UPGRADE from the old blog...Second only to Motown in terms of releases and hits in 60s and 70s
Detroit, Westbound and its sister label Eastbound hit on a successful
formula of cutting rhythm tracks at Willie Mitchell’s studios in
Memphis, while adding strings and backing vocals in Detroit. This was
mainly employed on the Detroit Emeralds and Denise LaSalle, other hit
acts like Funkadelic and the Fantastic Four were recorded in Detroit as
were the many smaller acts. With Motown’s acquisition and
decommissioning of the Golden World stable of labels in 1967 and the
demise of indies like Thelma and MAH’s, there was a lot of talent in the
city with few recording outlets. It was in fact one of the old school
Detroit soul producers, Mike Hanks, who persuaded record distributor
Armen Boladian to try his hand with a new label. Many od these tracks had probably never made it to vinyl, though there is a
possibility Joe Matthews’ may have been on a test pressing or demo that
has never turned up. That gives this release more importance because
these are very good tracks from important local artists, that virtually
nobody will have previously heard as are others featured here. Though Funkadelic were one of the company’s biggest acts, their`s and
their followers’ brand of off the wall soul/funk aren’t really cut out
for this compilation, with the notable exception of their fine version
of the old Golden World classic ‘Can’t Shake It Loose’. Denise LaSalle
was a big success but pretty much did her own thing, with her Crajon
Productions which came out on other labels, only her own recordings
came out on Westbound. The Eastbound subsidiary was originally jazz based
and surprisingly two of the stand out 70s soul tracks are
provided by ex-Lou Donaldson sidemen Melvin Sparks and Caesar Frazier. The most influential act was the Detroit
Emeralds who had a string of hits and also brought talent to the label
and produced and wrote for others. only one of their tracks on
here as they are covered well on kent`s other Westbound CDs and their lilting
mid-tempo sound did not particularly fit into that Northern soul ethos.
Their protégé Damon Shawn came up with the first version of ‘Feel The
Need In Me’ and the one that got the UK DJ plays. His other track on
here, also written by the Emeralds’ lead singer Abe Tilmon Jr, ‘Love
Love Love’ (not the Bobby Hebb track) is a splendid number with a big
orchestral production that should have done much better. There is a
different take on the Detroit Emeralds’ ‘I Can’t See Myself Doing
Without You’ by the very unknown Bob & Harold, another case of a
discography entry without a disc! Similarly the Magictones reading of
‘Till You Decide To Come Home’ is tougher than the Emeralds’ hit
version. Best of all however is a master tape of Abe and Denise LaSalle
on an unknown groovy duet called ‘Ain’t That Lovin’’. It would surely
have launched a new career for the two 70s soul superstars given the
chance. I think kent purposely tried to avoid tracks from their sister label Westbound CD “The Westbound Sound Of Detroit” CDSEWD
065, which was all vocal groups, but they have picked the best five tracks
on there and still managed to find nine new group performances,
including a good unissued Magictones and two fabulous slow burners from
the New Holidays and the Houston Outlaws. The former’s ‘Maybe So, Maybe
No’ had been revived recently by Nu Soul act Mayer Hawthorne at time of release, but IMHO the original’s still the best...great booklet as usual from kent and a fantastic album to boot!
AMM
**********REQUEST**********
The Tasters!
19 comments:
Wonderful thanks for the review mate
Thanks AMM for upgrade from old blog and followup from yesterday
great upgrade , there's some fantastic tracks on here . Superlatives - lonely in a crowd is the stand out one for me .
Just love Westbound so a BIG thank you and yes please AMM
thanks AMM for another westbound compilation review
Very nice compilation from Westbound... great label.
Many thanks AMM FOR this review
BigD
I'm gonna spread the news that this is full of superlatives! 😁
Thanks, AMM!
Thank you AMM for another winner from Kent and Westbound.
Another fine collection and another great review, I look forward to sounds. Thank you AMM.
Many thanks AMM for another Kent upgrade!
thanks much for this good review also
Thanks so much for the upgrade review
thanks for the flac upgrade AMM
Another superb bland of super acts only made possible by AMM. Thanks for sharing this great Westbound Compilation. Great review as always!!
More Westboundd for us all! Thanks for review, P.
Thanks for the upgrade AMM review nice one
Cheers Pedro
I'm bound west, yeehaw (just jokin' of course, maybe not always that funny, whatever ;) Great Job AMM ✌🏻☀️☮️
thanks for reviewing another wonderful Detroit soul compilation
Two magic words "Detroit" and "Northern"...I`m hooked! YES PLEASE AMM!
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