Every year round about this time a lovely brown padded envelope drops through my letter box filled with CD's from a good friend containing his fave tracks of the previous year and copies of his fave albums of the year. This year he excelled himself with his own faves of 2013, his sister's faves of 2013 and Mr Plain Or Pan's faves of 2013, alongside albums by the likes of Graham Parker and The Rumour and some goodies from The Clash boxset.
The joy of these CD's are the tracks that you have not heard before and amongst the many joys this year was a singer that I should know but somehow had passed me by, so the info about him has came mostly from the interweb.
Clay Hammond was an original founding member of the Gospel greats The Mighty Clouds Of Joy in the late 50s.Initially achieving success as a songwriter, Clay's composition 'Part Time Love' was a number 1 R&B single for ' Little' Johnny Taylor. Hammond later recorded for several labels, including Galaxy and Duo Disc, before settling with Kent in 1967.
It's easy when listening to him to understand why he was often compared to Sam Cooke with that same almost crying vocal style. I was doing some chores around the flat whilst listening to the CD's and this was the song that stopped me in my tracks...a truly timeless soul track that I should have heard before now...the perfect Sunday morning record.
I'll Make It Up To You
