Soul Strutter: 09/15/22

Thursday, 15 September 2022

Loleatta Holloway & Bunny Sigler [1978] - Only You [Gold Mind #G7 4012]

Loleatta Holloway and Bunny Sigler paired up in August 1978 to record a Sigler penned ballad "Only You" which rose to #11 R&B and #87 Hot 100.

The song featured on Holloway's "Queen Of The Night" album which followed "Loleatta" from 1976 posted earlier.

It later appeared as a bonus track on a 1996 CD reissue of Sigler's 1977 album "Let Me Party With You".

Loleatta Holloway was a 'criminally' underrated singer in all but some soul circles. Her undoubted talents, in my view, were wasted playing the diva on house/disco records in her later career in order to make a living. Her Aware, and many of her Gold Mind, recordings are sublime, with only this song and her rendition of the Sam Dees song "Cry to Me" registering on the Hot 100 (at #87 and #68) respectively is all she has to show in her almost 40 year career. It is her voice on the Black Box UK #1 hit "Ride On Time" in 1989 sampled from "Love Sensation" on which she was uncredited until she took legal action and won an undisclosed sum.

Whilst the cover for the single is shown this is the full album version.

Details

Rating:	8.7
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	Deep Soul / Slow Jam
Format:	Single
Media:	Digital
Label:	Gold Mind
Cat No:	G7 4012
Date:	08/1978
Key/BPM:	8B/90
Price:	£1

Love Committee [1978] - Law And Order [Salsoul #GA 9500] (Full Album)

It's no big surprise that Love Committee ended up on Salsoul as a couple of it's members were in The Ethics (formed in 1967) of which Ron Tyson (aka Ronald Presson) was a member and Vince Montana worked with them.

They recorded some great songs, around seven singles, with a couple picked up on by the UK rare soul scene such as "I Want My Baby Back" and "Standing In The Darkness" both on Vent. Tyson left to join The Temptations and they spilt in 1970. When Tyson left the Temptations he re-joined Joe Freeman forming Love Committee around 1974.

They released their first single on Golden Fleece (owned by Gamble & Huff) in 1974 which was handled by those three fellows Earl Young, Norman Harris, and Ron Baker (all of whom joined Salsoul). Their next in 1975 was on TSOP followed by two on Ariola America before joining Salsoul's Gold Mind imprint in 1976.

Two moderate hits materialised "Cheaters Never Win" (1977) and "Law And Order" (1978) on the strength of which they released an album "Law And Order" in 1978.

The outstanding track is "Put It In The Back Of Your Mind" which is an album only track.

Details

Rating:	8.9
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	Modern Soul / Philly Soul
Format:	Album
Media:	Vinyl
Label:	Salsoul
Cat No:	GA 9500
Date:	1978
Price:	£15-£40 approx.

Eddie Holman [1977] - A Night To Remember [Salsoul #SZS 5511] (Full Album)

We're on a roll, another classic Salsoul album, "A Night To Remember", by an artist known to most for "Hey There Lonely Girl" which was a UK pop chart top 10 hit in 1974 (#4) but was actually recorded five years earlier in 1969 and a #2 Hot 100 hit stateside that year so I'm not sure why it was five years later that it hit in the UK. Eddie Holman started recorded as far back as 1962 aged 16, so hardly a one-hit wonder!

He was of course already known to the Northern Soul scene long before for several recordings made in the mid 60s for Parkway and then ABC such as "Eddie's My Name", "Stay Mine For Heaven's Sake" and "I Surrender" to name a few off the top of my head but there were others.

After leaving ABC in 1971 he recorded two singles for both GSF and then Silver Blue before joining Salsoul in 1977 to record only his second album from which two singles were released.

The album is split 50/50 with four ballads and fours dancers and all the dance tracks got spins on Northern soul dancefloors. The title track did reasonably well reaching #25 R&B and #90 Hot 100.

Ron Baker, Norman Harris, Ron Tyson and Allen Felder feature heavily on writing, arranging and producing credits, with The Sweethearts (Barbara Ingram, Evette Benton and Carla Benson) on backing vocals.

Holman released around twenty three singles with ten of them hitting the R&B chart and five got into the Hot 100 but he was never able to surpass the success of "Hey There Lonely Girl".

Details

Rating:	8.8
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	Modern Soul
Format:	Album
Media:	Vinyl
Label:	Salsoul
Cat No:	SZS 5511
Date:	1977
Price:	£10-£15 approx.

Loleatta Holloway [1976] - Loleatta [Gold Mind Records #GZS 7500] (Full Album)

Continuing the Salsoul theme in the absence of any good new material turning up, here's a great album by Loleatta Holloway "Loleatta" from 1976 which was released on the Gold Mind subsidiary in the US but on the Salsoul logo outside the US.

It's an album that was never off the turntable when bought in 1976. A mix of dance tunes "Hit And Run", "Dreamin'", "Ripped Off" and "We're Getting Stronger (The Longer We Stay Together)" all written by Norman Harris, Ron Tyson and Allan Felder along with a few stunning ballads.

A superb version of Sam Dees penned "A Worn Out Broken Heart", an updated version of "What Now" written by Curtis Mayfield and recorded by Gene Chandler on Constellation in 1964 are the stand outs for me. The final ballad is a song written by her husband Floyd Smith "Is It Just A Man's Way?"

The album concludes with a version of "That's How Heartaches Are Made" first recorded by Baby Washington in 1963. The digital version also has a 12" mix of "Hit And Run" included.

Details

Rating:	8.8
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	Modern Soul
Format:	Album
Media:	Digital
Label:	Gold Mind / Salsoul
Cat No:	GZS 7500
Date:	1976
Price:	£7-£15 approx.

Moment Of Truth [1976] - Moment Of Truth [Salsoul #SZS 5509] (Full Album)

On a pretty poor week for new releases I'll continue the Salsoul theme with an eponymous album by Moments Of Truth.

It is their only album as the group split whilst it was being made and a couple of new members had to be drafted in to compete it.

They had only two minor hits with "Your Love" (1974 #68 R&B) and "Helplessly" (1975 #74) which had some Northern soul spins mid 70s. Probably their best tune though was their next single "So Much For Love" mixed by Tom Moulton.

Only two more singles were released "You Got Me Hummin'" and "Lovin’ You Is Killin’ Me" both also included on the album so the album includes their full catalogue except for the first single (which was the same both sides in short and long versions so is also included below).

Details

Rating:	8.2
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	Philly soul
Format:	Album
Media:	Vinyl
Label:	Salsoul
Cat No:	SZS 5509
Date:	1977
Price:	£10-£20 approx.

Double Exposure [1976] - Ten Per Cent [Salsoul #12D-2008]

Alluded to yesterday on the Instant Funk post, here's the very first commercially available 12" single "Ten Per Cent" by Double Exposure released on Salsoul. Unfortunately the 9:48 Walter Gibbons mix is not available on Spotify but the 7:07 album (and flip side to the 12") mixed by joint label owner Ken Cayre is.

The group formed in 1961 with members Leonard 'Butch' Davis, Charles Whittington, Jimmy Williams and Joe Harris. They were originally known as the United Image and released two singles, "Love's Creeping Up on Me" on Stax in 1971 and "The African Bump" on Branding Iron in 1972.

They were friends with Norman Harris who brought them to Salsoul in 1975 and produced all three of their albums. Their debut album "Ten Percent" was reissued digitally this year.

Details

Rating:	8.8
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	Philly Disco
Format:	Single
Media:	12"
Label:	Salsoul
Cat No:	12D-2008
Date:	1976
Key/BPM:	8B/121
Price:	£10 approx.

Sylvia Moy - A Profile

Sylvia Rose Moy (15 Sep 1938 - 15 Apr 2017) would have been 84 today. She as born in Detroit and came to the attention of Marvin Gaye and Mickey Stevenson performing in a club in 1963. They invited her to join Motown, originally as a singer, and was given recording and songwriting contract and became the first woman to write and produce for artists at Motown.

In his autobiography, Berry Gordy attributes her directly responsible for keeping Stevie Wonder at Motown after his voice broke as he was planning to let him go until Moy approached him asking him if he would reconsider if she could write a hit for him. That hit was perhaps one of the greatest Motown songs ever "Uptight (Everything's Alright)" co-written with Henry "Hank" Cosby which was his second R&B chart #1 (after Fingertips (1963)) and reached #3 on Billboards Hot 100 in 1966. She would write another two R&B #1 hits for him "I Was Made To Love Her" (1967) and "Shoo-Be-Doo-Be-Doo-Da-Day" (1968) along with several other top 10 hits.

She also wrote another Motown classic, although initially uncredited, "This Old Heart Of Mine (Is Weak For You)" with Holland, Dozier, Holland for The Isley Brothers.

Moy won six Grammy Awards, twenty BMI awards and was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2006 and has 289 songs credited to her on BMI. She died of complications from pneumonia in Dearborn, MI on 15 Apr 2017 aged 78.

Here's a playlist of some of her biggest hits at Motown with one (a Northern soul classic written with George Kerr and Mike Valvano) not released by Motown.

Adam Blackstone & Jazmine Sullivan [2022] - 'Round Midnight [BASSic Black Entertainment Records]

Philadelphia based producer, songwriter, bassist, multi-instrumentalist, engineer, musical director Adam Blackstone was born in Trenton, NJ, and is the son of Jazz musician Rod Blackstone.

With his wife he set up BASSic Black Entertainment (BBE) in 2009 specialising in in live music production, connecting musicians and studio production and the BBE label followed in 2013.

Whilst focussing on other artists he has yet to record anything himself but he has a debut album "Legacy" scheduled for release on 23 Sep 2022 which boasts a roster of guests including Kirk Franklin, Queen Latifah, The Baylor Project, Jazmine Sullivan, Cory Henry, Robert Glasper and Jill Scott amongst their ranks.

To launch the album the lead single from it is "'Round Midnight" featuring fellow Philadelphian Jazmine Sullivan is released today. The recording includes The BBE Big Band with special guests Questlove and James Poyser.

Sullivan has an unreleased version of the 1943 Thelonious Monk written song that has been floating around the internet (included below) but now has an official recorded version.

Click on image below for link to where you can buy from.

Click icons below for further information or to connect with the artist.

Details

Rating:	8
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	Jazz
Format:	Single
Media:	Digital
Label:	BASSic Black Entertainment Records
Cat No:	None
Date:	15/09/2022
Key/BPM:	3A/79
Price:	£1