2. No-one else’s songs this time just great originals like “Who Is He (And What Is He To You)?”, a typically accurate encapsulation of jealousy covered most successfully by groups with female leads (Gladys Knight & the Pips, the Soul Children). The best tracks…it’s a list but I hear the joyous funk of “When I’m Kissing My Love”  & I’m singing it for days.

The following year the Bill Withers gang released “Live at Carnegie Hall” & what a life-affirming disc that is. The hits are played, “Use Me” twice, & enthusiastically received by a full house. The singer’s & band’s performances have a little more drive & grit than on studio recordings & that’s nothing but a good thing. The 5 new songs include the empathic “I Can’t Write Left Handed” about a young man who lost an arm in the Vietnam War. Bill didn’t write polemics, didn’t involve himself with the politics of the day. His stories about himself & others contain a sensibility that is more enduring than strident sloganeering. “…Carnegie Hall”, with the long revivalist encore of “Harlem/Cold Baloney” is one of the great live albums.

These three albums are the imperial phase of Bill’s career. He could take his seat at the top table of Soul alongside Marvin, Stevie, Curtis & others. After this the business of the music business started to get in the way. “+Justments” (1974) is a fine record, the last with his band & possibly a little rushed. Sussex Records was closed by the Inland Revenue & Bill was left hanging before signing with Columbia. In no way should his time with a major label be dismissed, the records are still warm & individual but a production gloss moves him away from his original sound & the company often rejected tracks while making inappropriate suggestions for material. Bill tells a great story about white “blaxperts” insisting that Elvis’ “In the Ghetto” was the song for him!

There were still successes. “Lovely Day” (1977) became yet another of Bill’s songs that entered the public consciousness. A collaboration with Grover Washington, “Just the Two of Us” won the Grammy for Best R&B Song in 1981. It’s not just the hits, on every record there are songs & vocal performances that deserved a wider hearing. In 1985, after a 7 year hiatus, he released an album including the slow jam “Something That Turns You On”. Some of the songs on “Watching You Watching Me” were ones that had previously been rejected. Bill had a life before touring, recording & promoting product & now, happily married with a young family, he stepped away from the business & rarely recorded again.

In 2009 the documentary “Still Bill” brought the reticent star back into the public eye. It’s a portrait of a 70-something man who has lived a good life well & learned some stuff along the way. Bill Withers is not only a very, very nice man his domestic, grounded Zen wisdom, still unimpressed by the star-making machinery, marks him as an admirable person. A highlight of the film is when he joins guitarist Cornell Dupree onstage for “Grandma’s Hands”. Two maestros doing what they do to the delight of the audience, to myself & to pretty much everyone I know. Accolades have come Bill’s way, a Wonder (Stevie) & a Legend (John) assisted him in his induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. It is the four or five songs of his that everyone knows & others that we should know that mark him as an outstanding, abiding artist. The full documentary is on the Y-tube so if you have 70 minutes to spare. Hey, make sure you see it.

One Great Song Three Great Records (Dedicated To The One I Love)

The first time I heard “Dedicated to the One I Love” was in February 1967 when the Mamas & the Papas released the song as a single. The year since the arrival of their debut LP “If You Can Believe Your Eyes & Ears” had been golden for the four part harmony group. Apparently John and Mitchy were getting kind of itchy just to leave the folk music behind. With Denny Doherty & Cass Elliott the Phillips’s sang like a band of angels. “California Dreaming” & “Monday Monday”, instant classics, blended  West Coast sunshine with grown up songs. The four voices were such a natural fit they could have recorded excerpts from the phone book & it would have sounded fine.

“Dedicated to the One I Love” was the group’s fifth Top 10 hit in 2 years. The Mamas & the Papas epitomised Los Angeles bohemian chic & the musicians of Laurel Canyon were displacing the movie stars of Hollywood as the city’s cool set. I’m not going to be able to leave this without declaring that in 1967 Michelle Phillips, “Dedicated…” being her finest recording, was quite possibly the most beautiful woman in the world. You don’t believe me ? Then watch this…

“Dedicated to the One I Love” & the Mamas & the Papas were such a perfect fit I assumed that John Phillips had written this one too. This was not the case, the song had been a hit for the Shirelles in 1961.  “Will You Love Me Tomorrow”, the first big one of many for the songwriting team Goffin & King was one of theirs. “Soldier Boy” that was another one. The 4 Jersey Girls pioneered the girl-group sound, a big part of 60s American Pop. In 1966 I loved the Crystals, Ronettes, Shangri-Las & the graduates of the Motown charm school. The Shirelles seemed a little over by then, I had never heard their version of “Dedicated…”. What did I know ? Back then I had never even heard of the 5 Royales.

Now that’s how it originally went. In the days before Rock & Roll the 5 Royales were a pretty big deal. The group, from Winston-Salem, North Carolina, took up permanent residence in the R&B Top 10 between 1952-54. At Apollo Records in New York they were skilled at taking Gospel groups & steering them towards Doo-Wop. The Selah Jubilee Singers became the Larks & the Royal Sons Quintet, the 5 Royales. These early hits featured the strong lead vocal of Johnny Tanner & a tenor sax break. Band member Lowman Pauling had a facility for writing fine songs & he was soon to prove that he had another 6 strings to his bow.

The group’s sound was updated when the saxophone was joined by Lowman’s guitar. His stinging, economical, innovative style marked the 5 Royales out from the crowd. Young guitarists like Steve Cropper, later to be such a presence at Stax, & John Fogarty, off of Credence Clearwater Revival, certainly listened & imitated. Lowman continued to provide great material. In 1957 there was another burst of success with songs that were not only popular but influential. “Think” was recorded by James Brown, “Tell the Truth” by Ray Charles. For “Dedicated to the One I Love”, co-written by Pauling & producer Ralph Bass, Johnny Tanner’s younger brother Eugene stepped up to add the sweetness that the song needed & made it such a popular, enduring classic. The swagger from Lowman Pauling’s guitar is what makes it outstanding. The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame is not a concept that much concerns me but when the 5 Royales were ushered through the door in 2015 I was happy to see them recognised.

In 1968 Stax Records of Memphis found themselves at the wrong end of a deal with Atlantic. In September 1969, to counter the loss of a stellar back catalogue, the label released 27 new LPs. One of them, “Hot Buttered Soul” by Isaac Hayes sold 3 million copies, inspired a whole lot of Orchestral Soul & kept Stax in the record-making game. Producer Jo Bridges set up the subsidiary We Produce label & brought along the Temprees, a trio who had been friends from high school in Memphis.

There are 3 Temprees albums, all large helpings of sweet, symphonic Soul. In 1972 it was the vocal groups up in Philadelphia, the Gamble & Huff stable, O’Jays, Bluenotes, the Stylistics who were getting the hits. Then there was the Chi-Lites & always the Temptations. The lead falsetto vocals of Jabbo Phillips stand comparison with Russell Thompkins of the Stylistics but the Temprees never achieved similar success. Their unhurried take on “Dedicated…” is a delight, a great vocal supported by Stax’ house orchestra, Isaac Hayes’ back-up, the Movement. Never fails to hit the spot this one…”Ooh Baby !”.

So here’s 3 versions of a great love song from 3 different decades each one a fine example of a style current at the time. Then there’s the Shirelles US Top 10 record, Bitty McLean’s reggaefied UK hit, the title track of a Linda Ronstadt LP, a live tribute by Laura Nyro, a champion of New York R&B.  Lowman Pauling died in 1973, he’s buried in Winston-Salem next to his brother Clarence Paul, mentor of Stevie Wonder, co-writer of “Fingertips”, “Until You Come Back to Me”, “Hitch Hike” & many others. Man, that’s a talented family. The man whose name is on these & many other versions saw very little money from his composition. At the time of his death he was working as a night watchman at a New York church. Lowman now has a reputation as a star guitarist (try “The Slummer the Slum”, an early use of feedback) but something is not right there.

Up Down All Around Like A See Saw (Don Covay)

Well 3 clips may be the magic number & you are all busy people but Don Covay was responsible for a whole lot of great Soul music. There’s no way in Hull that I can do the right thing by him as an artist by only featuring his own recordings because he was an equally talented songwriter. Whatever the changing styles & tastes in 1960’s African-American music when other singers came around calling then Don Covay usually had a song that was just the thing for them. Here’s one he kept for himself.

 

 

“Mercy Mercy” was a Top 40 US hit for Don & the Goodtimers in 1964. It’s a Gospel-inflected Soul gem, simple with a raw edge to the vocal underpinned by a variation on the sort of guitar work Curtis Mayfield brought to the Impressions. If, as it seems, Jimi Hendrix played on this, he performed the song on early Experience gigs, then he did a fine job. At the time  Rolling Stones were the world’s foremost R&B covers band. With Jagger doing his best Covay impression, they recorded a fine version for their third LP “Out of Our Heads” (1965). This wasn’t his only song to be picked up by the British Beat Boomers. “Long Tall Shorty”, Tommy Tucker’s follow up to his big hit “Hi-Heel Sneakers” was covered by both the Kinks & the Graham Bond Organisation.

 

Covay progressed from his family gospel group to the more secular Rainbows before touring with Little Richard as his chauffeur & as “Pretty Boy” his opening act. In 1960 “Pony Time”, a song he recorded with the Goodtimers was picked up by Chubby Checker, riding high on the Twist craze, & became a #1 record. Such a big hit brings people calling. As he said later “copyrights last longer than record labels”. For a while Don provided songs about new, real or imaginary, dances. One he kept for himself, “The Popeye Waddle” unfortunately didn’t catch on because I think I would be a natural. There was though a whole lot more to Don Covay than dance instructions.

 

 

Oh yeah, the lovely Gladys & her equally lovely Pips hit big with “Every Beat of my Heart” in 1961 when Ms Knight was just 17. Don Covay provided this follow-up, another US Top 20 hit. A direct, impassioned ballad, covered in the UK by Billy Fury, the best of our early rockers, showed another side to his talents. Solomon Burke, Atlantic’s biggest star, took “I’m Hanging Up My Heart For You” & in 1965 his old boss Little Richard came to New York for “I Don’t Know What You Got But It’s Got Me”, a slow-burning two part overlooked Deep Soul classic. (There’s no room here for these songs but they are in your Youtube & you should find them. Do you like good music ? Then you will love the Little Richard track). Atlantic signed Don as a performer at a time when they were striking a partnership with a new Hit Factory at Stax studios in Memphis.

 

 

“See Saw” is co-written with Steve Cropper, guitarist with Booker T & the M.G.s. This group & the Memphis Horns were bringing a raw power to Soul. Don only recorded 4 tracks at Stax, this R&B hit, 2 co-writes with Cropper & “Iron Out the Rough Spots”, a Jones/Cropper/Porter joint. They can be found on the 1966 LP “See Saw”, his most consistent collection to date. In the UK “See Saw” found an audience in the Mod clubs & its place in the repertoire of Soul covers bands. In 1968 Aretha Franklin took “See Saw” into the US Top 10. She already knew that she could get a hit record on a Don Covay song.

 

 

In 1967 Atlantic took their new signing Aretha Franklin to Muscle Shoals Alabama where FAME studios were making hits. The turbulence of that first visit is well documented but the label knew they were on to a good thing & by the end of the year there were 5 Top 10 singles & the new star was the Queen of Soul. Don Covay’s “Chain of Fools” was the 5th of those records, the opening track of her almost perfect LP “Lady Soul”.  Aretha’s vocals, FAME house band the Swampers (Joe South on guitar) & back-up Sweet Inspirations combined to produce a perfect song & a Grammy for Ms Franklin. This is where Soul was at 50 years ago.

 

Don had been around the block & Peter Wolf off of J Geils Band relates a story from that time. On the promise to Jerry Wexler (Atlantic’s head honcho) of a better song than “Chain…” the label delivered an array of top of the range musical equipment which Don then sold on. There are 854 recordings around where Covay is credited as songwriter. He knew that his royalty cheques didn’t always match what he thought he was due.

 

 

Don was an ebullient, energetic character, his confidence surely reinforced by his success. His recorded rarely but in 1968 he instigated the Soul Clan, an ambitious amalgamation of 5 Soul Stars, himself,  Solomon Burke, Joe Tex, Arthur Conley & Ben E King. Things did not run smoothly, Otis Redding died, Wilson Pickett pulled out, Burke’s plan to set up extensive black-owned businesses needed a million dollars from Atlantic that the label was unlikely to hand over. An LP, “Soul Meeting” (1968), was produced by Covay who provided a majority of the material. “That’s How It Feels”, the outstanding ensemble track of the album is co-written with Bobby Womack who was then having more success as a writer than with his own records & who often expressed his admiration for his collaborator.

 

Times were changing, Soul was getting Funky, with no label support & egos to juggle the Clan fizzled out. Don looked back & recorded with the Jefferson Lemon Blues Band, a pretty good LP with a touch of Taj Mahal about it. In 1972 he left Atlantic, his last 45 a cover of “Everything I Do Goin’ Be Funky”. The new head of A&R at Mercury was ready for the new thing.

 

 

“Super Dude” (1973) is such a good record. Don’s emotional story-songs are still straight to the heart but, now in his mid-thirties, things are getting a little more complicated.”I Was Checking Out, She Was Checking In”,his biggest Pop hit, is not the only fine “love gone wrong” ballad on the LP. Recorded in Alabama with Womack & the Muscle Shoals band, as good as it got back then, it really is a top class mature example of Southern Soul. Mick Jagger was still listening to Don Covay, you’ve heard “Fool To Cry” haven’t you ? A track from the sessions, the funktastic “It’s Better To Have (& Don’t Need)” made it on to UK radio & gave him a UK hit.

 

Don spent the Disco years at Philadelphia International, another right place at the right time. There was little more new music & in 1992 he suffered a stroke. Jagger & Richard are said to have helped with the rehabilitation expenses, friends & admirers recorded a tribute LP in 1993. There’s so much good music made by Don Covay. I must, at least, mention the songs he wrote with Wilson Pickett & the Reggae versions of his tunes. If you know his music then you know how big his contribution to Soul music was. If you don’t then he really is worthy of your attention.

 

 

 

 

Better Late Than Never (Motown Hits)

In March 1965 a series of 6 four track EPs marked the establishment of the Tamla Motown label in the UK. Previous releases had been through London American, Fontana, Oriole & finally Stateside. The assembly line at Hitsville USA in Detroit was sustaining 5 subsidiaries, Tamla, Motown, Gordy, Soul & V.I.P. The same writer/producers, the same musicians, a unique & successful operation, “the Sound of Young America”. There were 43 singles on the new label in the first 9 months. They couldn’t all be chartbusters, weren’t all by the great stars of the roster. Sometimes it took a little longer for the record buying public to catch on to some of the gems from Tamla Motown.

 

 

“This Old Heart of Mine” by the Isley Brothers was the #1 record of my youth club years (that’s the ones immediately before I could get served in pubs). The debut Motown release for the Brothers, January 1966 in the US, March in the UK, it was their only Top 20 hit in the US for the label & scraped into the Top 50 over here. If you were not already out on the floor then you certainly were before Ronald started singing. Over two years later the song was still being played in the great Soul/Ska sets I attended in the upstairs rooms of bars. A re-release saw it become a Top 3 hit, another smash for the crack Holland-Dozier-Holland unit. Trouble was, for Motown, the Isley Brothers had already left the label before this success.

 

“The Isleys’ wild call & response songs “Shout” & “Twist & Shout” had been picked up by the British Beat Boom & the group were a little too rugged for the sophisticated Detroit sound. The first LP for Motown had heavy involvement from H-D-H but 3 of their songs were a little second-hand having already been hits for others. On the “Soul on the Rocks” LP (1967) the A Team were absent & , while talented people were around to produce, the Isleys were dissatisfied with with the material & promotion they received. Motown went back to an old hit “I Guess I’ll Always Love You” & it did well again. “Behind a Painted Smile” had not been considered as a single in 1967. By May 1969 it & other stomping Isley tracks were favourites in the Soul clubs. This dense, dramatic classic, a perfect blend of impassioned vocals & the driving Funk Brothers rhythm section (James Jamerson, Benny Berrigan ?), Joe Messina’s fuzz guitar became a Top 5 hit. The Brothers Isley were more popular in the UK than at home until “It’s Your Thing”, on their own T-Neck label, scored their biggest sales yet. A couple of years later resistance was futile as their expanded family band just took over.

 

 

Oh yes ! The Elgins only got the one shot at Motown. The LP “Darling Baby” (1965) was produced by Brian Holland & Lamont Dozier, again featuring song’s by Detroit’s most talented songwriting trio with 4 covers of Atlantic hits as the filler. The title track & “Heaven Must Have Sent You” were R&B hits but there was to be no second LP from the group. In 1967 singer Saundra Mallett Edwards left the group & though she was replaced just look at the clip, from “Swingin’ Time” & you will see why she was missed. “Swingin’ Time” was a music show out of Windsor, Ontario, just across the river from Detroit. They got some great Motown acts as guests & the surviving Y-tube clips are worth searching out.

 

By 1970 columnist Dave Godin had identified a North-South divide in UK Soul fans. While Funk began to carry the swing in the USA “Northern Soul” fans were more interested in crate-digging for obscure uptempo dance records from the mid-60’s. In 1971 the 6 year old “Heaven Must Have Sent You” was re-released, broke out of the clubs & was a Top 3 hit. In the Spring of 1971 Stevie Wonder released “Where I’m Coming From”, Marvin Gaye “What’s Going On”, Diana Ross, no longer a Supreme, was filming “Lady Sings the Blues” & plans for Motown to leave Detroit for Los Angeles were in advanced stages. The success of “Heaven Must…” showed that the public still wanted to dance & sing along to those classic Holland-Dozier-Holland, themselves no longer with the label, songs OK…♫ I’ve cried through many endless nights, just holding my pillow tight. Then you came into my lonely day, with your tender and your sweet ways. ♫ Smashing !

 

 

 

Canadian R Dean Taylor signed for Motown as a songwriter & recording artist in 1964. The records didn’t go so well but writing credits kept his name in the frame. There was a Marvelettes track with Norman Whitfield, a Brenda Holloway A-side with Frank Wilson. In 1967 “7 Rooms of Gloom” was the 4th single from the 4 Tops greatest LP “Reach Out”. It was the B-side, “I’ll Turn to Stone”, with the credit Holland-Dozier-Holland-Taylor (that’s good company to keep), which became a dancefloor favourite. A dramatic self-produced single from that year, “Gotta See Jane”, written with Brian Holland, failed at home but reached the UK Top 20 in 1968. With the departure from the label of the great trio Motown’s production staff had to step up to keep the hits coming. Taylor had co-credits on two singles by Diana Ross & the Supremes, “Love Child”, a #1,& “I’m Living in Shame”. You know more R Dean Taylor songs than you thought you did.

 

In 1970 R Dean moved to Rare Earth, a label Motown set up for white artists. He scored with “Indiana Wants Me” an odd song about a murderer chased & caught by the police. It was his only US success but we hadn’t finished with him yet in the UK. Back in 1966 he had recorded “There’s a Ghost in my House”, another track with that impressive H-D-H-Taylor credit. Another irresistible Motown stomper that went missing at the time, it became a staple of Northern Soul DJ sets & reached the Top 10 in 1974. That’s 3 Top 20 hits for R Dean Taylor, an individual Motown talent.

 

All 3 of these songs were resurrected by the Northern Soul scene but you didn’t have to be a regular at the Casino or the Twisted Wheel to appreciate & enjoy them. The scene was big in the early 1970’s, these rediscovered breakout hits received wider radio play & sold to a bigger audience. We were listening to Sly, Marvin, the Isleys, Funkadelic, the new sounds of Black America but the fact remained that you could not beat a bit of classic Tamla Motown to make your weekend go better.

Steal Away to the Dark End of the Street (James Carr)

TThis short clip, just 50 seconds long, is all we have of one of the great, if not the greatest Southern Soul singers in his prime. It’s from 1966 & “Love Attack” was the follow-up to a Top 10 R&B hit “You Got My Mind Messed Up”. James Carr’s rich, powerful, emotional voice was gaining him comparison with Otis Redding, the new shooting star of Soul. James’ star never took the same trajectory. It could’ve, maybe should’ve but that was not the way it turned out to be.

In 1964 a couple of Memphis store owners, Quinton Claunch & Doc Russell, started Goldwax Records. Claunch was a music guy, a guitarist, a songwriter then a partner in Hi Records. He was looking to record some of the talent drawn to the city by the success of the Stax label. Late one night he was called on by two singers with Gospel backgrounds, forgotten groups with great names…the Redemption Harmonizers,  Sunset Travelers, Harmony Echoes. Their companion, Roosevelt Jamison, had a song “That’s How Strong My Love Is” & O.V. Wright made it a Soul classic, later covered by Otis & the Rolling Stones. Unfortunately O.V. had signed an earlier contract with someone else which meant that he was off the label. It was the other equally talented caller, James Carr, who Goldwax hoped would become their new star.

Of the 14 singles released by James between 1965 & 1969 only two made the R&B Top 10 & none had significant impact on the pop charts. These 28 tracks, collected on “The Complete Goldwax Singles” make a wonderful thing. If this music fits right in with the prevailing energy & creativity of the contemporary Memphis scene it’s probably because many of the same musicians were sitting in on the sessions. Those Memphis Boys sure could play but a James Carr record is dominated by the guy singing the Blues not the band. The breakout “You Got My Mind…” was the 4th release, “Love Attack” was followed by “Pouring Water on a Drowning Man”, a great song by two guys who seem to have written nothing else, then by “The Dark End of the Street”. This much covered, though never bettered, instant classic was from the brief collaboration between Dan Penn & Chips Moman out of American Sound Studio. Moman had produced earlier Goldwax records for a bottle of whiskey & a couple of pills. With “Dark End…” he was getting paid & proving to be worth it. The impeccable “These Ain’t Raindrops”, a Quinton Claunch composition, was the b-side of Carr’s cover of the Bee Gees’ “To Love Somebody”. Quality control was pretty high at the studio.

James was not the easiest of individuals to deal with. Roosevelt Jamison was around in the early days to help with personal affairs such as depression & a growing dependency on drink & drugs, as well as any business problems arising from James’ illiteracy. Other agents & managers offered more opportunity when a friend from the old days could have been more helpful. Singers with less emotional range, Percy Sledge, Eddie Floyd, Arthur Conley, found that one song that put them high on the charts while James Carr never did. He had a rare talent but was ill-suited to the life of a touring artist.

“She’s Better Than You”, another b-side, was written by O.B. McClinton, on the staff at the label as a writer & singer. Goldwax had minor hits with the Ovations & Spencer Wiggins but James was their great hope. As problems increased with the star, he would sit silently for hours in the studio before performing, differences between the owners led to Goldwax being dissolved in 1969. The only two LPs they had released were both by James.

There was a single recorded in Mississippi & released by Atlantic in 1971 but that was it from James for 20 years. His mental health problems worsened, periods of hospitalisation followed while Jamison did what he could to help his friend. In 1979 there was a tour of Japan where a stressed James took a double dose of anti-depressants & froze onstage. The first collection of his A-sides came around in 1987 with the tagline “the World’s Greatest Soul Singer”. Soul fans like myself, kids in the 1960’s, caught up in the explosive excitement of Otis, Aretha & the wicked Pickett, were older now, able to appreciate the depth of feeling & experience that James brought to his music. He was rarely seen & not in great shape but his reputation continued to grow.

In 1991 Goldwax was revived & James made a comeback LP produced by Roosevelt Jamison. Then, a year later at the Porretta Soul Festival in Italy an unassuming old man with staring eyes was introduced as James Carr. He looked nothing like the handsome, pompadoured singer from 1966 but, from the opening notes of  “Lovable Girl” you knew who this was & that you were in for a very rare treat. The casually dressed all-star backing band includes the Memphis Horns with Andrew Love & Wayne Jackson, on guitar is Teenie Hodges, mainstay of the many great records made at Willie Mitchell’s Hi studios. James’ voice was not what it was, this is 35 years later but he is in control of his instrument, knows what he can still do & how to turn up the power. Maybe it’s because there are no clips of a younger James singing “Dark End…” that I keep returning to this version of “You Got My Mind Messed Up”. The singer himself seems to know that he’s delivered & his take on “drops mic & leave” at the end is just brilliant.

James Carr died in a Memphis nursing home in June in 2001 aged 58. Did he ever gain the recognition & reputation that his work deserved ? I don’t worry about that. I do know that when I want to hear a great collection of mature Memphis Soul from the 1960’s then I reach for “The Complete Goldwax Singles”.

Bonana-Fanna-Fo-Fer-ley (Shirley Ellis)

Hey ! Over here ! Do you want to hear a song called “Ever See a Diver Kiss His Wife While the Bubbles Bounce About Above the Water?” ? Well of course you do, you’re not nuts ! Just one click & it will happen. Shirley Ellis was a Jill-of-all-trades, equally comfortable with Jazz, standards or R&B & eccentric, energetic versions of nursery rhymes/skipping songs. It was the latter of these which gave her 3 US Top 10 hits in 18 months so those are the songs she is remembered for. I’m not about to make a case for Shirley being one of the greats. The hits were simple & were often novelties but they were fresh, smart & bold, she made an impression & I like them.

 

 

 

It’s January 1964, in just 2 weeks the Beatles are coming to rid the US Top 10 of Singing Nuns & Italian-American teen idols called Bobby or Fabien. The only keepers are the great garage anthems “Louie Louie” & “Surfing Bird” along with Shirley Ellis & her first hit “The Nitty Gritty”. I have checked for the etymology of this rhyming phrase. Some of it was rude, or racist or downright wrong. Whatever, Lincoln Chase’s song is often credited with taking it back & putting it out there. Lincoln Chase had written hit records in the 1950s & he became Shirley’s manager, producer & co-writer. He shortened her surname from Elliston & tailored the songs not only to suit her talent but make them stand out on the radio. There were follow ups to “Nitty Gritty” that failed but a year later she returned to a US Top 10 which had gotten better & included the Righteous Brothers, Joe Tex, Sam Cooke, the Kinks & the Temptations (Oh my !).

 

 

 

 

“The Name Game” is probably the best remembered of Shirley’s hits. It’s another witty ditty with a great percussive, insistent danceable arrangement. It’s fun, Tom Hanks plays it (“The Money Pit”), so does Jessica Lange (in “American Horror Story” & we still play it. “There isn’t any name that you can’t rhyme”. That’s true, just leave Chuck out of this !

 

The successor to “Name Game” gave Shirley an international hit. In the Summer of 1965 music was a big thing in the UK & I can remember kids in the street singing the rhythmic chant of “The Clapping Song (Clap Pat Clap Slap) ” which spent 6 weeks in our Top 10. The lyrics were borrowed from a 1930s song, you know it, everybody knows it…” Three-six-nine, the goose drank wine, the monkey chewed tobacco on the streetcar line”. Lovely.

 

 

 

By 1966 the time was right for a brand new beat. The emergence of Motown in Detroit & Stax in Memphis meant that it was getting mighty crowded in the R&B market & it took more than a cute novelty lyric to get a hit. Shirley failed to match the success of “The Clapping Song” with more simple rhymes & an ill-judged Xmas single. She signed to Columbia & the second single for her new label was the wonderful “Soul Time”. Lincoln Chase was less evident by now & the self-penned “Soul Time” will have you on the dance floor before the vocal comes in then keep you there through the 2-4-6-8-10 refrain. In the Casinos & Twisted Wheels of the north of England they kept the faith with Shirley but her time in the charts had passed & “Soul Time” failed to register as did the almost as groovy “Sugar, Let’s Shing-A-Ling”. The one LP released by Columbia is hardly “Lady Soul” but Shirley’s confident vocals matched to upbeat arrangements make for an interesting listen.

 

Then that was it for Shirley Ellis, she retired from the music business. She’s now 76 & there are no clips of her getting right down on any of the golden oldie shows. As I said at the top of the page she is not mentioned alongside the outstanding female voices of the 1960s but she made a lot of memorable music, all of it enjoyable & all of it fun. I ain’t ever had too much Fun !