A very hard to find single by Memphis from 1982 has just been reissued by Athens Of The North. The catalogue number is 96 and the series is now up to 114 with several missing numbers so I can only presume there have been delays getting this issued as 95 was released in Feb 2021.
Memphis are 'obviously' from Memphis, TN, but didn't start out with that name, they were called Home Grown Funk which had members from another Memphis group Brothers Unlimited who in turn included the Johnson brothers Curtis and Harold who were previously with The Astors on Stax. A few of the members, which included Jerry L Jones, wanted to progress the group so moved to L.A. where they were introduced to Ike Turner in 1977. They recorded a few tracks at his Inglewood studio and in 1980 featured on his album "The Edge"
In 1981 they hooked up with Taste Of Honey keyboardist Perry Kimble who got them a recording deal with Arista where they released a single "Confrontation" / "You And Me Babe" as Homegrown Syndrome (which has also been reissued by AOTN in 2015). Whist at Arista they cut an unreleased acetate with tracks "Got The Love" and "Party Vibes" which will be getting issued by ATON.
They then met Roger Green who invited them to his studio to record "Inside My Love" and suggested the name change to Memphis. The track was pressed as the flip side to "Shake & Rock Till the Police Knock" on a limited run on West Coast Records in 1982 and is subsequently very scarce now fetching up to £1,500.
The story doesn't quite end there as last year both sides were released, along with some others, by group member Jerry L Jones as Jerry L Jones. I'm not sure if they are the same masters or he has re-recorded them but they sound the same to me.
| Rating: | 8.4 |
| Explicit: | N |
| Genre/Style: | Sweet Soul / Funk |
| Format: | Single |
| Media: | Digital / 7" |
| Label: | Athens Of The North |
| Cat No: | None |
| Date: | ??/01/2022 |
| Key/BPM: | N/A |
| Value: | £2 / £9.99 |
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