A Little More Love...

Today's slice of Sunday Soul comes courtesy from the divine voice of Kim Weston with her 1964 single on Stateside, A Little More Love. Considered by some to be the most talented and unappreciated female artist at Motown in the 1960's, she is probably best known for her duets with Marvin Gaye but her solo material is well worth a listen.

Great range , great control and criminally overlooked in the history of Motown, Kim Weston was just as at home with a ballad as she was with an uptempo number and is another soul singer who should have be more well known than what she is.

A Little More Love

Hog Inna Minty...

No idea what Hog Inna Minty means or is about but it doesn't really matter as it is just a great song, with an equally great title.

Born in Kingston, Jamaica Nitty Gritty (not his real name!!) formed The Soulites in the early 1970s and recorded his first solo single in the early 1980s for producer Sugar Minnott before moving onto King Jammy in the mid 80's where he recorded the wonderful Jamaican folk song Hog Inna Minty. After that he relocated  to London and then New York where he was sadly shot dead outside a record store in Brooklyn at the tender age of only 34.

Hog Inna Minty

One In A Million...

Although she never had many hits, Maxine Brown, was one of the most underrated soul and R&B vocalists of the '60s. She signed to the New York-based, uptown soul label Wand in 1963 where she recorded her best work but was constantly overshadowed by labelmate Dionne Warwick.

Brown was one of the most versatile soul singers of the '60's but just maybe that versatility worked against her as she was difficult to pigeonhole, with her style being influenced by the emerging girl groups, Motown and Stax amongst many other styles. Whatever the reasons it is still hard to believe that she is not better known than what she is.

One In A Million

Working On Your Case...

Some glorious uptempo soul to start the week from Ohio's finest. Considering The O'Jays went on to be one of the most successful vocal groups of the 70's it now seems almost unbelievable that this 1967 classic, featuring the beautiful falsetto of Mr William Powell, never troubled the charts.

Working On Your Case

Too Much Bourbon...

As I over indulged ever so slightly last night on the bourbon I am going to post a nice, mellow tune for this Sunday as anything else may hurt my delicate head.

Tell It Like It Is

Got Me Rockin' and A Reelin'...

In the sixties, Barbara Randolph was, briefly, a singer with the Platters where her performances attracted the attention of Motown records, at one time even being considered a replacement for Florence Ballard of the Supremes. But that move was ultimately vetoed by Diana Ross who was jealous of her looks apparently. Motown did however release two singles by Barbara, both of which failed to make an impression on the charts. She went on to record 15 other tracks for Motown, but nothing was ever released until many years later when Motown collected all her recordings for them together on one mighty fine album. 

Vocally, in my opinion, she is up there with some of the more well known Motown female singers such as Tammi Terrell and Martha Reeves, although her vocal style is maybe a bit rougher, which is certainly not a criticism. The first of her singles,"I Got A Feeling" is a stoating, top-tastic floor filler (see previous post) , and if you are a fan of this kind of music you can find many more similiar cracking tracks here, here and here.

I Got A Feeling

I've Got A Question Babe...

I was looking through some of my old posts today and realised that I tend to use certain adjectives on a fairly regular basis such as cracking and certain nouns such as a belter. So just to carry on that tradition today's track is cracking and is certainly a belter. Undoubtedly an influence on the likes of Otis and Wilson Picket, Roscoe Shelton had a vocal that blended older styles of Southern blues with a sort of fervent, gospel-charged style that scored him a few hits in the mid 60's most notably the classic Strain On My Heart. Today's choice on Spools was recorded a year earlier and really showcases Roscoe's vocal talents.

Question

F.F.S.

F.F.S. I have just received a copyright infringement email for a song that I posted on 21st December 2011...do record companies still not understand that by posting one song by one of their artists that people may be encouraged to go out and buy their albums....and garner them even more dosh..

Rattling Boy...

I recently saw a review of Goodbye Mr McKenzie that described them as "underrated in a world of pish". I'm guessing that the review came from my neck of the woods but is pretty apt. I was listening today to some stuff from an 80's CD that I compiled a few years back without a tracklisting and the greatness that is The Rattler came on. Inexplicable why this was never a huge hit, only managing to sneak into the lower reaches of the Top 40 upon its re-release in '89. Of course a couple of former members did go on to have fairly successful careers...

I hadn't listened to The Rattler for quite a while and was pleasantly surprised at how bloody good it still sounds. It was one of the records that soundtracked my youth and was always guaranteed to fill  dancefloors all over the west of Scotland in these little places called discos. It's always been one of my favourite tunes and has fair brightened up another dreicht Sunday here in Lanarkshire.

The Rattler

Lone Ranger

One of the first and finest of the dancehall toasters, Lone Ranger first appeared on the reggae scene in the early 80's with songs that drew heavily from the legendary Studio One days. He began his own recording career at Studio One and by the early 80's every producer in Kingston was literally queuing up to work with him. '82 was the year of Lone Ranger with the release of 3 albums, "Badda Dan Dem", "Hi Yo Siver Away !" and the one he is probably most well known for, "M16". And all achieved without Tonto at his side....

The Answer

Phil Spector In "Hard To Work With" Shock !!

It's always good to get the story behind the making of a record. Case in point is the wonderful Paris Sisters' "I Love How You Love Me". Written by ex war veteran and sometime whiskey salesman Larry Kolber who discovered one day whilst talking to another ex veteran, who just happened to be a songwriter, that you could make money by writing songs for other people.

Then one day at lunch he writes the lyrics to "I Love How You Love Me" on a napkin in just 7 minutes, goes back across the street to find someone to set it to music and who happens to be "in the office" but Phil Spector who asks for the song for one of his girl groups.

You couldn't make it up..apparently the Paris Sisters are quoted as saying that Mr Spector was "hard to work with"..really, I find that hard to believe...

I Love How You Love Me

Shake Another Tail Feather

God, this album is good. So good I felt the need to post another track. Marv Johnson began his career singing with a doo-wop group called the Serenaders in the mid 1950s before being discovered by Berry Gordy while performing at a carnival and then recording his first single for Gordy's fledgling Tamla label in 1959. After the single took off locally, Gordy leased it to United Artists for national distribution and the rest, as they say, is history.

Wonderful voice, Marv should have been a Motown headliner but hey ain't that always the way..

I Love The Way You Love

Shake A Tail Feather...

What a great feeling to buy an album and not find a duff track on it. Such a thing happened just the other day on picking up an album called The Twisted Wheel from those lovely folks at Charly Records. Others with more knowledge of 60's Northern Soul than me will be well aware that The Twisted Wheel was a nightclub in Manchester from '63 to '71 that played some mean Northern soul tunes as well as hosting soul legends like Sam and Dave, Ben E King and Geno Washington. The original building was demolished in 2012 but "The Wheel" still continues in Manchester recreating those storming times at the original Whitworth St Club.

The album contains some of the classic tracks that would have been played at the time. The 28 tracks include gems from Little Richard, Bo Didley, Benny Spellman, Ernie K Doe, Solomon Burke, Gene Chandler, Betty Everett, The Dells, Fats Domino and many more. Listening to these joyful tunes, you can't help but smile ... and maybe want to get out there and shake a tail feather or two.

Turn On Your Lovelight