What a great, underrated, Philly group the Odds And Ends were! I have a few of of their singles but came across this digital compilation, which is
unlisted on Discogs, titled "The Funk Of". The title is a bit of
a misnomer as there's no 'real' funk to be heard, apart from the lead song
"Foot Track", as the rest is a mix of straight up Northern Soul or
Crossover. The compilation includes all sides of their five singles as Odd And Ends ("Foot Track" and "Who Could Doubt Me Love" were released as
A and B sides on different singles, so there are only eight songs).
There's a couple of covers, Jay & The Techniques' "Apple Peaches Pumpkin Pie" and Deon Jackson's "Love Makes The World Go Around".
The quality of the material comes as no surprise when most of the
material was arranged and produced by Philly giants Thom Bell and Bobby
Martin with, the very recently departed, Patrick Adams producing "Apples
Peaches Pumpkin Pie" with David Jordan.
The lush "Let Me Try" has been a long time favourite and a superb
example of what is termed in the UK as 'crossover soul' (i.e. mid-tempo soul released at the 'crossover' between the 60s and 70s, generally between 67/68 to 73/74)
The only album listed on Discogs for them is a 1997 CD compilation with
another Today act, Black Ivory, "Black Ivory Vs Odds And Ends - Battle Of
The Bands Round One", which contains the same eight tracks, so perhaps
that's the origin of this digital album?
Odds And Ends were siblings Wanda Butler (aka Doll) (12/12/1952) and her older brother Larry Butler (31/02/1951) and Jim Grant (26/08/1955) who was their half brother (same mother, different father). They were from Dorchester, GA where they sang at church and school before moving to Philadelphia in 1965. They formed a group called Doll and later became Odds & Ends and were managed by Robert Hawes who got them an audition with Thom Bell and Bobby Martin and were signed to Jimmy Curtiss' Perception Records, NYC based, subsidiary Today Records.
.
Their first, and most successful, single was "Let Me Try" which reached #6 R&B 1970. The only other single to chart was their cover of Deon Jackson which got to #8 R&B and #83 Hot 100. In 1974 Today went bust and folded so they were out on a limb.
They recorded with United Artists in 1980 as Unity (Today owned the Odds & Ends name so they had to change it) with James Grant being replaced by Mark King (who went on to form Level42 ...joke!) and released a self-titled album in 1980 and a single with two tracks from it the same year. They changed their name again to Three Million when they later joined Cotillion in 1983 as United Artists owned the Unity name. Two singles materialised in 1983 and 1984.
Coming across the album prompted doing their Discography.
Discography
Odds And Ends
1970 - Let Me Try / Foot Track [Today #T-1001]
1971 - Love Makes The World Go Round / Yesterday My Love [Today #T-1003]
1972 - Who Could Doubt My Love / Foot Track [Today #T-1502]
1972 - Give Me Something / Who Could Doubt My Love [Today #T-1506]
1972 - Apples, Peaches, Pumpkin Pie / Talk That Talk [Today #T-1513]
Compilation
1997 - Black Ivory Vs Odds And Ends "Battle Of The Bands Round One"
Unity
1980 - Unity [United Artists #LT-1043] LP
1980 - I Don't Think I Can Make It (Without You) / (Heartache's) The
Price [United Artists #UA-X1370Y]
Three Million
1984 - I've Got The Hots (For You) (Vocal / Long Version) / I've Got The
Hots (For You) (Instrumental) [Cotillion #7-99726]
| Rating: | 8.6 |
| Explicit: | N |
| Genre/Style: | Northern Soul / Crossover |
| Format: | Album / Compilation |
| Media: | Digital |
| Label: | Funk Off! |
| Cat No: | None |
| Date: | 08/01/2007 |
| Price: | £7.12 |
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Here is an unknown group from Philadelphia who deserved to record an LP on Today Records like Black Ivory.
ReplyDeleteThank you for this beautiful chronicle.
Yves