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Another superb Soul artist who recorded this his only album produced by legend Willie Mitchell at his Hi studios in Memphis. Johnny was born in Alabama in 1939 and is known to Northen & Deep soul fans for his excellent 45,s cut on Okeh & Strike (as Johnny R). His "Gone But Not Forgotten" was featrued on one of the Rare Northern Soul albums,a killer dancer! His 2 Northern classic dancers are featured with Willie Mitchell on sax..Brilliant!....Such a shame he did not record more albums as this really is a pure SOUL faultless gem! Strange that a southern bred singer recorded all his material in the north of USA apart from this pearl. Not to be confused with Prince Johnny Robinson on Andee.
Mabumi Yamaguchi is yet another very gifted sax player,two albums recorded with this quartet and six solo studio albums as well as appearing in a couple of other bands.
AMM
The Tasters!
Line Up
Mabumi Yamaguchi - tenor and soprano sax Fumio Karashima - Piano & Synths Kazumi Watanabe - Guitars Nobuyoshi Ino - Acoustic & Electric bass
From the 137 black music labels in Detroit between 1960 & 1971 Carla Records was one of four labels owned by Ollie McLaughlin. The other three were Karen, Moira and Ruth, all named after his daughters except Ruth. Most of the records were distributed by the Atlantic Group and are rare and sought after by collectors the world over, here we have the entire collection..Deep.Sweet, & rare Northern !
One of the great unsung soul singers to have ever recorded IMHO. This was betty,s debut album from seven recorded and one of my faves.
Betty Padgett was born in Newport, New Jersey and her family
moved to Florida when she was a child. She sang in her church
choir and began to take performing seriously after graduating from high
school. While checking out the bubbling local music scene at venues like
The Double Decker and Tedie Green, Padgett became particularly keen
with the group called Joey Gilmore and the T.C. B. (Taking Care of
Business) Express. In 1971 she auditioned with Gilmore and ended up, not
only securing the position, but singing with the band for the next 17
years. After a gig at the Elks Club in Ft. Lauderdale, Padgett was
approached by soul legend Milton Wright (responsible for the rare groove
classics “Keep It Up” and “You Don’t Even Know Me.” as well as Northern fave " The Gallop") Blown away by her
vocal skills and stage presence Wright wasted no time. Within a month
she was co-writing and arranging with Wright (check his unmistakable
influence on “Gypsy of Love”), Wally Joest, and a cast of musicians she
had just met. The entire album was recorded in one evening at Criteria
Studios in Miami. Padgett vividly remembers listening to the demo on the
drive home from the studio around 3am. It was pouring down rain and she
was so excited from having recorded her first record at age 21 that she
lost control of her car on the slick streets and nearly crashed! A 12” disco single of “Sugar Daddy” was pressed up in support of the
LP and it created quite a buzz (despite her name being misspelled on
the cover and labels.) Padgett remembers a local Pepsi Cola TV &
radio advert featured the music. The commercial was apparently filmed on
the Ft Lauderdale beachfront and included Navy Sailors in uniform that
just happened to be docked nearby. Padgett danced up to a vending
machine that was parked in the sand, slapped it, and received a glass
bottle of soda. After the success of “Sugar Daddy,” Padgett and her band
were whisked off to Belize for live dates. After landing at the Belize
airport, she was picked up in a taxi and the commercial played on the
radio in the cab. While Padgett never quite topped the heights of “Sugar Daddy,” she
boasts a great musical resume and continues to perform and record. She
has performed and shared the stage with Little Beaver, Gwen & George
McCrae, K.C. & The Sunshine Band, Latimore, Jimmy Bo Horne, Jackie
Moore, Joe Tex, Denise LaSalle, The Impressions, Bobby Bland, Joe Simon
and ZZ Hill. What a voice! I must get rounf to purchasing the CD also. The rest of her albums are worth checking out.
I remember dancing to a few of these tracks back in the day from the obscure Mighty Pope. Earle Heedram was born in 1945 in Jamaica, and grew up with traditional reggae and ska influences, but also sang in the church choir and occasionally took part in talent shows on the island. He took those vibes with him when he moved to Toronto 20 years later with aspirations of becoming an accountant. He quickly melted into the ever expanding urban music scene though, and as the decade wore on, due in part to relaxed immigration laws, an influx of Jamaican immigrants led to a multitude of music clubs to play in the Toronto area.He recorded 2 studio albums as a solo artists and one with Frank Motleys Hitch hikers.The album aimed at the dancefloor enthusiasts!
Bringing together what the compiler thought were her best ballads from the Sring label,not far wrong! Millie Jackson has been beloved by soul fans of every persuasion since she laid down countless seminal tracks at Spring in the 1970s. Her career was so successful there that she made nearly 20 albums. Each of them was a mix of current soul styles, with rap an increasing influence towards the latter part of her Spring tenure. Inevitably, some excellent ballads were hidden within Tthese LPs dominated by rap numbers that may not have been to many soul fans’ taste. Millie had such a large output that the very best of her slower numbers make a stunning package that caters to collectors who might want a convenient collection of her best down tempo moments or music fans who don’t need Millie’s full catalogue. The classics ‘It Hurts So Good’ and ‘If Loving You Is Wrong’ stand side by side with lesser known gems such as ‘Special Occasion’, ‘Angel In Your Arms’ and ‘I Can’t Say Goodbye’. Compiler Sean Hampsey has programmed the tracks to flow in the same way the “Caught Up” album, with very short gaps between the numbers, sequenced to flow into each other as if the CD was a concept album itself. The songs come from such illustrious writers as Sam Dees, Phillip Mitchell, Banks & Hampton, Bobby Womack and Allen Toussaint. What makes some of the numbers so powerful is Millie’s involvement as a composer with fellow musicians. She appears as co-writer on four of the tracks. Kent’s previous Millie Jackson compilation “Soul For The Dancefloor” has been very well received so it was natural for kent to look at her flip side.
Guitarist Clarence Green was born in 1937 & passed in 1997, was one of the most well respected 'Texas Blues Brothers' from Houston, being the senior brother of Cal Green. Both Cal and Clarence were part of the Houston blues scene in the 1950's and played a role in the development of Texas Blues Guitar as exposed not only by themselves, but also by their contemporaries Johnny Copeland, Joe Hughes, Albert Collins, Roy Gaines, Johnny Guitar Watson, Pete Mayes and many others. All these fellow Texan,s speak with great respect about the Green brothers. This was his only album with a handfull of 45,s and the album is still sought after by collectors. Northern fans will be interested in the first and last tracks on the album that were played akin to his great Northern Monster on Duke " Ground Hog", but sadly again limited to the one taster for choice..Great great album nevertheless!
High on the Sea was Masterfleet's only release, a mix of organic soul,
pure funk, and gentle mid tempo tracks with psychedelic vibes thrown in
for good measure. Killer psychedelic sounding soul with Skull Stone,
Malfunction and When You're A New Born Child great funky cuts and you
get the vocal snippet sample of Academy Awards used by Live Connection featuring Nichelle Nichols " Uhura" from Star Trek. From the back cover: Compton, L.A. California was a “creative womb” for
nurturing fresh and excellent talent before the advent of Hip Hop. A few of Compton’s children are
War, The Sylvers and the Jackson Sisters. This album marked the birth of
another group that followed the same tradition. MasterFleet.Released through Sussex records in the 70s, Masterfleet found their place alongside Bill Withers and Sixto Rodriguez. Their only album ( plus 3 x 45,s) that has stood the test of time.As The Name denotes, Master(superior) Fleet (in this case Bodies), On this, their first & last voyage on the seas of soul, the Fleet crew consists of Fleet Admiral Linus Ceph (musical creator), Ronald Gibbs, and the Rice Twins, Sterling and Stephen .Join the Masterfleet on their musical trip and let them guide you on the high seas of raw soul and funk. Still no CD release in sight. Sadly not many tasters.
AMM
The Tasters!
Tracks
01 First Voyage 02 Skull Stone (To the Bone) 03 Let Love Stand 04 Man & Child 05 Well Phase, Pt. 1 06 Malfunction 07 Academy Awards 08 When You're a New Born Child 09 Until Tomorrow 10 Well Phase, Pt. 2
With 1972's Brother, Brother, Brother, younger brothers Ernie and Marvin Isley, along with in-law relative Chris Jasper, began to play major roles in the Isley Brothers' sound. This also marked their first attempt to "Isley-ize" classics made famous by others. Their rendition of Carole King's "It's Too Late" rivals the original, Ron Isley sings the tender ballad in a softer voice then he used on previous recordings. An update of Jackie DeShannon's "Put a Little Love in Your Heart" is an uplifter. They didn't completely alienate fans of their harsher sound, the rocking, humorous "Pop That Thang" and "Lay Away" are fine examples of R&B. "Pop That Thang" has a sloopy beat and biting lyrics, while "Lay Away" takes off on the popular buying option before the advent of the credit card. The Isley Brothers were big Carole King fans, in addition to "It's Too Late," they perform two other King songs, "Brother, Brother" and "Keep on Walkin'"; the latter is coupled with "Sweet Season." Their own "Work to Do" is a stone rocker that has been recorded by many, including the Average White Band, who scored big with it 3 years after its release, it remains one of the Isley Brothers' most requested songs. Never made a bad album in over 40 releases, my LP is well worn so here is the CD in all it,s sparkle!
Another Demo i was sent a few years back and its all about the deep & sweet soul side of obscure artists from Shreveport, Louisanna. Many people think its near New Orleans, but it,s around 315 miles north west and a good 4 to 5 hours by road. This City that sits on the Red River & near the huge Cross Lake has always produced some great singers such as Betty Swann & Brenton Wood to name just 2, Eddy giles lived there most of his life from the 1950,s till his passing in 2019 but came from Minnesota .The Album seems to be highlighting the new talent coming through and not a dance track in sight, bar one, just pure soul! Strange how the "fleur dy lis" symbol is on the cover as we all know(?) that its the symbol of New Orleans & the title "Southern Soul Capitol" is perhaps a little ambitious ?..still a very good album.
A Collection of superb tracks by New Orleans artists drawn mostly from Great Southern, Hep'Me, and associated labels on this long deleted album. The James Booker tracks appear to be unreleased Peacock recordings. "Ray J" is not that well known & "Candy Phillips" on the Eddie Bo track is actually Chris Kenner. Shame they couldnt have cleaned up the Willie Tee tracks ? This is New Orleans with a difference but still bloody great!
One of my all time fave singers from the deep south, Bobby was born in the early 1940,s in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He began singing in church at 4, and playing piano at age 6. Bobby was educated at the Southern University School for the Blind, and was encouraged to take up music as a profession. He was heavily influenced by his beginnings in the church and singing in gospel groups, and it was only in college the mid 1960,s that he began recording soul tunes for Lionel Whitfield’s Whit label in Shreveport. He secured his biggest success with his fourth 45, a cover of C.C. Rider (number 1 in 1965 in the R&B charts, and Top 20 nationally). He obtained another hit with the funky Do Something For Yourself in 1966, but his most impressive recording that year was I’m Gonna Leave You (No. 34 R&B), which mixed blues guitar and a gospel chorus with great effect. Some of Bobby’s songs were leased to Jewel Records at this time. Bobby achieved some regional success in 1969 with In Time, covered Cry To Me with passion later in the same year, and reached the charts again in 1971 with a powerful gospel-style remake of Baby Washington’s The Bells (No. 14 R&B). But his recordings were not getting the attention they deserved. Bobby was a heavily gospel influenced soul artist, who achieved modest success in the 60s and 70s recording for small southern labels and refused to sell out his talents commercially. Beginning in the late 70s, Powell began recording for the Hep’Me label, but despite some seizable regional successes failed to reach the national charts. During the 80s he functioned as a perennial opening act in Baton Rouge regardless of who came to town, Powell performed the opening gig. By the early 90s Powell had abandoned R&B to sing exclusively gospel music. He has a big following in the UK & Europe with the Soul fraternity and has had several tracks played on the Northern scene all included herein..FAB album,to me he,s up there with the very best! Only 5 studio albums and 30+ 45,s all sought after by collectors. Two great albums of his material for you to savour!
AMM
The Tasters!
Bobby Powell - Spread Your Love (1984) P-Vine Special Demonstration Copy (FLAC) Rare Soul
Review Courtesy Of Kenji Thank You!
The Tasters!
I,ve never seen this anywhere at all on CD only vinyl!..A rare one indeed Kenji!
Tracks
1 Let Me Love You 2 The Night Time Is the Right Time 3 Spread Your Love 4 I Can't Stop Loving You 5 A Fool for You 6 Sweet Sixteen 7 All My Worldly Possessions 8 Lucille
Formed around lead vocalist Patty Hamilton with the help of legendary Chicago producer Clarence Johnson, the Lovelites were one of the finest teen soul groups in recorded history. Despite the poor sales of their sole studio album "With Love From The Lovelites (1970)" they would remain active, recording and releasing a number of singles before fading into obscurity after under going a few changes in personel. For the first time ever, P-Vine collected these singles and previously unreleased tracks, and released them as a double LP & CD! From textbook Chicago soul, to tender ballads, all the way to modern dance numbers, this album has it all! Unreleased tracks include covers of The Stylistics’ “Betcha By Golly Wow”, Michael Jackson’s “Got To Be There”, and The Righteous Brother’s “You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling”. These girls had quite a few Northern Dancers that went huge! Were also fortunate to have another Boot coming up next. each album has tracks the other does not so you have everything these girls recorded! Bonus tracks listed under back cover.
AMM
Review Courtesy Of USMAN47 Thank You!
The Tasters!
Bonus Tracks
17 The Lovelites - I Found Me A Lover 18 The Lovelites - You Better Stop It 19 Patti & The Lovelites - Love Bandit 20 Patti & The Lovelites - We've Got The Real Thing 21 The Lovelites - Hey! Stars Of Tomorrow 22 The Lovelites - Fall In Love (Unreleased Audiodisc) 1972
