The Entertains [2022] - I'll Answer You With Love / Your Love I Give Up [Soul Junction #SJ547]

Soul Junction's next vinyl 7" is another pairing of Rich Calloway compositions (if you recall the last SJ release consisted of two songs written by him recorded by Hill District and Richie Merrett and licensed from Calloway's C-Way Productions. 

The latest release consists of two previously unreleased sides by The Entertains from Cleveland, OH. They released just one single in 1975 "Love Will Turn It Around" / "Why Couldn’t I Believe Them" on Pittsburgh label Steel Town owned by Nick Holiday (although 45Cat has it down as a Cleveland label?). The A side was a Highland Room (Blackpool Mecca) spin for Colin Curtis. 

The group members changed over time but the line-up for their Steel Town single was Donald Rice and his cousin Howard Rice, Alfred Wilson and Andrew Wright the lead vocalist on all The Entertains songs. They recoded the songs at Jeree's studios in New Brighton, PA, on the outskirts of Pittsburgh (the studio is still running to this day). The tune proved popular locally around the DMV but didn't break nationally.

The group did another session with Calloway at Jeree's studios in 1978 recording the two sides presented for the first time by Soul Junction as owing to financial constraints at the time they never saw release.

The A-side is an emotionally charged ballad/stepper "I'll Answer You With Love" with the opening monologue parts performed by Howard Rice. While the B-side "Your Love I Gave It Up" is a punchier up-tempo version of Richie Merrett's earlier C-Way Records recording "I Gave It Up" which was the flipside to "You'll Always Have Yesterday Standing By" (the last Soul Junction single release).

It's available from 20 Jun 2022.

Details

Rating:	8.4
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	Modern Soul
Format:	Single
Media:	Digital
Label:	Soul Junction
Cat No:	None
Date:	20/06/2022 (1978)
Key/BPM:	N/A
Price:	£13

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