Tommy Keith v Larry Saunders - On The Real Side

A track played by DJ Kool Keith on his Soulful Slow Jams show on Sunday alerted me to a compilation CD released in association with David Cole's "In The Basement" magazine by Castle Music/Outta Sight titled "Tears Full Of Soul" in 2007. It's a double CD consisting of 36 pretty obscure, many appear to be previously unreleased, tracks.

A particular track that piqued my interest is the original (?) / unreleased (?) version of Larry Saunders Northern / Modern Soul classic "On The Real Side" by the song's writer Tommy Keith. Tommy Keith was a member of the Sylvia Robinson's All Platinum label house band The Rimshots which may explain  how Larry Saunders got to record it as his version was on subsidiary label Turbo in 1974. Keith's version is taken at a much slower ballad pace than the well known version by Saunders.

Keith also wrote several other songs that have been popular on the UK rare soul scene such as De-Lites "Lover", Little Dooley (Silverspoon) "It's Got To Be Now Or Never", The Moments "Nine Times" and "Rain In My Backyard" (along with hits "Dolly My love" and "Jack In The Box") and First Class "Me And My Gemini".