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Tuesday 5 July 2022

Father's Children [2022] - Everybody’s Got a Problem / In Shallah [Soul Direction #SD-010]


Fathers Children were a Washington D.C. band probably best known for their rare groove single "Hollywood Dreaming" taken from their only released, self-titled, album on Mercury in 1979. It was co-written and produced by ex-Crusader Wayne Henderson.

They formed in the late 60s as a group of three high school friends Nick Smith, Billy Sumler and Ted 'Skeet' Carpenter who sang doo-wop on the street corners and under the streetlamps. They didn't have a name even though they were gigging and it wasn't until a fourth member, Jackie Peoples, joined and they got a gig supporting Frankie Karl that they became The Dreams

They cut a few singles on D.C. Sound. The first as Frankie Karl & The Dreams "Don't Be Afraid (Do As I Do)" / "I'm So Glad" (Oct 1968),  followed by two as The Dreams "Do What You Wanna"  (Apr 1969) and  "(They Call Me) Jessie James" (Jul 1969).

The first and last have been well known in UK rare soul circles for decades and no doubt both sides of the first and the second on the lowrider scene. In fact "(They Call Me) Jessie James"  got a UK issue on Jay Boy in 1971. Both sides of the first two singles were written by William (Billy) Jackson who was later involved with a few groups including producer of Soirée and The Tymes.

Through a community programme founded by Norman Hylton the quartet was extended with Michael Rogers (bass) and  Donald Radcliff (drums) (later replaced by Zachary Long) and later Steve 'Tai' Woods (guitar).

Hylton had converted to Islam and influenced several of the band members to do so and they later changed their name to Father's Children. In 1972 Hylton (now known as Saleem) was introduced to Robert Hosea Williams who owned several small studios and worked with Gil Scott Heron and Van McCoy. Hylton handed the band over to Fly Enterprises. They already had the the two tracks on this release "Everybody's Got a Problem" and added "In Shallah" and cut some other tracks. Fly Enterprises went bust in 1976 with no funds to pay for the master tapes of the bands recordings so Robert Hosea Williams held on to the masters as he hadn't got paid and filed them in his garage. 

The band was left hanging and some members perused personal projects that didn't come to anything. However, a chance meeting led to them being signed by Mercury where they released a self-titled album in 1979 which spawned the single "Hollywood Dreaming" which didn't sell and thus ended their contract with Mercury.

They reformed in 2005 and released a self-funded album "Sky’s The Limit".

In 2011 Numero Group got hold of the master tapes from their early sessions which Robert Hosea Williams had preserved and released an album titled "Who's Gonna Save The World" on CD and vinyl.

Soul Direction have, with permission, lifted two tracks from the album, "Everybody’s Got a Problem", which is a powerful message about political conflict surrounding the Nixon administration, and "In Shallah" (translates to Allah Wills" / "God Willing" in Arabic) for their next 7" vinyl release which is due on 11 Jul.


Details
Rating: 8.7
Explicit: N
Genre/Style: Modern Soul
Format: Single
Media: 7" Vinyl
Label: Soul Direction
Cat No: SD-010
Date: 11/07/2022
Key/BPM: 7A/84 / 11B/124
Price: £1
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