Soulful Divas

Lorraine Ellison: Sister Love - The Warner Bros. Recordings (1966-1972) ... plus

2010-03-18T04:18:00.001-07:00

Lorraine Ellison is almost a perfect cult soul singer: she was blessed with a unique, powerful voice, she had two stone-cold classics to her name -1966's 'Stay with Me' and 'Try (Just a Little Bit Harder),' which was later popularized by Janis Joplin - which is enough success to get her remembered by aficionados but not enough to make her a star. It's also enough to suggest that Ellison deserved to be a star, that she had the talent and the material that deserved a wider audience, but like a lot of artists with a cult following, she's a great talent that may be an acquired taste for most listeners. This exhaustive three-disc set, which was originally released in a limited run of 5000 copies, certainly suggests as much. For Ellison devotees, this is pretty much the Holy Grail, since it represents the first time all of her prime material has been released on CD. It has her first three LPs - the 1966 debut Introducing Miss Lorraine Ellison b/w Heart & Soul and 1969's Stay with Me, both produced by Jerry Ragovoy, and the Ted Templeton-produced 1974 album Lorraine Ellison - plus various singles and sessions from the early '70s, a bunch of rarities and a whole disc of unreleased demos from 1972. This certainly fills the need that devoted Ellison fans have and in some ways exceeds their expectations, since it contains some wonderful rarities, just like the slow-burning 'Haven't I Been Good to You,' recorded in 1967; the loose, funky, gospel-inflected 'Woman, Loose My Man' from 1970; the Al Kooper written and produced 'Let Me Love You,' a 1970 session which is paired with 'Doin' Me Dirty,' taken from the same sessions and originally released on the Ichiban compilation I have already posted in my other blog; 'Dear John,' recorded at Muscle Shoals in 1970; a version of Carole King's 'You've Got a Friend' from 1971; and three outtakes from the Templeton album, 'When You Count the Ones You Love,' 'Sister Love,' 'Sweet Years' . It also includes the rarities that showed up on previous comps, the disc of stark piano-and-voice demos and three songs I added as bonus tracks at the end of disc 1: both sides of the 1966 single 'I Dig You Baby' b/w 'Don't Let It Go to Your Head' & the Northern Soul stomper 'Call Me (Anytime You Need Some Lovin')'. Certainly Sister Love not only will satisfy Ellison's cult, but will also convert some of the curious, since it does illustrate that she was an artist with a broad range and specific gifts as a writer and a singer. http://www.allmusic.com/

aa
aa

Lurlean Hunter: Night Life (1956) / Stepping Out (1958)

2010-03-15T02:57:00.000-07:00

Singer Lurlean Hunter made five albums on her own during the second half of the '50s, starting out as a Lonesome Gal on RCA and winding up still feeling Blue & Sentimental for Atlantic. She was discovered in Chicago where she had been singing in many clubs, including a collaboration with drummer Red Saunders that held forth at the Club DeLisa. Hunter's move to New York City in 1955 was prompted by RCA's interest in recording her. The singer's recording career actually began before she left the Windy City at the behest of indie jazz labels, some of them quite short-lived — such as Seymour, with a catalog topping out at four releases. The press described Hunter as a "blues thrush" in announcing her interpretations of three numbers actually written by the label's owner, producer and record store owner Seymour Schwartz. The latter promotional blurb inevitably told some truth about Hunter's stylistic traits, if not her relation to winged fauna. Her recordings were more about rhythm & blues and pop than jazz, yet were done in an era when such sessions often involved fine mainstream jazz players in the accompaniment. This album, Night Life (1956), for example, featured pianist Hank Jones and tenor saxophonist Al Cohn. It is actually one of the classiest records from Lurlean, much richer and more jazz-based than the sometimes-bluesy cover images she was given, a quality that sounds especially great here amidst fuller backings from Manny Albam, an arranger who really helps Hunter cross over strongly for the set. The record is beautifully done, poised, but still filled with soul and feeling, and other players on the date include Joe Newman on trumpet, and Barry Galbraith on guitar. There are great interpretations of some lesser-known numbers like 'Moondrift' and 'Night Life' - plus 'Gentleman Friend', 'What a Difference a Day Makes', 'Have You Met Miss Jones', and 'Sunday'. Lurlean's mellow smooth sound can be also fully appreciated on her second release for RCA/Vik, 'Stepping Out' (1958). This album has got a nice jazzy feel too (thanks mostly to an eight-piece jazz group who provide backing in four of the tracks), and despite the occasional presence of strings courtesy of Phil Moore and His Orchestra, these are neither sleepy nor intrusive and the result is really top notch overall. It includes some stunning renditions of standards like 'Old Devil Moon', 'Blues in the Night', 'You Do Something to Me' and 'Under a Blanket of Blue', amongst others.Hunter's final recordings were done in 1964, at which point she was still well under 40 years old. She is known to have died young, although details of this tragedy are murky. In one version of the story she was knocked off by a mobster lover, yet whether anybody was really that mean to Lurlean cannot be completely confirmed. http://www.allmusic.com/

Lynne Randell: Dynamic Lynne Randell - Ciao Baby (1965-1967)

2010-02-25T02:45:00.000-08:00

During the mid-'60s, singer Lynne Randell reigned as Australia's first teen pop star. Dubbed "Little Miss Mod" for her trendy fashions and hair, her brief stay in the limelight was derailed by a lifelong addiction to diet pills. Born in Liverpool in 1950, Randell was five years old when her family emigrated to Murrumbeena, Australia. By 14, she was apprenticing in a local styling salon, and was often called upon to sing while on the job. In time client Carol West, who managed a number of Melbourne-area bands (most notably the Spinning Wheels), hired Randell to sing at a party. Radio personality Stan Rofe was sufficiently impressed to request a demo, and the resulting recording was enough to earn a contract with EMI. Randell issued her debut single, 'I'll Come Runnin g Over,' in early 1965, soon after becoming a regular on the Australian television pop showcase The Go!! Show. The singles 'A Love Like You' and 'Be Sure' followed, and in early 1966 Randell signed to CBS Records to issue 'That's What Love Is Made Of.' During the singer's CBS tenure, her music adopted a Motown-inspired ebullience that would later make singles like 'Going Out of My Head' and flip side 'Take the Bitter with the Sweet' a favorite on Britiain's Northern soul club circuit. At home, 1967's 'Ciao Baby' vaulted Randell to national superstardom, and she spent the summer on tour with the Monkees, sharing bills with the Jimi Hendrix Experience, the Who, and the Ike & Tina Turner Revue. However, the demands of life on the road played havoc with Randell's health, and prior to a television appearance, manager West criticized her weight. In response, she secured some diet pills from a friend, beginning a struggle with methamphetamine abuse that spanned decades. After scoring a minor Australian hit with 'That's a Hoedown,' Randell relocated to Los Angeles in 1969, issuing the Capitol single 'I Love My Dog' before retiring from performing, marrying Atlantic Records executive Abe Hoch and writing for the Aussie music magazine Go-Set. With Hoch she moved to London in 1976, but her addiction spiraled further out of control and the marriage ultimately dissolved. In 1980, Randell returned to Melbourne, spending six years as the personal assistant for music journalist and TV presenter Molly Meldrum. During the mid-'80s, she also worked for a time under Sire Records head Seymour Stein. In 2004, Randell went public with her amphetamine addiction, but it was too late. The damage inflicted on her brain, nervous system, and adrenal glands was extensive, and she died May 8, 2007, at the age of 57. http://www.answers.com/
aa

aa
A clip of Lynda Randell's hit from 1967, 'Ciao Baby':

Lynne performing Flatt & Scruggs' 'It Won't Be Long':

Nancy Holloway: Bye Bye ... plus / Hello Dolly (1964-1969)

2010-02-11T11:13:00.000-08:00

America's loss is France's gain. Nancy Holloway migrated to France primarily because of a sour, premature marriage and has remained a resident for more than 40 years, enjoying success as a recording artist and actress. Holloway's fame hasn't extended far past French borders, where she continues to record, sing, and appear in plush jazz nightspots. Though born and raised in America, she's virtually unknown in the United States. Born Nancy Brown in the '40s, and raised in Cleveland, OH, she was the only sister among three brothers: Walter, a retired Cleveland police officer; Joe, a retired career military man; and the youngest, Charles (aka Chuckie), who worked for a railroad in California. Holloway's half sister, Mary Holt, was Cleveland's first African-American female radio personality, popular in the '50s and '60s. The Browns lived at 7300 Wagner Avenue; Holloway attended Rawlings Junior High and East Technical High. She married a man with the surname of Holloway, who was controlling and abusive, after high school; Nancy Holloway left Cleveland to get away, first to New York, then Paris. In France she became popular recording French versions of pop and soul hits in the '60s; an Lp from this period, Bye Bye, depicts a young, beautiful Holloway on the cover. I included here a '90s reissue of that album which contains several bonus tracks (I added a few more myself). The selections include 'My Guy,' 'Sealed With a Kiss,' 'That's How Heartaches Are Made,' 'Don't Make Me Over,' the Contours' 'Do You Love Me', 'Désappointé' and the Charles Aznavour composition 'Prends Garde à Toi'. There are terrific takes on Marvin Gaye’s 'You're a Wonderful One' ('Le Plus Bel Amour') and Tammi Terrell’s pre-Motown 'If I Would Marry You' ('Je Suis Yé-Yé'). She pays homage to the Beatles too with 'Elle T'Aime' ('She Loves Me'), and 'Je Veux Prendre Ta Main' ('I Want to Hold Your Hand'). The songs included on Bye Bye represent Nancy Holloway's pop/soul side. They lose nothing in the translation thanks to Holloway and the arrangements. Marking her move away from pop, her final album of the decade, issued in 1969, was a collection largely of American show tunes and some soul hits. 'Hello Dolly' became the title track, and it also included 'Mame', 'Hurts So Bad', 'As Long As He Needs Me', 'Light My Fire' and great version of Betty Everett's hit 'You're No Good'. Although there were plenty of homegrown yé-yé girls singing French versions of US hits, Nancy represented the real thing – an American singing American songs in a highly American accent. http://www.readysteadygirls.eu/, http://www.allmusic.com/.

'Dum Dum Twist' perfomed by a young Nancy Holloway:

Nancy singing live 'It's Over' in 1964:

And, finally 'A Quoi Ca Sert Les Pleurs':

Marion Williams: The New Message / Standing Here Wondering Which Way to Go (1969/1971)

2010-02-06T02:01:00.000-08:00

Generally considered one of the most influential Gospel singers of all time, Marion Williams sung with a full-body growl so intense that anyone who wants to dispute her right to the title had better bring along a megaphone and some throat lozenges. The other side of her style, soul-shattering falsettos and anointed, exclamatory whoops, had a direct effect on Little Richard, for one, as well as countless others in both Gospel and secular music circles. From 1948 to 1958 she was the central figure in the ever-touring Ward Singers, stunning audiences with the high-test stage-show/revival meeting and a larger-than-life presence that has made her a legend. A stint with the short-lived Stars of Faith followed, and in 1965 she launched a solo career that was marked by comeback after comeback until her death in 1994. Her recordings, as group member and soloist, are legendary, especially Prayer Changes Things, Gospel Now and The New Message, although it is generally agreed that they don't do justice to the emotional force or dazzling imagination that characterized her live performances. Regardless of where she was on the charts or in her personal life, Williams' singing was never less than spectacular and her commitment to Christ was downright inflammatory. I have included here a pair of of the late gospel diva's finest moments: New Message and Standing Here Wondering Which Way to Go, both originally issued on Atlantic in 1969 and 1971, respectively. Several traditional gospel hymns are interspersed with reflective hits of the times including 'He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother,' 'My Sweet Lord,' 'People Got to Be Free' and three from the pen of Bob Dylan, 'I Shall Be Released,' 'Wicked Messenger,' and 'I Pity the Poor Immigrant.' Along with the majestic background vocals of the Sweet Inspirations and the Dixie Hummingbirds, several stellar jazz musicians are present including Keith Jarrett, Hank Jones, Ray Bryant, Bernard "Pretty" Purdie, Junior Mance and Joe Zawinul, making these thoughtful and passionate sessions highly recommended.

A historic event: probably the first black gospel concert ever in the Netherlands, 1962. Marion Williams sings 'Mean Old World':

Marion singing 'Live the Life I Sing About in My Song' from her heart and soul:

An inspiring performance of 'Packin' Up', with Billie Preston on the Hammond Organ:

Mary Hopkin: The Apple Years (1968-71) ... plus

2010-02-03T00:22:00.000-08:00

It was the British supermodel Twiggy who alerted Paul McCartney to the Welsh singer Mary Hopkin when Apple Records was looking for talent in 1968. The waifish soprano scored a huge, worldwide smash with her first Apple single, the melancholy but rabble-rousing ballad 'Those Were the Days,' in late 1968; it actually knocked the Beatles' own 'Hey Jude' out of the number one position in the U.K. Paul McCartney lent Hopkin a further hand by producing her first album and writing her second single, 'Goodbye,' which was also a hit. Besides 'Days', the highlights on Post Card, her debut Lp, are Donovan's 'Lord of the Reedy River' and 'The Honeymoon Song,' which McCartney himself had sung with the Beatles way back in 1963 on the BBC. Also on board is a rather nice composition, 'The Game,' by Beatles producer George Martin, who contributed some piano and orchestra conducting to the album. The reissue included here contains George Gershwin/Ira Gershwin's 'Someone to Watch Over Me', as well as 'Turn! Turn! Turn!' and versions of 'Those Were the Days' that Hopkin sang in Italian and Spanish. More folk-oriented than her first effort, on her beautiful second album Earth Song, Ocean Song, Mary Hopkin's lilting voice soothes the listener like hot tea with honey. Included in this set, which was produced by Tony Visconti, are her interpretations of Ralph McTell's 'Streets of London,' Cat Stevens' 'The Wind,' and Gallagher & Lyle's 'International.' In my opinion this one is undoubtedly her best album ever. Ms Hopkin is allowed to do what she does best and to perform material that's far better suited to her. It's a beautifully simple and acoustic affair - guitars, strings, harmonium, flutes, etc. - which comes over in the emotion and love that's clear in her voice. Also here is Caneuon Cynnar, a collection of ten songs Mary recorded circa 1965, when she was just fifteen. Although all sung in Welsh, you will recognise some of the tunes, as they are covers of songs already made famous by others. With Mary's distinctive high soprano and sparse musical backing, they sound different from usual, but fresh. The English titles of the songs covered include 'Turn Turn Turn', 'Tammy', 'Morning of My Life', 'Something Stupid' and 'Can't Help Falling in Love'. There are also covers of 'Plaisir d'Amour' and 'Guantanamera', so it's not only English language songs that were translated into Welsh for Mary to sing. Finally, I added a Bonus Tracks folder which is, more or less, the 1995 Those Were the Days compilation (without the duplicated files and with some more I added). It contains many of Mary's best known songs, precisely those which weren't originally included in her two Apple albums, such as 'Temma Harbour', 'Goodbye', 'Think About Your Children', 'Knock Knock, Who's There', 'Jefferson', 'The Fields of St. Etienne', 'Que Sera Sera', 'Heritage', 'For All My Days' and 'Sparrow'. All in all, you got here 57 Mary Hopkin's songs to enjoy!! http://www.amazon.co.uk/, http://www.allmusic.com/ BTW: you'll find all the cover arts you need here.
aa

The single Goodbye, released on 28 March 1969; it reached #2 in the UK singles chart:

'Knock Knock, Who's There', written by John Carter & Geoff Stephens. Good Eurovision performance from Mary in 1970:

About the playlist.

2010-02-01T00:21:00.000-08:00

This is just to let you know, once and for all, that if you want the music from the playlist on this page to stop - to be able to listen to the sample songs on each post, for instance -, all you need to do is PRESSING THE PAUSE BUTTON ON THE iPod!! It is quite easy, isn't it? I want the playlist on autoplay simply because I like it like that, especially when it is possible for you to stop it any time you want to. That's the way it is going to stay; so, PLEASE, don't bother asking me to change that... ;-)

Madeline Bell: Madeline Bell (1971)

2010-01-30T00:54:00.000-08:00

Wonderful work from Madeline Bell, a great singer with a sound that's equal parts American soul and British '60s female pop. The recordings here are from Madeline's last solo Lp for Philips Records. Simply titled Madeline Bell, it was released in 1971, more or less at the same time she was achieving greater fame on crossover rock recordings with Blue Mink. As a matter of fact, the band's single 'The Banner Man' on Regal Zonophone was released in the spring of that same year, and reached #3 in the UK chart. The sound of Madeline's record is wonderful, a bit more R&B oriented than her two previous efforts for Philips. The album, which has got Doris Troy on backing vocals, includes some great funk tracks, like the single 'If You Didn't Hear Me the First Time', and 'Get Off Your Back-Sides', but it also has its moments of soft pop/soul like 'You Walked Away', 'Make It with You' and 'Ordinary People'. This is definitely Madeline's hardest LP to track down. As it has never been released on cd, it is still well in demand, selling for around £50,00 now. Enjoy!

Madeline Bell, with her band Blue Mink, performing 'Our World' in 1970:

Lesley Gore: It's My Party (5-CD Box Set) (1963-1969)

2010-01-27T00:53:00.000-08:00

The popular appraisal of Lesley Gore is that she sang teen soap opera songs that never pulled their substance much above puppy love, and while a cursory listen to songs like 'It's My Party' and 'Judy's Turn to Cry' would appear to support that view, there's more going on beneath the surface than meets the ear. For starters, Gore had a jazz background, and her vocal phrasing, even in her most generic releases, was always sharp and clear. Add to that the production of Quincy Jones, who worked with Gore during her peak Mercury years, and the end result is a series of recordings that continue to sound fresh and effective even into the 21st century. In retrospect, it would appear Gore's theme was always the struggle for personal identity (which also happens to be a pretty good definition of what goes on during the teen years), culminating in the powerful 'You Don't Own Me,' a feminist anthem a decade before the term even began to take hold. Even 'That's the Way Boys Are,' which could be read as a shallow song of blind acceptance, is sung by Gore with a sly sense of dismissal that turns the song on its own heels, while later-era tracks like 'Small Talk,' which illustrates the desperate ennui that can enter and undermine a relationship, demonstrates that in matters of love — even puppy love — personal identity is always at stake. This gargantuan five-CD set contains absolutely all those great tracks Lesley cut for Mercury Records between 1963 and 1969. Whether covering standards, helping put neophyte songwriter Marvin Hamlisch on the map, or adding to Carole King and Gerry Goffin's string of successes, Gore and her producers put a special stamp on everything they recorded. It's difficult to pick high points from Disc One and Two, the prime of Gore's career, when she was starting to sound like a woman rather than a girl. Disc Three shows her doing more mature songs with a very different, more assertive sound, courtesy of producer Jack Nitzsche. All of the Nitzsche sessions have a peculiarly soulful feel that was new to Gore's output; he worked some magic on 'No Matter What You Do' and 'Baby That's Me', a song The Cake also recorded. The Shelby Singleton sessions make up most of the second half of the disc. Alas, Gore did no recording at all in 1966, partly due to her desire to complete her education, and the lapse shows in this set — when she re-emerged in 1967, she lost a little bit of immediacy, as well as lots of relevance. The material from Disc Four covers this tail end of Gore's commercial career, including her last big hit, 'California Nights,' as well as a handful of unreleased tracks from the never-issued Magic Colors album. The opening of Disc Five shows Gore moving into a more sophisticated pop-rock mode, close to what Carole King would succeed with a couple of years later. Unfortunately, nobody was listening to Gore by this time, and her performing career came to a halt with the end of the '60s. The major part of this last disc is given over to Gore's foreign-language recordings of her own hits. http://www.allmusic.com/

Wicked live footage of Leslie Gore telling it like it should be, early '60s:

A performance of 'Hello Young Lovers' and 'Didn't We' on Playboy After Dark, late '60s:

And, finally, Lesley on the Donna Reed Show, in 1966:

Pat Thomas: Jazz Patterns (1961) / Desafinado (1963) ... plus

2010-01-24T00:26:00.000-08:00

Jazz Patterns, de debut album from obscure Chicagoan jazz singer Patricia "Pat" Thomas, is a pretty hip collection of jazz vocal numbers released on the Strand label in 1961. The record is a bit like Lorez Alexandria's work from the same time, solid all the way through vocally, but with a deeper sense of soul than most other singers of her generation. Pat's vocals are always strong and extremely captivating, giving the impression that, like Sarah Vaughan, she can sing anything. The emphasis here is on ballads and standards, with Thomas putting plenty of feeling into such numbers as 'Mean to Me', 'Almost Like Being in Love', 'There Will Never Be Another You', 'My One and Only Love' and 'Stella By Starlight'. Pat's second album Desafinado (1963), released on MGM, is a bossa-styled classic set thanks to her working with Lalo Schifrin as conductor/arranger, and musicians Paul Horn, Laurindo Almeida, Buddy Clark, and Mel Lewis (the song 'Desafinado' was even made into a Scopitone!). Lalo's using a fair bit of strings on the set, but he also keeps things lean too - a bit in the mode of his own bossa work for Verve during the time, although with Pat's vocals in the lead this time around. Thomas has a strong undercurrent of soul in her work, which is one of the things that really sets this album apart. Schifrin really seems to get this quality of Pat's, and he brings in a good sense of timing in rhythms to present Thomas at her best. Titles include 'Recardo Bossa Nova', 'Carnival', 'To Welcome the Day', 'Could Be', 'Samba De Orfeu', and 'Once Again'. I added two extra tracks, issued as singles at the time, for MGM and Verve respectively. 'Where There's Love There's Hope' (1963) is a classic girl group oldies song written by Ben Raleigh. Pat's vocals are stellar as they fly into ranges you might not think are possible over impeccable arrangements by Claus Ogerman. 'Where There's Love There's Hope' was released as the b-side for 'Home in the Meadow', from John Ford's How the West was Won; a song with a Western theme, so it's nice that this girl group gem was found in such a strange place. The second bonus is an impeccable version of Jerry Ragovoy's classic 'I Can't Wait Until I See My Baby's Face'. Co-written with Chip Taylor, the tune was originally recorded by Baby Washington and would gain several more covers, including by Aretha Franklin and another Ragovoy collaborator, Dusty Springfield; but personally, I'm most partial to this 1964 version by Pat Thomas, with Ragovoy arranging.

Kathe Green: Run the Length of Your Wildness (1969) ... plus

2010-01-19T04:48:00.000-08:00

Californian actress, model and singer Kathe Green cut this hugely sought after but rare-as-hell long player for Deram in 1969 after having appeared in The Party with Peter Sellers. Finding herself in London as guest and bosom buddy of Richard Harris, himself enjoying a spin-off career as a hugely successful pop star at the time, Kathe found herself singing Mark Lester's vocal parts on 'Where Is Love?' for the soon-to-be-massive Oliver soundtrack. She was snapped up by Deram where she was teamed up with in-house whiz-kid producer Wayne Bickerton, arranger supreme John Cameron and the cream of London session players. Run the Length of Your Wildness can't quite make up its mind whether to be pop-folk or Swinging London pop/rock. In that respect, as well as in its Baroque orchestral arrangements it's reminiscent of another late-'60s record, Dana Gillespie's Foolish Seasons — not surprising, as Bickerton produced both albums. The resemblance between the two singers is emphasized by a song that appears on both LPs, 'Tears in My Eyes'. You can throw in some similarities to a few other British female vocalists of the time straddling the lines between pop and folk, like Marianne Faithfull, Vashti Vunyan and (much more distantly) Judith Durham of the Seekers or even Sandie Shaw. Green did write or co-write much of the material on the album, and some of it's above average for this orchestrated British pop-folk-rock genre, particularly 'Primrose Hill' and the slightly Donovan-ish 'Promise of Something New'. She also turns in a lump-to-the-throat reading of Cameron's perennial 'If I Thought You'd Ever Change Your Mind'. Housed in a striking sleeve which featured gushing notes by the likes of Peter Sellers, Rex Harrison and Simon Dee and named after a line of poetry bestowed on her by Richard Harris himself, Run the Length of Your Wildness disappeared as quickly as it had come, only being picked up on through Internet exposure over the last years. Produced in conjunction with Kathe herself, this is a lost late '60s femme pop classic! I included in a separate file her contribution to the motion picture soundtrack Oliver! (1968), 'Where Is Love?'. http://www.cherryred.co.uk/, http://www.artistdirect.com/

Jo Armstead: A Stone Good Lover (1996)

2010-01-15T04:36:00.001-08:00

Jo Armstead has had a long and distinguished career in the music business. She started out as an Ikette in the early '60s before going solo in New York cutting for Infinity in 1965. But she was an expert songwriter as well as singer, penning songs for other artists, including Ray Charles' number one R&B classic 'Let's Get Stoned' with Ashford and Simpson. Born Josephine Armstead on October 8, 1944, in Yazoo City, MS, she joined the Ike & Tina Turner Revue in 1961 singing background vocals as one of the Ikettes who had a 1962 number three R&B hit with 'I'm Blue (The Gong-Gong Song)' on Atco Records. Relocating to New York City, she began collaborating with Nick Ashford and Valerie Simpson who were staff writers for the publishing branch of Scepter/Wand Records. Other Armstead/Ashford/Simpson songs were 'Too Hot to Hold,' 'The Shoe Won't Fit,' and 'The Real Thing' by Betty Everett on VeeJay; the latter was a 1965 number 20 R&B hit by Tina Britt on Eastern. In 1967, Armstead moved to Chicago from New York and formed Giant Productions with her new husband, Mel Collins. The label, which issued releases on the Giant, Globe, and Gamma imprints, had offices at 56th and Maryland, then 81st and Cottage Grove. The artist roster included Ruby Andrews, Garland Green, Fenton Robinson, Little Jimmy Scott, Shirley Wahls, Smokey Smothers, and Armstead herself, recording as Joshie Jo Armstead or Jo Armstead. Their first hit, Carl Carlton's 'Drop by My Place,' was recorded in Detroit with arranger Mike Terry. Hollandale, MS, native Ruby Andrews' 'Casanova (Your Playing Days Are Over),' released on Ric Williams' Zodiac label, hit number nine R&B in the summer of 1967. Armstead wrote, produced, and recorded the Terry-arranged 'A Stone Good Lover,' which went to number 28 R&B in spring 1968. Giant's sole million-selling single was Garland Green's 'Jealous Kind of Fella,' which was leased to MCA's Uni label and peaked at number five R&B on Billboard's charts in summer 1969. By 1970, Giant was no longer active. Armstead returned to New York, but was back in Chicago by the late '80s, managing boxer Alonzo Ratliff. A Stone Good Lover is a nice collection of Armstead's late-'60s and early-'70s hits. Highlights include 'There's Not Too Many More (Left Like Him),' 'I've Been Turned On,' 'I'm Gonna Show You (How a Man Is Supposed to Be Treated),' 'Got My Taste (of The Honey)' 'I Feel an Urge Coming On' and the title track. Armstead's early training with Ike and Tina Turner shines brightly on these tracks, and as a woman writing much of her own material, this distanced her from other R&B divas of the time. A hidden treasure by a vastly underrated writer and performer.

Jo Armstead performing a remake of her beautiful mid tempo piece of sizzling wonderfulness, 'I Got the Vibes', in 1998:

Margie Day: Dawn of a New Day (1968) / Experience Margie Day (1969) ... plus

2010-01-06T08:56:00.001-08:00

With her gutsy, no-holds-barred, delivery, Margie Day emerged as a solid R&B vocalist of the '50s. As lead singer for the Griffin Brothers Orchestra, Day twice reached the R&B top ten between 1950 and 1951, lending her boisterous voice to 'Street-Walkin' Daddy' and the Willie Dixon-penned 'Little Red Rooster'. Inspired by her success, she left the Griffin Brothers Orchestra to perform briefly with Paul Williams's band. By the end of the 1952, she had moved on to the Floyd Dixon Combo, with whom she toured throughout the Midwest. Announcing her retirement in 1964, Day returned to her hometown of Norfolk, Virginia. Encouraged to return to performing, she joined the Dick Morgan Trio, in the late-'60s, and recorded these two compeling albums for RCA. First up is Dawn of a New Day - a set that has Margie working in a really unique approach to vocals - a bit jazzy at times, inflected with bluesy undercurrents at others, but often delivered with a sense of class and poise that's a bit like Nancy Wilson at Capitol. Given that Margie's always apt to push the inflections on the tunes, working the notes heavily with very soulful expression, she really changes things up from the usual album of this type, and creates a nice sense of tension with the arrangements from Ray Ellis, Chuck Sagle, and Jimmy Wisner. Titles include 'Am I Blue', 'Walk Away', 'As Time Goes By', 'Much Too Long', 'Ain't It The Truth', 'Let's Do It', and 'In Times Like These'. Experience Margie Day is pretty groovy little set, a record which is somewhere in a space between jazz and soul vocals, and put together with some really unique inflections overall. There's a surprisingly sophisticated quality to the music, almost like some of Marlena Shaw's late '60s music, filled with adult themes and featuring a track list that includes a fair bit of unfamiliar numbers that really keep things fresh. Arrangements are by Ray Ellis, Art Beck, and Garry Illingworth, the latter of whom wrote some of the best tracks on the set. Titles include 'What Does He Think', 'If The Laugh-In Don't Kill Me', 'I Keep It Hid', 'Time Doesn't Matter Anymore', 'Ever Livin' Lovin' Program Plan', 'Rainbow People', 'I Thought About You', 'Don't Pay Them No Mind', 'Let's Start All Over Again', 'Maybe You'll Be There', and 'Wine in the Wind'. Blessed with a wide and secure vocal range, Margie is capable of the belting approach or of the tender whisper. Sadly, she left music permanently in 1969 due to a serious illness. I included here as bonus tracks 18 of the R&B songs she recorded during the '50s, both solo and with different groups, like the Blues Destroyers and the Griffin Brothers. Titles include 'Pitty Pat Band', 'Little Red Rooster', 'Ho Ho', 'Stubborn As a Mule' and 'Take Out Your False Teeth Daddy'. http://www.dustygroove.com/, http://www.answers.com/
aa

Margie Day: Ever Livin' Lovin' Program Plan (1969)

Sounds of the City Experience: Sounds of the City Experience (1976)

2010-01-03T01:01:00.001-08:00

Sounds of the City Experience is a group even rarer than the Jackson Sisters. They released this excellent - and super obscure - funk soul album pressed in 1976 on the famous tax scam label Tiger Lily, featuring a whole lot of gems, including some blaxsploitation instrumental grooves like 'Getting Down'. Reissue is long overdue.
aa

Side 1
1. Getting Down
2. Through No Fault of Our Own
3. It's So Wonderful Baby/Gina
4. Come on and Stay with Me
5. Stuff N' Thing

Side 2
1. Keep on Keepin' On
2. Babylon
3. Reality
4. Judgement Day
5. My People
aa

Sounds of the City Experience: Keep On Keepin' On

Doris: Did You Give The World Some Love Today Baby (1970) ... plus

2009-12-28T03:53:00.000-08:00

A big-voiced blue-eyed soul, jazz, and pop vocalist reminiscent of Lulu, Dusty Springfield, and Petula Clark, Sweden's Doris Svensson is best known for her lone solo LP, 1970's eclectic Did You Give the World Some Love Today Baby, which made few waves on its initial release but became a favorite of rare groove crate-diggers as time went on. Born in Gothenburg in 1947, Svensson performed with several bands throughout the '60s, making her debut with the Strangers in 1960 and going on to score hits in the groups Plums ('Mama Didn't Lie,' 'Wouldn't That Be Groovy' - the latter with a promo video directed by a young Lasse Hallström) and the Dandys ('Go Back to Daddy') late in the decade. Doris (as she was billed) cut her first and only album for EMI/Odeon with several noted local musicians, including jazz pianist, organist, composer, and producer Berndt Egerbladh, who also wrote most of the tunes; drummer and film actor Janne "Loffe" Carlsson of the instrumental jazz-rock duo Hansson & Karlsson; and her husband, bassist Lucas Lindholm. Did You Give the World Some Love Today Baby reveals Doris to be a singer of considerable range with plenty of personality. She's a throaty belter on the funky, country-inflected 'Waiting at the Station,' the Northern soul-styled groovers 'Don't' and 'Beatmaker,' and the brassy pop-soul title tune (even coming off a bit worryingly unhinged as she exhorts "you've got to love the one you love/and the whole darn world as well") - but she scales back the fireworks for sweet, if somewhat fey, ballads like 'Grey Rain of Sweden' and 'Daisies,' which call to mind the sophisticated songwriter pop of fellow lost gem Margo Guryan. There's also a heartfelt, tastefully orchestrated rendition of the Band's 'Whispering Pines,' and - easily the album's most unusual moment - the bizarre, unsettling jazz-psychedelia of 'You Never Come Close,' which sounds like nothing you'd expect to hear on an ostensibly pop record from any era. Add in a smattering of upbeat big-band swing tunes ('I'm Pushing You Out' and the organ-led shuffle 'I Wish I Knew'), the goofy, vaudeville-ish 'Won't You Take Me to the Theatre,' and a jaunty cover of Harry Nilsson's 'Bath,' and you've got a true smorgasbord. Although the album sold poorly and Svensson retreated from the limelight - playing in a dansband with her husband during the '70s before retiring from music altogether - those last three cuts, in particular, piqued the interest of record collectors over the ensuing decades, eventually creating enough demand to warrant several reissues in the '90s and '00s. This one features ten bonus tracks by the bands Doris sang with in the mid-to late '60s, including several Swedish hit singles. http://www.allmusic.com/

The Soul Sisters: I Can't Stand It (1964-1968)

2009-12-18T08:36:00.000-08:00

While not being biological sisters, these two sure had the "connected" duo thing happening well! Tresia Cleveland and Ann Gissendanner, known as The Soul Sisters, first came to national attention with their pulsating, rock-a-twist rendition of 'I Can't Stand It', in 1964. As a result of this outstanding debut, the girls became one of the most successful, fast-rising groups in the country. An appearance on the Steve Allen network TV'er was received with the utmost enthusiasm. Prior to that they were building fine reps appearing at such famed spot as the Baby Grand in NY and Brooklyn, the Town Hill Key Club in Newark, the Playboy Lounge, Basin Street South and Boston's Louis Lounge. Before that it was strictly gospel engagements throughout the USA and abroad, receiving return engagement request everywhere they sang. After that promising single, they continued recording done-up Blues, R'n'B, Pop and some Gospel-flavored singles, plus an LP for Sue Records, from 1964 to 1968. This 1996 Collectables' compilation reissues that 1964 Sue album, plus some other singles. Included are 'Good Time Tonight', a bright, medium beat driver; 'Night Time', a potent affair that they stroll through with beat-ballad finesse and 'Loop De Loop', which opens in sermon-like manner and then breaks into a sparkling thump-a-rhythm cha cha that sports a 'Saturday Nite Party' atmosphere. It's an oh-so-soft, slow beat cha cha for the gals on the tender sentimental opus, 'Foolish Dreamer'. And you may never have enjoyed 'Blueberry Hill' as much as you will when you hear their captivatingly slow, waltz-beat-ballad interpretation. I'm sure that after you've heard the collection contained herein you'll agree that each tune is a gem and that whether they're done-up blues, rhythm, & blues, popular or gospel, you are listening to from the Soul, Soul Sisters style.~ Taken from the original liner notes by Gene Redd.

Cilla Black: The Abbey Road Decade - The Complete Single A&B Sides (1963-1973)

2009-12-15T00:12:00.001-08:00

Who was the second biggest selling music star to come out of Liverpool after the Beatles? It wasn't Gerry & the Pacemakers or Billy J. Kramer & the Dakotas, nor was it the Searchers. It was Cilla Black, a one-time coat-check girl from the Cavern Club who was still learning to sing with confidence, forget developing a technique, just about the time that the Beatles were cutting their first EMI record. She appeared as guest singer with various groups at the Cavern in 1963, and was brought to the attention of Brian Epstein, who during the next few years ably exploited her girl-next-door appeal. Her first single, under the auspices of producer George Martin, was a brassy powerhouse reworking of the Beatles’ unreleased 'Love of the Loved', which reached the UK Top 40 in late 1963. A change of style with Burt Bacharach’s 'Anyone Who Had a Heart' saw Black emerge as a ballad singer of immense power and distinction. 'You’re My World', a translation of an Italian lyric, was another brilliantly orchestrated, impassioned ballad that, like its predecessor, dominated the UK number 1 position in 1964. In what was arguably the most competitive year in British pop history, Black was outselling all her Merseyside rivals except the Beatles. For her fourth single, Paul McCartney presented 'It’s for You', a fascinating jazz waltz ballad that seemed a certain number 1, but it stalled at number 8. By the end of 1964, Black was one of the most successful female singers of her era and continued to release cover versions of superb quality, including the Righteous Brothers’ 'You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’'. A consummate rocker and unchallenged mistress of the neurotic ballad genre, Black was unassailable at her pop peak, yet her chosen path was that of an ‘all-round entertainer’. For most of 1965, she ceased recording and worked on her only feature film, Work Is a Four Letter Word, but returned strongly the following year with 'Love’s Just a Broken Heart' and 'Alfie'. The death of Brian Epstein in 1967 and a relative lull in chart success might have blighted the prospects of a lesser performer, but Black was already moving into television work, aided by her manager/husband Bobby Willis. Her highly rated television series was boosted by the hit title theme 'Step Inside Love', donated by Paul McCartney. Throughout the late '60s, she continued to register Top 10 hits, including 'Surround Yourself with Sorrow', 'Conversations' and the dreadful 'Something Tells Me (Something Is Gonna Happen Tonight)'. Like many of her contemporaries, Black wound down her recording career in the '70s and thenceforth she basically concentrated on television. The material on this 3-cd collection features all of the aforementioned Black's hits, B-sides, and album tracks; also, disc three is made up entirely of rarities, including some surprising demos like 'Step Inside Love', from 1968, with Paul McCartney accompanying her on acoustic guitar. There's also Black's original rehearsal cut of the Cavern-styled 'A Shot of R&B'; a surviving acetate of 'Fever,' accompanied by Gerry & the Pacemakers; plus her unissued versions of 'Heatwave' and 'Shotgun.' Coupled with some good arrangements and George Martin's crisp production, Cilla Black's music holds up astonishingly well and she displays a surprisingly soulful approach on songs such as 'Is It Love', 'For No One,' 'What Good Am I' and Randy Newman's 'I’ve Been Wrong Before'. http://www.allmusic.com/, http://www.oldies.com/
aa

Cilla Black with Burt Bacharach cutting 'Alfie' at Abbey Road, in 1965 :

Cilla Black with Sounds Incorporated at the New Musical Express Poll Winners concert singing 'Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah', 1965:

With Cliff Richard performing 'The Look of Love' and 'Walk on By', in 1969:

Nella Dodds: The Complete Wand Recordings (1964-1965)

2009-12-10T04:25:00.000-08:00

The combination of her unusual, highly beguiling voice, some excellent songs and corking dance grooves make the recordings of Nella Dodds have charmed collectors of Northern Soul and girl groups for more than 35 years. Nella should, by rights, have had an album release in the mid-‘60s, when she was signed to New York’s Wand label via a production deal with Philadelphia’s Dyno-Dynamic Productions -essentially the precursor of what would eventually evolve into classic 1970s ‘Philly Sound’. She should also have had several major hits, rather than just the two fair to middling ones that she did have. But by the time that Philadelphia usurped Detroit as the epicentre of commercial Soul music, Nella Dodds had forsaken music for domesticity, destined to be regarded as another ‘great unknown’. Both sides of all six singles Dodds released on Wand between 1964 and 1965 are on this compilation, along with three outtakes from the same era, which have never been heard in public since the day they were recorded. Besides Nella, others who participated in these sessions include musicians who went on to form the core of MFSB, legendary Philly DJ/songwriter Jimmy Bishop (discoverer of and mentor to a host of other Philadelphia soul greats, most notably Barbara Mason) and Philadelphia International co-founder Kenneth Gamble, who wrote many of the songs. As well as Nella’s hit cover of the Supremes’ 'Come See About Me' (a song that made it up to number 74 in the charts) and its Top 100 follow-up 'Finders Keepers, Losers Weepers', this great collection features the Northern Soul favourites 'Come Back Baby', 'Honey Boy', 'First Date' and 'Maybe Baby'. It also includes what is probably the best cut on the set: Gamble’s moody ballad ‘You Don't Love Me Anymore’ which, sadly wasted on the B-side of ‘Come See About Me,’ sounds like a cross between Dionne Warwick and mid-'60s girl groups. All in all, this is a consistently enjoyable retrospective of an underrated singer who deserved more than she got. http://www.allmusic.com/, http://www.acerecords.co.uk, http://www.amazon.co.uk/

Yma Sumac: Her Best Albums from the '50s (1950-1957)

2009-12-07T03:21:00.001-08:00

The only singer known to possess close to a staggering 5 octave voice, Yma Sumac was said to have been a descendant of Inca kings, an Incan princess that was one of the Golden Virgins. Her offbeat stylings became a phenomenon of early-'50s pop music. While her album covers took advantage of her strange costumes and voluptuous figure, rumors abounded that she was, in actuality, a housewife named Amy Camus. It mattered little because there has been no one like her before or since in the annals of popular music. According to the Sumac legend, she was the sixth child of an Indian mother and an Indian/Spanish father, who raised her as a Quechuan. She began performing in local festivals before her family moved to Lima, Peru. Once she was in Lima, she became a member of the Compania Peruana de Arte, which was a collective of nearly 50 Indian singers, musicians, and dancers. Sumac married Moises Vivanco, the leader of the Compania, in 1942. Four years later, Vivanco, Sumac, and her cousin Colita Rivero formed the Inca Taqui Trio and moved to New York. By the end of the decade, they were performing in nightclubs throughout New York and playing radio and television programs, most notably Arthur Godfrey's TV show. The Trio also became a fixture on the Borscht Belt circuit and the Catskills. Sumac was signed as a solo artist to Capitol Records in 1950, releasing her first album, the 10" Voice of the Xtabay, the same year. Voice of the Xtabay was released without much publicity, but it slowly became a hit and Capitol began pushing Sumac with a massive marketing campaign. The album was one of Sumac's least hokey or pop-oriented. That's not to say it's without its mass-appeal elements, especially in the arrangements, conducted by Les Baxter. The reissue I included here combines the eight tracks with the eight others contained on another of her early albums, Inca Taqui (1953). Legend of the Sun Virgin, released a year before, in 1952, displayed her characteristic mixture of Andean folk music, flamenco guitars and dramatic invocations to obscure pre-Columbian idols. Capitol got on top of two '50s fads at once by issuing Mambo! (1954), an album of Sumac tackling, well ... mambo. Yma held nothing back, and the result was one of her more enjoyable LPs, with respectably swinging mambo grooves crafted by Billy May. 'Five Bottles Mambo' is one of her most astonishing vocal workouts, dropping into guttural growls that are downright bestial, and making one wonder how exactly they got away with that in the conservative milieu of the '50s. Her next album was Legend of the Jivaro, in 1957. According to the liner notes, Sumac and Vivanco, went into the headhunting territory of the Jivaros, tape recorder in hand, to accumulate source material for this album. Whether you believe that or not, what they came up with once it had been run through the studio was one of her chintzier products. If it's folk music, it's been heavily modified for North American audiences, with period '50s pop production, mainstream Latin pop influences, and occasional spurts of quasi-rock'n'roll guitar. By the end of the '50s, Sumac's audience had begun to decline though, and she was no longer as hip as she was before. She retired in the early '60s, performing just sporadically the next three decades. http://www.allmusic.com/

Yma Sumac, The Secret of the Incas, performing 'Tumpa':

Singing live 'Amor Indio':

Manifiesto “En defensa de los derechos fundamentales en internet”

2009-12-04T03:53:00.000-08:00

Ante la inclusión en el Anteproyecto de Ley de Economía sostenible de modificaciones legislativas que afectan al libre ejercicio de las libertades de expresión, información y el derecho de acceso a la cultura a través de Internet, los periodistas, bloggers, usuarios, profesionales y creadores de internet manifestamos nuestra firme oposición al proyecto, y declaramos que…

1.- Los derechos de autor no pueden situarse por encima de los derechos fundamentales de los ciudadanos, como el derecho a la privacidad, a la seguridad, a la presunción de inocencia, a la tutela judicial efectiva y a la libertad de expresión.

2.- La suspensión de derechos fundamentales es y debe seguir siendo competencia exclusiva del poder judicial. Ni un cierre sin sentencia. Este anteproyecto, en contra de lo establecido en el artículo 20.5 de la Constitución, pone en manos de un órgano no judicial – un organismo dependiente del ministerio de Cultura -, la potestad de impedir a los ciudadanos españoles el acceso a cualquier página web.

3.- La nueva legislación creará inseguridad jurídica en todo el sector tecnológico español, perjudicando uno de los pocos campos de desarrollo y futuro de nuestra economía, entorpeciendo la creación de empresas, introduciendo trabas a la libre competencia y ralentizando su proyección internacional.

4.- La nueva legislación propuesta amenaza a los nuevos creadores y entorpece la creación cultural. Con Internet y los sucesivos avances tecnológicos se ha democratizado extraordinariamente la creación y emisión de contenidos de todo tipo, que ya no provienen prevalentemente de las industrias culturales tradicionales, sino de multitud de fuentes diferentes.

5.- Los autores, como todos los trabajadores, tienen derecho a vivir de su trabajo con nuevas ideas creativas, modelos de negocio y actividades asociadas a sus creaciones. Intentar sostener con cambios legislativos a una industria obsoleta que no sabe adaptarse a este nuevo entorno no es ni justo ni realista. Si su modelo de negocio se basaba en el control de las copias de las obras y en Internet no es posible sin vulnerar derechos fundamentales, deberían buscar otro modelo.

6.- Consideramos que las industrias culturales necesitan para sobrevivir alternativas modernas, eficaces, creíbles y asequibles y que se adecuen a los nuevos usos sociales, en lugar de limitaciones tan desproporcionadas como ineficaces para el fin que dicen perseguir.

7.- Internet debe funcionar de forma libre y sin interferencias políticas auspiciadas por sectores que pretenden perpetuar obsoletos modelos de negocio e imposibilitar que el saber humano siga siendo libre.

8.- Exigimos que el Gobierno garantice por ley la neutralidad de la Red en España, ante cualquier presión que pueda producirse, como marco para el desarrollo de una economía sostenible y realista de cara al futuro.

9.- Proponemos una verdadera reforma del derecho de propiedad intelectual orientada a su fin: devolver a la sociedad el conocimiento, promover el dominio público y limitar los abusos de las entidades gestoras.

10.- En democracia las leyes y sus modificaciones deben aprobarse tras el oportuno debate público y habiendo consultado previamente a todas las partes implicadas. No es de recibo que se realicen cambios legislativos que afectan a derechos fundamentales en una ley no orgánica y que versa sobre otra materia.

Este manifiesto, elaborado de forma conjunta por varios autores, es de todos y de ninguno. Si quieres sumarte a él, difúndelo por Internet.

ENGLISH TRANSLATION IN COMMENTS.

Madeline Bell: Bell's a Poppin' (1967) ... plus

2009-12-03T04:14:00.000-08:00

Though born in New Jersey, smooth soul diva Madeline Bell enjoyed her greatest success in the United Kingdom (where she began living in 1963), and her first album, 1967's Bell's a Poppin', is a thoroughly enjoyable example of British pop record-making at its most poised and professional. Bell had a world-class voice and sang supper-club soul in the manner of Dionne Warwick and Dusty Springfield (the latter of whom was a friend of Bell's and often used her as a backing vocalist). Those looking for Southern soul grit will be disappointed, but Bell's a Poppin' is a marvelous example of the British equivalent of Brill Building pop. The arrangements are clever and sophisticated, the musicians are spot-on throughout, producer John Franz adds just the right amount of polish without rubbing away the personality of the music, and Bell's vocals tell a story just beautifully, boasting smarts and understated passion while maintaining a firm sense of control and balance throughout. Franz also rounded up some great songs for Bell, with Pomus/Shuman, Bacharach/David, John Sebastian, and Ashford/Simpson among the tunesmiths represented on this disc. Highlights include 'You Don't Love Me No More', 'Beat the Clock', 'Mr. Dream Merchant', 'Soul Time', and 'I'm Gonna Make You Love Me'. Fans of the slicker side of Northern soul and great mid-'60s pop-soul will delight in Bell's a Poppin'. This reissue adds a handful of non-LP singles that are every bit as enjoyable, especially an interesting cover of the Beatles' 'You Won't See Me' and Baby Washington's 'I Can't Wait Until I See My Baby's Face'. http://www.allmusic.com/

Madeline Bell perfoming one of the bonus tracks included here, 'Don't Come Running to Me':

Clip of Madeline singing Picture Me Gone (1967):

Monna Bell: Sus Primeros EP's (1959-61) ... plus

2009-11-28T02:50:00.000-08:00

Monna Bell, was born in Chile but settled in Spain in the late '50s and recorded for Hispavox from 1957 through 1967, a period in which she enjoyed immense international popularity. Even though she continued recording in Mexico for the Musart and Orfeon labels, it is her Hispavox recordings that guarantee her place in history forever. This compilation of Monna Bell's legendary recordings gathers a generous amount of her classics, most recorded with orchestras conducted by two Spanish musical geniuses, Augusto Algueró Jr. and Gregorio García Segura, who were also responsible for the arrangements. Here you will find all the songs that made Miss Bell an international sensation including 'Un Telegrama', the jazzy tune that won, thanks to her interpretation, the top spot at the First Song Festival in Benidorm, Spain in 1959. It has been reported that 'Un Telegrama' was recorded more than ninety times by other artists, but Monna's version remains the definite rendition. No wonder if you consider that Miss Bell is one of the few Latin singers that could be considered a true jazz singer. She not only improvised in her interpretations but her phrasing was both impeccable and inventive. She had the rare quality of singing behind the beat to stress a phrase or a word and then speed things up to come back right on place. Her genius made even the most banal tunes like 'El Día de los Enamorados' or 'Comunicando' sound interesting, but she was definitely at her best when she transposed her jazz style to ballads such as the mesmerizing 'La Montaña.' Her unique approach is also felt in steamy boleros such as 'Silencio Corazón', 'Aún Te Sigo Amando' or 'Recordaré Tu Amor.' Hear the romance on her voice as she softly utters 'Un Amor Inolvidable', the love theme from the film 'An Affair to Remember' one of many American tunes she covered in Spanish. She can also sound wicked and mischievous when she attacks samba-flavored tunes 'Amor en Río' or 'Pan, Amor y Besos' and she is delightful doing something so incoherent as 'Domenica Es Siempre Domenica,' an Italian-Spanish tune that might sound an abomination today, but was quite popular in the late '50s. In short, these collection is the best proof that Monna Bell was a great vocalist who created a style and had a unique sound, unlike the all-alike crap we are being fed today on Spanish-language radio and television. I added as an extra gift a sampling of Monna's '60s repertoire, including jazzy tunes with romantic boleros, European ballads, and those crazy novelty numbers that were so popular then and were probably imposed upon the vocalist by the record producers. Included are 'Chiquitina' and 'Tómbola' (also recorded by the Spanish child prodigy Marisol), 'Nubes de Colores', 'La Chica de Ipanema', 'La Playa', 'Trenes, Barcos y Aviones' and 'Estaba escrito', a song that was in the OST of the Almodovar's film "Pepi, Luci, Bom y otras chicas del montón". 73 songs in all!! Partially taken from Marcos' review on http://www.amazon.com/
aa

aa
Monna Bell performing 'Desafinado'. Excerpt of the Julián Soler's film Buenas Noches, Año Nuevo, from 1964:

Monna Bell singing live 'Rogar' and 'Pequeña Mía':

Lori Burton: Breakout (1967) ... plus

2009-11-26T03:24:00.000-08:00

So you think the Shangri-Las were tough and streetwise girls? Well, you ain't heard nothing. The Whyte Boots 'Nightmare' takes the 'Leader of the Pack' scenario to the next level: a girl has been showing off the singer's boyfriend's ring, leading to a vicious catfight in which one of the girls is killed!! Woah! But in reality, the Whyte Boots did not exist, but were a construct of Brill Building hit girls Lori Burton and Pam Sawyer. Together they formed one of the better New York pop/rock songwriting teams of the '60s, although not too many of their songs were widely known hits. Their 'I Ain't Gonna Eat Out My Heart Anymore' gave the Rascals their first chart entry; 'Baby Let's Wait,' also done by the Rascals, gave the Royal Guardsmen a hit; Patti LaBelle & the Blue Bells did 'All or Nothing'; Lulu and Cindy Malone did 'Try to Understand' and Prince Harold did 'Forget About Me.' Burton and Sawyer were briefly signed to Motown as songwriters and were one of the few (if not the only) female production teams on the New York rock scene in the mid-'60s. But Lori Burton was also a very credible blue-eyed pop/soul singer, who had a very good earthy voice, delivering both cool sensual low growling and impassioned rasp at the most climactic points. She began recording as a solo act for Roulette in the mid-'60s and in 1967, issued this album, Breakout, on Mercury. The LP has a cover showing Lori in biker chick/Cleopatra makeup breaking out (geddit?) of a barrier consisting of a huge Billboard chart. From the strains of 'Nightmare' to the thundering Northern Soul extravaganza of 'Gotta Make You Love Me' and 'There Is No Way (To Stop Lovin’ You)', what we have here is impressive, well-produced pop-soul with New York's sophisticated brand of pop-rock production. 'Since I Lost Your Lovin'' is the closest female impersonation of the Righteous Brothers you'll come across, and 'Bye Bye Charlie' does the same to early Neil Diamond, though Burton actually brings a more vibrant, emotional vocal quality to her vocals than Diamond did on such material. It is unfortunate that Lori did not have the chance to develop further as a recording act in her own right. This reissue of her 1967 album Breakout contains the mono single versions of three of the album cuts and, as a bonus track I have included the A-side of her only single for Roulette 'Yeh, Yeh, Yeh (That Boy of Mine)'. http://www.amazon.com/, http://www.allmusic.com/

Mable John: Stay Out of the Kitchen (1993)

2009-11-24T23:52:00.000-08:00

Relatively unknown outside the circle of soul fanatics, Mable John had one of the sultriest voices in her genre, and co-wrote some of the era's best, yet unheard, soul classics. Most notable of her material was her theme song 'Able Mable,' a finger-snapping piece reminiscent of 'Fever,' a single once recorded by her little brother Little Willie John. It's remarkable that the song 'Able Mable' or her other singles, like the fantastic 'Running Out' or 'I'm a Big Girl Now', never pushed her to greater stardom. Coupling the suave of soul with the smokey physicality of blues, Mable John's vocal approach is virtually unmistakeable. On Stay Out of the Kitchen are John's most notable recordings for the Stax/Volt label, all of them recorded between 1966 and 1968, combining issued sides with a truck load of unissued material. What makes the tracks even more remarkable is the impeccable playing by Stax regulars: Booker T. Jones, backing vocals from staff writer Deanie Parker, members of Jeanne and the Darlings, drummer Al Jackson, Jr. and Isaac Hayes. Hayes also produced and co-wrote several of the songs alongside David Porter, Mable John has several of her own songs and other notable writers include Steve Cropper, who produced several of the tracks (and of course contributes some very tasteful guitar figures throughout), Eddie Floyd and Homer Banks. The final song on the disc is her moving tribute to her brother Little Willie John who had just died, his signature song 'Need Your Love So Bad', written by another brother, Mertis John. We had to wait nearly thirty years to get a chance to hear them, but their power is undimmed by time. Stay Out of the Kitchen is a portrait of a timeless soul singer at her best.~ http://www.cduniverse.com/

Mable John (second from the right) with the Raelettes and Ray Charles singing 'Shake' in the Dick Cavett Show, 1972:

Nancy Wilson: Today, Tomorrow, Forever (1964) / A Touch of Today (1966)

2009-11-22T02:37:00.001-08:00

A very groovy set of standards and '60s pop tunes, all done by Nancy Wilson in her great soulful swinging style! On Today, Tomorrow, Forever, Nancy lights up a set of the usual pop standards of the era: 'One Note Samba,' 'I Left My Heart in San Francisco,' 'Unchain My Heart,' 'Wives and Lovers' and 'Tonight May Have To Last Me All My Life,' among others. They're all good choices for her breathy voice and occasional improvisations, especially 'One Note Samba' and 'Wives and Lovers'. On them, Wilson plays with the notes and rhythm, making a pair of lighthearted songs even more playful and irresistible than they had been previously. Nancy is at the height of her early career here and she is getting backing from a very sympathetic west coast group that includes Jack Wilson on piano and organ, Lou Blackburn on trombone, Bill Perkins on tenor, and Milt Holland on percussion. Considering the dozens of traditional jazz-based singers unfamiliar with their place in the middle of the turbulent '60s, Today, Tomorrow, Forever is an accomplished album that sounds almost effortless. A Touch of Today is another of Nancy Wilson's contemporary dates, comprised of standards from Broadway, Motown, the Beatles, and Bacharach, among other '60s sources. Her voice is as strong and pliable as ever, and most of the songs work just fine. Wilson stamps her versions of familiar pop songs like 'Uptight (Everything's Alright),' 'Call Me,' 'The Shadow of Your Smile,' 'And I Love Him (Her)', 'Yesterday,' and 'Goin' Out of My Head.' The arrangements, handled either by Oliver Nelson or Sid Feller, are occasionally too reliant on period clichés, but A Touch of Today is another solid album adrift in a period of lesser efforts by great singers. http://www.dustygroove.com/, http://www.answers.com/

Nancy Wilson sings 'Almost In Your Arms,' circa 1963:

Nancy singing 'Forn Once in My Life' in Sopot (Poland), 1971:

Inez & Charlie Foxx: The Dynamo Duo (2004)

2009-11-18T00:39:00.000-08:00

Inez and Charlie Foxx were a R&B and soul brother and sister duo from Greensboro, North Carolina. Inez was a former member of the Gospel Tide Chorus. Her first solo single, ‘A Feeling’, was issued on Brunswick Records, credited to ‘Inez Johnston’. Charlie was, meanwhile, a budding songwriter and his reworking of a nursery rhyme, ‘Mockingbird’, became their first single together. Released on the Sue label subsidiary Symbol, it was a US Top 10 hit in 1963, although it was not until 1969 that the song charted in the UK Top 40. Their immediate releases followed the same contrived pattern, but later recordings for Musicor/Dynamo, in particular ‘I Stand Accused’, were more adventurous. However, their final hit together, ‘(1-2-3-4-5-6-7) Count the Days’ (1967), was modelled closely on that early style. Solo again, Inez continued to record for Dynamo before signing with Stax/Volt in 1972. Although apparently uncomfortable with their recording methods, the results, including the Inez Foxx ‘In Memphis’ album, were excellent. Make no mistake about it, this track rates among one of the greatest underplayed records on the Northern Soul scene. ~ http://www.oldies.com/

Barbara & The Browns: Can't Find Happiness - The Sound of Memphis Recordings (2007)

2009-11-16T04:39:00.000-08:00

A four-girl family group out of Memphis, led by Barbara Brown, was first known as the Brown Sisters, but by the time they enjoyed their first and only charted single, ‘Big Party’, in 1964 (first on Wil Mo, then leased to Stax; peaked at # 97-pop) they had become Barbara & the Browns, and later on it would be only Barbara Brown on a couple of labels (Atco and Tower). Barbara has got a deep, rich voice that is clearly schooled in gospel, but pointed towards more secular ends; an approach that is very much in keeping with the best late ‘60s wave of soul from Atlantic Records, and which is carried off here with a sharpness and precision simply mindblowing. Why Brown never scored bigger is a real mystery, because these tunes come off like the cream of the crop of southern soul at the end of the 60s: not just obscurities for obscurity sake, but some of the highest level of soul a female soul singer could hope for at the time! This 20-track compilation has eight previously unreleased cuts, and it can roughly be divided into two parts. The first one covers releases on such labels as Cadet, Atco and Tower between 1966 and '68 - including most of the unreleased songs, too - and the second one offers singles on XL and Sounds of Memphis from 1971 and '72. If you're into raw and horn-heavy Memphis sound with intense and gospel-infused singing, then this set is for you. Barbara's six Stax sides (from '64 and '65) are not originally included in the set (though I added myself their 1964 version of ‘Big Party’ as a bonus), but there is more than a fair share of big-voiced deepies to satisfy your soul – ‘Can't Find No Happiness’, ‘It Hurts Me So Much’, ‘If I Can't Run to You I'll Crawl’, ‘I Don't Want to Have to Wait’ (this one has appeared on a number of compilations before), ‘Pity A Fool’, ‘Big Party’ (the 1972 version), ‘Play Thing' and 'Great Big Thing’, among others. Most of them are placed in the first part of the compilation, but starting from track # 7 there are also some toe-tappers, dancers and stompers on display. The '68 Tower single contains two country-soul sides, the touching ‘Things Have Gone to Pieces’ and the bluesy ‘There's a Look on Your Face’. Can't Find Happiness was well worth the wait. http://www.soulexpress.net/, http://www.dustygroove.com/
yy

Jackie Lee Special: End of a Rainbow - A Pye Anthology + 23 Bonus! (1961-1973)

2009-11-11T00:39:00.000-08:00

One of my all-time favorite Brit Girls, Jackie Lee was a sadly underrated vocalist who enjoyed a long career in the music business, but only received great success for a pair of television theme songs. Born in North Dublin as Jacqueline Norah Flood on May 29, 1936, Jackie was raised in a household of music lovers — her mother played piano and her father was a trained baritone vocalist — and as a girl she won a scholarship to Dublin's Municipal School of Music, where she studied voice. By the age of 14, Flood was already singing professionally, appearing regularly with local dance bands and performing on Irish radio. In the early '50s, Flood relocated to London, England, to pursue her career and soon landed a prestigious gig as vocalist with Ronnie Aldrich's Squadronaires, a successful British dance band, where she took the professional name Jackie Lee. In 1955, Lee left the group to work as a solo act, and released her first single, 'For So Long as I Live' b/w 'I Was Wrong.' In 1959, Lee and her manager Len Beadle (who was also her first husband) formed a vocal combo known as the Raindrops, who recorded for Parlophone/EMI, Oriole, and Philips, specializing in covers of American pop and rock hits. While the group made frequent radio and television appearances and can be seen in the film Just for You (aka Disk-O-Tek Holiday), they never scored a major hit, and the members parted company in 1965. That year, Lee relaunched her solo career with a new single for Decca, 'I Cry Alone' b/w 'Cause I Love Him.' Two further singles, 'Lonely Clown' b/w 'Love Is Gone' and 'I Know, Know, Know I'll Never Love, Love, Love Anyone Else' b/w 'So Love Me', issued on the Columbia label, also failed. One of her finest moments came with her third single for Columbia, released in November 1966, 'The Town I Live In,' which was a wry comment on the suburban nature of the Buckinghamshire new town. The hitless Jackie was renamed Emma Rede for her next single, 'Just Like a Man'. (The excellent beat ballad 'I Gotta Be with You' appeared on the flip.) The move resulted in a place in pirate station Radio London's Fab forty charts in February 1967, and the record remains much in demand with collectors. Later that year, Jackie recorded 'Born to Lose' for the movie Robbery! The song was released as a single by Decca in September of that year, but also failed. In 1968, she was hired to sing the theme song for a BBC television series for young people, White Horses, and when the show became a hit, Lee's recording of the signature tune became a major chart success, though it was credited simply to Jacky. A follow up, 'We’re off and Running' b/w 'Well That's Loving You', proved inappropriately titled, though Jacky did get to release an album off the back of her hit single, which featured piano work from Dudley Moore. She also got to record for the soundtrack to Roger Vladim’s classic movie Barbarella. However, her material never made it into the film. Undeterred, she worked on a second soundtrack, this time for the film Loving Feeling, and released the single 'Love Is Now' b/w 'Never Will I Be', a fan favourite, on the Page One label. In 1969 she began a contract with the Pye label, and issued the great 'Love Is a Gamble' b/w 'Something Borrowed, Something Blue'. In 1970, another one of Lee's television recordings brought her back to the pop charts when she sang the theme song for the children's show The Adventures of Rupert Bear, which became a Top Ten hit for Pye Records. Pye took Lee into the studio to cut an album to capitalize on 'Rupert''s success, 1971's Jackie's Junior Choice, and a handful of fine singles followed, including the awesome 'Black Country' (a B-Side) and one of her best releases, which turned out to be her last, 'You Make My Head Spin' (1973). That same year, due to a throat problem, Lee retired from the music business, and after several years in the United States she settled in Canada. This collection gathers together for the first time Jackie's later solo recordings from her time with Pye Records (1969-1973). I also included 23 bonus tracks from her wonderful Decca, Columbia, Page One and Philips earlier catalogue, (most part of the aforementioned and all of the highlighted). These will surely be much more appealing to you than some of the 1970-'71 children's tunes. There are as well six cuts recorded with her group the Raindrops between 1961 and 1964; 49 tracks in all! I hope you enjoy Jackie as much as I do! http://www.readysteadygirls.eu/, http://www.allmusic.com/

A rare performance by Jackie Lee on German TV in 1967. A couple of months later she became simply Jacky and recorded 'White horses':

Cinebox reel of Jackie & The Raindrops from 1963, adapted for the American movie Disk-o-Tek Holiday:

'I Gotta Be with You', the song that made me absolutely fall in love with Jackie's voice, ten years ago, when I first heard it on the first volume of Dream Babes:

A super-rare 16mm film reel of Jackie Lee & The Raindrops, recorded at De Lane Lea in 1963. The Raindrops were signed to Oriole at the time, but this particular song never made it onto vinyl:

And, finally, Jackie performing 'Rupert' (as in Rupert the Bear). She scored her second and final hit with this children’s TV theme, which made #17 in the UK charts in 1971:

Eydie Gormé: Eydie Swings the Blues (1957) / Eydie in Love (1958)

2009-11-09T03:20:00.000-08:00

Although most of her career was conducted during the rock era, traditional pop singer Eydie Gormé carved out a place for herself in several areas of entertainment. For 20 years, from the mid-'50s to the mid-'70s, she consistently scored in the pop charts, with a parallel place in the Latin pop field from the '60s on. For most of her career, she worked both solo and in a duo with her husband, Steve Lawrence. Soon before she married him, in 1957, Eydie released Swings the Blues, where we find her spreading her jazz wings and digging into a nice selection of pop/jazz/blues-style material. Paired here with her usual conductor and good friend Don Costa, it's one swingin' tune after the next. From the opening 'I Gotta Right to Sing the Blues,' right to 'A Nightingale Can Sing the Blues', the theme is obvious; the sentiment apparent. Costa and Gorme would go on to record many more albums together, as would Costa and Steve Lawrence. This album was, undoubtedly, a precursor for great things to come from Costa's baton and Gorme's pipes. Standouts here include Harold Arlen's 'When the Sun Comes Out,' with its torchy, soaring vocals and blazing brass all around Miss Gorme, and the sly underlying of 'I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart' in the arrangement of another Duke Ellington classic 'Don't Get Around Much Anymore.' Listen how effortlessly Eydie glides over vocal triplets on the tags of the old standards 'After You've Gone' and Gershwin's 'The Man I Love'. A year after this release, in 1958, Eydie recorded Eydie in Love, a heartfelt, deeply sincere collection of love songs and ballads that's sweet but never saccharine, thanks as much to her poignant vocals as to the impeccable backings of Costa. Gormé manages to articulate both girlish infatuation and world-weary resignation with authority and understanding, all rendered with the signature warmth that makes her records so appealing. From the opening strains of the poignant 'When the World Was Young,' sung here by young Eydie from a woman's point of view, to the classic, simple reading of 'In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning,' to Eydie's soaring vocals on the torchy 'Love Letters,' it's just one beautiful song after another. It is interesting to note that Steve Allen wrote the lovely 'Impossible'. Let's not forget Eydie recorded this in the earlier days of her career at age 27, just after she married Steve Lawrence, whom she met on the original Tonight Show hosted then by Steve Allen himself. A labor of love from one of the classiest female vocalists ever. http://www.amazon.com/
aa

Eydie Gormé singing 'Ma He's Making Eyes At Me':

Eydie's rendtion of 'I Wanna Be Around', 1966:

LaVern Baker: See See Rider (1963) / Blues Ballads (1959)

2009-11-05T00:53:00.000-08:00

A versatile vocalist, LaVern Baker proved capable of melding blues, jazz and R&B styles in a way that made possible the emergence of a new idiom: rock and roll. The niece of blues singer Memphis Minnie, Baker had a stunning voice that, with little effort, could crack walls, and yet her ballad singing was wonderfully sensitive. During her time at Atlantic Records (1953-62), she cut half a dozen singles that rose to high positions on both the pop and R&B charts, including 'Tweedle Dee' and 'Jim Dandy.' Here are two of her best albums from the vaults of that label: ‘Blues Ballads’ and ‘See See Rider’, released in 1959 and 1963, respectively. The tracks are not presented in the original sequence, but the ones dating from 1963 are easily identifiable as they are in stereo and tend to feature prominent bass guitar, then something of a novelty. While the former is not all blues or ballads, there are some great sides here, all sung with the intensity and energy that made Baker's material so memorable, like 'I Cried a Tear', a major hit for her late in 1958. It also includes a solid version of the Edith Piaf hit 'If You Love Me' plus 'Love Me Right', 'I Waited Too Long', 'Humpty Dumpty Heart', 'St. Louis Blues' and others. "Rider" has a more pop oriented feel with strings on many cuts. Besides the hit 'See See Rider', it includes 'He's a Real Gone Guy', 'You Said', 'Don't Let the Stars Get in Your Eyes' and more. LaVern fans will enjoy this, since it contains so many fine recordings that aren't available anywhere else. http://www.oldies.com/

LaVern Baker performing 'Love Me Right in the Morning' (1957):

Marie Laforêt: L'Intégrale Festival (1960-1970)

2009-10-29T01:19:00.000-07:00

Popular throughout the '60s and '70s, Marie Laforêt is a French pop singer who garnered fame initially as a film actress during the early to mid-'60s. Born Maïténa Doumenach to parents of Armenian heritage on October 5, 1939, in Soulac-sur-Mer, Aquitaine, France, she made her film debut in 1960 in the René Clément drama Plein Soleil, a big-screen adaptation of the Patricia Highsmith novel The Talented Mr. Ripley. Plein Soleil not only launched the acting career of Laforêt; it also made a cinema star of actor Alain Delon. In the wake of her showbiz breakthrough, Laforêt was offered one role after another, notably beginning with Saint Tropez Blues (1961) and La Fille aux Yeux d'Or (1961). Her onscreen performance of the title song from the former film, 'Saint Tropez Blues,' essentially launched her singing career while La Fille aux Yeux d'Or, on the other hand, earned her the nickname the Girl with the Golden Eyes. In the mode of a folksinger, Laforêt's recording career took flight in 1963 in association with the label Disques Festival; among her more notable early recordings was a cover of Bob Dylan's 'Blowin' in the Wind.' She made her full-length album debut in 1964 with a self-titled album comprised of her recording output to date. Successive self-titled full-length albums were released throughout the remainder of the '60s and were likewise comprised of previously released EP material. In the '70s Laforêt more or less abandoned acting and focused instead on a series of recordings released in association with the Polydor label. She returned to the cinema in the '80s and left music behind. This outstanding compilation of Laforêt's complete Festival '60s recordings has plenty of variety in the songs and is equally brilliant at up-tempo cuts and tender ballads. There are covers of international songs here translated into French, such as 'Viens Sur La Montagne' ('Tell It on the Mountain'), 'Marie Douceuer, Marie Colere' ('Paint It Black'), 'Qué Calor la Vida' ('Red Balloon'), 'La Flute Magique' ('El Condon Pasa') and 'Qu'est-Ce Qui Fait Pleurer les Filles' ('What Makes Little Girls Cry'). Marie sings all those songs superbly, but the real appeal of this collection lies in the many delightful original French songs including 'Les Vendagnes de l'Amour', 'Katy Cruelle', 'Mon Amour Mon Ami', 'Qu'y a-t-il de Change', 'La Bague Au Dogit', 'Manchester et Liverpool', 'Julie Crevecouer', 'Les Noces De Campagne' and many others. http://www.allmusic.com/, http://www.amazon.co.uk/

Marie Laforet singing 'Mon Amour, Mon Amie', 1967:

Manchester et Liverpool (1967):

Rhetta Hughes: Re-light My Fire (1969)

2009-10-26T02:00:00.000-07:00

A decent, if derivative, soul vocalist, Chicagoan Rhetta Hughes seemed about ready to move into the spotlight in 1969, when her remake of the Doors' ‘Light My Fire’ made the R&B Top 40. Later, in 1983, she would have a hit on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart with ‘Angel Man (G.A.)’. But she never sustained any momentum, and Hughes was soon on the supper club circuit. She starred in the Broadway musicals Dreamgirls, Don't Play Us Cheap, and Amen Corner, for which she was nominated for a Tony Award in the category Best Actress in a Musical in 1984. She appeared in the films Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song, The Wiz (as a member of the choir), as well as the film version of Don't Play Us Cheap. She was also seen in the TV version of the musical Purlie, and appeared in an episode of Law & Order. This 1969 album, with arrangements by Mike Terry and lots of tasty original tracks written by Jo Armstead, includes that Rhetta’s funky cover of ‘Light My Fire’, but there are lots of other nice ones, like ‘You're Doing It With Her’, ‘Gimme Some Of Yours (I’ll Give You Some Of Mine)’, ‘Giving Up My Heartaches’, ‘Sooky’, ‘I Can’t Stand Under This Pressure’, and ‘Cry Myself To Sleep’. Hard to find, too! .~ http://www.dustygroove.com/, http://www.answers.com/

Bobbie Gentry: Ode to Billie Joe (1967) / Touch 'em With Love (1969)

2009-10-21T00:04:00.000-07:00

Bobbie Gentry's eerily beautiful, ornate, and almost gothic approach to country music means there's never really been another artist quite like her, and this disc, which pairs 1967's Ode to Billie Joe, her debut album, with 1969's more pop and polished Touch 'Em with Love, offers plenty of that uniqueness. The opener, 'Mississippi Delta,' is raw, energetic, and raggedly funky. 'I Saw an Angel Die' is an effective mating of Gentry's country-blues guitar riffs and low-key orchestration, while 'Papa, Won't You Let Me Go to Town with You' is so desperately bright that it's easy to overlook the fact that Gentry, who is a wonderful songwriter, has painted an amazingly detailed portrait of a young girl's hopes and dreams. Then there's the creepy, eerie, and absolutely fascinating 'Bugs' and, last but not least, 'Ode To Billie Joe,' a storytelling tune about a secret love affair whose doom is related over a Sunday dinner. The song’s enigmatic question - what was it that Billie Joe and his lady friend threw off the Tallahatchie Bridge? - was the topic of conversation in supermarkets and over dinner. It even became the subject of church sermons. The tune itself was irresistible, a four minute audio book with an unforgettable acoustic guitar hook, bass, and occasional strings swooping into and out of the mix. Released in the summer of 1967, it almost immediately shot to #1 on the strength of sales and radio play. Touch 'Em With Love is Bobbie Gentry's finest studio effort, a fascinatingly eclectic and genuinely affecting record that broadened her musical horizons far beyond the limitations of the Nashville sound. Gentry's husky, sensual delivery proves as ideally suited for the Southern-fried funk of the opening title track as it does for the bluegrass-flavored 'Natural to Be Gone,' deftly moving from genre to genre to encompass everything from faux-gospel ('Glory Hallelujah, How They'll Sing') to lushly orchestrated pop ('I Wouldn't Be Surprised'). Even more eye-opening is that Gentry's originals stand tall alongside material from composers including Burt Bacharach ('I'll Never Fall in Love Again,' which earned her a chart-topping single in the U.K.) and Jimmy Webb ('Where's the Playground, Johnny') — her folky 'Seasons Come, Seasons Go,' an acute tale of lost love, offers Touch 'Em With Love's most profoundly beautiful moment. I have added as bonus tracks EIGHT duets with Glen Campbell from the lone album the two did together. http://www.answers.com/
a

Bobbie Gentry's live performance of her classic 'Ode to Billie Joe', from the Smothers Brothers show:

Bobbie Gentry: Patchwork (1971) / Fancy (1970)

2009-10-18T01:52:00.000-07:00

This two-fer combo is a worthwhile roundup of two of Bobbie Gentry's more overlooked records. From 1971, Patchwork is by far the more artistically ambitious of the pair, as it consists entirely of original (and self-produced) material, whereas 1970s Fancy is mostly cover versions. Patchwork, oddly, ended up being the still-young singer/songwriter's final long-player, and found her Southern pop-country-folk-soul fusion going in a somewhat slicker, more orchestrated direction than her early work. That's part of the reason it's not one of the more impressive Gentry albums, another being that the songs don't rate among her very best, sometimes going off in unexpectedly bouncy or middle-of-the-road directions. Still, her singing remains fine, and some of the more serious and intimate songs ('Beverly,' 'Belinda,' 'Lookin' In,' and 'Marigolds and Tangerines') are fairly impressive. Fancy is an odd entry in her discography in that, though it features a self-penned title track, it's otherwise devoted entirely to outside material, recorded (à la several white blue-eyed soulstresses circa 1970) at Muscle Shoals. The title track is a "Billie Joe"-type story with a similar guitar figure; it also has a host of West Coast horns telling an unapologetic rags-to-riches story without regrets that mirrors Gentry's own. From here, Gentry, assisted or perhaps directed by producer Rich Hall, cuts a pair of Bacharach/David numbers ('Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head' and 'I'll Never Fall in Love Again'), James Taylor's 'Something in the Way He Moves,' Leon Russell's 'Delta Man,' Nilsson's 'Rainmaker,' Rudy Clark's 'If You Gotta Make a Fool of Somebody,' Laura Nyro's 'Wedding Bell Blues,' and a few others with full strings, horns, orchestras, and glockenspiels for accompaniment — along with a honky tonk piano, drum kit, and electric bass. As such, it was never going to be among Gentry's more distinguished efforts. But that's not to say it's not enjoyable, mostly for her superb earthy singing.

Bobbie Gentry sings 'Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head', 1971 :

Bobbie Gentry: The Delta Sweete / Local Gentry (1968)

2009-10-15T00:36:00.000-07:00

Bobbie Gentry's second and third albums, Delta Sweete and Local Gentry may not have been as successful as their predecessor, Ode to Billie Joe, but how could they have been? If they didn't sell near as well, they certainly were more adventurous. Banking on Ode to Billie Joe's success, Delta Sweete, released in March of 1968, was a concept album based on modern life in the Deep South. A lot of emphasis was put on the unique sound of Gentry's guitar and her unique singing and phrasing styles. Gentry wrote eight of the album's 12 tracks, with 'Okolona River Bottom Band' using the same basic cadence as her smash single's; the track is accented by a beautiful, sophisticated horn chart and some breathy strings. Likewise her reading of Mose Allison's 'Parchman Farm Blues' brings out the brass and strings in full jazz, big band fashion. The way it fades into Gentry's own 'Mornin' Glory,' with its high lonesome harmonica and shimmering strings and bells, is a forgotten '60s pop classic. 'Sermon' is a fine southern take on Neil Diamond's 'Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show' with a smoking lead trumpet part. Local Gentry is an exquisitely wrought collection of character studies steeped in the myth and lore of Southern culture, from the funeral parlor director portrayed in 'Casket Vignette' to the titular 'Ace Insurance Man,' Bobbie Gentry etches a series of revealing, well-observed narratives populated by folks both larger-than-life and small-time, adding up to something not unlike a country-pop Spoon River Anthology. A subtle, primarily acoustic effort, the record's sound and sensibility are steeped in Gentry's Mississippi upbringing, but despite the music's warmth and humanity, the effect is neither nostalgic nor saccharine — instead, Gentry wistfully and wryly evokes a colorful rural culture populated by soldiers, widows, and traveling medicine shows. The five original compositions here rank among her most literate and personal, while covers like the Beatles' 'Fool on the Hill' and 'Eleanor Rigby' add to the roll call of misfits, eccentrics, and beautiful losers. There are three bonus cuts included here, the best of which is a refreshing read on 'Stormy.' http://www.allmusic.com/

Bobbie and Bing Crosby duet on one of Bobbie's hits about the Delta, 'Okolona River Bottom Band'. From The Hollywood Palace, Jan. 1969.

Maxine Brown: Oh No Not My Baby - The Best of (1990)

2009-10-14T00:07:00.000-07:00

Although there had been great female R&B and pop singers before she came along, it is generally accepted that Maxine Brown was the first female soul singer of any significance. Given the excellence of the music that Maxine recorded, it is remarkable that she did not achieve superstardom. This 28-song anthology, originally released in 1990, is undoubtedly the best compilation of this iconic soul singer’s work, featuring many of her '60s singles and several tunes from the era that were unreleased until the '80s. The set draws from her recordings for the Wand label between 1963 and 1967, when Brown was at her artistic peak. Of course the hit title track is a highlight, but there are no clunkers in this collection of overlooked '60s pop-soul, featuring the New York "uptown" production that also graced the records of fellow Wand/Scepter artists like Dionne Warwick and Chuck Jackson. The strings and soaring backing vocals are a brilliant counterpart to some hard hitting drums and punchy choruses, and there are some delicate numbers, too - while Maxine shines beautifully throughout! Titles include ‘One in a Million’, ‘It's Torture’, ‘Let Me Give You My Lovin'’, 'Yesterday's Kisses’, ‘Gotta Find A Way’, ‘Baby Cakes’, ‘Why Did I Choose You’, ‘Misty Morning Eyes’, ‘Since I Found You’, ‘Losing My Touch’, ‘If I Had Known’, ‘It's Gonna Be Alright’, an impressive live version of her classic ‘All in My Mind’, from 1964, and more. Brown was one of the most versatile soul divas of the '60s, showing the influence of Brill Building pop, girl groups, Motown, and even Stax soul and supper-club ballads. As with a similar artist like Betty Everett, this versaility has worked against her in some ways. Neither full-fledged pop nor unabashedly soul, her work cannot be easily pigeonholed into a certain soul genre, and has cost her the respect that some purists reserve for "deep" soul singers. Nevertheless, she is one of my favourite soul singers. http://www.allmusic.com/, http://www.dustygroove.com/

Lena Horne: Stormy Weather (1957) ... plus

2009-10-10T01:48:00.000-07:00

'Stormy Weather,' Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler's 1933 standard, was written for Cab Calloway, introduced by Arlen himself on a hit recording, and sung on-stage at the Cotton Club by Ethel Waters. But it became the signature song of a teenager who was in the club's chorus line in those days, Lena Horne, when she sang it a decade later in the movie musical of the same name. It was 14 years later that Horne would use the song as the title track of her first full-length studio LP. She had made a comeback with Lena Horne at the Waldorf Astoria and followed it with this superb collection of favorites. On these sessions - conducted by either her husband Lennie Hayton, or Marty Paich - Horne's vibrant vocals hold their own against the top-notch backing band, which includes guitarist Kenny Burrell and trumpeters Doc Severinsen and Harry "Sweets" Edison, among others. Horne's exuberance is palpable on every track; even on typically downbeat tunes such as 'Summertime' - here given a slinky, sensual rendition - the strikingly beautiful vocalist charms with her bold, vital performances. Other highlights include a disarmingly boisterous version of the title track, 'Mad About the Boy,' 'Any Place I Hang My Hat Is Home,' and a bright, swinging take on the carefree 'Just One of Those Things.' This reissue adds 10 bonus tracks to the original 11, including a previously unreleased earlier version of 'Stormy Weather' employing a full string section, another unreleased track, 'Come Runnin',' and period recordings drawn from singles and EPs, among them such show tune standards as Cole Porter's 'From This Moment On,' Lerner & Loewe's 'Wouldn't It Be Lovely,' and Rodgers & Hammerstein's 'A Cock-Eyed Optimist,' 'I Have Dreamed,' and 'The Surrey With the Fringe on Top.' The result is a superlative augmentation of the original release. Note that the title Stormy Weather is confusingly overused in hundreds of Horne releases, but don't be fooled: this is the original 1957 album. http://www.artistdirect.com/

Here's a performance taken from the 1943 film Stormy Weather, where the great Lena Horne delivers a sizzling performance of her signature song:

Lena Horne singing 'From This Moment On', possibly in the late '60s:

Bettye LaVette: Souvenirs (2000)

2009-10-07T04:47:00.000-07:00

Bettye LaVette is one of the greatest soul singers in music history, possessed of an incredibly expressive voice that one moment will exude a formidable level of strength and intensity and the next will appear vulnerable, reflective, reeking of heartbreak. Unfortunately, it says much about the vagaries of the popular music industry that, although LaVette has been recording for over four decades, up to this point she has remained criminally unknown. Despite the wealth of quality recordings that Bettye cut over the years, only six of her forty-fives managed to chart R&B and none of them broke into the pop Top 100. That is something unbelievable for a singer of her stature. Rather than enjoying the sustained success that by right should have been hers, her career has been haunted by what she refers to as “buzzard luck.” In 1972, on her second go round with Atlantic Records, LaVette headed down to Muscle Shoals with the Memphis Horns and producer Brad Shapiro to cut her first full-length album. The recordings were mastered and readied for release under the title Child of the Seventies before the powers-at-be at Atlantic mysteriously pulled the plug, unconscionably shelving the record for nearly thirty years before it was released in 2000 on Art and Soul under the new title Souvenirs. Soul fans the world over were stunned by what was clearly a heretofore unknown masterpiece. The backing is classic Muscle Shoals, in this case rather guitar-based, with additional arrangements, such as strings, applied tastefully. It is a truly classic Southern Soul record made for grownups, with very little filler. ‘It Ain’t Easy,’ ‘Our Own Love Song’, ‘Ain’t Nothing Gonna Change Me,’ ‘If I Can’t Be Your Woman’ and ‘Souvenirs’ are simply superb and her interpretations of Kenny Rogers' ‘What Condition My Condition Is In’, Neil Young's ‘Heart of Gold’ and Free's ‘The Stealer’ clearly beat the original. Both sides of her first two singles, from 1962, are also included. Obviously, these tracks represent a major shift in mood, but are welcome nonetheless. http://www.amazon.com/

Oh, by the way, Bettye is NUMBER 1 on my list…

Bettye's stunning take on The Who classic, 'Love Reign O'er Me' at the 2008 Kennedy Center Honors, with Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey as part of the audience. Watching their expressions during this video is as moving as the performance by Bettye LaVette:

Gigliola Cinquetti - Le 50 Più Belle Canzoni

2009-10-03T01:31:00.000-07:00

Gigliola Cinquetti, the Italian winner of the 1964 Eurovision Song Contest, was born on December 20, 1947, in Verona. She first received attention at age 16, when she triumphed at the annual San Remo Song Contest in early 1964; just weeks later, she swept to victory at Eurovision, to set herself up for a stunningly successful career. Her winning entry at both events, incidentally, was 'Non Ho L'Eta' ('Not Old Enough'). The song was a major hit throughout Europe, including the traditionally resistant UK. Domenico Modugno's masterpiece 'Dio Como Ti Amo' brought Cinquetti further international success in 1966; among her other hits are 'Il Primo Bacio Che Darò', 'Caro Come Te' (1964), 'Piccola Cittá', 'La Rosa Nera' (1967), 'Sera', 'Quelli Erano Giorni' (1968) and 'La Pioggia' (1969). Through this same period, her albums included Alle Porte del Sole, Auf der Straße der Sonne, Cantando con Gli Amici, Giovane Vecchio Cuore, Il Treno Dell'amore, Pensieri di Donna, and Stasera Ballo Liscio. After a decade spent topping the Italian charts, Cinquetti returned to Eurovision in 1974, this time performing 'Si' — and running into a political firestorm in her homeland. Italy was about to go to the polls for a referendum on the legalization of divorce. It was feared that the song's title, translating as 'Yes,' would be construed as a commentary upon the debate and might even act as a subliminal message to voters. Italy's national broadcasters RAI not only banned the song from the airwaves, but even censored it from their telecast of the Eurovision Song Contest itself. Still, 'Si' finished second (behind ABBA's 'Waterloo'), while an English-language version, 'Go,' gave Cinquetti her second UK hit. Since that time, Cinquetti has remained a force to be reckoned with in her homeland and beyond, and she returned once more to Eurovision in 1991 to co-host the event with the previous year's winner, Italian Toto Cutugno. http://www.allmusic.com/. I have garthered here 50 of Gigliola's best known songs - including all the aforementioned - plus some foreign-language versions of her biggest hits and a few B-sides. I must let you know that some of her late '60s-early '70s repertoire may sound a bit syrupy sometimes. Frankly, songs like 'La Pioggia' and 'Il Treno Dell'Amore' are not really my taste and most probably not yours either, but her voice is so great that they are still worth listening to (like France Gall's 'Baci, Baci, Baci', 'Homme tout petit' and such were too, but just barely and only because it was her singing!)

An enchanting 16-year-old Gigliola Cinquetti sings her first hit, 'Non ho l'età', in 1964. With this song she won both the Eurovision Song Contest and, for the first time, the San Remo Festival. What a beautiful voice she had at such a young age!

Gigliola Cinquetti delivers a sublime performance of 'Si', a song which came 2nd on Eurovision Song Contest, 1974:

The Ikettes: Soul the Hits (1965) ... plus:

2009-09-30T02:25:00.000-07:00

The Ikettes really should stand beside such as the Supremes, the Ronettes and the Shirelles as one of the greatest of girl groups in the ‘60s. That they have been largely overlooked could be due to a number of factors. Because they are best known as the glamorous backing singers and dancers for Ike and Tina Turner, their role as artists in their own right probably had less impact. Also, they lacked the focus of an identifiable lead singer, as their line-ups were in a state of constant flux as Ike Turner hired and fired them, or they chose to leave because of low wages or other reasons, and indeed it is hard to know who sang what on which record. Lead singers over the years included Robbie Montgomery, Jessie Smith, Venetta Fields, Dee Dee Johnson (aka Flora Williams), PP Arnold and Joshie Armstead. As well as the singles, the Ikettes had one album to their name, The Ikettes Soul the Hits, originally released in 1966 on Modern Records, which included a number of popular hits of the day as well as their own hits and some original material mostly written by Ike Turner. At that time The Ikettes were Robbie Montgomery, Jessie Smith and Venetta Fields. It only takes one listen to this album to realize how much better this trio was than many of the other girl groups around, working with a depth and tightness that's way more than simple girl pop. The voices of all three singers are wonderful, and many of the tunes have the same sort of energy as the best grooves of the time from Ike & Tina: upbeat and snapping, and almost with a trace of Northern Soul at times, but a grittier undercurrent at others. Tracks include the super ‘Peaches 'N Cream’, ‘Sally Go Round the Roses’, ‘I'm So Thankful’, ‘Lonely for You’, and ‘Not That I Recall’. This Japanese reissue expands the original 1965 album tremendously, from 12 tracks to 29, with the addition of lots more singles and material issued by some group members as solo artists. Bonus tracks include ‘How Come’, ‘Your Love Is Mine’, ‘Sha La La’, ‘You're Trying to Make Me Lose My Mind’, and ‘Fine Fine Fine’ by The Ikettes, plus ‘I'm Leaving You’, ‘You're Still My Baby’, ‘Give Me a Chance’, and ‘Through with You’ by Venetta Fields; ‘Blue With a Broken Heart’ by Flora Williams; and ‘Easy Living’ by Dee Dee Johnson. http://infoman16.tripod.com/, http://www.dustygroove.com/

The Ikettes singing live 'Sweet Inspiration' and below, 'Everyday People':

Judy Henske: Judy Henske (1963) / High Flying Bird (1964)

2009-09-26T02:31:00.000-07:00

Success is a matter of luck as well as talent. Given different circumstances, Henske could have certainly been a much bigger star than she was. Instead she's a hazily remembered figure, known if at all for some recordings that faintly prefigured folk-rock, and tangential associations with more famous performers. Her strong, bold, and versatile delivery would have been well-suited for the folk-rock era; her timing was just a bit off. Signing to Elektra as a solo artist, she released her eponymous debut in '63, following it up in '64 with the album that is generally accepted as her best Elektra release. Judy's 1963 debut for the label was a live affair recorded in front of a well-oiled studio audience, the perfect venue for not only her passionate singing style but also her irreverent between-song patter. Henske belts out numbers that most folksingers of the period approached gently and reverently, as though they'd break, and the arrangements, acoustic guitar and bass with harmonica and the occasional presence of a trombone, interspersed with some brassy orchestrations. This wasn't the G-rated side of the folk revival, either, as Henske makes more mentions of sex, whores, whorehouses, and other subject matter not suitable for children than one usually heard on records from this period. As she would throughout most of her career, on this album Henske eludes easy categorization. There's barrelhouse blues with a touch of Broadway belting, there are folk standards, and even Dixielandish jazz. She's at her best when she eschews the jivey jazz for a more straight folk-blues approach (on 'Wade in the Water,' 'Love Henry,' and 'I Know You Rider'). High Flying Bird offers a somewhat more restrained presentation, without the same level of humor and, generally, more conventional blues arrangements — Henske does a version of the title-track that blows the Jefferson Airplane's rendition right out of the sky, and she may give us the most distinctive performance of 'Columbus Stockade' this side of Darby & Tarlton's early-'30s recording, interspersed with works by Hoagy Carmichael and Billie Holiday. High Flying Bird virtually prefigured folk rock, featuring as it did guitars, bass and drums (played by legendary sessionman Earl Palmer). I added a live version of 'House of the Rising Sun' as a bonus track here. As these two recordings show, Judy Henske should have been a major star, rather than the hazy cult figure that she has become. http://www.allmusic.com/

Rosetta Hightower: Hightower (1971)

2009-09-24T00:18:00.000-07:00

Rosetta Hightower made her primary mark as the lead singer of the classic Philly girl group the Orlons, who rolled off a series of girl group soul hits in the early '60s. After the Orlons broke up, Rosetta Hightower moved to England. Alongside other Yankee transplants like Geno Washington and Doris Troy, Hightower played the club and casino circuit that was in the early stages of developing into what would eventually be called Northern Soul. There she recorded a few singles and released a couple similarly titled albums. ‘Hightower’ (1971) was by far the best of these, merging rock, soul, and folk-rock with stellar session musicians like Rick Grech, Harold McNair, Jim Price, and Bobby Keys. Although the song selection leans far too heavily on familiar recent soul hits like ‘Tracks of My Tears’ and ‘I Heard It Through the Grapevine,’ her vocal prowess is undeniable: rather than showy over-souled histrionics, Hightower's restraint becomes her trademark, lending an elegance to these smartly arranged pop-soul interpretations. It's the four pre-album single sides that are a revelation, however: in particular, the energetic ‘Pretty Red Balloons’ is a lost classic with a killer chorus featuring a swooping string section in the classic bubblegum tradition, and her stormy break-beat cover of Eddie Floyd’s ‘Big Bird’ goes gritty and psychedelic in the manner of contemporaneous Temptations singles. Although the other LP, the self-titled ‘Rosetta Hightower’, was also well done and well sung, it was devoted to Motown covers, rather than to more distinctive material that might have helped her make a name for herself as a solo artist. ~ Stewart Mason, Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide.

Ethel Ennis: Change of Scenery (1957) / Have You Forgotten (1958)

2009-09-19T01:42:00.000-07:00

One of my all-time favourite singers, Baltimore jazz institution Ethel Ennis was born November 28, 1932; beginning her vocal career while a pianist in a high school jazz group, she quickly went on to sing with everyone from Louis Armstrong to Duke Ellington to Count Basie. Ennis' debut LP Lullabies for Losers appeared on Jubilee in 1955, with the follow-up, Change of Scenery, issued two years later on Capitol; around the same time, she toured Europe with Benny Goodman, but finding the grind of the road too intense she returned home to Baltimore, and — much to the detriment of her rising fame — rarely played outside of the Charm City area in the decades to come. After 1958's Have You Forgotten?, Ennis did not resurface until six years later, landing at RCA for This Is Ethel Ennis; three more LPs — Once Again, Eyes for You and My Kind of Waltztime — quickly followed before another eight-year studio hiatus which finally ended with the 1973 release of the BASF album 10 Sides of Ethel Ennis. That same year, she also sang the National Anthem at the re-inauguration proceedings of President Richard Nixon. Ennis next turned up on vinyl in 1980 with Live at Maryland Inn; a self-titled follow-up was 14 years in the making, with If Women Ruled the World appearing in 1998 and Ennis Anyone? Ethel Ennis Live at Montpelier on Jazzmont, in 2005. This compilation gathers her two fantastic albums for Capitol Records, Change of Scenery (1957) and Have You Forgotten? (1958), on one single release. Highlights include 'My Foolish Heart,' 'The Song Is Ended,' 'Happiness Is a Thing Called Joe,' 'A Little Bit Square But Nice,' 'For All We Know,' and 'The Things I Love' . I hope you enjoy it!! http://www.allmusic.com/

A lovely clip of Ethel Ennis singing 'I've Got That Feeling':

Fontella Bass: The Very Best of Checker/Chess (1965-1968)

2009-09-16T04:14:00.000-07:00

The 1965 classic ‘Rescue Me’ is widely regarded as the greatest record Aretha Franklin never made. The song in question was instead cut by Fontella Bass, who, like Franklin, was a singer who channeled the power and passion of her gospel roots to create some of the finest music of soul's golden age. This set is the most comprehensive anthology ever assembled of the great sides the St. Louis-born vocalist recorded for Checker/Chess Records in the mid-'60s. It includes the entirety of her 1966 The New Look album - largely consisting of contemporary covers -, as well as three duets with Bobby McClure - much in the mode of some of the more famous duets coming from Detroit or New York -, plus ten tracks from singles not previously included on album. There are indications that Checker were slightly caught out by the runaway success of ‘Rescue Me’ and weren't sure quite what to do with her, as some of these subsequent singles sound like blatant attempts to capitalize on her hit by sounding as much like it as possible. Some of her best material, conversely, was buried on B-sides, for example ‘The Soul of a Man’ and the duet with Bobby McClure ‘Don't Jump’, which became a big favourite despite being consigned to the other side of flop single ‘You're Gonna Miss Me’. This compilation also shows an evolution in music, as Bass sings in styles that include deep soul ala Atlantic, sweet soul ala Motown, uptown soul ala Wand and soaring soul ala Brunswick. I added ‘Don’t Jump’ as a bonus track, which was not originally included here. http://www.answers.com/, http://www.dustygroove.com/, http://www.amazon.com/

Fontella Bass' classic performance of 'Rescue Me' on Shindig (1965):

VA: It's So Fine - Pye Girls Are Go! (2005)

2009-09-12T03:33:00.001-07:00

For connoisseurs of obscure girl group pop, the ten-volume Here Come the Girls series remains a landmark. Focusing largely on the oft-overlooked work of British producer Tony Hatch, best known for his hits with singer Petula Clark, the series unearthed a staggering number of lost classics from otherwise forgotten acts like Val McKenna, Lorraine Silver, Tammy St. John and Tawney Reed, proving the London girl-pop scene just as fertile, breathlessly romantic, and enduring as the American classics created under the supervision of Phil Spector and Shadow Morton. Most if not all of the original Here Come the Girls discs are now out of print, but many of their best tracks have been revived for It's So Fine: Pye Girls Are Go!, a 51-track extravaganza that also picks up where HCTG left off, with dozens of singles making their debut. Petula Clark performs two tracks here (‘Gotta Tell the World’, ‘Life and Soul of the Party’), while one of her hits (‘Color My World’) is here via a cover by Two of Each, a four-member group that included Mally Page, sister of Jackie Trent. Mally is represented via a solo recording (‘You Can Be Wrong About Boys’) while her more famous sister is here on two tracks (‘Only One Such As You’, ‘Such a Small Love’). Another song first recorded by Petula (‘Have Another Dream on Me’) is here covered by Dilys Watling. Of the other artists featured, the most famous among them are Helen Shapiro (‘Silly Boy I Love You’, ‘Take Me for Awhile’), Anita Harris (‘London Life’), Billie Davis (‘Ev'ry Day’, ‘Last One to Be Loved’), Pickettywitch (‘You Got Me So I Don’t Know’), the Paper Dolls (‘Something Here in My Heart Keeps a-Telling Me No’) and Jackie Lee (‘Everybody Needs a Little Loving’). Songs you might have heard before include ‘Pay You Back With Interest’ (originally by the Hollies, here covered by Dana Gillespie), ‘B-A-B-Y’ (originally by Carla Thomas, here covered by Ferris Wheel), ‘Take Away the Emptiness Too’ (also recorded by the Foundations, but here sung by Tina Tott) and ‘L David Sloane’ (a top ten American hit for Michele Lee, here covered by Kay Garner). You probably haven't heard ‘Words Written on Water’ (here performed by the Baker Twins) as the original was also an obscure track by the Avons. If you enjoy music by female singers of the ’60s and you are not preoccupied with charts, you will surely love this. http://www.amazon.com/, http://www.allmusic.com/
aa

A teenager Tawney Reed singing, with her energetic vocal style, the Velvelettes hit 'Needle in a Haystack', 1966:

The Breakaways not only backed most of Pye Records artists, but also made some great records themselves, like 'That Boy of Mine', 1963:

The Flirtations: Sounds Like the Flirtations (1969) ... plus

2009-09-08T23:56:00.000-07:00

Although they never recorded for Motown Records, the Flirtations should have, because they sounded like nothing so much as a more energetic version of the Supremes, and by all rights, this exciting vocal trio should have been continually at the top of the pop charts during the late 1960s and early 1970s. They did have a big hit with 1969's ‘Nothing But a Heartache,’ a record that has had an enduring shelf life and actually might be better known now in the 21st century than it was 40-some years ago. Originally formed in 1962 in Alabama, the three-vocalist line up (Ernestine Pearce, Shirley Pearce, Vie Billups) relocated to the UK in 1968 where they picked up with producer Wayne Bickerton and writer Tony Waddington, and a deal with Decca. They recorded the album Sounds Like the Flirtations in 1969 plus six singles released through the Deram imprint between 1968 and 1971, before leaving for Polydor Records in 1972. This set collects the Deram album and adds in four additional tracks from the same time period to make an ideal introduction to this fun group. Among the gems here are the undeniably classic ‘Nothing But a Heartache,’ the bursting-with-energy ‘Need Your Loving,’ the autobiographical ‘South Carolina’ and the why-wasn't-this-a-hit ‘What's Good About Goodbye My Love,’ but everything here falls into the same groove, with upbeat arrangements, spirited singing and insistent, racing and almost unhinged horn arrangements. I added 8 bonus tracks, consisting on three songs recorded for Josie and Festival between 1966 and 1967, two more on Polydor and RCA in the early ‘70s, plus their late disco hits, the 2008 recording of ‘Run for the Exit’ included. 27 songs in total. It's fun stuff, and fans of Motown and Northern Soul are going to love this. The Flirtations are one of my favorite ‘60s girl groups. ~ http://www.cherryred.co.uk, http://www.answers.com/

I have three rounds of video clips from this great soul trio for you today. First of all, a rare performance of the Northen Soul classic 'Nothing But a Heartache', filmed in colour at Tintern Abbey at Monmouthshire, South Wales:

Second, a performance of 'Someone Out There' on a Spanish TV Show conducted by Joaquin Prat, who embarrass the girls asking them about their marital status and the name of the boys they have in mind (being one of The Fantastics and Steve Wonder for the Pearce sisters). This was the third time they visited Spain and, after that, probably the last one!:

And last, but not least, a clip of 1972 Polydor single 'Hold on to Me Babe'. It's anyone's guess what the girls are doing in a sawmill, but it's pretty safe to assume that health and safety regulations wouldn't enable this clip to be made these days!:

Judee Sill: Abracadabra - The Asylum Years (2006)

2009-09-05T10:24:00.001-07:00

A singer/songwriter with deeply religious overtones and a penchant for the occult, Judee Sill is one of rock's more interesting and lesser-known stories. She led a wild life as a teenager and in her early 20s, spending time in both reform school and jail in the mid-‘60s and developing a nasty drug habit that was to haunt her for the rest of her life. In the late ‘60s she attracted attention for her work within Los Angeles’ folk rock fraternity. An early composition, ‘Dead Time Bummer Blues’, was recorded by the Leaves, whose bass player, Jim Pons, later joined the Turtles. He introduced Sill to Blimp, the band’s publishing company, the fruit of which was ‘Lady O’, their finest late-period performance. The song also appeared on 1971’s Judee Sill, the artist’s debut for Asylum Records, which was largely produced by Pons in partnership with another ex-member of the Leaves, John Beck. Graham Nash supervised the sole exception, the beautiful ‘Jesus Was a Cross Maker’, which drew considerable comment over its lyrical content. 1973’s Heart Food continued this uncompromising individual’s quest for excellence and deftly balanced upbeat, country-tinged compositions with dramatic emotional ballads. A gift for melody suggested a long, successful career, but Judee Sill subsequently abandoned full-time music and died of an overdose in 1979. Sill’s first two albums (a third one was recorded in 1974, but never released at the time) resurface here with extensive bonus tracks, including an almost uncomfortably intimate live version of ‘Jesus Was a Cross Maker’ which stands as a testament to its incredible compositional elegance. For those seeking the perfect addition to early ‘70s female singer-songwriters, such as Carly Simon, Laura Nyro and Joni Mitchell, the little known Judee Sill will be a remarkable surprise. Essential. http://www.boomkat.com/, http://www.allmusic.com/, http://www.oldies.com/

Judy on a live performance of her classic 'Jesus Was a Cross Maker':
aa

aa
This was recorded in London on February of 1973 for the "Old Grey Whistle Test" TV program on the BBC. Just outstanding:
aa

Esther Philips: Burnin' - Live at Freddie Jett's Pied Piper, L.A. (1970)

2009-09-01T01:02:00.000-07:00

Originally released on Atlantic in 1970, Burnin': Live at Freddie Jett's Pied Piper, L.A. is a stunning live set which marked Esther Phillip's move from being a loud young R&B singer called Little Esther into an older, more mature interpreter of material in a more jazzy style. She is backed here by a good group that includes Jack Wilson on piano, Richard Tee on organ, Chuck Rainey on bass, and Cornell Dupree on guitar. Esther moves through a heartbreaking set of material that heralds her later 70's recordings for Kudu. http://www.dustygroove.com.

Here’s the track list:

1. Don't Let Me Lose This Dream
2. And I Love Him
3. Cry Me a River Blues
4. I'm Gettin' 'Long Alright
5. Release Me
6. Makin' Whoopee
7. If It's the Last Thing I Do
8. Shangri-La
9. Please Send Me Someone to Love

An amazing live performance of Esther Phillips from around the same time this LP was released (even the dress she is wearing seems to be the same of the album cover). She sings 'Misery' here:

HOLIDAY TIME! I'll be back soon ...

2009-07-31T13:16:00.000-07:00

I’m leaving on holidays, so there will be no more blog postings for a while.

See you all in a few weeks! ;D

Timi Yuro: Live at PJ's (1969) ... plus

2009-07-31T00:18:00.001-07:00

Timi Yuro's performance at PJ's club in Los Angeles was recorded in April 1969 for an album that almost saw release in August of that same year, but was withdrawn just before issue. Five of the eight tracks that would have comprised that set did show up on the 1976 LP The Timi Yuro Album, but this reissue marks the first time the entire canceled album has been officially available. What's more, it adds three alternate takes recorded on different nights, as well as an instrumental version of 'Comin' Home Baby' by the backup band. Yuro herself said that she was not unhappy with the LP's failure to hit the marketplace, as she was not pleased with the recording equipment and resulting sound. Nevertheless, it's a good show, though one can hear why a perfectionist singer might have felt that it wasn't up to the optimum standards of a live recording. One cannot, certainly, fault Yuro's vocals, which are characteristically strong, beefy and inspired. The material comprising the set is not as imaginative as one might hope for, built around her two big hits, 'Hurt' and 'What's a Matter Baby,' the latter given a peppy soul arrangement. Other than that, it has covers of contemporary hits seemingly designed to cover the entire variety spectrum, from soul ('I've Been Loving You Too Long' and Stevie Wonder's 'A Place in the Sun') and country ('Make the World Go Away' and 'Stand By Your Man') to pop ('Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down),' 'Yesterday'). It's supper-club soul, complete with between-song patter and medleys on half the tracks, though it's supper-club soul of the first order. http://www.allmusic.com/

Etta James: Tell Mama - The Complete Muscle Shoals Sessions (2001)

2009-07-29T00:43:00.000-07:00

Born Jamesetta Hawkins in L.A. in 1938, Etta James had made an early start on the local gospel scene before graduating to clubs and being spotted by the ever watchful Johnny Otis in the early 50s. He organised the name change and with ‘Dance with Me Henry’ Etta made her mark on rock & roll history. An answer to Hank Ballard’s ‘Work with Me Annie’, it too was famously banned for being overly suggestive (the real title was, of course, ‘Roll with Me Henry’), then suffered the iniquity of being covered by Georgia Gibbs—a white artist who specialised in anodyne and cynical re-makes of black hits. Gibbs’ bowdlerised version was the bigger seller but James had made her mark as singer of explosive power with a genuine, grown-up sexuality. After a number of further releases, she signed to Chess Records, where she scored with a series of lushly arranged R&B tunes such as ‘At Last’ and ‘Sunday kind of Love’. On these dates she began to show a penchant for mixing in jazz, country and pop with her driving blues-based style—something that has remained a feature of her work. In 1967 Etta went to record in Alabama at the legendary Muscle Shoals studio. The result was her most accomplished album, on which her voice had been mixed to perfection, allowing her to sound strong on the previously distorted high notes. James was rightly seen in a different light as one of the great soul voices of all time as she belted out powerful tracks such as ‘The Love Of My Man’ and ‘Watch Dog.’ Her slower numbers were equally arresting, including the wonderful ‘I'd Rather Go Blind’.~ http://www.cduniverse.com/, ~ http://www.popmatters.com/

Pat Bowie: Out of Sight (1964) / Feelin' Good! (1965)

2009-07-24T00:38:00.001-07:00

Here's Pat Bowie's two mid-'60s dates for Prestige, the only albums she ever recorded. While the style and scope of Out of Sight! (1964) positions the singer as a jazz act, her vocals boast a soulful edge that plainly suggests the influence of R&B. If anything, the album fails to properly exploit the full extent of Bowie's talents, relying too much on familiar ballads and standards instead of more contemporary and complementary material. That being said, this is still a lovely record, with nuanced small-combo backing from guitarist Kenny Burrell, pianist Ray Bryant, and tenor saxophonist Seldon Powell buoying Bowie's lithe interpretations of songs like 'Moon and Sand', 'I've Got Your Number' or Cole Porter's ‘What Is This Thing Called Love?’ and ‘Get Out of Town.’ Like its predecessor, Feelin' Good! (1965) saddles Pat Bowie with a collection of predictable standards that compromise the singer's distinctly modern and hip approach. The session features contributions from altoist Charles McPherson, one of his few dates in support of a vocalist, and McPherson's rich solos ripple below the lyrics, caressing the contours of Bowie's voice. Pianist Tommy Flanagan, bassist Al Hall, and drummer Osie Johnson further underscore the set's moody, spacious approach, updating chestnuts like 'I Wanna Be Loved', ‘Summertime’, 'Baby, Won't You Please Come Home' and ‘They Can't Take That Away from Me’ with style and sophistication. After such a promising start, Bowie would never make another record, at least according to discographies. Even if these two albums never really became classics, with the superb musicians present and Bowie’s individual approach there is much for the jazz enthusiast to enjoy here. http://www.allmusic.com/

Marie Knight: The Story of Marie Knight

2009-07-09T00:03:00.001-07:00

The recording career of Marie Knight spans an impressive fifty years; spells cutting gospel bool-endings a decade-plus in the service of R&B and soul music. Marie’s vocal talents were recognized early on. When she was five years old, Marie -who was born in Sanford, Florida, but raised in Newark, New Jersey- sang the gospel number 'Doing All the Good We Can' at her parents' church, where the congregants marveled at her poise. A member of the youth choir, she was soon elevated to soloist and taught herself to play piano. That joy soon became a professional calling for Marie, who by her early twenties had gained experience touring the national gospel circuit with evangelist Frances Robinson; she even recorded a few early sides with the quartet The Sunset Four. In 1946, she met Sister Rosetta Tharpe, the nationally famous gospel singer-guitarist, who recognized something special in Marie's compelling contralto and her elegant stage presence. The two became gospel's preeminent duo of the ‘40s, recording some hits for Decca Records. By the late ‘40s, Marie and Rosetta had split to pursue separate musical projects: Marie to do solo gospel work on Decca. In the '50s to mid-'60s , Marie cultivated a R&B career, touring with the likes of Brooke Benton, the Drifters, and Clyde McPhatter. This is the most comprehensive collection ever released of her fantastics sides of that era. There are some straight gospel and R&B-styled numbers, but Knight is at her best on the more elaborate early soul cuts, which sometimes have a adult pop, torch song bounce. ‘Come Tomorrow,’ covered by Manfred Mann in 1965, is an obvious highlight, and not that similar to the cover version, with a soaring string-laden production. ‘A Little Too Lonely’ sounds a lot like, and stands up very well to, the Bacharach-David songs recorded by Dionne Warwick at the beginning of her career. The dramatic ‘I Don't Want to Walk Alone’ has an absolutely commanding vocal performance the equal of (or better than) many a cult soul singer. A very interesting collection by an impressive, powerful singer deserving of wider recognition, recommended to soul collectors who think they've run out of things to discover. http://secure.swapacd.com/, http://www.marieknight.com/. Many thanks to Lohmax for passing me this!!

Sister Marie Knight sings 'Up Above My Head (There Is Music in the Air)' on a recent live concert:

A short clip of Marie Knight's story (contains rare footage capturing a young Marie in some of her classic performances):

Samantha Jones: Surrounded By a Ray of Sunshine - The UA Recordings (1964-1968)

2009-07-04T01:12:00.001-07:00

Though Samantha Jones achieved some success, her powerful voice and her catalogue of great songs should have made her one of Britain’s biggest stars of the ‘60s. Some think the one-time key member of the Vernons Girls might even have been a potential rival to Dusty Springfield, had things gone right, but somehow she never made the cut. This collection gathers 20 tracks from her 1964-68 stint with United Artists, concentrating on the classic singles Samantha recorded during that era, with a few LP cuts, a previously unreleased 1964 version of ‘As Long As You're Happy’ and a rare swinging Ford Cars promotional single called ‘Ford Leads the Way’. These sides, produced and mainly written by the king of the UK girl sound Charles Blackwell, are noteworthy, among other reasons, for their inventive pop/rock-soul-orchestral sound. Samantha's 1964 debut single, ‘It's All Because of You,’ is stunning and strange for the time with its ghostly echoing percussive rattles, ominous melody, and brilliant orchestration. Francoise Hardy fans should note that the 1965 cuts ‘Don't Come Any Closer’ and ‘Just Call and I'll Be There’ are the English originals of tunes subsequently covered by Hardy in French. The arrangements of Jones' versions are pretty close to the Hardy ones, unsurprisingly since Blackwell was also Hardy's producer. Also here is the Phil Spector sound-alike ‘I Deserve It,’ recorded in New York in 1965 and arranged by ex-Spector arranger Arnold Goland. Other highlights on the set are the very strange 'Shoes', a version of Betty Everett's 'Chained to a Memory', 60's pop dancers 'And Suddenly' and 'Go Ahead', both produced by Mark Wirtz, and a strange funky version of ‘Can't Take My Eyes off of You' but the stand out track has got to be the title track 'Surrounded By a Ray of Sunshine' which was another one of the blue eyed 45's which became a regular spint at the Wigan Casino. Not exactly Northern Soul in the real sense, but a great '60s pop tune. Samantha later retreated to more of an MOR style in the ‘70s. I must add that Samanta Jones is is one of my favourite Brit Girls of the '60s. http://www.modculture.co.uk/, http://www.allmusic.com/

Samantha Jones performs 'It's All Because of You' on Ready Steady Go! (1964):

Samantha singing 'You've Made Me So Very Happy' on The Two Ronnies, ca. 1972:

Chris Clark: The Motown Collection (2005)

2009-07-01T04:17:00.000-07:00

Chris Clark is one of a small number of white performers who recorded for the Motown imprint during the ‘60s. The United States' answer to Dusty Springfield, Clark is still acknowledged by Northern Soul fans for songs such as 1965's 'Do Right Baby, Do Right' and 1966's ‘Love's Gone Bad’. Another of her notable songs was the 1967 single ‘I Want to Go Back There Again’, also recorded by British singer Truly Smith. In 1967, Clark released an album called Soul Sounds on the Motown label. The LP featured twelve songs including a rare Motown ballad called ‘If You Should Walk Away’, which was slated for release as a single, but never was. Clark recorded one more album for Motown on its newly created rock label Weed called C.C. Rides Again (1969), but the album failed commercially because it was not properly promoted. This compilation offers a huge amount of Clark’s work for Motown: the complete contents of her two albums, plus non-LP singles, and a full bonus CD that includes 25 previously unissued tunes. Strangely enough, these unreleased recordings are much stronger than those on her albums, although from a commercial point of view were far removed from the pop orientated hits of 66-67. Opening with a version of ‘Ask Any Girl’, the song soon settles into an uptempo northern groove that will please the dancers, and it's followed by ‘Everything Is Good About You’, a true piece of Motown history. Chris' attempt at Kim Weston's ‘Take Me in Your Arms’ has the same feel as the Isley Brothers arrangement and her rendition of ‘Do Like I Do’ delivers a vocal version to equal Kim's. One song that stands out is her interpretation of Presley's hit single ‘Cryin' In The Chapel’ that just oozes class and has backing vocals to kill for. Other noteable tunes that will appeal to the dancefloor include ‘He's Good for Me’, ‘Bad Seed’ and ‘Something's Wrong’, on which Chris is amongst the best. This release is cause indeed to celebrate for a lady whose works have long been sought after by '60s soul fans. http://sixtiesmotown.co.uk/, http://en.wikipedia.org/
aa

Chris Clark performing 'Fever' at the Pelican Art Gallery in 2008:

The Boswell Sisters: Collection, Vol.1 (1931-32)

2009-06-27T00:44:00.000-07:00

Definitely the most talented and arguably the all-around best jazz vocal group of all time, the Boswell Sisters parlayed their New Orleans upbringing into a swinging delivery that featured not only impossibly close harmonies, but countless maneuvers of vocal gymnastics rarely equalled on record. Connee, Vet and Martha Boswell grew up singing together, soaking up Southern gospel and blues through close contact with the black community. They first performed at vaudeville houses around the New Orleans area, and began appearing on local radio by 1925. At first, they played strictly instrumentals, with Connee on cello, saxophone and guitar; Martha on piano and Vet on violin, banjo, and guitar. The station began featuring them in a vocal setting as well, with Connee taking the lead on many songs (despite a childhood accident that had crippled her and left her in a wheelchair). Word of their incredible vocal talents led to appearances in Chicago and New York, and the Boswell Sisters began recording in 1930 for Victor. By the following year, they'd moved to Brunswick and reached the Hit Parade with ‘When I Take My Sugar to Tea,’ taken from the Marx Brothers' film Monkey Business and featuring the Dorsey Brothers Orchestra in support. The trio continued to work with many of the best jazzmen in the field, and appeared in the 1932 film extravaganza The Big Broadcast with Bing Crosby and Cab Calloway. The Boswell Sisters hit the top of the Hit Parade only once, in 1935, with ‘The Object of My Affection’ from the film Times Square Lady. One year later however, both Martha and Vet retired from the group in favor of married life. Connee had already made a few solo sides for Brunswick as early as 1932, and continued recording into the '60s. This fantastic collection reissues, complete and in chronological order, 24 of the Boswells finest performances. With a supporting cast frequently including trumpeters Bunny Berigan and Manny Klein, trombonist Tommy Dorsey, and clarinetist Jimmy Dorsey, the sisters are heard at their best throughout this consistently exciting set. Highlights include ‘Roll on Mississippi, Roll On,’ ‘Shine on, Harvest Moon,’ ‘River Stay 'Way from My Door,’ 'Everybody Loves My Baby', 'I Found A Million Dollar Baby (In A Five And Ten Cent Store)', 'Shout, Sister Shout', 'An Evening In Caroline', 'What Does the Human Being to Do?', 'It's the Girl', 'Makin' Faces at the Man in the Moon', 'River, Stay Way From My Door', 'I Can't Write the Words', and ‘Put That Sun Back in the Sky’ . http://www.allmusic.com/
aa

Connie, Martha and Vet in a movie version (filmed for "The Big Broadcast") of one of their earliest commercial recordings, 'Heebie Jeebies':

aa
The Boswells singing 'Crazy People':

Shirley Gunter: Oop Shoop - The Flair and Modern Recordings (1953-1957):

2009-06-24T02:28:00.000-07:00

Shirley Gunter was one of the first women in Rock & Roll and helped to pave the way for other women to lead their own groups. Like Wanda Jackson, Etta James, LaVerne Baker, Esther Phillips, and Brenda Lee, she was a pioneer. Gunter and her vocal group, the Queens, came together in Los Angeles in the spring of 1954. They were initially spotted by Joe Bihari one night at Savoy Ballroom, sharing the stage with B.B. King, Johnny Otis, the Platters, the Lamplighters, and Marvin & Johnny. Bihari brought Shirley and group to the studios, producing ‘Oop Shoop,’ which made a huge impact on the West Coast, entering the R&B charts and rising to #8. Between 1954 and 1955, the Queens toured the U.S., but subsequent singles failed to do as well as their initial release and, before the end of 1955, they officially split. Shirley carried on as a solo performer, signing to Buck Ram's Personality Productions. In 1956, at the urging of Ram, Gunter joined Modern's Flairs, partnering up with brother Cornell Gunter. Shirley's first Modern single with her brother's group, 'Headin' Home,' sold in a few markets, and they toured the East Coast, but overall nothing clicked. By 1958 Shirley Gunter, a veteran of four years in the R&B limelight, left the music business, returning only periodically. This collection features every single recording that Shirley made for Modern and Flair, and 2 later singles notwithstanding, pretty much represents her recording career in total. Most of these 26 tracks have never been reissued on digital, and four have never been issued at all. ‘Oop Shoop’ itself - along with its B-side, 'It's You' - is a bona fide Rock & Roll Hall of Fame classic, and the rest of the tracks here, the emphasis for which is very definitely on the upbeat, are not even slightly shabby by comparison. http://www.allmusic.com/, http://www.electricearl.com/

France Gall: Long Box (Intégrale Philips - 1963-1968)

2009-06-20T02:10:00.001-07:00

This is it. The best possible starting place for anyone who wants to explore the French ye-ye scene of the '60s in any depth. Although Francoise Hardy and Serge Gainsbourg are better known to non-Francophone audiences, both are simply too idiosyncratic to really give any sense of the style by themselves. Pretty, pert and spunky, the teenage France Gall is the definitive ye-ye singer, and this impressive box set containing virtually everything she recorded during those years (72 songs in all) is the perfect encapsulation of her charms. Like many pop singers of her era, no matter what their nationality, Gall does not have a particularly great voice in a technical sense; it's high, a little breathy and a little weedy. But she maximized her strengths (a cheerful exuberance, and a most effective poutily flirty lower register heard to best effect on jazz-tinged numbers like ‘Pense a Moi’ and ‘Bebe Requin’) and hid her weaknesses enough that even when she was slightly out of her depth, she got by on sheer attitude. The songs are primarily a strong lot, unsurprising considering that Gall's father, Roger Gall (a talented performer/producer who had previously worked with Charles Aznavour), and family friend Gainsbourg wrote most of her hits, including the 1965 Eurovision Song Contest winner ‘Poupee de Cire, Poupee de Son,’ ‘Ne Sois pas Si Bete,’ the brassy ‘Baby Pop,’ the ‘Peter Gunn’-inspired ‘Laisse Tomber des Filles’, and the controversial hits ‘Les Sucettes’ and ‘Teenie Weenie Boppie.’ Those last two Gainsbourg-penned songs, a thinly-disguised ode to the joys of oral sex and a bizarre story about a deadly LSD trip, are proof that there's more going on here than bubblegum. Not that there's not bubblegum here too, especially on the cheesy ‘L'Amerique’ and the kiddie tune ‘Sacre Charlemagne,’ a duet between a then 16-year-old Gall and a pair of puppets from a French children's TV show. However, France Gall's music is far better than her reputation in some circles might suggest and, as far as I am concerned, she truly is a national treasure of France. http://www.allmusic.com/

France Gall performing 'Poupée de cire, poupée de song', the song with which she won the Eurovision Song Contest for Luxembourg in 1965:

A typical mid-'60s clip of Gall's big hit 'Baby Pop':

Poor France was too young to understand what she was singing about on 'Les Sucettes' at the time. Serge Gainsbourg was a genius to make an innocent childrens song about fellatio ...

Jula de Palma: Jula in Jazz 1 &2 (1958-59) / Whisky e Dixie (1967) / Jula al Sistina (1970) / Jula Presenta (1974)

2009-06-13T00:33:00.000-07:00

Jula de Palma, one of the best jazz singers coming from Italy, started to work in the early ‘50s as a singer in radio next to pianist, composer and showman Lelio Luttazzi. In the early of her career she preferred to sing french songs, but her powerful and sophisticated voice started to become famous thanks to her interpretations of many jazz classics like ‘I've Got You Under My Skin’, ‘One for My Baby (and One More for the Road)’ and ‘Blues in the Night’. In 1959 she sang in Festival di Sanremo and shocked the press and the audience because of her passionate performance of the song ‘Tua’, considered "too sexy". Due to this fact she didn't appear on the national television (RAI) for a few years, but the attention of the public on her grew incredibly. In 1970 she wonderfully performed in a concert at the famous Sistina Theatre in Rome, accompanied by a big band conducted by the great musician Gianni Ferrio, in which she faced with her refined vocal abilities many jazz standards (‘That Old Black Magic’, ‘I Won't Dance’ and ‘St. Louis Blues’), a bossa nova tune (‘Desafinado’) and a lot of great Italian songs, two of them made famous by Mina (‘Bugiardo e incosciente’ and ‘Non credere’). The recording of this successful performance was available on the long playing Jula al Sistina. This hit record would follow with a second one called Jula Presenta, in 1974. Both albums, together with Jula in Jazz (1958) and Jula in Jazz 2 (1959) on the Columbia label, and the delightful Whisky and Dixie - that Jula recorded in 1967 with The New Orleans Jazz Band conducted by Carlo Loffredo for the Cetra label - are now among the most precious and sought after collector's items. I have compiled here all five records in one single file for your listening pleasure. If you also want her fantastic 1959 EP containing her classic ‘Tua’, go HERE. In 1974, celebrating the 25th anniversary of her career and after many years of success, she retired from music and moved with her family to Canada. Jula de Palma was the only Italian singer who was on the same level with the great American and French entertainers of her time, singing the same songs in the same languages, but always being an original. Her modernization of the Italian song paved the way for a new generation of Italian singers after her to be accepted internationally, and she is recognized by many for this achievement. I need to thank Sasha for letting me know this wonderful singer I had never heard about before. Of course, this post is dedicated to him! http://en.wikipedia.org/

Jula de Palma performing her polemic big hit 'Tua', in 1968:

Barbara Lewis: Hello Stranger - The Best of (1994)

2009-06-10T04:17:00.001-07:00

Some soul singers run hot, some run cool. Barbara Lewis ran cool, and thrillingly so. She was classy and sophisticated, even in the early to mid-'60s, a time where smooth pop-soul was the standard. Her voice was as soft as silk, and Atlantic gave her productions to match, resulting in an alluring body of work that still sounds seductive, yet comforting, years after their relief. The Michigan native had been writing songs since the age of nine, and began recording as a teenager with producer Ollie McLaughlin, who'd also had a hand in the careers of Del Shannon, the Capitols, and Deon Jackson. Lewis wrote all of the songs on her debut LP (including ‘Hello Stranger’), and confidently handled harmony soul numbers (some with backing by the Dells) and more pop-savvy tunes, some of which were driven by an organ and a bossa nova-like beat. In the mid-'60s, she began doing some recordings in New York City, with assistance from producers like Bert Berns and Jerry Wexler, that employed more orchestral arrangements and pop-conscious material. The approach clicked, both commercially and artistically: ‘Baby I'm Yours’ and ‘Make Me Your Baby’ were both big hits, and both among the best mid-'60s girl group style productions. Those three songs along with the bulk of her R&B hits, are all on this Rhino's excellent compilation, released in 1994. Since her work was so consistently good, there are inevitably some fan favorites missing, but everything here is excellent, representing her at her very best, and that means it's among the very best pop-soul of its time. To make it more complete, I added 9 more songs to the set, which make a total of 29.
ee

Barbara Lewis sings 'Make Me Your Baby' (1965):

Jackie Trent: The Beat Singles Vol. 1 (1996) ... plus

2009-06-06T01:37:00.000-07:00

A British singer/songwriter of the '60s whose voice was far better suited for reaching the back row of Broadway auditoriums than soul or rock, Jackie Trent nonetheless operated on the fringe of the UK pop scene in the manner of other femme belters like Dusty Springfield, Petula Clark, Sandie Shaw, Lulu and Cilla Black. Trent's first stage appearance was as a ten-year-old ingenue in the pantomime Babes in the Wood, but her primary interest was a career in pop music. Her first single, ‘Pick Up the Pieces,’ was released in 1962, but it was not until two record labels and three years later that she scored her first hit, ‘Where Are You Now’ written by Tony Hatch. The single had the honor of bumping the Beatles' ‘Ticket to Ride’ from the top position in mid-1965. But that would be her only Top 20 entry. If she can often sound like Petula Clark crossed with Shirley Bassey, there's a good reason for that; she shared Clark's producer, Tony Hatch, who would become her songwriting partner and husband. Trent and Hatch, in fact, penned several of Clark's hits - as well as for other artists, like Frank Sinatra, Nancy Wilson, Des O'Connor, Shirley Bassey, Vikki Carr, and Dean Martin. However, they weren't nearly as successful when applying their songwriting/production talents to Jackie's discs. Trent recorded quite prolifically for Pye in the 1960s (including some duets with husband Tony), but it's as a songwriter that she'll be primarily remembered. This compilation - which was meant to be the first of two volumes, although the second was never released - is a celebration of the early years in Jackie's recording career. It contains every A-side and B-side from 1963 to 1967 recorded for the Picadilly and Pye labels, a dynamic and stylistically varied selection of recordings which include 'Where Are You Now', 'There Goes My Love, There Goes My Life', 'You Baby', 'If You Ever Leave Me', 'Send Her Away', and five duets with Tony Hatch from 1968 to 1969. As a bonus I included 4 extra tracks at the end of the set: 'For Peace and Love', 'Time Is', 'We Need You' and 'Corner of the Sky'. A total of 33 tracks in all. http://www.allmusic.com/, http://en.wikipedia.org/

Letta Mbulu: Naturally (1973) ... plus:

2009-06-03T03:50:00.001-07:00

Resident in the USA since 1964, Letta Mbulu first came to prominence in South Africa in 1960, as a member of the cast of the musical King Kong. On arrival in the USA, she was still under a exclusive world contract with leading South African label Gallo which, afraid of reprisals from the Pretoria authorities, declined to offer her any new recording opportunities. For three years she continued her fruitless negotiations with Gallo's New York representatives, before unilaterally severing the agreement and signing to Capitol Records. For her new label she released two albums before Gallo re-emerged waving her contract and threatening legal action. The continuing ramifications of this situation meant that Mbulu was unable to record for a further two years, instead spending much of her time on tour with, first, Masekela and, later, Cannonball Adderley. In 1973, the singer issued the album Naturally for Adderley's label Fantasy Records. Indeed, he and Mbulu were paired for several of the album's songs. It's here that the L.A. stamp on Mbulu's still-true take on African township pop starts to reveal itself. Songs like ‘Kube’, ‘Noma Themba,’ ‘Hareje’ and ‘Zimkile’ reflect how comfortable Mbulu could be at the crossroads of African and American music. With brilliant production courtesy of Caiphus Semenya, the album also includes the killer soul flute & break ‘Afro Texas’ plus some creamy strings, afro-bass and nice drums. I added three bonus tracks to the original LP: her catchy soul jazz classic ‘What Is Wrong with Groovin’?’, which starts with a throbbing bassline and then leaps into a beautiful soulful vocal that's among one of her best ever, and two songs from her 1968 album Free Soul, ‘Kukuchi’ and ‘West Wind’. After enjoying considerable USA and UK dance-floor success with the single ‘Kilimanjaro’ in 1981, she guested on Michael Jackson's ‘Liberian Girl’. Her singing can also be heard in Roots and The Color Purple. Mbulu continued to be active throughout the 80s and 90s, based in the USA but frequently touring Africa, the Far East and Europe. http://www.nme.com/

ee
Letta Mbulu astonishing rendition of 'Carry On', from 1983:

Vashti Bunyan: Just Another Diamond Day (1970)

2009-05-31T00:37:00.000-07:00

In 1968, Vashti Bunyan, husband, and dogs set out on a horse-and-cart pilgrimage from central London to a commune that was to be established in northwest Scotland. Walking towards a utopian dream, this motley crew were the embodiment of the hippy ideal, in both their romanticism and foolishness. For, two years later, by the time they'd made it to Skye, they found that their commune had never gotten off the ground, and no one was left. But, on the way, Bunyan —who'd had a brief, unsuccessful, unsatisfying stint as a pop starlet groomed by Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham— had written 'walking songs,' sing-song tunes about keeping the pace up. With an album's worth of tunes in her head, Bunyan returned to London, and set out recording with Nick Drake's producer and arranger, Joe Boyd and Robert Kirby, and members of The Incredible String Band. The resulting album, Just Another Diamond Day, rendered a gentle, fragile, beautiful portrait of the English idyll. Her songs reference neither the politics of the time nor the psychedelically refracted medievalism so prevalent in the folk-rock of the era; the simple quatrains of hypnotic songs like 'Diamond Day', 'Come Wind Come Rain', or 'Where I Like to Stand' instead consist of uncomplicated lyrics that could've been written virtually any time in the past few centuries. The adorable ‘Jog Along Bess’ is about rescuing a bunch of psychologically or physically wounded animals and taking them to the country to frolic with her. ‘Rosehip November’ is a lyrical masterpiece that would not be out-of-place on Nick Drake's albums, whilst ‘I'd Like to Walk Around in Your Mind’ is a touching ode to a reluctant lover. On its release, the album was half ignored, half savaged. Hurt, and feeling like a failure, twice-over, Bunyan retired from music for good. Yet, when Just Another Diamond Day was reissued in 2000, it was passionately embraced by modern audiences and Vashti was roundly recognized as the 'godmother of freak-folk.' And Just Another Diamond Day, a record that once fell through the pop-cultural cracks, has been now, quite astonishingly, accepted as a basic building block in any alternatively-minded collection. http://altmusic.about.com/, http://pitchfork.com/

Vashti sings the atmospheric 'Diamond Day' in a recent live performance:

Vashti Vunyan: Some Things Just Stick in Your Mind - Singles and Demos (1964-67)

2009-05-29T09:45:00.000-07:00

Before the remarkable resurrection of Diamond Day, even before her legendary late 60s horse-and-cart trek from London to the Isle of Skye, Vashti Bunyan was a figure from an older, weirder England: she was a would-be star at the very birth of British Pop. This charming compilation of lost singles and early demos makes plain what Bunyan has always insisted on: she wasn’t a pre-Raphaelite folk princess, but rather an aspiring singer-songwriter, an early, ambitious recruit to Andrew Loog Oldham’s “Industry of Human Happiness”. Unfortunately, in 1965 Bunyan could only be a kind of singing doll, as ALO evidently saw her like the next Marianne Faithfull, setting her up with 'Some Things Just Stick in Your Mind', a winsome Jagger and Richards number. Backed by her own ‘I Want To Be Alone’, the single flopped and Vashti left to pursue more pared-down ambitions, recording ‘Train Song’/‘Love Song’ for Columbia, with just voice, guitar and cello. Again foundering with no publicity upon its release in June 1966, Vashti left again, this time returning to Andrew Oldham and the Immediate label he had just started. She recorded three more singles between 1966 and 1967, yet each again remained frustratingly unreleased, leading to Vashti’s disenchantment with the industry and disappearance, bound for the Isle of Skye and a colourful if obscure existence in which she would not pick up a guitar again for over 30 years. But this anthology, compiled from mouldering old acetates and tapes, rescues several songs that hint at the kind of pop writer she might have been, and show the beginnings of the singer who recorded 'Diamond Day'. 'Winter Is Blue', an unreleased single from 1966, is an eerie, baroque number that might not be out of place on early Joni Mitchell album, while 'Coldest Night Of The Year', recorded with Immediate label mates Twice As Much, is a deliciously frosty British take on the Beach Boys. '17 Pink Sugar Elephants,' from a '66 home tape, have the exotic-minstrel flair of '66 Donovan. And the second disc, a whole set of 1964 demos, recorded straight through in an hour, reveal an oddly determined, genuinely peculiar talent. Now that Diamond Day inescapably rings out during every ad-break, perhaps, after a long detour, Vashti Bunyan has finally become the pop star she always meant to be. http://fat-cat.co.uk/, http://www.uncut.co.uk/
aa

Vashti performing Jagger/Richards' song 'Some Things Just Stick In Your Mind', back in the '60s:

aa
And here, the B-side 'I Want To Be Alone':
aa

Maxine Sullivan: Memories of You - Tribute to Andy Razaf (1956) ... plus

2009-05-23T01:13:00.000-07:00

A subtle and lightly swinging jazz singer, Maxine Sullivan's delivery was very likable, and she did justice to all of the lyrics she sang during her long career. After moving to New York, Sullivan sang during intermissions at the Onyx Club and was discovered by pianist Claude Thornhill. Thornhill recorded her with a sympathetic septet singing a couple of standards and two Scottish folk songs performed in swinging fashion — 'Annie Laurie' and 'Loch Lomond.' The latter became a big hit and Sullivan's signature song for the rest of her career. Even if lightning did not strike twice, she was now a popular attraction. She appeared briefly in the movie Going Places opposite Louis Armstrong and in the Broadway show Swingin' the Dream. From 1940-42, Sullivan often sang with her husband, bassist John Kirby's Sextet, a perfect outlet for her cool sound. Both had the unique distinction of being the first Black Jazz stars to have their own weekly radio show, Flow Gently Sweet Rhythm, which they starred for two years. Sullivan had a reasonably successful solo career and then, in the mid-'50s, became a trained nurse. In 1968, the singer began making a comeback, performing at festivals and even playing a little bit of valve trombone and flugelhorn. During her later period, she often sang with mainstream jazz groups, including Scott Hamilton's. This legendary 1956 session marked a return to recording for Maxine after a long absence from the studio, and found her in the company of jazz giants Milt Hinton, Buster Bailey, Jerome Richardson, Dick Hyman and Charlie Shavers. The album, which many believe to be the best of Ms. Sullivan's career, was a special tribute to one of jazz music's greatest songwriters, Andy Razaf ('Ain't Misbehavin', 'Honeysuckle Rose'). As an added bonus, there have been added two extra tracks, including an updated version of Maxine's biggest hit 'Loch Lomond' recorded that same year. http://www.amazon.com/, http://www.allmusic.com/
aa

A fragment of the 1938 film, Going Places, where Louis Armstrong and Band play 'Mutiny In The Nursery' with Maxine Sullivan singing in different sequences:

Maxine Sullivan sings live 'Surprise Party', in 1975:

Brenda Holloway: The Very Best of (1999)

2009-05-21T02:32:00.000-07:00

This 15-track collection gathers up the very best of Brenda Holloway's recordings for Motown. A peripheral figure in the company's history, Brenda made the trek from Los Angeles to Detroit to record, working with producers Smokey Robinson, Mickey Stevenson, Henry Cosby, Frank Wilson, and label boss Berry Gordy. Known as “the most beautiful woman ever signed to Motown”, she was one of several female Motown artists who never broke through to the top level of stardom, or even of the company's concern, partially because she was a bit too sophisticated and gritty for the label formula. Holloway's big hits ‘Every Little Bit Hurts,’ ‘I'll Always Love You,’ and ‘When I'm Gone’ are aboard, along with the original version of ‘You've Made Me So Very Happy,’ later appropriated by Blood, Sweat & Tears. Solid album material from the canceled Motown album Hurtin' & Cryin' makes up the majority of this collection, with ‘Hurt a Little Everyday,’ and ‘You Can Cry on My Shoulder’ being two of the highlights. Two previously unreleased tracks, ‘You've Changed Me’ and ‘Til Johnny Comes,’ round out the package. Holloway was a big-voiced gospel-style belter, and while not in the Motown front racks, this scintillating comp makes a welcome addition to any soul collection. Along with The Supremes, Smokey Robinson & The Miracles and Martha Reeves & The Vandellas, she is one of the Motown acts I like the most.~ http://www.allmusic.com/

Brenda Holloway with King Curtis Band singing 'I Can't Help Myself', from opening-act for The Beatles' concert (Shea Stadium, 1965):

Petula Clark: My Love (1966) ... plus

2009-05-16T09:28:00.000-07:00

This is one of the 17 major albums Petula Clark recorded for Pye Records between 1957 and 1971. The result of her first New York sessions, the set was issued at the height of their popularity and, as well-loved as it was then, critical opinion of it has grown rather than diminished over the years. Produced by Tony Hatch, there are no less than nine original songs written by him, either alone or in collaboration with Petula. There is the pair of international smash hits ‘My Love’ (a US nº 1, which Petula hated then and still dislikes) and ‘A Sign of the Times’, which with its bouncy B-side ‘Time for Love’, not only stormed up the charts round the world, but also became a Northern Soul favourite. Another highlight is ‘The Life and Soul of the Party’, on of the finest beat songs Petula recorded. It was considered as the first single of the set until Hatch was told that the title meant nothing in the States. ‘Dance with Me’, in contrast, is a slow seductive and hypnotic track, while ‘Hold on to What You Got’ is as raunchy and driving as you could wish and Hatch’s ‘31st of June’ is ‘60s pop at its best. Petula wrote the melodies for two masterpieces which became concert classics and, by the way, are among my favourite Petula Clark’s numbers. ‘Just Say Goodbye’ became a smash hit for her in French, Italian and German and d a huge success for the Walker Brothers round the world. ‘Where Did We Go Wrong’ was just as haunting and provided Petula with a number 1 in South Africa when lifted as a 45. Add to these originals three wonderful covers and the result is a classic album indeed. From Guys and Dolls is remarkable ‘If I Were a Bell’, from the Beatles’ songbook a driving and convincing ‘We Can Work It Out’ and from the then-unknown Randy Newman, the classic ‘Can’t Remember (Ever Loving you)’. As bonus tracks, this out-of-print reissue from 1994 has added another great Beatles cover, ‘Rain’, and two of Petula’s self-penned 1966 B-sides ‘Love Is a Long Long Journey’ and ‘Your Way of Life’, three beautiful and rare tracks. Taken from the original liner notes.

Petula singing live 'My Love':

Here, on a TV performance of 'A Sign of the Times':

The Italian version of another of my favourite Petula's songs, 'Just Say Goodbye':

Thelma Jones: Second Chance - The Complete Barry and Columbia Recordings (2007)

2009-05-13T04:43:00.000-07:00

Aretha Franklin scored a smash hit in 1968 with ‘The House That Jack Built’, but Harlem-based Thelma Jones recorded the song first. And she did it better, too. It was a seal of approval when Aretha covered you; witness her versions of Ray Charles, Baby Washington, Johnny Ace, Dionne Warwick and Ben E. King songs. Thelma was in great company! Jones’ recording career came in two bursts: ten tracks cut for Barry Records in 1966 through 1968 (including her R&B Top 50 ‘Never Leave Me’ and the Northern Soul stomper ‘Souvenir of a Heartbreak’, both in 1967) and a dozen for Columbia a decade later, when she reappeared with ‘Salty Tears’, a beautiful ballad by the crack songwriting team of Teddy Randazzo and Victoria Pike. Eleven years after her first hit, Thelma brushed the R&B charts for a second and final time with a revival of the Miracles’ ‘I Second That Emotion’. Columbia released her eponymous album that same year. Since then, nothing. What a shame. The oft-funky Barry sides are infused with gospel fervour, while the Columbia decks are glossy, commercial and occasionally disco-fied (in a good way). Yet the two phases sit side-by-side very happily on this compilation, which contains virtually her complete recorded output, thanks to the common denominator of Thelma Jones’ fabulous vocals.~ http://www.acerecords.co.uk/

Blossom Dearie: Once Upon a Summertime (1958)

2009-05-08T00:20:00.000-07:00

A distinctive, girlish voice, crisp, impeccable delivery, and an irrepressible sense of playful swing made Blossom Dearie one of the most enjoyable singers of the vocal era. Her solid reputation was made on record with a string of excellent albums for Verve during the '50s, but she also remained a draw with Manhattan cabaret audiences long into the new millennium. Once Upon a Summertime (1958) is probably the finest album (and my personal favourite) that the bespectacled, bop-mad Betty Boop cut while she worked for the New York label: and that's saying a lot. Dearie's light-as-a-feather vocals float over her jazz piano chords on the definitive versions of ‘Manhattan,’ ‘Down with Love’ and the autumnal title track. Other highlights are ‘Moonlight Saving Time’, ‘It Amazes Me’, ‘We're Together’ ‘If I Were a Bell’ and ‘Our Love Is Here to Stay’. Even if she sticks to mainly standards, her aproach is so unique that it doesn't feel like they have been done before. Her warmth and sparkle ensure that she never treats those classics as the well-worn songs they often appear in less capable hands. Also interesting is her ability on the piano, as she provides most of her own accompaniment. Dearie has a very light and dainty touch and it makes the piano practically sing along with her. Teddy Wilson, one of the great style-setters of jazz piano, singled her out as one of his favourites. Playing with Blossom are guitarist Mundell Lowe, bassist Ray Brown and drummer Ed Thigpen, all of whom do a great job of being minimal yet soothing. Believe it or not, Blossom Dearie was born with that name (and what an accurate one!) and, believe it or not, she sounds exactly as she looks on the charming cover of this album ! http://www.rhapsody.com/, http://rateyourmusic.com/, http://www.allmusic.com/

The adorable Blossom Dearie singing and playing 'The Surrey with the Fringe on Top':

Gigi & The Charmaines: Cincinnati's Top ‘60s Girl Group (1960-1967)

2009-05-08T00:14:00.001-07:00

This thorough overview of Gigi & The Charmaines' recorded output from 1960 to 1967 shows the Cincinatti R&B trio had the stuff to compete on a bigger field if they'd had a bit more luck. Gigi Griffin, the group's lead singer, was able to meld passion with vocal precision and her partners Dee Watkins and Irene Vinegar brought some superb harmonies and backing vocals to their sessions. Add some memorable production smarts and quality material and you have one of the better soul vocal acts of the era. Their brief and only Billboard chart appearance at #117 in 1961 doesn't reflect the trio's great solo work on six different labels, nor does it take into account their work backing vocals for the likes of Lonnie Mack, Kenny Smith and Carl Edmondson. This compilation not only collects Gigi & the Charmaines' best near-hits, but rare sides, including the group’s Fraternity debut from 1960 ‘Rockin’ Old Man’, backed with ‘If You Were Mine’, for which Gigi wrote the lyrics. It also features their swampy version of ‘Rockin’ Pneumomia and The Boogie Woogie Flu’, a fabby, dangerous sounding and sexy take on Ike Turner’s song ‘I Idolise You’, plus the original version of ‘On the Wagon’, a song later recorded by the pre-fame Ronettes. There are other Columbia, Date and Fraternity recordings, some great examples of their work as back-up singers and all of the trio's Northern Soul favourites, like ‘Guilty’, ‘Girl Crazy’, ‘Poor Unfortunate Me’ and the previously unreleased track ‘I Don’t Wanna Lose Him’.~ http://www.allmusic.com/, http://www.acerecords.co.uk/ Thanks again for passing me this, Martin!

Lesley Gore: Some Place Else Now (1972)

2009-05-02T01:53:00.000-07:00

The most commercially successful solo singer to be identified with the girl group sound, Lesley Gore reeled off a number of big hits all through the ‘60s. But, after six years and eleven Top 40 hits on Mercury Records, she found herself at the end of the decade without a record contract. Bob Crewe, who had produced some of her last Mercury singles, signed her to his own label, but nothing clicked. Exit Lesley Gore, hitmaker. And enter Lesley Gore, composer. It wasn't a new role, exactly -she had written before- but something spurred her to write, write, write during those early days of the ‘70s. In 1972, producer Joe Porter brought Lesley Gore back to the studio and Someplace Else Now was released. The songs scarcely resemble Lesley's classic girl-group items. ‘Out of Love’ would have fit nicely into an early Carly Simon album. ‘She Said That’, the single, is what's left when you drain all the smarm out of something like Charlene's ‘I've Never Been to Me’. These songs remind us that Lesley Gore’s art was always based on a certain anguished undercurrent, even as a teenager. Some of the cuts on Someplace Else Now reinforce the artistic personality that Gore had already projected. There haven't been that many teen-idols who have been able to express themselves deeply within their pop/corporate framework and then be able to take this sense of style into adulthood. Lesley Gore’s sense of style resided largely in the ability to raise most of the songs she sang up into the range of believable emotion. The best example of that on Someplace Else Now is ‘What Did I Do Wrong,’ which she sings with as much flair as her hit ‘You Don’t Own Me.’ The album also shows Lesley attempting to extend her string of hits on songs like ‘Don’t Wanna Be One,’ ‘Mine’ and ‘Be My Life’. Not quite ‘60s pop, yet not really a standard ‘70s singer-songwriter effort, the album baffled the few that heard it and went ignored by the rest. But in Lesley’s case it reminds us that some of her best moments have been on songs that weren’t hits, and it was on these non-hits, perhaps, that her personality most clearly stands out. http://www.crecon.com/, http://www.dustbury.com/

Peggy Lee: I Like Men! - Sugar'N'Spice (1998)

2009-04-25T10:54:00.001-07:00

This brilliant two-fer combines two classic albums Peggy Lee recorded for Capitol Records in 1959 and 1962, respectively: I Like Men and Sugar 'N' Spice. Arranged and conducted by Jack Marshall, I Like Men was based around the theme of men. The title track, which Peggy Lee co-wrote, is a very upbeat, entertaining song in which Peggy expresses her enthusiasm for men - even when her personal life suggests that she never found the right one. Perhaps the most famous song here are 'I'm Just Wild About Harry' and 'Best is Yet to Come', though Andrews sisters fans will also recognize 'Oh Johnny, Oh Johnny, Oh!' Both are great up-tempo songs, as are 'I Love to Love' and the opening 'Charley My Boy'. Among the slower cuts, 'So in Love', 'Jim' and 'When a Woman Loves a Man' are possibly the best known. Sugar 'N' Spice is similar in style, although there is no obvious theme except love. Despite the tacky cover photographs and that terrible wig, the contents are pure and fine Peggy Lee at her best. Where some of Peggy's albums in the ‘60s included much forgettable contemporary material that hasn't stood the test of time too well, this album features a program of songs that range from contemporary show tunes (‘I Believe in You’ and ‘The Sweetest Sounds’), an excursion into the blues (‘See See Rider) and the great American song book (‘When the Sun Comes Out’ and ‘I've Got the World on a String’) plus a few lesser known numbers for good measure. The backings are by Benny Carter and feature a compact orchestra with an emphasis on brass. On both albums Peggy is in fine voice and brings her sweet feminine tones to her ballads and her salty, seductive sounds to the more uptempo material. All in all, this compilation give ample evidence of the lady at her best and should delight Peggy Lee’s fans as well as those who admire this legend to a lesser degree. http://www.amazon.com/

A haunting rendition of 'See See Rider' from Peggy Lee's famous gig at Basin Street East:

Dionne Warwick: Presenting Dionne Warwick / Anyone Who Had a Heart (1995)

2009-04-24T03:44:00.000-07:00

Two-on-one reissue comprised of Dionne Warwick's 1962 debut 'Presenting Dionne Warwick' and her sophomore album 'Anyone Who Had a Heart', from 1963. Dionne Warwick's first record for Scepter can be considered as the birth of a genius. The LP is the first full length collaboration between Warwick and the team of Burt Bacharach and Hal David and it easily bridges the worlds of soul, vocal, and pop with its unique sense of poise and class. Sung perfectly by Dionne throughout and arranged with orchestral brilliance by the young Burt, this classic includes ‘Don't Make Me Over’, ‘Wishin & Hopin’, ‘Make It Easy On Yourself’, ‘Make The Music Play’, ‘If You See Bill’, ‘It's Love That Really Counts’ and ‘This Empty Place’. 'Anyone Who Had a Heart' is only the second album in the career of Dionne Warwick, but she is already at the top of her game, singing with a sense of grace and poise that is simply tremendous and getting some equally great backing from a young Burt Bacharach, who himself co-wrote most of the tunes here with Hal David. There is a sense of completeness to the record that few other pop albums of the time could boast. A mature, thoughtful presentation of the material that certainly set a new standard for many artists to come. Titles include ‘Anyone Who Had a Heart’, ‘Don't Make Me Over’, ‘Getting Ready For The Heartbreak’ and ‘Put Yourself In My Place’. New York Uptown Soul can't get any better than this. ~ http://www.dustygroove.com/

Dionne Warwick performing 'Message to Michael' on Hullabaloo (1966):

Ketty Lester: Love Letters (1962)

2009-04-17T01:37:00.000-07:00

Ketty Lester began her singing career on completing a music course at San Francisco State College. A residency at the city's Purple Onion club was followed by a successful tour of Europe before she joined band leader Cab Calloway's revue. Later domiciled in New York, Lester's popular nightclub act engendered a recording contract, of which ‘Love Letters’ was the first fruit. The singer's cool-styled interpretation of this highly popular standard originally recorded by Dick Haymes, reached the Top 5 in both the USA and UK in 1962, eventually selling in excess of one million copies. Enhanced by a memorable piano figure in Lester’s rendition, the song has been covered many times, with notable successes for Elvis Presley and Alison Moyet. The follow-up single, a cover of George Gershwin's ‘But Not for Me’, from the musical Girl Crazy, peaked at number 41 pop during summer 1962, but Lester was sadly unable to repeat her first hit's accomplished balance between song, interpretation and arrangement. In the latter part her career, she abandoned singing in favour of a career as a film and television actress, with appearances in various series. She was later coaxed back into the studio, but only on her stipulation that it would be exclusively to perform sacred music. Ketty Lester's original Era Records 1962 album ‘Love Letters’, with arrangements courtesy of Lincoln Mayorga, was one of the most seductive recordings of the decade. It was no accident that Lena Horne and Peggy Lee gave their endorsements in the original liner notes. Aside from the title track, there are so many other songs on this album that warrant its praising as a masterpiece, like ‘Once Upon a Time’, ‘Where or When’, ‘Gloomy Sunday’ and the soul-crushing classic ‘I'm a Fool to Want You’, just to name a few. This is absolutely FIRST CLASS music. I hope you enjoy it. http://www.oldies.com/

Ketty Lester on a retracked clip of her hit 'Love Letters':

Here, performing 'I'll Be Looking Back' (1965):

Ann Sexton: Anthology (2004)

2009-04-17T01:33:00.001-07:00

Ann Sexton is one of the great unsung female soul singers of all time. She was born in South Carolina and began singing gospel until 1971 when she spotted by Songwriter/producer Dave Lee. Her first album 'Loving You Loving Me' was released on John Richbourg's 77 label from Nashville. It includes the in demand funky 'You’re Losing Me' and the Northern Soul favourite 'You've Been Gone Too Long' along with some great Southern Soul gems. Her second and last album 'In The Beginning' was recorded in Muscle Shoals and released on Sound Stage 7 in 1977. Both these albums are now extremely hard to find, 'Loving You Loving Me' fetching about £300, if you can find one. This Anthology puts together for the first time all the tracks from these two albums plus a seven inch only modern/crossover track 'You Got to Use What You Got'. Hopefully Ann Sexton will get the credit she deserves this time round, for recording some of the best music of Southern Soul ever put on wax or disc. ~ http://www.soulbrother.com/

Camille Howard: Rock Me Daddy / X-Temporaneous Boogie (1947-52)

2009-04-14T03:01:00.001-07:00

Piano-tinkling chanteuses were quite the rage during the war years. But Camille Howard's two-fisted thundering boogie style, much like her contemporary Hadda Brooks, was undoubtedly the equivalent of any 88s ace, male or female. Howard was part of the great migration from Texas to the West Coast. She was installed as pianist with drummer Roy Milton & the Solid Senders sometime during World War II, playing on all their early hits for Art Rupe's Juke Box and Specialty labels. Sensing her potential following the success of Milton's 1947 hit ‘Thrill Me’ (with Howard's vocal), Rupe began recording her as a featured artist at the end of the year. Legend has it that Howard's biggest hit, the roaring instrumental ‘X-Temporaneous Boogie,’ was improvised at the tail end of her first date as a leader (its flip, the torch ballad ‘You Don't Love Me,’ was a hit in its own right). Howard's vocal abilities were pretty potent too. Her ‘Fiesta in Old Mexico’ was a hit in 1949, while ‘Money Blues,’ credited to Camille Howard & Her Boyfriends, registered strong coin in 1951. Howard cranked out storming boogies and sultry ballads for Specialty through 1953, then jumped from Federal to Vee-Jay before landing in Los Angeles for good. Howard's strong religious ties put a stop to her secular music career. This 2-volume collection gathers 50 of her 1947-52 Specialty cuts, more than half previously unreleased. Divided between instrumentals and pop-influenced vocal numbers, Howard proves herself the master of boogie and jump blues piano styles, sometimes slowing things down into a jazzier mode. In addition to the storehouse of vault material, this compilation also includes the top ten R&B hits, ‘Thrill Me’ and ‘X-Temporaneous Boogie.’ Howard was nonetheless an important, and nowadays overlooked, star of the transitional era between jump blues and R&B. http://www.allmusic.com/

Mavis Staples: Mavis Staples / Only for the Lonely (1993)

2009-04-12T08:14:00.000-07:00

Mavis Staples began her career with her family group in 1950. With Mavis' earthy contralto voice and Pops' songs, singing, and guitar playing, the Staple Singers evolved from enormously popular gospel singers to become the most spectacular and influential spiritually-based group in USA. The group signed to Stax Records in 1968 and hit the Top 40 eight times between 1971 and 1975, joining their gospel harmonies and deep faith with musical accompaniment from members of Booker T. and the MGs. Mavis also recorded two solo albums for Stax Records. The first one, ‘Mavis Staples’, released in 1969, was a fine collection of pop standards like Dionne Warwick's ‘A House Is Not a Home,’ Sam Cooke's ‘You Send Me’ and a pair of Otis Redding songs. The follow-up, 1970's ‘Only for the Lonely’, was even better, yielding the heartbreaking R&B hit ‘I Have Learned to Do Without You,’ the exquisite slow blues ‘How Many Times’, the best version ever recorded of the classic ‘Since I Fell For You’ and the finger-snapping Memphis soul of ‘It Makes Me Wanna Cry.’ The 20 tracks from those two albums were combined on this 1993 CD entitled ‘Only for the Lonely’ and supplemented with ‘That's the Way Love Is,’ a duet with Johnny Taylor from Boy Meets Girl, a Stax collection of male-female duets. I added myself five more songs from the 1988 compilation ‘Don’t Change Me Now’, which makes a total of 26 tracks. This is an invaluable glimpse at the first solo steps by one of the best - and one of my favourite- soul singers.

Mavis Staples singing with The Staple Singers 'I'll Take You There' (1972):

Lulu: Love Loves to Love Lulu (1967) ... plus

2009-04-06T00:14:00.001-07:00

Most Americans first heard of Lulu when she soared to the top of the charts with the beautiful ballad ‘To Sir with Love,’ the theme to the film of the same name, in 1967. Actually, the Scottish singer had been a star in Britain since 1964, when she hit the Top Ten with a raucous version of ‘Shout.’ Lulu's mid-'60s recordings were often surprisingly rowdy and R&B-influenced and she was even close to blue-eyed soul on some of her late-'60s best efforts. Recording intermittently ever since, she raised a few eyebrows by traveling to Muscle Shoals studios to record her 1970 classic album New Routes, and releasing a double-sided single of David Bowie tunes, which Bowie also played on and co-produced, in 1973. Love Loves to Love Lulu was Lulu's second album and the first under the direction of legendary producer Mickie Most. The release gathered together her three British 1967 singles, ‘The Boat That I Row,’ ‘Let's Pretend,’ and ‘Love Loves to Love Love’ together with ‘To Sir With Love’, a song which, despite the singer's protests, was relegated to a B-side in the U.K. This album was a slight affair with only 11 tracks, yet this cuts down on the amount of filler so prevalent on many mid-'60s albums. Highlights include covers of Gladys Knight & the Pips' ‘Take Me in Your Arms and Love Me,’ the Beatles' ‘Day Tripper,’ and the Bee Gees' ‘To Love Somebody.’ Long deleted, Love Loves to Love Lulu serves as an excellent retrospective of the singer's output in 1967. As for me, this is one of the best albums ever recorded by one of my all-time favorite '60s Brit Girls. I added 8 bonus tracks to the original release, including the UK Top Ten hits ‘I’m a Tiger’ and ‘Me, the Peaceful Heart’, the UK Top Twenty hit ‘Boy’, the B-sides 'Sad Memories', 'Lookout' ‘Dreary Days and Nights’ and ‘Without Him’, plus 'This Time' (Bistro), taken from the 1968 MGM film 'Hot Millions'.

Lulu singing 'To Sir With Love' on a rare clip of a Canadian TV Show (1967):

A dynamic performance of 'The Boat That I Row' on Beat-Club (1967):

And, finally, 'Love Loves To Love', performed on Top of the Pops (1967):

Ruby Andrews: Just Loving You. The Zodiac Sessions (1967-1973)

2009-04-01T01:23:00.000-07:00

Ruby Andrews' two albums on Zodiac in the late '60s are easily some of the best, strong-armed soul recorded by any woman in the era. Both are pricey showpieces, though 'Black Ruby' tends to sell even higher than 'Everybody Saw You'. Mississippi-born but Chicago-identified, Andrews had her share of hits though she never achieved marquee status. Andrews was part of the Detroit-based Brothers of Soul (one of several female leads they worked with in the late '60s). The Brothers were also the team behind Zodiac and, they also recorded under the name, The Creations. In any case, the Brothers are responsible for the sound behind Andrews' 'Black Ruby' and 'Everybody Saw You' LPs and thus, deserve part of the credit for lacing her with some fantastic production: a rousing, energetic mix of mid-60s funk and soul that's a nice fit with Andrews' powerful vocals. 'Whatever It Takes To Please You' showcases all those elements, combined with a thick sound that draws powers off the horn and string sections but most of all, that driving bass that anchors the whole song. 'You Made A Believer Out of Me' was actually off of 'Everybody Saw You' originally but they ended up using it twice. This fantastic Andrews/Zodiac comp includes both albums. ~ http://soul-sides.com/

Bettye LaVette: Let Me Down Easy In Concert (2000)

2009-03-29T08:53:00.001-07:00

While her talent places her squarely on a parallel with legends such as Aretha Franklin, Tina Turner, and Irma Thomas, Detroit soul singer Bettye LaVette never really got the adulation and commercial success enjoyed by her peers. LaVette claims that live performance is where she blows away the competition and hearing this monster set recorded at the 1999 Blues Estafette festival in Utrecht, Holland, one would be hard pressed to argue with her. It captures some of the excitement of a singer who loves to sing and is determined to give her audience what it came for: a great show. That's why they love her throughout Europe and pack the clubs and blues festivals to see her perform. Featuring an ace band led by her longtime keyboardist and musical director, Rudy Robinson, Let Me Down Easy in Concert reveals the singer finding the exposed nerve in a sampling of her career. She opens with her first hit record, ‘My Man’. It's faster here than on the original, but it's still hot and Bettye tells the truth as only she can. Bettye's version of Etta James' ‘Damn Your Eyes’ is a highlight of the set. An original, Bettye doesn't copy Etta's version, but gives it new life and a fresh and exciting interpretation. LaVette's starkly atmospheric and beautiful ‘Let Me Down Easy’ always brings down the house. The original recording is now considered a classic, but the other covers of the song don't match Bettye's original. In concert, LaVette has given the song "wings" and she soars like a Phoenix leaving her listeners exhilerated. Bettye's voice is unique in that she does not imitate anyone and gives everything she sings, guts and soul. If she feels like shouting, she'll shout, if she feels tender she can break your heart with a whisper...and if she get's "happy" she might do a little screamin' for you. But, one thing, she does all of this with class. http://www.amazon.com/, http://www.cduniverse.com/

Bettye LaVette with DLS Band singing live 'Little Sparrow':

VA: Way With the Girls. Thirty Northern Soul Girl Group Classics (1992)

2009-03-27T04:05:00.000-07:00

1. You Will Never Get Away - Cholli Maye
2. Here Come The Heartaches - Lovells
3. I'm A Sad Girl - Deena Johnson
4. If You Can Stand Me - Tamala Lewis
5. Thrills And Chills - Helene Smith
6. I Feel Strange - Wonderettes
7. Lost Without Your Love - Carlettes
8. Now That I Found You Baby - Mirettes
9. It's Over - Terry Lindsay
10. It's All Over - Gee's
11. Why Weren't You There - Thelma Lindsay
12. Step Aside Baby - Lollipops
13. It Happens Every Day - Persianettes
14. Source Of Love - Gina Marie
15. Sweet Sweet Love - Durettes
16. Pretty Boy - Dora Hall
17. Big Man - Karen Starr
18. Ain't Gonna Hurt My Pride - Judi & The Affections
19. You're The Guy - Argie & The Arketts
20. There's Something The Matter - Cynthia & The Imaginations
21. Wonderful One - Theresa Lindsey
22. My My Sweet Love - Barbara Lee
23. If You Love Me (Show Me) - Monique
24. Sugar Boy - Charmettes
25. Don't Cha Tell Nobody - Vont Claires
26. Don't Cry - Irma & The Larks
27. My Fault - Passionettes
28. Try My Love - Sequins
29. How Can I Get To You - Sharon Soul
30. His Way With The Girls - Lornettes

Jean Wells: Soul on Soul (1994)

2009-03-20T11:26:00.000-07:00

b. 1 August 1942, West Palm Beach, Florida, USA, and raised in Belgrade, Florida. Wells began singing in gospel groups as a child, and established herself as a secular singer in the early 60s performing in clubs in Philadelphia. She made her recording debut in 1959, and several other singles, but it was not until she was discovered by producer Clyde Otis that her career took off. He arranged for her to be signed to the New York-based Calla Records in 1967 and she immediately had success with the splendid 'After Loving You' (number 31 R&B). Two other excellent records followed that year, 'I Feel Good' (number 33 R&B) and 'Have A Little Mercy' (number 25 R&B), B-sided by the Northern Soul stomper 'With My Love and What You've Got'. Her last chart record was in 1968, and later attempts at recording with other companies were unsuccessful commercially and perhaps artistically, never equalling the thrilling intensity of her Calla singles. It is a great pity that such a great soul voice has such a meagre catalogue. ~ http://www.nme.com/

Ella Mae Morse: Barrelhouse, Boogie & the Blues (1942-1957)

2009-03-16T01:19:00.000-07:00

Ella Mae Morse was one of the most exciting vocalists of the ‘40s and ‘50s, a hard-to-classify, Texas-born white singer whose vocals were deeply influenced by her apprenticeship with a black guitarist who taught her the blues. Her style defied characterization, as it embraced boogie-woogie, blues, jazz, swing, country and at times came remarkably close to what would be known as rock & roll. When she wasn't yet 14, Morse had her first taste of the big time, when Jimmy Dorsey's band came to Dallas for a stay at the Adolphus Hotel and she called for an audition. Unbeknownst to her, the band needed a new female vocalist. Believing that Morse was indeed 19, as she and her mother claimed, Dorsey hired her. When he received a letter from the school board declaring that he was responsible for Morse's care, Dorsey fired her. Ella Mae joined former Dorsey pianist Freddie Slack's band in 1942; she was only 17 when they cut ‘Cow Cow Boogie,’ which became Capitol Records' first gold single. The following year, Morse began recording solo. Although her recordings were consistently solid and sold fairly well, she never obtained a huge following. Ella Mae Morse put Capitol Records on the map, and her entire output during her fifteen years with that label (1942-1957) is here: well over 100 sides, including over 20 songs never before released. Among the incredible cast of jazz, blues and country stalwarts accompanying her are Freddie Slack, Benny Carter, Barney Kessel, Pete Johnson, Red Callender, and Jimmy Bryant & Speedy West. http://www.britannica.com/, http://www.allmusic.com/

Ella Mae Morse, with Freddie Slack and His Orchestra, singing 'Cow Cow Boogie' in the early-'40s:

Dee Dee Warwick: I Want to Be With You - The Mercury/Blue Rock Sessions (1965-69)

2009-03-16T01:16:00.001-07:00

Like Darlene Love and Cissy Houston, Dee Dee Warwick's considerable gifts as a soul singer were mostly confined to session work. And like Aretha Franklin's sisters, Dee Dee had to struggle with the shadow of a superstar sibling, Dionne Warwick. Certainly she had the talent to compete as an artist in her own right -possessing a rawer approach than Dionne’s and closer to that of her cousin’s Cissy-, but she only had a sporadic run of small hits in the ‘60s and early-‘70s, and benefited from neither frequent recording opportunities nor substantial promotion from her labels. As a sort of companion to She Didn't Know: The Atco Sessions (though I personally prefer this one), this collection compiles everything she recorded for Mercury/Blue Rock from 1965 to 1969, with two tracks from a later 1973 session. Most of the better-known and significant of Dee Dee's recordings are represented here, including her highest charting and signature song, ‘I Want to Be With You’; besides, it marks the first digital appearance of many other rare songs. Warwick lays into the bluesy ‘That's Not Love’ like Etta James, causing distortion as she hauls off and wails with soul-searing power. The obscure Goffin & King tune ‘Yours Until Tomorrow’ is a should-have-been hit, as is the original version of ‘I'm Gonna Make You Love Me,’ later a smash when the Temptations and the Supremes took it to the charts. Ultimately, Warwick was a substantial talent who didn't find her niche, or land songwriters of the Bacharach/David stature to guide her. This AMAZING compilation -predominantly taken from the original masters but still sounding thin and sometimes shrill- is an important historical item for soul fans. I must add that Dee Dee is one of the very few soul sisters who will always deserve a place on my personal Top Five: she is absolutely fantastic. http://www.answers.com/, http://music.aol.com/.

Dee Dee Warwick performing ‘We’re Doing Fine’ on Shivaree (1965) [minute 3:07 to 5:41]: