Soul Strutter: 09/26/22

Monday, 26 September 2022

Eddie Hill / The Detroit Emeralds [2022] - I Am So Thankful / Long Live The King [Kent Select #CITY 075]

The third forthcoming vinyl release from Kent Select features a previously unreleased track (until it featured on "Westbound Detroit Northern Soul" (2010) and then "Masterpieces Of Modern Soul Vol 3" (2011)) by Eddie Hill "I Am So Thankful". As far as I can tell he only released three singles, all on different Detroit labels (Ge Ge, Thelma and M-S), between 1965-68 and, as you'd expect, all have that mid 60s Detroit feel but none registered on the R&B chart. I found some vintage black and white footage of him performing "Baby I Cried", the B side of his first single in 1965.

The flip side was featured recently in a playlist for the heavenly birthday for Ivory Tilmon of The Detroit Emeralds. It's an album only track "Long Live The King" from "Do Me Right" which I think, if I remember correctly, Steve Plumb started playing around 20 or more years ago.

Available to pre-order from Ace/Kent for release on 28 Oct 2022.

Details

Rating:	8.2
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	Northern Soul
Format:	Single
Media:	7" Vinyl
Label:	Kent Select
Cat No:	CITY 075
Date:	29/10/2022
Key/BPM:	N/A
Price:	£9.86

Loleatta Holloway [2022] - I Can't Help Myself / Mrs So And So's Daughter [Kent Select #CITY 076]

The next forthcoming vinyl release on Kent Select consists of two side by Loleatta Holloway. The top side features her classy two-stepper "I Can't Help Myself" taken from her second Aware album "Cry To Me" (1975) which, unbelievably, is the first time on 7".

It has been paired with a previously unreleased sister-funk number "Mrs So And So's Daughter" until it appeared on a Kent CD "The Hotlanta Soul of Loleatta Holloway" in 1996, so again the first time on 7".

Loleatta has featured on these pages many times and a full Loleatta Holloway Discography was posted last year so that's where to go if you wish to read more.

Available to pre-order from Ace/Kent for release on 28 Oct 2022.

Details

Rating:	8.7
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	Modern Soul / Sister Funk
Format:	Single / Reissue
Media:	7" Vinyl
Label:	Kent Select
Cat No:	CITY 076
Date:	28/10/2022
Key/BPM:	4B/85 / 8B/128
Price:	£9.86

Joe Buckner & Major IV / Hal Frazier [2022] - I Wish I Knew / I Stand Blue [Kent Select #CITY 077]

Joe Buckner was lead singer of Chicago group Major IV who recorded in L.A. in the late 60s and released three singles on Venture a soul subsidiary of MGM run by William 'Mickey' Stevenson which ran from 1967-69 which released around 50 singles. They released a few others as The Majors and The Major Three.

The song "I Wish I Knew" was written by Leon Ware and, future Supreme, Susaye Greene (she replaced Cindy Birdsong in 1976) who at the time (or soon after) were married. It was released by The Ballads on the label in 1969 and they re-recorded it in 1975 and re-titled it "Butterfly" on Music City and it also came out on Baija as "Butterfli" on the flip to "Confessing A Feeling". Interestingly on the Baija label it states that both sides were from an album "Ballads From The Ground Up" which isn't listed anywhere so presumably never materialised. It would also appear that Baija was their own label as only their recording were released on it.

The B side of this reissue is a beat ballad by Hal Frazier "I Stand Blue" which was also written by Leon Ware. It's only previous release was on the Kent 100 Club Anniversary single of 2019 credited to Mickey Stevenson. Big-voiced Hal Frazier had another big beat ballad played on the scene "After Closing Time" (a Reprise B side from 1967).

Available to pre-order from Ace/Kent for release on 28 Oct 2022.

Details

Rating:	8.4
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	Modern Soul / Beat Ballad
Format:	Single / Reissue
Media:	7" Vinyl
Label:	Kent Select
Cat No:	CITY 077
Date:	28/10/2022
Key/BPM:	N/A
Price:	£9.86

Jean Wells [1968 ] - What Have I Got to Lose [Calla #C-157]

I'm pretty sure this has been posted before but it just came up on Spotify whilst listening to something else and, for me, is one of the greatest records ever recorded. The fabulous Jean Wells "What Have I Got To Lose". She wrote the song and it was her penultimate of eight singles released on Calla in Oct 1968. It was also included on her debut album "World, Here Comes Jean Wells". She released only one further album "Number One" in 1981.

Details

Rating:	9
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	Northern Soul / Crossover
Format:	Single
Media:	Digital
Label:	Calla
Cat No:	C-157
Date:	10/1968
Key/BPM:	11B/95
Price:	£30-£40

Darrow Fletcher [2022] - Infatuation / What Have I Got Now [Jacklyn #REPRO 06]

Ace/Kent have a batch of new vinyl releases due on 28 Oct 2022. They will be released on a mix their Kent Select imprint and various repros on look-a-like original labels.

Kicking off with the most appealing to me as Darrow Fletcher has been a long time favoured artist since buying his Northern Soul classic "What Good Am I Without You" back in the day and also one of the sides featured on this repro reissue "Infatuation" both of which have the superb "Little Girl" on the flip and released on Jacklyn in 1967. However, Kent has gone with the A side from his first release on the label in 1966, "What Have I Got Now". which also has a superb flip side "Sitting There At Night". Prior to that he'd released four singles on Groovy, all well worth checking out.

Jacklyn was a label owned by Fletcher's father Johnny Haygood and named after his daughter. The label was Chicago based and released just ten singles between 1966-69 (1001-011 with no listing from 1007) with three of them being by Fletcher.

A full Darrow Fletcher Discography was posted many moons ago (migrated from an earlier blog) HERE.

His biggest success was with his debut single on Groovy "The Pain Gets A Little Deeper" / "My Judgement Day" which was #23 R&B and broke into the lower reaches of the Hot 100 at #89. He achieved just two further R&B chart entries "I Think I'm Gonna Write A Song" in 1970 and "We've Go to Get This Understanding" in 1976, but many of his recordings have been played on the UK rare soul scene over the years and he came to the UK to perform at 6Ts soul weekender in 2006.

Available to pre-order from Ace/Kent for release on 28 Oct 2022.

Details

Rating:	9
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	Northern Soul
Format:	Single
Media:	7" Vinyl
Label:	Kent / Jacklyn Repro
Cat No:	REPRO 06
Date:	28/10/2022
Key/BPM:	9A/128 / 4A/130
Price:	£10.88

Dutchican Soul [2022] - Promises [Groove Culture #GCM149]

Italian house producers Micky More & Andy Tee who run Groove Culture have succeeded in raising the hackles of DJ Kool Keith with their latest single by Dutchian Soul (aka Niels Schroder from Amsterdam).

He's alerted me to the new single "Promises" which uses "Keep Smilin'" originally released by Bunny Sigler in 1974 (Philadelphia International) and then by Gabor Szabo in 1976 (Mercury), but as they say 'every cloud ...' as it's a good enough reason to post the two 70s versions to bring them to the attention of anyone not already familiar with them as they were both only minor R&B hits (Sigler #46 / Szabor #77).

The Dutchian Soul release is a four tracker which includes "Good Times" which also samples something familiar which sounds like it could be Loleatta Holloway's "Hit And Run"?. It comes with long and short versions of both songs and is due out on Friday (30 Sep) but is available now from Traxsource.

I tracked down a pretty grainy video tape of Gabor Szabo performing it live in 1977.

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

Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	Soulful House
Format:	Single
Media:	Digital
Label:	Groove Culture
Cat No:	GCM149
Date:	30/09/2022
Key/BPM:	8A/124
Price:	$2.49

R.I.P. Pharoah Sanders (13 Oct 1940 - 24 Sep 2022)

Another jazz giant has departed this world. Tenor saxophonist Farrell 'Pharoah' Sanders died peacefully at his home in L.A. on Saturday surrounded by his family.

He was born in Little Rock, AK in 1940 and moved to Oakland, CA, after finishing school in 1959 and played jazz clubs. In 1961 he moved to New York City being attracted by the 'free-jazz' movement and by 1965 joined John Coltrane and featured on a dozen of his albums until Coltrane's death in 1967.

Rather than creating a playlist which would only scrape the surface of his 60 year career in which he released over 40 albums and featured on around another 60+ (including with Norman Connors ("You Are My Starship" (1976), "Romantic Journey" (1977) and "This Is Your Life" (1978)) I'll just post his 1969 masterpiece. It's, the almost 33 minute long, "The Creator Has A Masterplan" from "Karma", which includes Lonnie Liston Smith on piano and Leon Thomas on vocals and percussion.

Norman Connors included a version on "You Are My Starship" featuring Gary Bartz on sax and then on "This Is Your Life" with Sanders on sax and featured Bobby Lyle on piano.

Co-writer Leon Thomas also recorded it on his debut album, "Spirits Known And Unknown", in 1969 and then as a single in 1971, both on Flying Dutchman.

There is video of shorter version taken from his show at London's Jazz Cafe in 2011 along with the full concert which lasts 1 hour and 48 minutes which is a more fitting tribute.