OK, I'm now convinced that airings on specialist soul radio shows
influence the Amazon charts. Mark Merry and his 'soul scouts' (i.e. his
'Merry men') Paul Regan and Pete Ratcliffe over the last couple of weeks
have unearthed some previously unreleased 80s recordings produced by Jim
White released on his JWE Music Group logo.
Along with a few others, this week's instalment included two tracks from
The Harold Thomas Band "Your Love Drives Me Crazy" and "Can I Spend The Night" (which sounds, and probably is, identical to the
Jim White & Motor City Orchestra track of the same name
posted last week).
Well, both of these tracks have 'miraculously' appeared in the
Amazon Top 30 today from nowhere (along with another featured on the show which I posted on Sunday
from Michelle Goulett) ... except of course we now know better as, presumably, listeners
to the show have bought the tracks and put them in the chart! It can't
simply be a coincidence?
It wouldn't surprise me if the female vocalist on Jim White & Motor City Orchestra and The Harold Thomas Band is actually Michelle Goulett as the voice sounds similar! She is a blue-eyed soul
session singer, with a great voice, who released a
self-titled album
in 1986 produced by Jim White and two of the tracks on her latest EP were
featured on the album and were released as a
single also in 1986.
There are a number of other albums that have been released on JWE in the
last few weeks e.g.
Dee Dee Joseph & David, Detroit Sound Revue, Kyng Penn, Pete
Dagdren, The All Ball Band, The Gosse Ile Band, The David Gunthner Band, Mel Shaker and Benevolent. There is also a compilation called
JWE Music Collection Vol. 1 which I got excited about when I
discovered it had a track by the legendary Levi Stubbs, but unfortunately it was a bit of a MOR style ballad, to my ears at
least, but
here it is
if you want to check it out. However, there is another good track on it
which I'll post separately.
Most, if not all, of the material is from the mid 80s (many having that
crash, bang, wallop, electro dance music feel) but the ballads have stood
the test of time, most of them have already been 'sniffed' out by the soul
scouts above.
I think The Harold Thomas Band is probably the best of the bunch as it
contains mostly ballads, so doesn't suffer the same 'aging' as the
others.
Click icons below for further information or to connect with the
artist.
Details
| Rating: |
7.8 |
| Genre/Style: |
80s Soul |
| Format: |
Single |
| Media: |
Digital |
| Label: |
Self Released |
| Cat No: |
None |
| Year: |
20/07/2021 |
| Value: |
£5.50 |
