This post has a tenuous link to Alice Clark post the other day
as The Fantastics hail from the same stomping
ground, the Bedford-Stuyvesant district of Brooklyn, NYC,
where she came from.
Those on the ball will know that The Fantastics, whilst based in the
UK in the late 60s/70s, started out in the 50s as a doo-wop group, The
Velours, who recorded one of my favourite Northern Soul records as a
youth, "I'm Gonna Change" in 1967. The group at this point in their
history consisted of three original members Jerome Ramos, Donald
Haywoode, John Cheatdom (who had not recorded since 1961 taking time
out pick up their missed education reforming in 1966) and the addition
of new member Richard Pitts. The popularity of the song gained it a UK reissue in 1977. Most US copies
are yellow promos but there does appear to be a black issue but these
seem to be few and far between so I'm not sure whether the single
actually received a full issue? If you go by the matrix numbers,
although it always seems to be listed as the A side (as it is the
sought after side), I think it was actually the official B side.
The song was also recoded the same year on "New Gold Hits" album by
The 4 Seasons which I believe was the original given that it was
written by two friends and part-time members of the group, Angelo
'Cubby' Cifelli and Mike Petrillo a songwriter and saxophonist who
played on some sessions. It was bootlegged on a Smash 7" in the 70s,
it was never officially released as a single.
The 4 Seasons version is a bit faster at 166 BPM v Velours 154 BPM
which is possibly why it seemed to be preferred by the amphetamine
fueled dance floor, although more likely it was easier to
find
Not long after releasing the single on MGM them moved to the UK in
1968 to perform as The Fabulous Temptations and then The Fantastic Temptations singing Temptations
covers until dropping Temptations from the name. They had a UK pop
chart top 10 hit in 1971 with "Something Old Something New". Prior to
that in 1970 they recorded a cover of Four Tops "Ask The
Lonely" on the flip side to "Waiting Round For Heartache".
They recorded around fourteen singles as The Fantastics up to 1976.
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1 comment:
Indeed I think the A side of The Velours is "Don't Pity Me" in its US version (which is also excellent for me) while in the UK version it is "I'm Gonna Change".
Yves
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