Friday, 16 April 2021

The Precisions - Complete Discography


The Precisions were an grossly underrated group from Detroit. They were formed in the eary 60s. The original members were Michael Morgan, Paul Merritt, Willie Norris and Fred Shockley. Arthur Ashford replaced Fred Shockley before they recorded the first of two releases on D-Town owned by Mike Hanks. 

In 1966 they joined Sidra who created the Drew sub-label specifically for their releases. Not long after their arrival at Sidra/Drew Paul Merritt left and was replaced by Dennis Gilmore and soon after that Willie Norris decided to quit and was replaced by Ron Davis. A fifth member, Billy Prince who was a friend of Gilmore's, joined the group.  Ron Davis left the group before their fourth release on Drew leaving a quartet.

Supporting the group were George McGregor, Mike Terry, Dale Warren and The Funk Brothers played on all the Drew sessions.

There is a good article on them written by Dave Moore ('There's That Beat' magazine) on Soul Source. Additional info came from Neil Rushton (Inferno).


The flip side of their first single on Drew 'Such Misery' became a Northern soul monster. Somehow Sam Coplin, a club owner in Dallas, TX, got hold of the backing track and released it by a white group Stemmons Express (named after a road in Dallas) under the title 'Woman, Love Thief' with different lyrics on his Karma label. This also became a big tune. The other side, 'Love Power' which was the official A side, isn't a bad tune either.

Their most successful single was 'If This Is Love (I'd Rather Be Lonely)' which reached #26 US R&B and #60 Hot 100 and is by far their best known NS tune, covered in 1968 by Eddie Spencer which saw a UK resissue in 1976, Geno Washington recorded it but it was unreleased and is just going to be issued on vinyl for the first time (I posted it earier today along with the covers). A New Zealand group Jamie & The Numbers also recordeed it in 2019.

Discography

Singles

A: Northern Soul
B: Sweet Soul Harmony

1965 - Mexican Love Song / You're Sweet [D-Town #1055]
A: Sweet Soul Harmony
B: Sweet Soul Harmony

1966 - Such Misery / A Lover's Plea [Drew #D-1001]
Dennis Gilmore on lead
A: NS Stemmons Express 
B: Doo-wop ballad

1967 - Sugar Ain't Sweet / Why Girl [Drew #D-1002] Unreleased
Only promo copies were pressed and found to be pressed off-centre so a decision was made, rather than to remedy it, was to release a different side.  Some promos have survived.
A: NS
B: NS

1967 - Why Girl / What I Want [Drew #D-1002]
A: NS
B: NS Sounds similar to the Sidra's Ronnie & Robyn style tunes
A: NS Classic
B: NS
NOTE: This got a UK release on Track #604014 in 1967

A: NS
B: NS

1968- Never Let Her Go / A Place [Drew #D-1005]
A: Crossover - a superb Bridges, Knight & Eaton composition
B: NS

A: NS - another Bassolino, Coleman, Valvano written song. 
B: NS

A: Ballad
B: Mid-tempo / crossover

EPs

2006 - EP [Inferno #64727HY]
B2: Baby You're Mine (NB originally thought to be The Precisoins but is actually Lou Ragland)

2008 - EP  [Joe Boy / Inferno #none]
Found on a Sidra acetate and credited to Timmy Willis but is the first recording by The Precisions not released at the time as it was laid down by Paul Merritt just before he quit the group to be replaced by Dennis Gilmore.

Compilation

2008 - The Complete Sidra/Drew Recordings 1966-68 [Joe Boy #JBE-CD2008]
Such Misery
A Lover's Plea
Sugar Ain't Sweet
Why Girl
What I Want
If This Is Love (I'd Rather Be Lonely)
You'll Soon Be Gone
Instant Heartbreak (Just Add Tears)
Dream Girl
A Place
Never Let Her Go
Bonus Tracks:
Featuring Paul Merritt - Such Misery
Roger Fluker - Send Me A Sign
Originally thought to be by The Precisions but is Roger Fluker (aka Brian Stone) who was the choreographer for the group whose stage dance routines were second to none including The Temptations. McGregor believes that if the group had been on Motown they would have been superstars.
Lou Ragland - Baby You're Mine
Found with some unreleased Precisions material on a 10" acetate and thought to be by them but later discovered to be Lou Ragland.

Billy Prince

Billy Prince was the lead singer on 'If This Is Love'. He released a few solo singles before joining the group and has released a new single in Feb 2021 (originally released digitally in 2019).

Singles

1966 - You Never Should Have Loved Me / Say It Again [Verve #VK-10392]
A: NS Beat Ballad
B: NS Beat Ballad

1966 - One Shot Left / Somebody Help Me [Verve #VK-10462]
A: NS stormer - its sounds like a cross between Jerry Fuller 'Double Life' and Marvin Gaye 'Ain't That Peculiar'.
B: NS - another 'coincidence' - as this was written by Jackie Edwards - just posted Del Davis track also written by him. It was a #1 hit in UK for The Spencer Davis Group the same year.

2019 - You're My Angel / I Want You [Common Good #CGR-112]
A: An original song written as a tribute to Aretha Franklin and released digitally in 2019 - but now released on 7" available from BandCamp (below)
B: Cover of Marvin Gaye

A: A different mix and slightly longer

Albums

Produced by Jerry Williams Jr. (i.e. SDEG is Swamp Dogg Entertainment Group)

Billy Prince Of The Precisions 
2017 - The Soulful Member Of The Precisions [Gure Gauza Records #GGLP 101]

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