Nella was born Donzella Petty John in maryland 1950. She only recorded several 45,s and no albums, but the strength of her recordings didnt go unoticed in the UK by collectors and dancers alike. The combination of her unusual, highly beguiling voice, some excellent songs
and cracking dance grooves has made her recordings essential to collectors of quality Soul and girl groups for more than 50
years. Nella should, by rights, have had an album release in the
mid 1960s, 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 dethroned Detroit as the epicentre of commercial Soul music,
Nella 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 & she was overjoyed that Kent recognised her work/talent after so many years..As always read the booklet. Again diggin this out i forgot what a great CD this is, she may be a Philly Area gal where she spent a lot of her early years but every track shouts motown northern soul..brilliant!!!.... Nella now combines singing with an acting career and has appeared in a couple of movies.
AMM
**********REQUEST**********
The Tasters!
21 comments:
Right up my street thanks for the review AMM
Looks interesting. Thanks for the review, AMM!
Many thanks AMM for posting this great album.
Thanks AMM - if it was my choice I would go with Donzella not Nella.
The subcription is worth every penny ... Thanks for review, P.
Another interesting release by Kent, thanks for reviewing.
Thanks for the flac upgrade of this cracking cd .
Thanks for another flac Kent upgrade!
Great stuff
I had seen this cd on another site a couple of years ago. Your review makes me want to hear all the songs. The tasters are good as usual. Thank you AMM.
Coolio :) Thanks mate ✌🏻☀️
Come see about you? Gee whiz, no need to ask twice!
Thanks, AMM!
Very nice collection... many thanks AMM for this review
BigD
Thank you for the review my friend
Nice set of Nella i do have this one but nice fore the Flac Thanks AMM
Cheers Pedro
Thank you AMM. She had one of the sweetest voices in Soul music.
thanks for Nella Dodds much appreciated
Thank you AMM for the upgrade in flac
thanks for the flac upgrade
Got this..a great album!Please update me AMM!
Cheers!
Bill
Great review thanks AMM
Post a Comment