Considered by many as the first ever group in the Soul genre. They comprised of Eddie Floyd,Wilson Pickett, Joe Stubbs, Bonny "Sir Mack" Rice (the original singer of 'Mustang Sally' by the way) and guitarists Lance Finnie and Robert Ward. The Falcons were one of the first groups that really got to grips with the Soul Music genre after evolving from the R&B style. The ranks included many artists who have become synonymous with the historical soul music timeline. Formed in 1956, in Detroit, Michigan, the group recorded two melodies that defined their sound, namely 'You're So Fine' and 'I Found A Love' (for the LuPine label), which both made the national pop charts in 1959 and 1962 respectively. A year prior to 1956, the Falcons had began their career, on the Mercury label, under a slightly different line up comprising of Eddie Floyd, Bob Manardo, Arnett Robinson, Tom Shetler, and Willie Schofield. Joe Stubbs (brother of the Four Tops' Levi Stubbs and later a member of the Contours and then the Originals) and Mack Rice replaced Shetler, Manardo and Robinson in 1957, and guitarist Lance Finnie joined the group. The group were recording under the production wing of Robert West, who gave the group a gospel sound and recorded the singers on his own Flick label. Wilson Pickett sang lead vocals on the latter number, backed by guitarist Robert Ward's 'Ohio Untouchables'. They had two more hits with Stubbs as lead singer with 'Just For Your Love' (number 26 R & B 1959) and 'The Teacher' (number 18 R & B 1960), before Wilson Pickett replaced Stubbs in 1960. Wilson Pickett later left the group to further a solo career that was hugely successful. The Falcons went their seperate ways in 1963, however the name continued with another Detroit line-up comprising of the group the Fabulous Playboys, who took over the Falcons name. The later group comprised of Carlis 'Sonny' Monroe, James Gibson, Johnny Alvin and Alton Hollowell. This group made the R & B chart in 1966 with 'Standing On Guard'. In the 70's the Ohio Untouchables had changed their name and became the funk group the Ohio Players. Robert Ward re-emerged from 25 years' retirement in 1991 to release a blues album. But read the booklet everything you want to know is in there,a great read about a group who if they had just stayed together and bided their time would i,m sure have been house hold names by now. There is also a 5th CD with their Big Wheel label 45,s that was only available with the box set. Sadly mines gone walkies but moxy has this coming up!.These albums just about cover everything this legendary group has done,great Dancers, timeless R&B & flawless soul!
AMM
The Tasters!
CD2 The Lupine Tapes
The Tasters!
CD3 The Later Falcons Plus Demos & Covers
The Tasters!
CD4 The Early Falcons
The Tasters!
23 comments:
A wonderful expedition into the history of soul. Thanks for review, P.
Thanks for the upgrade to Flac AMM, what a great review this is
Many thanks for the upgrade in Flac AMM always good to listen to nice quality music
It's Christmas every day on this here blog! 🎅
Thanks, AMM!
Thanks AMM. Never considered that someone had to be first.
What a great comp! Many thanks for one of heck of a gift, AMM!
Thanks AMM. This looks like a stupendous box set.
Thank you for the review of this excellent compilation.
Thank you AMM For this great Falcons Album
Great, great stuff
Certainly a great collection, many thanks.
Would love this as well.
Thank you AMM For this great Falcons Album. As usual the review is excellent and the tasters great. Thank you AMM.
yeah im also a big fan of them for years thanks so much for another great post AMM!
Thanks AMM for this wonderfol box set
Reb
Great review thanks AMM for the history around the group
Except for the odd track on a comp I've never given the Falcons a listen, time to remedy this.
Third piece of gold Today!
The birth of soul music great post .
Playing a blinder here MM, thank you.
cheers,ELtel
timeless R&B & flawless soul! indeed. With the vocalists they had they certainly lead the way. Much appreciated.
I have another place, but the sound quality is not very good despite the fact that it also flacs, I hope it's better here
Thought I had the falcons covered how wrong was I brilliant review
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