The latest offering from Garry Cape's Hit And Run logo are three tracks
from Willie Feaster.
The A side Willie & West "Attica Massacre" is a rare recording on Turbo from 1972 which is a song about the infamous prison riot
in 1971 at Attica Prison, NY.
The B side on the original is Robert L. Taylor "The Will" (a deep soul cut). To
confuse things further, Willie & West recorded "The Will" on their "At Their Best" album. Whether it's the same or a different
version I don't know as I've not heard Robert L. Taylor's version. Could it be a misprint on the label as
Robert L. Taylor was the writer (i.e. used writer's name as artist by mistake?) It gets even more confusing on the album label as
writer credits are S. (Sylvia) Robinson, L. Taylor, R. Taylor, Leon Taylor, but are
the last three all the same person i.e. Robert Leon Taylor?
There are only two listed on Popsike, the first sold for, what seems
a bargain price of, $381 in 2014 and the other for $3,051 in 2019.
There is only one YouTube clip of "Attica Massacre" on which UK soul aficionado Steve Guarnori commented that the singer is not Willie Feaster and that Willie & West are in fact Willie Hackett and John West and that the version is different to the 45 version. So, If that is the
case, then I 'presume' that it may have been taken from one of the Outta
Sight CDs as it featured on "Black Gold Sought After Soul" in 2007 and "Willie & West Meet The New Sounds", which again, presumably' may have slightly different takes? The vocal
sounds very similar to Edwin Starr to my ears!
The flip side to the release has two tracks from
Willie & The Mighty Magnificents, "Get Away From Me Girl" and "Check It Baby". Both of these tracks are available on a digital only compilation "Keeping The Faith: 30 Stomping Northern Soul Classics" released by Sanctuary in 2015 with "Get Away From Me Girl" 'incorrectly' credited to
Willie & West as the track was released on two
albums: Willie & West "At Their Best" on Stang (apparently named after, owner Syliva Robinson's husband, Joe's beloved Mustang) in 1971 (without sax break) and then as Willie & The
Mighty Magnificents on "Very Soulful" on all Platinum in 1972 which is a different version with
the sax break around 1:34, which is the version on this 45.
"Check It Baby" is an earlier 45 only release from their 1968 debut single
on All Platinum as the flip to "Take My Love".
Willie & The Mighty Magnificents also worked as session musicians for Sylvia Robinson's All Platinum setup backing artists like The Moments. To funk fans they are revered for their follow up to "Check It Baby" with "Funky (8) Corners" in 1969, which Northern Soul followers will know from Frankie 'Love Man' Crocker's speeded up version retitled "Ton Of Dynamite" on Turbo released the same year.
I also wrote recently in an article for Kool & The Gang's latest album that Robert 'Kool' Bell cited that Willie & The Mighty Magnificents influenced Kool & The Gang's stage act after seeing them perform in the late 60s.
In the 70s Feaster set up his own label Smog City which released around a dozen singles, many using aliases including Dynamic Concepts, The Esquires Ltd. Johnny Acey and Val Burke, but all featured Willie Feaster and variations of The Mighty Magnificents. Some of these recordings were released on a 2006 CD "On Dirt Road (Rare & Unreleased NY Funk & Soul 1969-1970)" on Funky Delicacies.
Purchase details (limited to 300 copies):
£12 each + £3 UK postage (good for 1-3 records) paypal - hitandrunsoul45@gmail.com
If interested in a demo contact Garry at the same address.
| Rating: | 8.8 |
| Genre/Style: | Northern Soul |
| Format: | Single |
| Media: | 7" |
| Label: | Hit And Run |
| Cat No: | HR 1531 |
| Date: | 16/08/2021 |
| Value: | £12 (+£3 P&P) |
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